Photo: Dr. C. SadeTurnipseed is Mississippi’s Next Governor
by Windy Goodloe, Secretary, Seminole Indian Scouts Cemetery Association
Dr. C. Sade Turnipseed is “out-front and out-spoken.” She has set her sights on becoming the next governor of Mississippi, and there really isn’t anything standing in her way on her quest to achieve this goal. Dr. Turnipseed is clear about the road ahead. She is ready to fight, and she knows that she can affect lasting and positive change in the Magnolia State.
Dr. Turnipseed was born and raised in San Francisco, California. She is the oldest of her California set of siblings. There are also two older sisters and a brother who were raised in Mississippi with their grandparents. Dr. Turnipseed moved to Mississippi about sixteen years ago.
If there has been a deeply moving turning point in her life, it would be the unexpected loss of her brother at the age of eighteen. The sadness of losing her brother forced her to seek joy in her life. She found it in traveling and education. As she traveled the world, she brought her brother with her by lighting a candle and incense in each locale she visited as a way of remembering him and invoking his spirit. She has dedicated her life to education, and not just in the classroom. While she is a professor at two HBCUs (Jackson State University and Mississippi Valley State University), Dr. Turnipseed is also a public historian.
In this capacity, Dr. Turnipseed plans to honor enslaved cotton pickers and sharecroppers. This will culminate in a project entitled “Cotton Pickers of America Historic Monument and Historical Trail.” This is a $26 million campaign that is being facilitated by Khafre, Inc. She has also facilitated and initiated the Fannie Lou Hamer Historical Marker. It was a project that was developed and designed by Mississippi Valley State University students and the Sunflower County Board of Supervisors. It was installed in front of the Sunflower County Courthouse in 2020. She has also been involved in the Sweat Equity Investment in the Cotton Kingdom Symposium, the Cotton Pickers Ball, the B.B. King Museum and Interpretative Center, the B.B. King Throne, the Harmonica Parade, and the Fannie Lou Hamer Empowerment Project.
Dr. Turnipseed is the cultural arts director for the Mississippi Act for Community Education (MACE). She worked to reestablish the Cultural Arts Department. She also worked to establish the Indianola History and Culture – A Historical Marker and Walking Trail. She is the owner of da’House of Khafre. It is the first and only cultural arts/educational institute in the Mississippi Delta. She is the host of the Juneteenth 101 Podcast and Delta Renaissance, which is the longest running weekly prime-time cultural arts and educational television and radio program that services the entire Mississippi Delta.
Dr. Turnipseed just returned from a trip to Africa, where she visited South Africa and Mali. Her interests lie in connecting the Mississippi Delta to Mali and Manchester, England, which was known as “Cottonopolis.” She wants to educate the public about the impact that cotton has had on the world and the part that Mississippi played in making cotton the important product that it is.
Dr. Turnipseed believes that it is important for her constituents to understand that they have no restrictions. She doesn’t have any boundaries or limits, and she wants to teach her fellow Mississippians that they don’t have any boundaries or limits either. Dr. Turnipseed said, “Yes, I can, and you can, too. Let’s make Mississippi great for real by electing a Black woman, an African woman who was born in America, who is very clear about her identity and her self-worth, people’s worth and the contributions that we have made. Time’s up. We’re here. Demand the respect that we deserve. We are not taking no for an answer. Whether you vote for me or not, that’s what time it is. It’s the ancestors that are pushing this agenda.”
For more information about Dr. C. Sade Turnipseed and her projects, please visit cottonpickers.us and turnipseed4MSrep.com
