Sweet Potato Queens is a women's organization based in Jackson, Mississippi, that has over six thousand registered chapters in over twenty countries.
[1] The Sweet Potato Queens concept has been explained and made popular by a series of books by Jill Conner Browne, born in Tupelo and raised in Jackson, who came up with the idea in 1982.
As John Ray, the ordering manager at Politics and Prose in Washington once said of the Sweet Potato Queen books, "they began to empower women.
"[3] In 2005, almost ten thousand women dressed up in costumes and came to Jackson for the annual Hal and Mal's St. Patrick’s Day parade, proceeds from which benefited a local children’s hospital.
In 2005, almost ten thousand women from the chapters dressed up in costume and came to Jackson for their St Patrick's Day parade, proceeds from which benefited a children’s hospital in the area.