Research ship name: Mississippi MD, civil rights activist

A new oceagraphic research ship will be named for a Mississippi physician who filed one of Deep South’s first school desegregation lawsuits and led we-ins at a federally funded public beach. lawsuit which Gilbert R. Mason Sr. filed for his son me Biloxi’s public schools first in Mississippi to integrate. An official at University of Sourn Mississippi’s School of Ocean Science and Engineering says Mason’s name was among more than 160 submitted.

ship is expected to begin studies in Gulf of Mexico in 2023. It will be operated by a consortium led by USM and Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium. Universities in every Gulf state, as well as Georgia, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands and Mexico also are part of group.