BILOXI, MS.- Biloxi potter George Ohr, who performed his magic on the potter's wheel at the turn of the 20th century, is now officially in Mississippi's Hall of Fame. On Friday, the self-styled Mad Potter of Biloxi joined three others on the list - literary giants Eudora Welty and Richard Wright, and Emmett Vaughey, a leader in the development of Mississippi's oil industry.

Inclusion in the Mississippi Hall of Fame, created in 1902, honors women and men who made noteworthy contributions to the state's history. It is the most significant recognition granted by the state through the Department of Archives & History. The inductions are held every five yearsMDAH's board of trustees announced the new members on Friday in Jackson.

Ohr, who pinched, folded, and twisted pots before his 1918 death, exhibited an unmatched technical facility and creativity. The Pulitzer Prize-winning Welty spent her life in Jackson. "Black Boy," the fictionalized autobiography of Roxie-native Wright, is regarded as a classic of American literature. Oklahoma native Vaughey moved to Jackson in 1940 and worked with the legislature to establish conservation laws modeled by other oil-producing states.