SUSAN HASALO SOJOURNER

Susan Hasalo Sojourner, 79, of Minneapolis, passed away on Friday, December 4, 2020. Sue loved fiercely, shone brightly, and fought tirelessly for justice throughout her life for civil rights and human rights in Holmes County, MS, D.C., and Duluth. From 1964-69, she and her husband, Henry Lorenzi, worked with local Black folks in their struggle for voting rights and equality. The Holmes County movement built a strong Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party chapter and elected Robert Clark as the first African-American MS state legislator since Reconstruction. Sue documented, photographed and recorded interviews, and wrote the book, “Thunder of Freedom: Black Leadership and the Transformation of 1960s Mississippi,” with Cheryl Reitan. The Mississippi Civil Rights Museum in Jackson includes her story of Holmes County’s civil rights organizing. The University of Southern Mississippi at Hattiesburg holds Henry and Sue’s Civil Rights Movement Collection. She is survived by her sister, Muriel Abram, her son, Aaron, and his wife Kathy, and their children Nora and Naomi, and many other family members.