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Michael Morris will serve as the new director of the Two Mississippi Museums—the Museum of Mississippi History and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum. He steps into the role after Pamela D.C. Junior, who retired in June. The museums are administered by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) and have attracted more than 500,000 visitors since opening in downtown Jackson in December 2017.

“I am thrilled to know Michael will continue the work we have begun,” Junior said. “He is well-known and respected in both the public history community and the civil rights community.”

“Since joining MDAH, Michael has demonstrated a steadfast commitment to preserving and promoting our state's rich cultural heritage,” said Cindy Gardner, division director, MDAH Museum Division. “I have no doubt that the Two Mississippi Museums will continue to thrive under Michael’s capable leadership.”

Morris, a Jackson native, earned his bachelor’s degree in history and master’s degree in political science from Jackson State University, where he worked at the Margaret Walker Center and Fannie Lou Hamer Institute on Citizenship and Democracy. He earned his supervisory management certificate from the Mississippi State Personnel Board and is currently completing its Certified Public Manager Program. Morris also completed the Stennis Institute’s State Executive Development Institute program at Mississippi State University.

He began his career at MDAH in the public relations office in 2016, and most recently served as director of public engagement. He was responsible for co-leading the MDAH strategic planning process, coordinating community meetings, leading department research projects, planning major events, and supporting the department director and deputy director during legislative sessions.

Morris is active in the community. He was a member of the commission tasked with commemorating the city of Jackson’s bicentennial in 2022, has written markers for the Mississippi Freedom Trail, and has moderated panels for the Mississippi Book Festival. Morris was the Mississippi archivist for the Our Story, Our Terms civil rights project at Duke University.

“I feel incredibly honored to take on this role, following in the footsteps of Pam Junior, who did an exceptional job,” said Morris. “These museums are a tremendous asset for the state and the city of Jackson. I am excited to take on this new responsibility and look forward to building on the success there.”

The Mississippi Department of Archives and History is the second-oldest state department of archives and history in the United States. The department’s mission is to inspire the discovery of stories that connect our lives and shape our future by preserving Mississippi’s diverse historic resources and sharing them with people around the world. The department is headquartered in the William F. Winter Archives and History Building in Jackson. For more information call 601-576-6850.

Solidarity Now! 1968 Poor People's Campaign opens Saturday, July 1, in the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Exhibition Hall of the Two Mississippi Museums, a Smithsonian Affiliate. This Smithsonian traveling exhibit explores a pivotal grassroots movement of the civil rights era: the Poor People’s Campaign of 1968.

Based on the original exhibition created by the National Museum of African American History and Culture, this exhibit explores the six-week protest community in Washington D.C. that called the nation’s attention to the effects of poverty on millions of Americans. Visitors will experience photographs, artifacts, documentaries, ambient audio, and graphics in addition to an interactive video with interviews of campaign participants, a 3D-printed model of Resurrection City, and a map of the nationwide caravan routes.

The multiethnic movement drew people from across the nation, including African Americans, Mexican Americans, Native Americans, Puerto Ricans, Asian Americans and poor whites from Appalachia and rural communities. With newly found photographs and video content, the exhibit encourages visitors to discover this little-known chapter of the civil rights era.

“We look forward to having this unique Smithsonian exhibit at the Two Mississippi Museums,” said Katie Blount, director of Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH). “It will provide an interesting perspective on the history of poverty and economic inequality in America.”

Although the United States emerged as a global model of wealth and democracy in the 1960s, an estimated 25 million Americans still lived in poverty. While President Lyndon B. Johnson had declared a “War on Poverty” in 1964, social inequalities and unequal access to opportunities left many Americans struggling.

In response, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  and Ralph David Abernathy, organized the Poor People’s Campaign to confront poverty as a national human rights issue. A multi-ethnic movement, the six-week, live-in demonstration in Washington, D.C., called Resurrection City, attracted protesters from across the country to this first large-scale, nationally organized protest after the assassination of King. 

