Mississippi History Museums to Open in 2017
Mississippi and its people have contributed significantly to the history of our country. It is a story of tragedy and triumph, of humiliation and pride, from the depths of despair to the pinnacle of achievement.
Ours is a story worth telling with lessons for today and the future. Unfortunately, there has been no central location focused on telling this story. Thanks to the work of the last four governors and the Mississippi state legislature, that is all about to change.
In the fall of 2017, the bicentennial year for our state, two new museums will open side by side in Jackson: the Museum of Mississippi History and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum. The groundbreaking for both museums, which will overlook the Mississippi fairgrounds, was held last month. Their opening will be the centerpiece of our state’s celebration of our 200th birthday.
Myrlie Evers-Williams, the widow of martyred civil rights leader Medgar Evers and an accomplished woman in her own right, was a featured speaker at the groundbreaking. Her donation of her and Medgar Evers’ papers to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History was a catalyst for the museum on civil rights.
She looked over the fairgrounds and remembered when civil rights advocates were arrested and locked in livestock pens there in the 1960s. This woman who had every right to be bitter about the past said that back then she never thought this day would come. The Vicksburg native praised Mississippi for its social progress and declared, “I want the international press, the national press and everyone to know that I am proud to be from Mississippi.”
“People need to learn and be taught history, and not just children,” former governor Haley Barbour said. “These two museums will play very large roles in Mississippians knowing more about their state and their country – good and bad.”
Former governor William Winter said, “These two museums will feature the voices and the stories of Mississippians – famous and infamous, well known and little known, heroes and scoundrels – as narrators of our history.”
My mother was a Mississippi history teacher during my childhood. She would regale my brother and me at the dinner table. The most memorable story was about the birth of Choctaw Indian Chief Pushmataha. He was so tough that he wasn’t born like you and me, she would say. Instead, on a stormy night, “The lightning struck! The tree split! And out stepped Pushmataha!”
The Museum of Mississippi History will tell the story of Indians who called Mississippi home before the rest of us. It will allow visitors to sit on cotton bales and view interactive maps from Civil War battles. Visitors will learn why Mississippi is the birthplace of America’s music when they hear the recordings of Muddy Waters, Elvis Presley, Jimmie Rodgers, and Leontyne Price.
The Mississippi Civil Rights Museum will teach about life during the Jim Crow era in Mississippi. Visitors will learn about the national impact of the lynching of Emmitt Till, James Meredith’s integration of Ole Miss, Freedom Summer, and other nationally significant events that took place in Mississippi. Like similar museums in Atlanta, Birmingham, and Memphis, ours will educate about the past and allow us to celebrate our progress. Unlike those others, this museum in Jackson will focus specifically on events in Mississippi.
We need to know our history to better understand our state today. Future generations of Mississippians will need to know the stories of their past. Thankfully, these two Smithsonian-caliber Mississippi museums will make our future better by reminding us where we came from and what we have done. Thank God for Mississippi!
Ours is a story worth telling with lessons for today and the future. Unfortunately, there has been no central location focused on telling this story. Thanks to the work of the last four governors and the Mississippi state legislature, that is all about to change.
In the fall of 2017, the bicentennial year for our state, two new museums will open side by side in Jackson: the Museum of Mississippi History and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum. The groundbreaking for both museums, which will overlook the Mississippi fairgrounds, was held last month. Their opening will be the centerpiece of our state’s celebration of our 200th birthday.
Myrlie Evers-Williams, the widow of martyred civil rights leader Medgar Evers and an accomplished woman in her own right, was a featured speaker at the groundbreaking. Her donation of her and Medgar Evers’ papers to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History was a catalyst for the museum on civil rights.
She looked over the fairgrounds and remembered when civil rights advocates were arrested and locked in livestock pens there in the 1960s. This woman who had every right to be bitter about the past said that back then she never thought this day would come. The Vicksburg native praised Mississippi for its social progress and declared, “I want the international press, the national press and everyone to know that I am proud to be from Mississippi.”
“People need to learn and be taught history, and not just children,” former governor Haley Barbour said. “These two museums will play very large roles in Mississippians knowing more about their state and their country – good and bad.”
Former governor William Winter said, “These two museums will feature the voices and the stories of Mississippians – famous and infamous, well known and little known, heroes and scoundrels – as narrators of our history.”
My mother was a Mississippi history teacher during my childhood. She would regale my brother and me at the dinner table. The most memorable story was about the birth of Choctaw Indian Chief Pushmataha. He was so tough that he wasn’t born like you and me, she would say. Instead, on a stormy night, “The lightning struck! The tree split! And out stepped Pushmataha!”
The Museum of Mississippi History will tell the story of Indians who called Mississippi home before the rest of us. It will allow visitors to sit on cotton bales and view interactive maps from Civil War battles. Visitors will learn why Mississippi is the birthplace of America’s music when they hear the recordings of Muddy Waters, Elvis Presley, Jimmie Rodgers, and Leontyne Price.
The Mississippi Civil Rights Museum will teach about life during the Jim Crow era in Mississippi. Visitors will learn about the national impact of the lynching of Emmitt Till, James Meredith’s integration of Ole Miss, Freedom Summer, and other nationally significant events that took place in Mississippi. Like similar museums in Atlanta, Birmingham, and Memphis, ours will educate about the past and allow us to celebrate our progress. Unlike those others, this museum in Jackson will focus specifically on events in Mississippi.
We need to know our history to better understand our state today. Future generations of Mississippians will need to know the stories of their past. Thankfully, these two Smithsonian-caliber Mississippi museums will make our future better by reminding us where we came from and what we have done. Thank God for Mississippi!