This former Greyhound bus station was the scene of many historic arrests in 1961, when Freedom Riders challenged racial segregation at Jackson’s bus and train stations and airport. […]
The family of Medgar and Myrlie Evers moved into this home in 1955 after Medgar became Mississippi’s first NAACP Field Secretary. Just after midnight, on June 12, 1963, he was assassinated in the driveway by Byron De La Beckwith as […]
Tragedy struck Jackson State on May 15, 1970, when Jackson police and Mississippi Highway Patrol officers suppressed student unrest with intense gunfire. Phillip Lafayette Gibbs and James Earl Green were killed and many injured when bullets riddled Alexander Hall and […]
During the Civil Rights Movement, Tougaloo students, faculty, and staff fueled the Jackson civil rights movement, participating in demonstrations, sit-ins, and other protests. […]
Woolworth’s variety store was the scene of a pivotal event in the Mississippi civil rights movement on May 28, 1963. When three black Tougaloo College students sat down at the white lunch counter seeking service, the nonviolent protesters were attacked […]
Curtis Conway Bryant played a major role in the early civil rights activism of southwest Mississippi. He campaigned to expand membership in the NAACP, led large voter registration drives, was jailed, and endured bombings of his family home and barber […]
The largest civil rights demonstration in Mississippi history was held at this site on June 26, 1966, marking the end of James Meredith’s March Against Fear. Stirring speeches were delivered by Martin Luther King, Jr., Stokely Carmichael, James Meredith, and […]
From this building, COFO (Council of Federated Organizations) coordinated efforts of SNCC, NAACP, CORE, SCLC, and other activist groups from early 1963 through early 1965. Clarksdale’s Aaron Henry was COFO president. Bob Moses, program director, and David Dennis, assistant program […]
Biloxi Beach Wade-in
Biloxi
The Biloxi wade-ins were protests that were conducted by local African Americans on the beaches of Biloxi, between 1959 and 1963. Dr. Gilbert R Mason led more than 100 South Mississippians in a peaceful wade-in on segregated Biloxi Beach. The Mississippi Gulf […]
On March 27, 1961, nine African American students from Tougaloo College staged a sit-in at the Jackson Municipal Library, which served only white patrons. The students were arrested after refusing police orders to go to Carver Library, the “colored” library, […]
The Jackson-based television state, WLBT, supported racial segregation in Mississippi in the 1950s and 1960s through its news coverage and programming decisions. In 1979, WLBT was purchased by TV-3, a merger of four groups, chaired by Aaron Henry, Mississippi NAACP […]
Rabbi Perry Nussbaum came to Beth Israel in 1954 and was an important voice for racial justice in Mississippi. Working with diverse ministers, he helped found the Committee of Concern, raising money for black churches burned by the Klan. In […]
