Explore Civil Rights History in Mississippi
Historic civil rights sites such as the home of Medgar Evers in Jackson are memorialized on the Mississippi Freedom Trail, a network of more than two-dozen markers where visitors can witness how pivotal events in Mississippi changed the world.
Now, the U.S. Civil Rights Trail provides a new entry point for visitors to explore these stories, alongside other noted landmarks of the movement across 14 states. A virtual roadmap of history includes an interactive map, videos and background for sites in Mississippi.
The U.S. Civil Rights Trail recognizes the work of James Meredith at the University of Mississippi in Oxford and Fannie Lou Hamer in Ruleville, where statues and Mississippi Freedom Trail markers serve as monuments to their lives.
Multiple sites important to the Emmett Till legacy are also featured on the U.S. Civil Rights Trail, including the Emmett Till Interpretive Center in Sumner, the Emmett Till Historic Intrepid Center in Glendora and a Mississippi Freedom Trail marker outside the former Bryant’s Grocery. Additional locations include the Canton Freedom House Civil Rights Museum, Tougaloo College in Jackson commemorating the Tougaloo Nine and sites related to the Freedom Summer in Philadelphia, Miss.
Start your tour with a visit to the new, interactive Mississippi Civil Rights Museum and Museum of Mississippi History, where the state is shining a light on its rich and complex history, and embark on a journey of discovery with these suggested African-American Heritage itineraries.