MISSISSIPPI CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUM
222 NORTH STREET
JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI

HOURS
TUESDAY–SATURDAY  9AM–5PM
SUNDAY 11AM–5PM

Explore the Galleries

Explore the movement that changed the nation. Discover stories of Mississippians like Medgar Evers, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Vernon Dahmer, as well as those who traveled many miles to stand beside them, come what may, in the name of equal rights for all.

Explore the Galleries at the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum

Points of Light

The Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi is full of ordinary men and women who refused to sit silently while their brothers and sisters were denied their basic freedoms. A number of these heroes are featured throughout the museum as Points of Light, shining exemplars of dignity, strength, and perseverance in the face of oppression.

Staughton Lynd - Photo by Herbert Randall, Herbert Randall Freedom Summer Photographs, McCain Library and Archives, The University of Southern Mississippi

Staughton Lynd

"Education is above all a meeting between people." Spelman College history professor Staughton Lynd likened Freedom Schools to a guerilla army, living within the community. He wanted the heart of curriculum to stem from questions taken from each student’s most immediate experience of housing, employment, and education, and work outward to questions such as: "What is it like for Negroes who go North? What are the myths of our society about the Negro’s past? What in Mississippi keeps us from getting the things we want?" The curriculum emphasized building student self-esteem and included units on "The Power Structure," the history of the Freedom Movement, and nonviolence.

Dr. A.H. McCoy

Dr. A.H. McCoy

Physician and astute businessman A.H. McCoy owned a dental practice, two movie theaters and the Security Life Insurance Company of the South, and helped establish the Farish Street Business District in downtown Jackson, which became the hub of the Civil Rights Movement. McCoy worked diligently within the movement, serving as president of the Mississippi Chapter of the NAACP in the 1950s and providing financial backing for equal rights campaigns that helped to uplift African Americans disenfranchised by the Jim Crow South. In 1984, the federal building in downtown Jackson was named for McCoy, making it the first federal building in the nation to be named in honor of an African American.

Explore Mississippi

Many of the homes, colleges, and historic sites discussed in this gallery still exist today. Journey beyond the museum walls and explore the places where history happened.

Alcorn State University

Alcorn State UniversityAlcorn State University is the oldest public historically black land-grant institution in the United States and the second-oldest state-supported institution of higher learning in Mississippi. It was founded in 1871 to educate the descendants of formerly enslaved Mississippians.

1000 Alcorn Avenue
Lorman, Mississippi

Visit Website

Holy Family Catholic Church

Holy Family Catholic ChurchFirst Catholic Church in Mississippi River Valley with exclusively African American congregation

16 Orange Avenue
Natchez, Mississippi

Visit Website