Mississippi’s Turbulent Civil Rights History Told In 11 Historic Sites

Walking the Mississippi Civil Rights Trail

Mississippi was one of the epicenters of the civil rights struggle in America, especially during the pivotal years between 1955 and 1968.

Here are 11 sites where you can learn about key events from this period, from the grocery store where Emmett Till was accused of whistling at a white woman, to Ole Miss and Biloxi’s historic wade-in markers.

Bryant’s Grocery Marker

Address: Bryant’s Grocery & Meat Market, Money Road, Greenwood, MS, United States

Bryant’s Grocery & Meat Market is where14-year-old Emmett Till reportedly whistled at Carolyn Bryant. 

In response, Roy Bryant (Carolyn’s husband), J. W. Milam (his half-brother), and their accomplices seized Till from his bed at home. They brutalized him, shot him dead, bound his body to a cotton-gin fan using barbed wire, and sank him in a river.

This horrific murder lit the spark for the American Civil Rights Movement.

Today, only crumbling walls stand where Bryant’s Grocery once operated. A Mississippi Freedom Trail marker now teaches visitors about this pivotal moment in history.

Mississippi Civil Rights Museum

Address: 222 North St #2205, Jackson, MS

This museum opened in 2017 and is the only one of its kind in Mississippi. Its exhibits chronicle the full span of the Civil Rights Movement, spotlighting Mississippi heroes like Medgar Evers, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Vernon Dahmer.

The museum puts special focus on the murders of Medgar Evers and Emmett Till, showing how these tragedies pushed the movement to the front of American consciousness.

Admission Fees:

• $15 (Adult)
• $8 (Children)
• $13 (Seniors, Military)
• FREE on Sundays

Biloxi Wade-Ins Marker

Address: 1061 Beach Blvd., Biloxi, MS, MS 39530 (Biloxi Lighthouse’s base)

Black citizens went into the water at Biloxi beach three times to fight for their right to swim there: May 14, 1959, April 24, 1960, and June 23, 1963. 

During the second protest, police attacked and arrested many protesters, both Black and white, including Dr. Gilbert R. Mason Sr., who led the wade-ins. 

These acts of resistance birthed Biloxi’s NAACP branch, sparked major voter registration drives in 1960, and won a 1968 federal court ruling that opened the beach to all. 

Freedom Summer Murders Marker

Address: Outside the Mt. Zion United Methodist Church on County Road 747 in Neshoba County, Mississippi

The Mississippi Department of Archives and History placed this marker in 1989 to commemorate the murders during the Freedom Summer.

College students poured into Mississippi to help Black citizens register to vote during Freedom Summer. Local white officials, including the Sheriff and KKK members, fought back violently. They bombed churches, businesses, homes, and jailed voters.

On June 21, 1964, Klan members murdered voting rights activists John Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner, who had come to investigate Mt. Zion Church’s burning. 

Their deaths outraged the nation and led to Mississippi’s first successful federal civil rights prosecution.

Two years before these tragic murders, another milestone in civil rights history unfolded at the state’s flagship university.

James Meredith Statue at University of Mississippi

Address: 304 University Circle, University of Mississippi

A life-size bronze statue honors James Meredith, who broke barriers in 1962 as the University of Mississippi’s first Black student. 

Meredith Segregationists violently opposed his enrollment, causing riots that killed two people and injured others. President John F. Kennedy stepped in, sending federal authorities to escort Meredith onto campus.

The statue shows Meredith stepping through a limestone doorway. The words “courage,” “knowledge,” “opportunity,” and “perseverance” crown the entrance.

You’ll find his statue near the Lyceum, the sole surviving building from the university’s original five.

Tallahatchie County Courthouse

Address: 401 W Court St, Sumner, MS

The men charged with Emmett Till’s lynching faced trial in this courthouse. Now preserved as a museum, it works with the interpretive center across the street to tell the full story. There’s a $5 fee to tour both buildings.

Hours: 

Tuesday – Saturday: 12:00 PM – 5:00 PM

Emmett Till Historic Intrepid Center

Address: 33 Thomas Street, Glendora, MS, United States

Glendora Mayor Johnny B. Thomas transformed the old Glendora Cotton Gin into one of the world’s first Till museums. 

This building holds dark significance: Till’s killers stole the fan and wire from this very gin to weigh down his body before dumping it in the Tallahatchie River.

The intimate museum documents Till’s life, death, and the Civil Rights Movement in Glendora.

Fannie Lou Hamer Marker

Address: Sunflower County Courthouse, 200 Main Street, Indianola, MS

On August 31, 1962, right after her first voter meeting, Fannie Lou Hamer walked 26 miles with 17 others to sign up to vote at this courthouse.

They met an intimidating wall of police officers and failed the mandatory literacy test. Yet Hamer persisted, later helping thousands of Mississippi citizens register and vote. Her work pushed President Lyndon B. Johnson to sign the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

Mississippi Valley State University students spearheaded the creation of this marker. After COVID-19 delays, they unveiled it on October 6, 2020, celebrating the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument

Address: 2332 Margaret W Alexander Dr, Jackson, MS

From their modest three-bedroom ranch house, Medgar and Myrlie Evers fought tirelessly for Black Americans’ rights through local and national activism.

On June 12, 1963, an assassin killed Medgar Evers, the NAACP’s first field secretary, at his home. His death helped push through the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but justice moved slowly. Myrlie waited 31 years to see her husband’s killer convicted. 

She carried on their work, blazing trails as one of the first Black women to seek Congress and later leading the NAACP as chairwoman.

Their former home, now a National Historic Landmark, stands preserved as a museum, looking just as it did during their time there.

Mount Zion Baptist Church

Address: 901 Spencer St., Hattiesburg, MS

Mount Zion Baptist earned its nickname “Civil Rights Church” through years of activism before, during, and after Freedom Summer. Two weeks before his death in 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. spoke here about the “Poor People’s March on Washington.”

The church hosted many civil rights events. Pete Seeger taught music, while Freedom School students learned Black history and literature banned from public schools. Reverend F.L. Barnes guided the congregation through Freedom Summer.

Tougaloo College

Address: 500 W County Line Rd, Tougaloo, MS

Tougaloo College gave civil rights activists a safe place to stay and meet during the movement. Leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Fannie Lou Hamer, and Medgar Evers met in its Woodworth Chapel.

The “Tougaloo Nine” also launched their resistance from here, staging sit-ins at segregated public spaces, including Jackson Public Library in 1961.

Their arrests pushed the American Library Association to demand all members serve everyone, regardless of race. Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana quit the Association in protest.