Mississippi Civil Rights Museum | Mississippi Civil Rights Museum

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.

Dr. W.B. Selah

"Pray-ins" raised moral issues for White Christians, but the consequences of speaking out for integration were just as real. In June 1963, Black Tougaloo students, turned away at Jackson’s Galloway Methodist Church where Dr. W.B. Selah was leading the service. After learning that ushers had turned the students away, Selah resigned at the conclusion of the service. A long-standing leader of Jackson Methodists, Selah’s action divided the community. Some opposed "politics" in the church, while others praised his principled stand.

John Roy Lynch - Thomas and Joan Gandy Photographic Collection, Mss. 3778, Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collection, LSU Libraries, Baton Rouge, LA

Representative John Roy Lynch

The child of a slave mother and Irish plantation manager father in Vidalia, Louisiana, John R. Lynch and his mother were sold to a Natchez planter after his father’s death. A self-educated man, Lynch operated a photography studio and became active in the Republican Party after the Civil War. Governor Adelbert Ames appointed him justice of the peace in 1869. The same year, he won election to the state legislature, later serving as Speaker of the House. In 1873, he won election to the US House of Representatives. In Congress, Lynch argued for the Civil Rights Act of 1875, which banned discrimination in public accommodations. He served three terms, overcoming voter intimidation and vote tampering by his Democratic opponents. In 1913, he published Facts of Reconstruction to refute the Lost Cause narrative of the period. Credit: The Thomas H. and Joan Gandy Photographic Collection, Mss. 3778, Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collection, LSU Libraries, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

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.