The Gowdy community was first settled prior to 1903. Named for Mr. W.B. Gowdy, former president of the Delta Cotton Oil and Fertilizer Plant. This African American community was awarded its own U.S. postal stop in 1915. The Gowdy community is . . . — — Map (db m71366) HM
Constructed in 1923 and renamed the King Edward Hotel in 1954, the Edwards Hotel was the site of temporary studios set up by OKeh Records in 1930 and the American Record Corporation in 1935 to record blues artists Bo Carter, Robert Wilkins, Joe . . . — — Map (db m49680) HM
(side 1)
Joe McCoy and his brother Charlie McCoy, both born on a farm near Raymond, performed and recorded widely during the pre-World War II era, but their most important legacy may rest with the songs they wrote or cowrote. These . . . — — Map (db m70324) HM
Front
The courage of Tougaloo College students, faculty, and staff fueled the Jackson Civil Rights Movement. Inspired by the bravery and resolve of Medgar Evers, students and faculty attempted to integrate Jackson's main public library, . . . — — Map (db m115722) HM
Born in 1928 in Holmes County, Robert G.
Clark Jr. was the first African American
elected to the Mississippi Legislature in
the 20th century. Elected in 1967, Clark
became chair of the House Education
Committee in 1977 and played a key role . . . — — Map (db m244497) HM
During Brig. Gen. Benjamin Grierson's raid in the late winter of 1864-1865, a small Confederate brigade under the command of Gen. Wirt Adams attacked the rear guard of one of Grierson's columns at Franklin Church on January 2, 1865. Among the . . . — — Map (db m140860) HM
Built in 1921 with assistance from the
Rosenwald Fund and known locally as the
Goodman School for Negroes, the Goodman School
served African American students in the first
through eighth grades in the Goodman-Pickens
area. Local Black citizens . . . — — Map (db m219758) HM
Charles Harrison Mason (1864-1961) began his ministry in 1893 in Preston, Arkansas. Shunned by the African American Baptist community in Jackson during the 1890s due to his teachings on holiness, Mason brought his revival to Lexington in 1897. He . . . — — Map (db m140839) HM
Dr. Arenia Mallory (1904-1977), a native
of Jacksonville, Illinois, was a graduate
of Jackson State University and the
University of Illinois and was awarded a
Ph.D. from Bethune-Cookman College. In
1926, Mallory came to Lexington, where . . . — — Map (db m219761) HM
[Front]
The cemetery of the Newport Missionary Baptist Church is the final resting place of Elmore James (1918-1963), often described as the "king of the slide guitar." James' electric style built on the approach of Robert Johnson and later . . . — — Map (db m140748) HM
Hazel Brannon Smith (1914-1994), a journalist and
publisher, was the owner and editor of four weekly
newspapers, including the Lexington Advertiser. An
advocate for racial justice, Smith condemned the
state's Sovereignty Commission and . . . — — Map (db m219759) HM
[Front]
Holmes County has been a significant contributor to the legacy of African American blues and gospel music in Mississippi. Heralded blues artists born or raised in the Lexington area include Elmore James (a native of Richland, . . . — — Map (db m140751) HM
St. Paul Church of God in Christ (COGIC) was organized in 1897 by Bishop Charles Harrison Mason, the founder of the COGIC denomination. St. Paul has served as "Mother Church for the COGIC since its construction here in 1906. Saints Academy. formerly . . . — — Map (db m140853) HM
Born in 1835 in Alabama, Edmund Scarborough
became a successful farmer in Pickens. He
served in the Mississippi Legislature in 1870-1871
and organized what would become Union
Memorial UMC. John B. Scott, born near Pickens
in 1853, attended . . . — — Map (db m219757) HM
Front
Many blues performers who gained fame in the Delta, Jackson, and Chicago and on the southern soul circuit have lived in or near Tchula, including Elmore James, Hound Dog Taylor, Jimmy Dawkins, Jesse Robinson, Lewis "Love Doctor" . . . — — Map (db m121121) HM
Front
Soul and blues star Denise LaSalle was born Denise Allen near Sidon in rural Leflore County on July 16, 1939, but spent much of her childhood here in Belzoni. After moving to Chicago in her teens, she began writing songs and . . . — — Map (db m77269) HM
Front
Blues piano master Joe Willie “Pinetop” Perkins was born on July 7, 1913, on the Honey Island Plantation, seven miles southeast of Belzoni. Perkins spent much of his career accompanying blues icons such as Sonny Boy Williamson . . . — — Map (db m77268) HM
Front
