A section of Highway 30 in the City Limits of Oxford dedicated to Civil Rights leader and funeral home director
On Monday, January 30, 2023, Lafayette County and Oxford, Mississippi elected officials, along with members of the Nathan Hodges, Jr. family, dedicated a section of State Route 30 in his honor.
During the 2022 Legislative Session, Senate Bill No. 2481 was signed into law, designating a segment of State Route 30 located in the corporate limits of Oxford beginning at the bridge passing over State Route 7 and extending east to the County Road 207 is designated and shall be known at the “Nathan Hodges, Jr. Memorial Highway.”
Nathan Hodges, Jr. was born January 30, 1924, in Meridian to the late Nathan and Carrie Wilson Hodges. After graduating from Harris High School, he enlisted in the United States Army in 1942 and served in World War II. He received a medical discharge in 1945 and returned home to Meridian.
After returning home, Nathan became very active in the civil rights movement and started an organization which he named the Veteran’s Club. This very organization would later become known as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (N.A.A.C.P.).
He settled his family in Oxford and became a pillar in the Lafayette County community and its surrounding areas. He served his community professionally and worked his way up to become owner and president of Hodges Funeral Home, Inc. for more than 50 years, and the business still exists today.