The exhibition title is a reference to the Solidarity Day Rally, which was held on June 19, 1968. The rally at the Lincoln Memorial featured speeches by organizers and influencers as a continuation of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

Solidarity Now! 1968 Poor People's Campaign is organized by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service in collaboration with the National Museum of African American History and Culture. It is supported by the CVS Health Foundation, a private foundation created by CVS Health to help people live healthier lives. 

In honor of Juneteenth, HII's Ingalls Shipbuilding division is sponsoring free admission to the Two Mississippi Museums from Saturday, June 17, through Monday, June 19. Visitors can explore themes of emancipation and liberation in Mississippi.

“We are grateful to Ingalls Shipbuilding for making it possible for so many Mississippians to visit the Two Mississippi Museums and celebrate emancipation in the United States,” said Katie Blount, director of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

Saturday, June 17, Juneteenth-themed tours through the Two Mississippi Museums are available at 10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Sunday, June 18, a Juneteenth-themed tour is available at 2 p.m.

During Juneteenth Jubilee on Monday, June 19, visitors can enjoy free Juneteenth-themed tours at 10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. and register for an on-site, behind-the-scenes historic object collections tour happening at 2:30 p.m.

This free, family-friendly day continues 4 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. with extended museums hours, craft-making activities for children, card games, live music from Jerry Jenkins, DJ Lil Walt, Jermaine Van Buren Jr., Montage, and Mastadon, and on-site food trucks Smokin 7, Oops All Vegan and Fertile Ground Brewery.

Visitors may also enjoy Juneteenth family gallery activities at the This Is Home: Medgar Evers, Mississippi, and the Movement exhibit, on display now through June 30, in the FedEx Exhibition Hall.

Signed into law on June 17, 2021, Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, or Juneteenth, is a federal holiday to commemorate the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States at the end of the Civil War.

Celebration of Juneteenth began on June 19, 1865, when Union general Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, with some 2,000 troops, and decreed the Emancipation Proclamation freed all enslaved people, officially enforcing emancipation in the Confederate-controlled state.

For more information, call 601-576-6850, or email info@mdah.ms.gov. 

In observance of the sixtieth anniversary of the death of Medgar Wiley Evers, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) will commemorate the life and legacy of the slain civil rights leader during the month of June.

 This is Home: Medgar Evers, Mississippi, and the Movement will be open June 1–30 at the Two Mississippi Museums in Jackson. This special exhibit examines the life, death, and legacy of Evers, who participated in every major civil rights action in the state as Mississippi field secretary for the NAACP from 1954 to 1963.

“Medgar Evers’s work and message still resonate today,” said Pamela Junior, director of the Two Mississippi Museums. “In honor of his life and enduring legacy, the exhibit is open through the month of June to allow visitors to learn more about this American hero of the Civil Rights Movement.”

Additionally, the Eudora Welty House & Garden (EWHG) will open the new, permanent exhibit Out of Outrage: Processing the Murder of Medgar Evers on Thursday, June 1, in the Eudora Welty Education and Visitor Center at 1109 Pinehurst Street in Jackson. This free exhibit examines how the murder of Evers impelled Eudora Welty to write “Where is the Voice Coming From?”, published in The New Yorker after Evers was shot in the driveway of his home and died on June 12, 1963. The impact of Evers’s murder was immediate and widespread, influencing the work of writers, poets, musicians, and other artists.

“In Jackson, Mississippi, the legacy of Medgar Evers is felt strongly to this day,” said Eudora Welty House & Garden director Jessica Russell. “This exhibit shares his story with our visitors and illustrates how some of the most powerful tools we will ever have—whether for processing personal grief or fighting publicly for justice—are imagination, creativity, and the written word.”

On Wednesday, June 7, at noon, the Two Mississippi Museums will host History Is Lunch, presenting “The Evers Archive: Voices, Justice, Legacies” with guests Reena Evers-Everette and MDAH Evers fellows Bobby J. Smith II (2017), T. Dionne Bailey (2018), and Pamela Walker (2019) discussing the work and continuing legacy of the Evers family. The History Is Lunch series is sponsored by the John and Lucy Shackelford Charitable Fund of the Community Foundation for Mississippi.