The Reverend George Lee (1903-1955), a pioneer in the early Mississippi civil rights movement, was a vice president of the Regional Council of Negro Leadership, a co-founder of the Belzoni NAACP branch, and a powerful public . . . — — Map (db m77408) HM
Front
The names of Turner’s Drug Store (located on this corner) and the Easy Pay Store across the street are etched into blues history as sponsors of some of the first radio programs in Mississippi to feature Delta blues. In 1947-48 . . . — — Map (db m77270) HM
Unita Blackwell, born in a sharecropper's
shack in Lula, Mississippi, on March 18, 1933,
became a SNCC activist in 1964 and
represented the MFDP at the 1964
Democratic National Convention. She was
instrumental in Head Start, MACE, and
the . . . — — Map (db m235171) HM
It is believed this site began as a burial ground for the enslaved well before the Civil War. On November 19, 1895, an official deed conveyed this section of ground from Pleasant Cates to "George Clifton and others" for the sum of four dollars as a . . . — — Map (db m205425) HM
Front
Jazz bandleader and saxophonist James Melvin “Jimmie” Lunceford was born just outside Fulton on June 6, 1902. He formed his first band, the Chickasaw Syncopators, while teaching at Manassas High School in Memphis in . . . — — Map (db m96781) HM
Front
The 2,006.5-mile Underground Railroad Bicycle Route (UGRR) was created by the nonprofit organization Adventure Cycling Association. From Mobile, Alabama, to Owen Sound, Ontario, the trail memorializes the Underground Railroad, a . . . — — Map (db m102972) HM
Organized ca. 1886, this African American church is the oldest continuous congregation in Gautier. Twice destroyed by fire, the church was rebuilt at its present site in 1893. The New Era Missionary Baptist Church choir sang at the 1936 inauguration . . . — — Map (db m16518) HM
Only now are historians recognizing the extent Black soldiers and sailors, both slave and free, played in the American Civil War of 1861-1865. After the war ended some of these men made their home in Moss Point. In the area, now surrounding . . . — — Map (db m102287) HM
Front
The African American community of Moss Point has produced an abundance of talented musicians, including many who entertained along the Gulf Coast as well as some who traveled across the country and overseas as members of prominent . . . — — Map (db m102156) HM
Front
Music has been an integral component of Ocean Springs’ legacy as a coastal cradle of the arts and a sponsor of festive celebrations. Notable African-American musicians born in Ocean Springs include Jaimoe (Johnnie Lee Johnson), who . . . — — Map (db m122355) HM
Jackson County, being on the Confederate side during the American Civil War, suffered numerous incursions by Union forces. However, it was the one of April 9, 1863, which, although small by combat standards, had far-reaching import to Union . . . — — Map (db m102301) HM
Front
The Mississippi Gulf Coast Blues & Heritage Festival, one of the longest running blues festivals in the Deep South, was founded in 1991 by the Mississippi Gulf Coast Blues Commission, Inc. At the Mississippi Coast Coliseum in . . . — — Map (db m102158) HM
Tobias Magee, a veteran of the War of 1812, came to Mississippi ca. 1815, where he and his wife, Nancy Stevens Magee, reared their seventeen children. By 1841 Magee had purchased over eighty acres of land in this area and began to raise cotton and . . . — — Map (db m173374) HM
On March 19, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke here at St. Paul Methodist Church to rally support for the Poor People's March on Washington against economic injustice. King told the overflow audience that the marchers were going to the . . . — — Map (db m110981) HM
Front
The Laurel area, a hub of musical activity in southeast Mississippi, has been home to a number of noted blues performers including harmonica player Sam Myers, singer Albennie Jones, and guitarist Blind Roosevelt Graves. R&B, blues, . . . — — Map (db m110992) HM
Oak Park Vocational High School, located at this site, opened in September, 1928. Based on the pattern of Tuskegee Institute, the school provided academic, vocational, and agricultural education to African American students, and included faculty . . . — — Map (db m110988) HM
Born in Laurel on May 9, 1939, Ralph Boston became a star athlete at Oak Park High School. While attending Tennessee State (1957-1962), Boston set records in the high jump, sprints, high hurdles, and long jump. Earning a spot on three successive . . . — — Map (db m110990) HM
The Abbeville Colored School was built in 1950
as part of Mississippi's school equalization
program, in which to forestall integration,
new schools were built for Black students.
