In March 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. visited Marks to get support for a Poor People’s Campaign. King envisioned a march that would begin with mule and wagon trains in Mississippi before converging on Washington, D.C. The mule train eventually […]
On June 9, 1963, civil rights activists, including Fannie Lou Hamer, returning from a voter education workshop, stopped at a café on this site and attempted to use a “whites only” bathroom and receive service at the segregated restaurant. The […]
James Meredith broke the rigid segregation in Mississippi’s higher education when he became the first African American student at the University of Mississippi. […]
Mississippi Freedom Trail – Rust College
Holly Springs
As the civil rights movement began in earnest during the 1960s, Rust College president E. A. Smith set an example for activism. Students organized and participated in a boycott of the segregated Holly Theater and were involved in the formation […]
Mississippi Freedom Trail – Carpenters for Christmas
Blue Mountain
In October 1964, the Antioch Missionary Baptist Church near Blue Mountain was destroyed by fire, following a Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party rally led by Fannie Lou Hamer. On December 22, church members and other volunteers began rebuilding. On Christmas Day, […]
James Meredith began his Memphis-to-Jackson “March Against Fear” on June 4, 1966, challenging the “all-pervasive and overriding fear” that kept black Mississippians from registering to vote. […]
On September 12, 1966, 150 black children endured violence as they integrated schools in Grenada. Movement activists and parents accompanied black students to John Rundle High School and Lizzie Horn Elementary School, facing a white mob that was armed with […]
Henry Reaves, a local Black farmer, organized residents in Benton County and founded the local NAACP chapter. Reaves inspired the Benton County Movement and was a driving force for voting rights and school desegregation. […]
Mississippi Freedom Trail – Neshoba County Murders
Philadelphia
At the Neshoba County Jail, three Freedom Summer civil rights activists–James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner–were detained for an alleged speeding violation. After their release, the three men were murdered by Ku Klux Klan members and buried in a […]
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 […]
Former Greyhound Bus Station
Jackson
The former Greyhound bus station in Jackson was a site of significant historic events in 1961 when Freedom Riders, protested racial segregation in public transportation. Their actions led to increased federal enforcement against discriminatory practices. Today, owned by Robert Parker […]
Ida B. Wells-Barnett Museum
Holly Springs
The Ida B. Wells-Barnett Museum and Cultural Center of African and African American History was established to inspire, enlighten and enrich the lives of people everywhere by collecting, preserving and disseminating African and African-American contributions in the fields of history, […]
