Recognizing the Civil Rights Struggle for Freedom in the Delta
The Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area is committed to engaging Mississippi Delta communities in finding, saving, telling, and experiencing their own stories of the Civil Rights Movement. Through our theme Moving Toward Freedom: Changing America's Character in the Struggle for Rights, we acknowledge that "the Delta was home to pivotal events both horrible and inspirational, including Emmett Till's murder, Freedom Summer and the Poor People's Campaign. Leaders and activists such as Amzie Moore, Fannie Lou Hamer, the delegates of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, and the Freedom Riders are among those who paved the way for changes that are still unfolding today."
This digital archive illustrates diverse ways that the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area has collaborated with national entities and Mississippi Delta-based organizations to interpret, preserve, and commemorate Civil Rights heritage in our region.
In the spirit of the Alliance of National Heritage Areas' Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statement, we invite Mississippi Delta residents, visitors, researchers, and all Civil Rights heritage aficionados to explore and learn from this archive.
We also invite you to share your Civil Rights heritage stories and experiences with us. Use the form located at the “Share Your Story” link to send a message and share your story. Will you help us build a community-generated understanding of this place we call home? It takes us all to tell the story of the Mississippi Delta. We hope you’ll share yours with us.
Click images to enlarge
The Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area is a member of the National Park Service’s African American Civil Rights Network (AACRN).
The AACRN “encompasses properties, facilities, and interpretive programs, all of which present a comprehensive narrative of the people, places, and events associated with African American Civil Rights movement in the United States.”
Videos
NEH Most Southern workshop participants sing "This Little Light of Mine" at Fannie Lou Hamer Memorial Garden
Reverend Wheeler Parker, who is the last living witness to Emmett Till’s abduction,discusses the life and impact of his cousin
Watch a public discussion about the elements behind the creation of Beautiful Agitators, a play about Civil Rights foot soldiers Vera Mae Pigee and Aaron Henry
Learn more about a Mississippi Valley State University project funded by MDNHA grant .
Clarksdale, Mississippi celebrates its role in the Civil Rights Movement with new map
Learn about how history and the humanities merge through the performance of Beautiful Agitators, a Civil Rights Movement play featuring Clarksdale-based activists Vera Mae Pigee and Aaron Henry
Get a deeper insight into the influence of Fannie Lou Hamer on modern politics
See footage from the Unita Blackwell Freedom Trail marker unveiling. You can view more here.
Learn about the new African American heritage sites map created in Clarksdale, MS.
Articles & Announcements
‘Get On Board, Little Children’: Civil Rights Heritage Is Mississippi’s Next Tourism Movement
Civil Rides Bikes Through Campus for Awareness
Delta Center Presented 2016 Georgene Clark Diversity Champion Award
Delta Center, MDNHA and Statewide Partners Present Civil Rights Play at GRAMMY Museum Mississippi
Delta Center, MDNHA Host NPS Civil Rights Open House at Delta State
Delta State University to Receive 2020 Elbert R. Hilliard Oral History Award from Mississippi Historical Society
Julian Rankin, Willena Scott-White to Speak About Ed Scott, First Nonwhite Owner of a Catfish plant in the U.S.
MDNHA, Delta Center Partner with Delta Jewels Author for Smithsonian Presentation
Truth and Memory in the Mississippi Delta: What the Emmett Till Case Means Today
Fannie Lou Hamer's America Recipient of $22k Mississippi Delta National Heritage Grant
Civil Rights Heritage Development
in the Mississippi Delta
Mississippi Delta Top 40:
Emmett Till Trail
Beautiful Agitators Civil Rights Play Reading at GRAMMY Museum Mississippi
Clarksdale Play Brings Civil Rights Leader to Life
Delta Center Hosts State and National Student Groups
Delta Center, MDNHA Featured in National Parks Magazine Civil Rights Cover Story
Delta Jewels Gathering Attracts Hundreds
Hawkins v. Shaw: Wade Through the Waters
MDNHA, Delta Center Announce Delta Jewels Oral History Partnership
Hawkins v. Shaw Project Receives Mississippi Humanities Council Preserver of Mississippi Culture Award
Unita Blackwell Marker Added to Mississippi Freedom Trail
Sunflower County Film Academy Awarded $22k MDNHA Grant
Delta State and MDNHA receive National Park Service Centennial Awards
Mississippi Delta Top 40:
Mississippi Freedom Trail
Podcasts
Here's What's Become Of A Historic All-Black Town In The Mississippi Delta: NPR
The Emmett Till Project:
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
Travels on the Civil Rights Trail: The Deborah Douglas Episode: The Broad Cast
Coronavirus in the Mississippi Delta: APM Reports
Jewel of the Delta:
Princeton University
The Civil Rights Episode
Communication Matters: The NCA Podcast
Publications
ANHA Heart & Soul
July 2020
NEH
The Most Southern Place
on Earth
June 2018 Portfolio
NEH
The Most Southern Place
on Earth
June 2019 Portfolio
The Mound Bayou Story
Delta Jewels
Oral History Partnership 2015-2016 Report
NEH
The Most Southern Place
on Earth
July 2018 Portfolio
NEH
The Most Southern Place
on Earth
July 2019 Portfolio
Women of Mound Bayou
Civil Rights Heritage Sites of the Mississippi Delta Map
The Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area and the Mississippi Department of Archives and History undertook a survey of civil rights resources in the Mississippi Delta. The project looked at sites that were associated with the work being done by Black Mississippians as they asserted their rights as U.S. citizens, particularly in the areas of voter registration, public education, and public accommodations. Judith Johnson served as the project consultant and documented more than 200 extant sites in 18 counties.
The results of that survey were used to create an interactive map of civil rights heritage sites located throughout the Mississippi Delta. Click the button above to explore the map.
For additional information about the Civil Rights Sites Resource Study, see this video of study lead Judith Johnson speaking at MDAH’s History is Lunch.
Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Park Campaign
Our friends at the Emmett Till Interpretive Center have launched a website to raise awareness to the development of the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Park Campaign. We encourage you to visit, learn about the project, and sign the petition supporting it. Click the image above to find out more.