Half of the funding for the original, four-
classroom building . . . — — Map (db m219952) HM
Site of Oxford's first African American church, organized by former slaves in 1869-70. First called Sewell Chapel. In 1900, the church was renamed Burns Methodist Episcopal Church. The original wooden building was replaced in 1910 by the present . . . — — Map (db m102880) HM
After the Civil War, many freedmen from Lafayette County moved into Oxford; settled in the area bounded by Jackson Avenue, Price Street, the railroad and 9th Street; bought land, built houses, schools and churches; and exercised the rights and . . . — — Map (db m102881) HM
Lynching in America
Thousands of African Americans were victims of racial terror lynching in the United States between 1877 and 1950. During this era, racial terror lynching emerged as a stunning form of violent resistance to emancipation and . . . — — Map (db m219912) HM
Lynching in America
Thousands of black people were the victims of racial terror lynching in the United States between 1877 and 1950. The lynching of African Americans during this era was a form of racial terrorism intended to intimidate black . . . — — Map (db m219923) HM
Lafayette County’s blues history has encompassed a wide range of activity by scholars, promoters, record companies, and musicians. The nightlife of Oxford has welcomed both local performers and national touring acts. The most famous musician . . . — — Map (db m102876) HM
On this site was a five-teacher, wood
frame school building, ca. 1922-1936,
used for rural African American
education. It was one of more than 5,300
built in the South with matching funds
contributed by the Julius Rosenwald Fund,
black and . . . — — Map (db m219919) HM
Twenty-one houses in Community Green
were originally located on the University
of Mississippi campus. Seventeen were
built as early as 1939 using Public
Works Administration funds. The first
African American sorority on campus,
the Theta Psi . . . — — Map (db m219918) HM
Frederick A. P. Barnard (1809-1889) was the third president and first chancellor of the University of Mississippi, serving from 1856 to 1861. He joined the University of Alabama's faculty in 1838, and he started a Phi Beta Kappa Chapter there. In . . . — — Map (db m219853) HM
James H. Meredith,
a Mississippi native of Kosciusko,
stepped into the pages of
history on October 1, 1962
when he opened the doors to
higher education at the
University of Mississippi and in
the South. As a major figure in
the . . . — — Map (db m102888) HM
Front
The University of Mississippi is internationally famous for its work in documenting and preserving African American blues culture. In 1983 the Center for the Study of Southern Culture acquired Living Blues magazine, which . . . — — Map (db m102770) HM
In 1920, this building was dedicated in honor of James Zachariah George (1826-1897). Born in Georgia, George moved with his family to Mississippi in 1834, settling two years later in Carroll County.
