Cox's position was one of the most respected and lucrative public posts in Indianola, as it served approximately 3,000 patrons and paid $1,100 annually, then a large sum.

James K. Vardaman, editor of The Greenwood Commonwealth and a white supremacist, began delivering speeches reproaching the people of Indianola for "tolerating a negro wench as a postmaster.

"[6] Racial tensions grew, and threats of physical harm led Cox to submit her resignation to take effect on January 1, 1903.

The incident attracted national attention, and President Theodore Roosevelt refused to accept her resignation, feeling Cox had been wronged, and the authority of the federal government was being compromised.

Unless Cox's detractors could prove a reason for her dismissal other than the color of her skin, she would remain the Indianola postmistress.

"[7] Roosevelt closed Indianola's post office on January 2, 1903, and rerouted mail to Greenville; Cox continued to receive her salary.

[8] In July 1954, two months after the Supreme Court of the United States announced its unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education, ruling that school segregation was unconstitutional, the local plantation manager Robert B. Patterson met with a group of like-minded people in a private home in Indianola to form the White Citizens' Council.

[11] The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the city government convinced a major retailer to build a distribution center near the intersection of the two highways.

[17] J. Todd Moye, author of Let the People Decide: Black Freedom and White Resistance Movements in Sunflower County, Mississippi, 1945–1986, said that "Life in Indianola still moves at a pace established by its distinguishing characteristic, the picturesque and languid Indian Bayou that winds through downtown.

Sarah Carr of The Atlantic explained that there are two explanations of why the private academies in Indianola and other towns still exist.

[26] The Mississippi Department of Corrections operates a probation and parole office in the Courthouse Annex in Indianola.

[28] A mural, entitled White Gold in the Delta by WPA Section of Painting and Sculpture artist Beulah Bettersworth, was installed in the post office in 1939.