MERIDIAN, Miss. -- Small towns are often known by the celebrities, athletes and war heroes they produce -- their names emblazoned on streets, buildings and parks; tales of their success are fodder for coffee shop conversations.

But occasionally small towns are remembered for ordinary people who demonstrate great courage in the face of an unpopular cause. Their lives, and most times deaths, makes us thankful their roots were established in our backyard. We come to take them for granted. In short, we forget.

And in so doing, their voices are silenced.

Meridian, Miss., has plenty of ordinary folk who showed uncommon courage in building a better community. Chief among them is James Earl Chaney, a civil rights activist and martyr. He gave his life for equality at a time when few residents spoke out against racial injustice.

This week in Washington, D. C., when Barack Obama was sworn in as the nation's 44th president, local civil rights advocates will find it an especially momentous occasion. Four-plus decades of hopes and dreams will come to fruition. The first black person in the history of the United States will occupy the White House.

Rev. Charles Johnson, a former civil rights worker who once advised Chaney, is among the few still alive in Meridian who was deep in the struggle of the 1960s. Johnson said Obama’s inauguration will be an emotional time for him.

"I never thought I'd ever live to see this day," said Johnson.

It will also bring back memories of a time when Mississippi was a different place, and a group of courageous people fought just to vote, Johnson said. It will serve to remind him of people like James Chaney.