Mississippi Civil Rights Museum

This museum, like any museum, is not perfect. For example, the treatment of human rights at the entrance of the museum is a little shallow and vague, but that is also understandable given the age range of the audience. The museum could be improved by exploring the creative ways that black entrepreneurs worked around the unjust laws (such as the banning of midwifery, targeted at black midwives) that prevented them from competing equally in the market.

Overall, though, the museum is accurate and comprehensive. It tells the story of Americans young and old, black and white, male and female who fought for genuine rights for black people in Mississippi.

The museum tells the story of many effective and courageous political activists, without straying into modern politics. It focuses on genuine human rights and abuses of these rights, while emphasizing our unity as a nation. For example, the large pillars in the rotunda read: “Friends Came to Help,” “We Sing for Freedom,” and “We All Have a Light.”

There is no apparent political bias. Rather, there is a strong sense of pride in America and Mississippi. The exhibits urge visitors to focus on personal responsibility, light, and courage, rather than despairing about injustices.

The Mississippi Civil Rights Museum is family friendly insofar as possible given the subject of civil rights. Exhibits or recordings that are not suitable for children are hidden behind walls with warning labels so parents with young children can be cautioned. The subject matter of the museum is naturally heavy, and children who can read will be exposed to tragic episodes in American history, although the descriptions of violence or injustice are never gratuitous.

Parents with younger children may want to have conversations before and after about the subject matter. Nevertheless, it is important to expose children to the truth of history so that they are ever more aware of the “line between good and evil” that runs through every heart, including their own.

This museum tells the story of Civil Rights in Mississippi, beginning with the end of slavery and ending in the 1970s. Some of the figures discussed are Medgar Evers, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Vernon Dahmer, and there are quotes from well-known leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr., throughout the exhibits. The experience of racial violence and discrimination in Mississippi is a tragic chapter in its history, and the museum catalogues it by naming the hundreds of victims of lynchings, documenting the unjust legislative acts and abuses of police power, such as intimidation and violence at the voting booth, and reminding viewers of the social stigma attached to fighting for civil rights at this point in history, among other things. While education is highlighted as something particularly prized by civil rights leaders, the schoolhouse exhibit illustrates the shorter school year, larger class sizes, smaller number of books, and lower graduation rates of black schools compared to those with white students under segregation. The visitor is invited to reflect upon the enormous progress that has been made in living memory regarding the civil rights of black Mississippians.

This museum pays special attention to the efforts of Mississippians, “ordinary men and women who refused to sit silently while their brothers and sisters were denied their basic freedoms,” which distinguishes it from other civil rights museums in different parts of the country. Additionally, the role of black churches was critical to the fight for civil rights, and this museum emphasizes the importance of faith and religious communities in a unique way.

Owned By: The State of Mississippi

Operated By: Michael Morris (Museum Director)

Government Funded: Yes