MDAH also holds in its collections the Medgar Wiley and Myrlie Beasley Evers Papers, donated by Myrlie Evers-Williams. The collection is divided into four subgroups: papers of Evers as Mississippi field secretary for the NAACP, the Medgar Evers and family papers, Myrlie Beasley Evers papers, and the records of the State of Mississippi v. Byron De La Beckwith trials of 1964 and 1994. Evers’s papers as field secretary illustrate how closely he worked with national, state, and local NAACP leaders to facilitate organizational goals in Mississippi during the early years of the Civil Rights Movement.   

For more information call 601-576-6850 or email info@mdah.ms.gov.

Kymara Sneed, a doctoral candidate in history at Mississippi State University, has been named the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Research Fellow for 2023.

Sneed will research archival holdings in the Medgar Wiley and Myrlie Beasley Evers Papers and The Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation Collections (MFBF) housed at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) in Jackson.

By examining the MFBF collection and the records and correspondence of Medgar Evers during his time as Mississippi field secretary for the NAACP, Sneed hopes to gain insight into the various hierarchies and perspectives—Mississippi’s Cooperative Extension Service agents, the MFBF, civil rights activists, and Black farmers—operating during the Jim Crow era.

“Because my topic covers this intersection of race and civil rights as it pertains to Mississippi State University’s Cooperative Extension Service and its relationship with Black farmers, the Evers Papers are integral to this project,” said Sneed. “This specific collection will be helpful in illustrating what civil rights activism looked like from a local perspective, how it might have clashed with the regimented duties of cooperative extension agents, and its reception within Mississippi’s Black farming community.” 

The Medgar and Myrlie Evers Research Scholars Program is a collaboration between MDAH and the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Institute that seeks to nurture upper-level graduate students and faculty scholars at the beginning of their academic careers, to increase their life-long interest in history, and to promote continued academic and public appreciation of Medgar Evers’s life and work, the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi, and the struggle for human rights.

Sneed will use the $5,000 fellowship to cover travel, housing, and other expenses incurred while doing primary research at the archives.

Medgar Wiley and Myrlie Beasley Evers Papers may be accessed at the William F. Winter Archives and History Building, 200 North Street, in Jackson. For more information on the fellowship or about the collection contact Laura Heller at 601-576-6850, or by email at lheller@mdah.ms.gov.

On June 1, 2023, the Eudora Welty House & Garden (EWHG) will unveil a new permanent exhibit honoring slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers in response to the sixtieth anniversary of his assassination on June 12, 1963, outside his Jackson, Mississippi, home.  

 Immediately after the news broke in Jackson, renowned Mississippi author Eudora Welty wrote “Where Is the Voice Coming From?”, a short story about the attack, which The New Yorker published on July 6, 1963—just 25 days after the crime. The new EWHG exhibit, titled Out of Outrage: Processing the Murder of Medgar Evers, follows the making of Welty’s piece. 

Through this work of fiction, written before the crime was solved, Welty painted a startlingly accurate picture of Evers’s assassin, his motives, and his movements. In fact, before The New Yorker would publish the story, Welty said, “The fiction’s outward details had to be changed where, by chance, they had resembled those of actuality, for the story must not be found prejudicial to the case of a person who might be on trial for his life.”  

This exhibit compares Welty’s original draft with the final version, highlighting changes. Story quotes pair with actual crime scene photographs, seemingly as captions, though Welty’s words predate the images. A photograph of Evers at work as Mississippi’s first field secretary for the NAACP opens the exhibit, along with an overview of his accomplishments.  

“In Jackson, Mississippi, the legacy of Medgar Evers is felt strongly to this day,” said Eudora Welty House & Garden director Jessica Russell. “This small but impactful exhibit shares his story with our visitors and illustrates how some of the most powerful tools we will ever have—whether processing personal grief or fighting publicly for justice—are imagination, creativity, and the written word.”  