At the outbreak of war between the United . . . — — Map (db m219881) HM
Lyceum — The Circle
Historic District
has been designated a
National Historic Landmark
This district possesses national significance in
commemorating the history of the United States of America . . . — — Map (db m103003) HM
The Lyceum, which opened for the first University of Mississippi class in 1848, symbolizes the origins, endurance, and triumphs of higher education in Mississippi. During the Civil War, the building served as a hospital for Union and Confederate . . . — — Map (db m102753) HM
Front
On October 1, 1962, James Meredith broke the rigid segregation in Mississippi's higher education when he became the first African American student at the University of Mississippi. Though federal courts had ordered his admission, . . . — — Map (db m102580) HM
The Thomas J. Wilson and St. Luke's cemeteries were associated with the Masonic lodges that once stood on this city block. The cemeteries have over 100 extant formal markers on the graves of civilians and veterans from five American military . . . — — Map (db m111125) HM
The African-American Business District provided services that Meridian’s black community could not otherwise receive due to Jim Crow laws that kept the South segregated. It was the location of a hotel, restaurants, barber and beauty shops, a . . . — — Map (db m111048) HM
The portion of the Meridian Downtown Historic Preservation District centered on the intersection of 25th Avenue with 5th Street has a long historical association with the African-American community due to the concentration of black-owned businesses . . . — — Map (db m111039) HM
The 13th Street Colored Branch Library, also known as the Carnegie Library for Blacks, opened in 1913 on a site donated by St. Paul Methodist Church. The library was one of twelve segregated libraries funded by Andrew Carnegie. The one-story, red . . . — — Map (db m140955) HM
The Council of Organizations is a nonprofit association that promotes social, cultural and educational interests of the African-American community. The building was formerly an IGA grocery that was picketed during the Civil Rights movement. — — Map (db m111078) HM
The Federal Courthouse in Meridian was the site of two of the most significant legal actions in Civil Rights history: the filing of James Meredith's lawsuit to integrate the University of Mississippi in 1961 and the infamous "Mississippi Burning" . . . — — Map (db m111056) HM
Founded in 1891, First Union Missionary Baptist Church served as a meeting place for numerous Civil Rights activities. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke here during the Freedom Summer of 1964. Weeks later, First Union was the site of activist James . . . — — Map (db m111084) HM
Freedom Riders traveled through the Meridian bus station without major incident, thanks to negotiation efforts by local Civil Rights activists and police. Their experience was unlike that in other cities, where they faced mob violence and arrests. — — Map (db m111066) HM
In the summer of 1964, dozens of Freedom Schools opened across Mississippi. The largest was located at Meridian Baptist Seminary. It provided additional education opportunities to the African-American community and hosted the statewide Freedom . . . — — Map (db m111077) HM
Jimmie Rodgers (1897 – 1933) is widely known as the "father of country music," but blues was a prominent element
of his music. The influence of his famous "blue yodels" can be heard in the music of Mississippi blues artists
including . . . — — Map (db m59656) HM
Meridian's oldest cemetery was founded by Richard McLemore, Meridian's first permanent white settler, in 1839. Buried here are many of the approximately 30 victims who died during the Meridian Race Riot of 1871. The riot signaled the end of the . . . — — Map (db m111067) HM
Front
Meridian blues and jazz performers have played important roles in musical history, both locally and nationally, not only supplying a foundation for other genres but also propelling music in new directions. Notables with Meridian . . . — — Map (db m111037) HM
Front
Rhythm & blues and soul singers have been major contributors to Meridian’s deep African American musical heritage, extending the legacy molded by gospel, jazz and traditional blues artists. David Ruffin of the Temptations and his . . . — — Map (db m77426) HM
Newell Chapel CME Church was involved in Civil Rights meetings and voter registration projects. It was one of three original locations of the Head Start program. The church parsonage was bombed by the Ku Klux Klan in 1968. — — Map (db m111068) HM
Folk singer and political activist Pete Seeger was performing for a large crowd of Freedom Summer volunteers when he received word that the bodies of Civil Rights workers James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman had been found. The crowd . . . — — Map (db m111081) HM
