Photograph of a protest march in support of the Delta Community Health Center of Mound Bayou, Mississippi

Color photograph of a 1972 demonstration held in Jackson, Mississippi, as a protest of Mississippi Governor William Waller's veto of an Office of Economic Opportunity grant to support the operations of the Delta Community Health Center and Hospital in Mound Bayou, Mississippi. A poster held by an unidentified woman in the foreground of the photograph reads, "Waller - The Sun is Setting. Don't Let it Sit on You!"

Although the $5.5 million federal grant was approved by the OEO, Governor Waller cited three reasons for vetoing it: that the hospital's facilities did not meet state requirements, that the programs to be supported duplicated services already offered in the area, and that the center was operating under and invalid license.

The Delta Health Center was started in the rural, all-African American town of Mound Bayou, Bolivar County, Mississippi, and served Bolivar, Coahoma, Sunflower, and Washington counties, where poverty is widespread. The center was one of the first community health centers in the United States. The comprehensive community or neighborhood health center model aimed at building upon traditional health services by addressing the underlying causes of illness, including economic, environmental, and social factors. The Delta Health Center was largely supported by grants from federal programs, particularly those administered through the Office of Economic Opportunity, the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, and the Department of Health and Human Services.