The Eudora Welty Collection, housed in the William F. Winter building of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH), consists principally of drafts (including “Where is the Voice Coming From?”), revised copies, and printer's versions of Welty's works, including stories, books, essays, reviews, lectures, speeches, and drama. The collection also contains incoming and outgoing correspondence of Welty, negatives and photographs taken by Welty and her father, and memorabilia.   

In addition to the exhibit at EWHG, MDAH holds in its collections the Medgar Wiley Evers and Myrlie Beasley Evers Papers, including papers of Medgar Evers as Mississippi field secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and records relating to the case, State of Mississippi v. Byron de la Beckwith.  

About the Eudora Welty House & Garden 

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Eudora Welty donated her manuscripts, letters, and home of 76 years at 1119 Pinehurst Street in Jackson to MDAH. The National Historic Landmark is open to the public for tours. For more information, visit eudoraweltyhouse.com.  

Support programming for this exhibit begins in July, the month of Evers’ birthday, with a free #WeltyatHome Virtual Book Club discussion of the short story, led by Welty’s friend and biographer, Dr. Suzanne Marrs. To register for the Zoom link, email info@eudoraweltyhouse.com. 

Out of Outrage: Processing the Murder of Medgar Evers will be on permanent view at the Eudora Welty House & Garden Visitor Center, 1109 Pinehurst Street, Jackson, Mississippi. The Visitor Center is free and open to the public Tuesday–Friday, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday, from 12:30 to 4 p.m.   

A new subseries of the Welty Family Papers is now available for study at the William F. Winter building of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH). This new addition features the gardening papers of Eudora Welty's mother, Chestina Andrews Welty.

Included in Subseries 45.8 is Chestina's garden journal containing notes on flower arrangements and formulas, sketches of her garden, weather logs, a Valentine’s poem, and more. Additional materials in the series include garden notes, the Jackson Garden Club meeting minutes, drafts of the “History of the Jackson Garden Club,” photographic negatives of the Welty garden [circa 1930s], and glass slides of Jackson garden scenes. Chestina was a founding member of the Jackson Garden Club who served as both vice-president and president in the 1930s.

Beginning in 1957, and over the course of more than forty years, Eudora Welty donated materials to the department, primarily literary manuscripts and photographs. At her death, her remaining papers were bequeathed to MDAH and included unpublished manuscripts and 14,000 items of correspondence with family, friends, scholars, young writers, and noted writers.  

The Eudora Welty Collection is the world’s finest collection of materials related to Welty and one of the most varied literary collections in the United States. The collection includes manuscripts, letters, photographs, drawings, essays, and film and video footage that spans Welty’s entire life.

For more information on the archival collection, contact Elisabeth Cambonga at 601-576-6868, or by email at ecambonga@mdah.ms.gov.

Jackson, Miss.—Faith-affiliated communities in Mississippi—groups who attend churches, mosques, synagogues, temples, house churches, and more—may now visit the Two Mississippi Museums for free with groups of 10 or more persons.

Groups making reservations at least two weeks in advance may receive the added benefit of an in-depth overview of the museums by a museum guide during their visit.

These free group visits are made possible thanks to a $2.5 million grant awarded by Lilly Endowment Inc. to the Foundation for Mississippi History to help the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) support and promote programs, activities, and projects focused on the understanding and interpretation of the role of religion in Mississippi history and culture.

Additionally, support from Lilly Endowment will enable MDAH to broaden its audience and engage them in new ways by providing a 35 percent discount to faith-affiliated entities for facility rentals.

Lilly Endowment made the grant through its Religion and Cultural Institutions Initiative, a nationwide effort to help museums and other cultural institutions improve the public’s understanding of religion.

“We are grateful to Lilly Endowment for this major support,” said Katie Blount, MDAH director. “Lilly Endowment’s generosity will help more Mississippians experience these outstanding museums.” 

The Museum of Mississippi History and Mississippi Civil Rights Museum both address the history of religion. From the spiritual beliefs of Native Americans to the conflicting religious convictions of slaveholders and enslaved people, to the leadership of people of faith during the Civil Rights Movement, religion has been integral to the development of Mississippi.

