Free Holiday Admission To New Museums
FedEx Corporation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation are supporting free admission to the Museum of Mississippi History and Mississippi Civil Rights Museum from Saturday, January 19, through Tuesday, January 22, in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the third annual National Day of Racial Healing.
“We are grateful to FedEx Corporation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation for enabling hundreds to visit these museums and reflect on King’s contribution to Mississippi and the nation,” said Katie Blount, director of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.
“FedEx is honored to celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. through our continued support of the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum and Museum of Mississippi History,” said Shannon A. Brown, senior vice president of Air Ground and Freight Services and Chief Diversity Officer at FedEx Express. “It is a privilege for us to offer more museum-goers the opportunity to reflect on his extraordinary legacy.”
“The Two Mississippi museums honor the deep and painful stories of the state’s past and offer a space for all of Mississippians in search of racial healing a place to begin that journey,” said Rhea Williams Bishop, director of programming for Mississippi and New Orleans for the Kellogg Foundation.
At 6 p.m. on Monday, January 21, the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum will be the site of “MLK Poetry Night: ‘Where Do We Go From Here?’” Museum director Pamela Junior, artist Thabi Moyo, and musician 5th Child will co-host the evening of free performances in the Craig H. Neilsen Auditorium.
King’s involvement in Mississippi includes his attendance at the funeral of NAACP state field secretary Medgar Evers in 1963. In 1964, he visited Greenwood during Mississippi Freedom Summer to support the project. King made a statement before the credentials committee at the 1964 Democratic National Convention expressing support for the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP).
When James Meredith was shot during his March Against Fear in 1966, King and his wife, Coretta, went to Mississippi to continue the march. In 1968, King teamed with Fannie Lou Hamer and the MFDP to launch the Poor People’s Campaign, which began in Marks, Mississippi, and ended in Washington, D.C.
FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) provides customers and businesses worldwide with a broad portfolio of transportation, e-commerce and business services. With annual revenues of $64 billion, the company offers integrated business applications through operating companies competing collectively and managed collaboratively, under the respected FedEx brand. Consistently ranked among the world’s most admired and trusted employers, FedEx inspires its more than 425,000 team members to remain “absolutely, positively” focused on safety, the highest ethical and professional standards and the needs of their customers and communities. To learn more about how FedEx connects people and possibilities around the world, please visit about.fedex.com.
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation, founded in 1930 as an independent, private foundation by breakfast cereal pioneer, Will Keith Kellogg, is among the largest philanthropic foundations in the United States. Guided by the belief that all children should have an equal opportunity to thrive, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation works with communities to create conditions for vulnerable children so they can realize their full potential in school, work and life.
The Museum of Mississippi History explores the entire sweep of the state's history. The Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, the first state-operated civil rights museum in the country, explores the period from 1945 to 1976, when Mississippi was ground zero for the Civil Rights Movement nationally. Regular museum hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m.
The museums will open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. For more information, call 601-576-6800 or visit twomississippimuseums.com.