Sit-ins, pickets and boycotts were used to persuade white-owned businesses to hire black employees and integrate lunch counters. The Meridian Action Committee (MAC) was formed in part to carry out these tasks. Kress, Woolworth's and Newberry . . . — — Map (db m111052) HM
St. John Baptist Church was one of two locations where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was scheduled to speak in 1964, as well as the site of Polly Heidelberg's memorable confrontation of a former Klan member. "Miss Polly" was a mother figure to local . . . — — Map (db m111070) HM
St. Joseph Catholic Church operated a coeducational school that served young black students from 1910 to 1970. The school also offered adult education classes. Former students include James Chaney and Polly Heidelberg. — — Map (db m111069) HM
Churches were the heart and soul of the Civil Rights movement. New Hope Missionary Baptist, founded in 1868, was Meridian's first black Baptist church. St. Paul United Methodist, founded in 1866, donated land for the Carnegie Branch Library, the . . . — — Map (db m111071) HM
Jewish merchants contributed greatly to Meridian's growth. The Grand Opera House (MSU Riley Center) and the Threefoot Building stand as evidence of their business success. Although Jews were well accepted in Meridian, their support of Civil Rights . . . — — Map (db m111054) HM
The Civil Rights movement in Meridian has a tumultuous history strongly linked to this area of downtown. From the 1871 Race Riot beginning at Con Sheehan Hall to the Freedom Summer activities of workers at the Council of Federated Organizations . . . — — Map (db m111051) HM
Voter registration was one of the goals of the Civil Rights movement. In the South, poll taxes and literacy exams like the one given here at the Lauderdale County Courthouse were used to prevent African-Americans from registering. These practices . . . — — Map (db m111058) HM
Built in 1894, this was the first brick public school building in east Mississippi for African American children. The school was named for Rabbi Jacob Wechsler, who led the drive to build it. Founded in 1871, the school was initially housed in St. . . . — — Map (db m111035) HM
Built in 1894, Wechsler School was Mississippi's first brick public school building for black children to be constructed with public funds. It was named in honor of Rabbi Judah Weschler, who led the effort to provide public education for black . . . — — Map (db m111074) HM
Monticello area native J. B. Lenoir (1929-1967) was best known during his lifetime for his 1955 hit “Mama, Talk to Your Daughter,” but he also played an important role in blues history because of his political engagement. In the 1960s . . . — — Map (db m79029) HM
A native of Baldwyn, Elijah Pierce
(1892-1984) was a barber, Baptist
minister and artist. In 1982, he
was awarded a National Heritage
Fellowship by the National
Endowment of the Arts for his
woodcarvings. His work has been
exhibited in the . . . — — Map (db m219976) HM
Carver School
Named for Dr. George Washington Carver, Carver School was built in 1939 to
serve the educational Tupelo's African-American children Carver, along with local churches, was the center of social activities for the . . . — — Map (db m102833) HM
Marker Front:
Elvis Presley revolutionized popular music by blending the blues he first heard as a youth in Tupelo with country, pop, and gospel.
Many of the first songs Elvis recorded for the Sun label in Memphis were covers of earlier . . . — — Map (db m29823) HM
In 1947, Elvis lived at the North end of Green Street, not far from here. Mayhorn Grocery previously occupied this space, and Elvis would walk to the store and sit on the porch listening to the blues. It was also here that he heard the sounds of . . . — — Map (db m102821) HM
Robins Field
Built in 1927, Robins Field was named for former Tupelo Mayor D.W. Robins and served as the Tupelo Schools' football field until 1991. On Friday nights, the all-white Tupelo High School Golden Wave football team played . . . — — Map (db m102826) HM
Marker Front:
Shake Rag, located east of the old M & O (later GM & O) railway tracks and extending northward from Main Street, was one of several historic African American communities in Tupelo. By the 1920s blues and jazz flowed freely . . . — — Map (db m29629) HM
(side 1)
Shake Rag – A Way of Life
Shake Rag, known for its music and influence on a young Elvis, was more than music to the people who lived there – it was a way of life. After emancipation, freed slaves moved into . . . — — Map (db m155351) HM
From 1943~47, Elvis' father, Vernon, worked for L.P. McCarty & Son's local wholesale grocery company making deliveries to various parts of the City. Shake Rag, a historically black community, was one of his delivery areas.