“Museums and cultural institutions are trusted organizations and play an important role in teaching the American public about the world around them,” said Christopher Coble, Lilly Endowment’s vice president for religion. “These organizations will use the grants to help visitors understand and appreciate the significant impact religion has had and continues to have on society in the United States and around the globe. Our hope is that these efforts will promote greater knowledge about and respect for people of diverse religious traditions.”

Lilly endowment Inc. is an Indianapolis-based, private philanthropic foundation created in 1937 by J. K. Lilly and his sons, Eli and J.K. Jr., through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly and Company. While those gifts remain the financial bedrock of the Endowment, the Endowment is a separate entity from the company, with a distinct governing board, staff, and location. In keeping with its founders’ wishes, the Endowment supports the causes of community development, education, and religion. Although the Endowment funds programs throughout the United States, especially in the field of religion, it maintains a special commitment to its hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana.

For more information about faith-affiliated group visits please call 601-576-6850, or visit, https://2mm.mdah.ms.gov/visit/group-visit to make a reservation.

For more information about rentals at the Two Mississippi Museums please call 601-576-6850, or email, trice@mdah.ms.gov.

The Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) has awarded grants totaling more than $97,000 to eleven preservation projects in Certified Local Government (CLG) communities across the state. The scope of work for awarded projects ranges from surveys and National Register District nominations, such as the survey of New Albany’s Southside neighborhood, to more advanced phases of rehabilitation, as with the Ocean Springs Community Center foundation stabilization project to ensure the long-term preservation of elaborate murals painted by Walter Anderson.

“We are pleased to be partnering with ten communities in 2023,” said MDAH chief of preservation planning, Meredith Massey. “The projects will largely focus on the rehabilitation of historic buildings and structures, professional assessments, and surveys, with the addition of a few marketing and publication projects highlighting historic resources in several communities. We look forward to assisting these communities in their preservation endeavors.”

The 2023 grants are as follows:

• Carrollton, $1,309.00, for a coloring book that includes historic sites in Carroll County.
• Columbus, $10,000.00, for restoration of the Munroe Mausoleum. The scope of work includes basic cleanup, vegetation removal, stabilization of roof structure, masonry repairs, repointing, and plasterwork.
• Kosciusko, $13,000.00, for the development of a map and audio/video tour of Redbud Springs and the Natchez Trace.
• Lexington, $8,650.00, to include a professional assessment of the front porch at the Lundy House, as well as a conditions assessment.
• New Albany, $10,000.00, for survey of 300 resources in the Southside neighborhood (phase II) and completion of a National Register District nomination.
• Ocean Springs, $12,899.10, for foundation repairs to minimize damage to interior murals located at the Ocean Springs Community Center.
• Oxford, $7,500.00, for editing and revising design guidelines for Oxford’s local historic districts with a focus on graphics.
• Quitman, $5,200.00, for development of a structural assessment and scope of work to address water infiltration issues and other repairs for the Quitman Depot.
• Tupelo, $10,000.00, continued restoration of the interior of the Spain House rehabilitation project (Phase VII). This phase includes sheetrock and plaster repair to walls and ceilings.
• Tupelo, $10,000.00, professional assessment to identify necessary repairs, including estimated cost and a scope of work at Spring Hill Missionary Baptist Church.
• Woodville, $9,400.00, includes interior work to walls, painting, plumbing and electrical, and security system installation to complete rehabilitation of Polk’s Meat Market.

The Certified Local Government program is a federal-state-local partnership designed to assist communities in dealing with diverse preservation needs through funding and technical assistance. CLG communities may apply for annual grants to undertake preservation projects of importance to the community. Grants may be used for such diverse projects as the restoration of historic buildings; historical, architectural, or archaeological site inventory work; preparation of nominations to the National Register of Historic Places; educational programs; and staff support for new historic preservation commissions.

Funding for the grants comes from the Historic Preservation Fund, a federal grants program appropriated by the U.S. Congress and administered by the National Park Service, which provides financial support to State Historic Preservation Offices—in Mississippi, the Historic Preservation Division of MDAH.

