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.

Father Nathaniel - Photo courtesy Jackson Catholic Diocese

Father Nathaniel

In Greenwood, Father Nathaniel Machesky offered the facilities at St. Francis of Assisi Mission to distribute supplies to aid the poor. A native of Detroit, he came to the Delta in 1950 and established the mission to aid poor Black Mississippians. When local banks refused loans to Black people, Father Nathaniel established the St. Francis Federal Credit Union. Father Nathaniel supported the Greenwood Movement but tried to remain behind the scenes to protect the mission’s efforts to aid the poor. But when Northern friends began bringing supplies, Father Nathaniel made his facility available for food distribution. His activism would make him the target of night-rider attacks and death threats in the coming years. 
 

Richard Wright - Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division, LC-USW3-030283-D

Richard Wright

Richard Wright spent a lifetime writing against racism. The son of a Natchez sharecropper and a high school teacher, Wright grew up in Adams County and Jackson, before moving to Chicago in the 1920s. In Uncle Tom’s Children (1938) and Native Son (1940), he gave voice to the experience of American racism. In Black Boy (1945), he wrote about his personal encounters with racism. Wright joined the Communist Party in Chicago, but, finding no answers, discontinued his associated after 10 years. In 1958, his last novel—The Long Dream—returned to the theme of racism. 

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.

Neshoba County African American Heritage Driving Tour

Neshoba County African American Heritage Driving TourHighlights places and people who fought for freedom and equality in Neshoba County

410 Poplar Avenue
Philadelphia, Mississippi 

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Emmitt Till Interpretive Center

Emmitt Till Interpretive CenterEstablished in 2005 to serve as a commemoration of the events of 1955. 

120 North Court Street
Sumner, Mississippi 38957

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