It was here that Elvis . . . — — Map (db m29630) HM
Sit-Ins Led to Civil Rights Act of 1964
During the 1960s, F. W. Woolworth Company operated lunch counters at its "five-and-dime stores" on a "local custom" basis - meaning racially segregated seating in the Southern United States. . . . — — Map (db m102846) HM
Spring Hill Missionary Baptist Church
Established approximately during the 1850s, Spring Hill Missionary
Baptist Church is the oldest African-American Church in Tupelo, The
original sanctuary, still standing today, was completed . . . — — Map (db m102827) HM
The Dixie Belle Theater
The rights of African-Americans during Reconstruction were greatly increased, and passage of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the U. S. Constitution and the Civil Rights Acts of 1875 seemed to . . . — — Map (db m111482) HM
The Green Street Business District
The Green Street business district was the hub of the black community in the early part of the century, up to and beyond desegregation. The area from Barnes Street to Spring Street housed the . . . — — Map (db m102831) HM
The long and remarkable life of B.B. King began near this site, where he was born Riley B. King on September 16, 1925. His parents, Albert and Nora Ella King, were sharecroppers who lived in a simple home southeast of here along Bear Creek. After . . . — — Map (db m173997) HM
Front
On June 16, 1966, SNCC chairman Stokely Carmichael, released from jail after defying City of Greenwood orders by putting up tents to house participants of the James Meredith “March Against Fear,” made his famous . . . — — Map (db m77423) HM
Front
Baptist Town, established in the 1800s in tandem with the growth of the local cotton industry, is one of Greenwood’s oldest African American neighborhoods. Known for its strong sense of community, it is anchored by the McKinney . . . — — Map (db m77198) HM
Front
Radio disc jockeys played a major role in the spread of the blues, boosting the careers of local artists, introducing listeners to performers from across the country, and more generally serving as a voice for the community. Early . . . — — Map (db m77191) HM
Front
During the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s, the Elks Hart Lodge No. 640 at this site was one of the most important venues for rhythm and blues in the Delta. Particularly during the segregation era, fraternal organizations such as the . . . — — Map (db m77193) HM
The Emmett Till Memorial Statue is the only statue in the world that pays homage to the slain Chicago teenager. His murder inspired the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. In the summer of 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till left Chicago, IL for . . . — — Map (db m229063) HM
Holland was born August 29, 1944, in Greenwood. Named Ida Mae after her mother, she later gave herself the name “Endesha,” a Swahili word meaning “to steer,” an ideal description for the driven social activist, educator and prize-winning . . . — — Map (db m229045) HM
Front
Greenwood native Walter “Furry” Lewis (c. 1899-1981) was a favorite figure on the Memphis blues revival scene of the 1960s and '70s, decades after he made his historic first recordings in the 1920s. Lewis, who had . . . — — Map (db m77196) HM
Front
Eddie Lee “Guitar Slim” Jones brought new levels of energy and intensity to electric guitar playing with his raw, incendiary approach in the 1950s. An impassioned singer and a flamboyant showman, Jones was best known . . . — — Map (db m77211) HM
Front
Hubert Sumlin’s sizzling guitar playing energized many of the classic Chicago blues records of Howlin’ Wolf in the 1950s and ‘60s. His reputation in blues and rock circles propelled him to a celebrated career on his own after . . . — — Map (db m77209) HM
Front
A seminal figure in the history of the Delta blues, Robert Johnson (1911-1938) synthesized the music of Delta blues pioneers such as Son House with outside traditions. He in turn influenced artists such as Muddy Waters and Elmore . . . — — Map (db m77203) HM
Front
Before the 1950s, relatively few African American voices were heard on the radio in the South. A major exception was live broadcasts of performances by gospel groups. During the 1940s this building housed station WGRM, which . . . — — Map (db m77200) HM
On June 5, 1966, James Meredith began the
"March Against Fear," a three-week march
from Memphis. Tennessee, to Jackson, Mississippi.
designed to promote black voter registration
and defy segregation. On June 18, some 100
marchers passed through . . . — — Map (db m170266) HM
During the early to mid-1960s, Hopewell MB Church
under the leadership of Rev. G.W. Hollins was the
location for civil rights meetings organized by local
SNCC voting rights activist William H. "Bud"
McGee. On June 18, 1963, a meeting here . . . — — Map (db m235165) HM
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