Mississippi in Black and White, 1865–1941

The road to Reconstruction for the South remained clouded by wounds of war and competing plans for the future. The federal policy called Reconstruction intended to rebuild the Southern states and bring them back into the Union. Black Mississippians emerged from slavery with their first hopeful glimpses of freedom. They eagerly built communities with businesses, schools, and churches. They voted and won election to office. But freedom was fragile. By the turn of the century, Jim Crow laws disenfranchised African Americans, eliminated equality under the law, and ushered in segregation.

From the Gallery

Explore artifacts, photos, and documents featured in the Mississippi in Black and White gallery.

Black Voters Outnumber White Voters

Black Voters Outnumber White Voters

White Mississippians feared the voting power of Black freedmen. Because White planters had depended on slaves to work their cotton fields before the Civil War, Black Mississippians outnumbered Whites by a large margin after the war. Black populations were largest in the cotton-growing counties up and down the Mississippi River. In 1867, Mississippi's Black registered voters (60,167) far exceeded White voters (46,636). A year later, Black registered voters (86,973) easily outpaced White voters (68,587). The voting age population counted only men, 21 years and older.

Timeline: 1865–1910

Black Votes Disappear

Election participation by black Mississippians fell dramatically in the wake of the Mississippi Plan. In 1867, 66.9% (60,167) of eligible black voters were registered. By 1892, the number of black registered voters had dropped to 5.7% (8,615). By 1955, it had fallen to 4.3% (4,502). In no county did the black vote exceed that of whites, despite large black majorities in some counties.

Black Votes Disappear

Remember Their Names

From 1882 to 1970 more than 500 men and women were lynched in Mississippi. Five monoliths in this gallery are inscribed with 445 names and alleged "crimes" to bear witness to the violence White people employed to maintain White supremacy at the start of the Jim Crow Era. 
 

Wesley Thomas

Male, Vicksburg, Attempted Assault of a White Woman

Lynched in Port Gibson in 1889 for “attempted rape.”

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Video Tour

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.

Senator Hiram Revels - Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division, LC-DIG-cwpbh-03275

Senator Hiram Revels

Born free in North Carolina, Hiram Revels committed his life to education, church, and community. During the Civil War, Revels organized two Black regiments in Maryland, and founded a freedmen's school in St. Louis. An ordained minister, Revels followed the Union Army to Jackson, where he lectured and organized Black churches and schools. Moving to Vicksburg in 1864, he served as chaplain of a Black regiment and minister of the Bethel A.M.E. Church. He also assisted the provost marshal of the Freedmen’s Bureau. In 1866, Revels became pastor at Zion A.M.E. Church in Natchez. There, he was appointed alderman before winning a seat in the state senate in 1869. A year later, his colleagues in the Mississippi legislature elected him as the first African American US senator in the nation’s history.

Senator Blanche Kelso Bruce - Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division, HABS DC,WASH,399--1

Senator Blanche Kelso Bruce

Blanche Kelso Bruce rose from slavery to the US Senate. Born a Virginia slave, Bruce was taught by his young master’s tutor. He left his master at the beginning of the Civil War and moved to Hannibal, Missouri, where he taught school briefly before continuing his education at Oberlin College in Ohio. After the war, Bruce worked on a Mississippi steamer for a year before settling in Bolivar County, where he became a successful planter. Active in Republican state politics, Bruce served as sheriff and tax collector (1872-1875), before the state legislature elected him to the US Senate, the first African American to serve a full term (1875-1881).

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.

Rust College

Rust CollegeFounded in 1866 to provide basic education for newly-freed adults and children.

150 Rust Avenue
Holly Springs, Mississippi 38635

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Ida B. Wells Museum

Ida B. Wells MuseumFeatures a collection of artifacts belonging to journalist, suffragist, and civil rights activist Ida B. Wells

220 North Randolph Street
Holly Springs, Mississippi 

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