To become a CLG, a community must adopt a preservation ordinance establishing a preservation commission in accordance with federal and state guidelines. Once the commission has been established, application for CLG status may be made to the National Park Service through the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. MDAH works closely with local government officials and citizens to help them create and manage a workable local historic preservation program. To learn more about the CLG program, visit https://www.mdah.ms.gov/historic-preservation/preservation-planning-development#clg.

The fifty-six CLG communities in Mississippi are Aberdeen, Baldwyn, Bay Saint Louis, Biloxi, Booneville, Brandon, Canton, Carrollton, Carthage, Claiborne County, Clarksdale, Cleveland, Clinton, Columbia, Columbus, Como, Corinth, Durant, Gautier, Greenville, Greenwood, Hattiesburg, Hazlehurst, Hernando, Holly Springs, Indianola, Jackson, Kosciusko, Laurel, Leland, Lexington, Louisville, McComb, Meridian, Mound Bayou, Mount Olive, Natchez, New Albany, Ocean Springs, Oxford, Pascagoula, Philadelphia, Port Gibson, Quitman, Raymond, Senatobia, Sharkey County, Starkville, Tunica, Tupelo, Vicksburg, Water Valley, West, West Point, Woodville, and Yazoo City.

Members of the MDAH board of trustees are Spence Flatgard, president, Ridgeland; Hilda Cope Povall, vice president, Cleveland; Nancy Carpenter, Columbus; Carter Burns, Natchez; Kimberly Campbell, Madison; Betsey Hamilton, New Albany; Mark E. Keenum, Starkville; Lucius Lampton, MD, Magnolia; and TJ Taylor, Madison.

Justice Fred Banks announced that he is stepping down as chair of the board of directors of the Foundation for Mississippi History (FMH), a post he has held since 2020. The board elected P. Ryan Beckett as chair and Jonathan Lee as vice-chair at its March meeting. 

Banks is a senior partner in the general litigation group in the Jackson office of Phelps Dunbar. He served in the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1976 until 1985, when he was appointed as a circuit court judge and later as a justice on the Mississippi Supreme Court. He has also served on the National Board of Directors of the NAACP for more than four decades. 

Banks graduated from Lanier High School in Jackson in 1960. He earned a BBA from Howard University followed by a JD in 1968 from the Howard University School of Law, where he graduated second in his class. Banks began his law practice during the Civil Rights Movement when there were few African American attorneys in the state. 

Banks was a leader in securing funding and public support for the Two Mississippi Museums, which opened in 2017. He served as a valued advisor on the exhibits, particularly those related to the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement.  

Beckett said, “We are grateful to Justice Banks for his leadership of the board. His wise stewardship and commitment to our state helped create and strengthen the Two Mississippi Museums.” 

Ryan Beckett is a partner in the commercial litigation group in the Ridgeland office of Butler Snow. He serves on the Board of Trustees of Millsaps College and previously served as the legal director of the Homeless Legal Clinic through the Mississippi Volunteer Lawyers Project. Beckett is a past chairman of the Mississippi Tort Claims Board, the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra’s Encore Board, and the Advisory Board of Metropolitan Bank.   

Jonathan Lee is a senior vice president and senior principal of member performance at Vizient, Incorporated. His current civic engagements include the Fondren Renaissance Foundation, the Mississippi Center for Justice, the Mississippi Symphony Foundation, and the One Percent Commission that oversees the expenditure of funds generated by a local option sales tax for infrastructure improvements for the city of Jackson.   

The FMH supports and promotes the activities, programs, and projects of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH). The FMH board meets at least twice a year to review financial reports and to consult with staff on strategic plans for the department. It advises MDAH on the direction of the Museum of Mississippi History and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum.  

Other FMH board members are Reuben Anderson, Donna Barksdale, Phil Bryant, Kane Ditto, Mike Espy, Haley Fisackerly, Jack Garner, Beverly Hogan, Ebony Lumumba, Leslie Burl McLemore, Nora Frances McRae, and Chip Pickering.