The Buffalo Community of Attala County

In the left background of the picture here is a narrow, winding road, made of Attala County's trademark red dirt and clay. This road leads to the Buffalo Church and its cemetery. The turnoff for the church and the cemetery is appropriately named "Oprah Winfrey Road," since the old Buffalo Community near the church was the early childhood home of one of America's most well-known women, Oprah Winfrey.

According to Ed Hutchison in his book "Yesterday," a book about his own ancestors, as well as other families who once lived in Attala County, the Buffalo Community was home at one time to some of the ancestors of at least four well-known individuals. These individuals were James Meredith, O. J. Simpson, Tina Turner, and Oprah Winfrey. Most readers recognize the names and know the stories of O. J. Simpson, Tina Turner, and Oprah Winfrey. But for those who may be less familiar with Mississippi's history, James Meredith was the first Black student to attend the University of Mississippi located north of Kosciusko in Oxford.

A number of books and articles have been written in recent years about the significance of the Buffalo Community of long ago and its rich history of residents whose lineages linked them to ethnic ties with Native American, Black, and Caucasian residents in that area and nearby. Some names of those buried in the Buffalo Cemetery or who had ties to the Buffalo Community are Bain, Bridges, Bullock, Drake, McFadden, Presley, and Walker.

One interesting gravestone in the cemetery marks the final resting place of Love Zinkey Funches Shropshire, who was obviously one of Attala County's oldest residents when she died on May 9, 1980, shortly before she would have celebrated her 101st birthday on October 26th later that same year.