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MUSEUMS, continued from p. 1
scale we haven’t seen before and bringing our theme ‘One Mississippi, Many Voices’ to life.”
The heart of the MCRM experience will be the This Little Light of Mine gallery honoring the voices of every person— known and unknown—who participated in the Civil Rights Movement. The forty-foot-tall memorial sculpture will be suspended from the center of the four-story gallery and will pulse with light and music. The light spilling out of the building will be a symbol for the contribution that each person can make today.
Seven galleries will surround This Little Light of Mine. The first three will take the visitor through the history of slavery, impact of Reconstruction and Jim Crow on black communities, the growing culture of fear in Mississippi, and key turning points that renew the demand for justice. The next three galleries will focus in great detail on the strengthening Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and black empowerment. The final gallery Where Do We Go from Here? asks visitors to envision greater racial reconciliation and the state’s future. Extensive use of audio and film footage will highlight firsthand accounts of activism.
“While it may be painful and difficult at times, the museum is staying true to the story of the struggle for freedom,” said Jacqueline Dace, MCRM project director. “We’re working hard to give voice to ordinary Mississippians from around the state as we move into this final design phase.”
The Foundation for Mississippi History is raising funds for exhibit design in each museum.
“Our goal is to have $5 million in gifts and pledges by the time we break ground,” said MDAH director H.T. Holmes. “We are well on our way, and I project that the Foundation will meet that goal.”
Collecting Efforts Underway
The Department of Archives and History has actively sought out high-quality artifacts to help tell the stories of the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum and Museum of Mississippi History, recently acquiring three narrative quilts by acclaimed textile artist Gwendolyn Magee and a unique nineteenth-century rocking chair made to commemorate a friendship that crossed Civil War lines.
Two of the Magee quilts are from her Slave Series that depicts the cruel treatment of enslaved African people.
86 Lashes to Go shows the graphic violence of whipping while the piece Not Tonight! offers a counterpoint as an African American man aims a rifle from his window toward a burning cross. The third quilt, Lift Every Voice and Sing, is based on the James Weldon Johnson poem of the same name and is part of a series illustrating the verses—a testimony to the spirit of perseverance and hope. In this piece, pictured at right, silhouetted figures lift their voices together against the night sky around the planet earth.
The quilts will be displayed in the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum.
Bom in High Point, North Carolina, Magee was a resident of Jackson from 1972 until her death in April 2011. She created numerous quilts with abstract designs and moving narratives of African American history and heritage and received a 2011 Mississippi Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts.
Longtime preservationist Libby Hollingsworth of Port Gibson donated an artifact given to her family around 1870. The striking double rocker was made and painted by Union veteran William Duffner of Mitchell, Indiana, in gratitude to Hollingsworth’s forbear, Confederate veteran A.K. Shaifer Jr. The chair, pictured top right with Museums Division director Lucy Allen, (left) and Libby Hollingsworth, features back and seat
illustrations that are painted in a folk style that depicts the movements of Duffner’s regiment in the Battle of Port Gibson on May
1,1863, at the Shaifer House. In the painted text Duffner thanks Shaifer for his generosity and asks “may God forgive, unite, and bless us all.” The chair will be displayed in the Museum of Mississippi History.
During the Battle of Port Gibson, the Shaifer house was used as a Union hospital for wounded soldiers. A.K. Shaifer Jr. was away from home as a member of the Confederate army during the battle. He returned to his home after being released from a prisoner-of-war camp and established friendships with Union veterans who had fought on his property. Shaifer hosted reunions at the house and sent flowers from the battlefield to be placed on the graves of Union soldiers in Mitchell, Indiana every Memorial Day from around 1900 until his death May 30, 1921.
For anyone interested in donating an artifact or simply learning more about their personal items, the department will hold special collectibles identification days on Wednesday, June 26, and Wednesday, July 31, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Representatives from the MCRM and MMH will be in the William F. Winter Building lobby to answer questions and discuss conservation.
Areas of collecting interest include the Civil Rights era, Native American, African American, woman suffrage movement, and more. All donated items will be conserved to meet the highest professional standards using the state-of-the-art collection care facility planned for the two museums.