African-American Heritage Itineraries

Mississippi culture and heritage are rich with the legacy of the African-American race. Three itineraries will take you to historic churches, museums, universities, homes and cemeteries. There you may examine and explore the accomplishments of those who, despite oppressive times, prevailed and prospered.

Read about African-American heritage in Mississippi, including a timeline of historic events.

Itinerary 1

Day 1

Travel from Memphis, Tennessee, to Oxford, Mississippi, and tour the Center for the Study of Southern Culture, a research facility focusing on Southern music, literature and folk life. The Blues Archive includes B.B. King's personal collection of 10,000 recordings. Drive through the picturesque campus of the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) from which James Meredith, the first African- American to attend the university, graduated in 1963.

Drive into the heart of the Delta blues, Clarksdale, and spend the evening enjoying music that inspired a generation of rock, country and jazz musicians.

Day 2

Tour the Delta Blues Museum, where you can hear music, watch videos and see photographs, sculptures and paintings that are tributes to famous bluesmen. Then tour such sites as Sonny Boy Williamson's grave and the site of W.C. Handy's former residence.

Day 3

On the way south to Mississippi's capital, pause at Morgan City's Mt. Zion Baptist Church to visit the gravesite and newly erected monument for Robert Johnson who, as legend has it, sold his soul to the devil to play the blues. Then visit the Oakes African-American Center in Yazoo City.

From Yazoo City, travel to Canton where blues legend Elmore James was born. See the Howcott Monument erected between 1894 and 1900 by William Howcott in honor of his body servant, Willis Howcoft. After lunch see an overview exhibit of the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi at the Old Capitol Historical Museum in Jackson. Nearby, the Smith Robertson Museum and Cultural Center houses exhibits that celebrate African-American history and arts. The gift shop offers handicrafts of African-American Mississippians. Before the day is over, call ahead and reserve an afternoon tour of the modest but inspiring Medgar Evers' Home, the site of the civil rights leader's assassination, in 1963. The nearby Medgar Evers Library features a life-sized bronze statue of Evers, which overlooks the neighborhood where he lived.

Later, choose from a variety of entertaining clubs and restaurants.

Day 4

Start the day with a tour of Jackson State University, the leading predominantly African-American university in Mississippi, or Tougaloo College, which became the cornerstone of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s. Tougaloo possesses an outstanding art collection begun by prominent New York artists.

For an inspirational afternoon in the country near Jackson, visit the serene Piney Woods Country Life School. After lunch on the grounds, tour the campus and museum and hear the story of Professor Laurence Jones, who created hope and education for the forgotten African-American communities of Mississippi in the early 20th century.

Day 5

Travel the scenic and beautiful Natchez Trace Parkway to Port Gibson, and visit the workshop of award-winning African-American quilters at Cultural Crossroads. Your next stop is Alcorn State University, the first land-grant college for African-Americans in the nation, purchased by the state in 1871 and then known as Oakland College. Oakland Memorial Chapel, the oldest building on campus (1 830), has the original front stairway of Windsor, a nearby palatial antebellum mansion now in ruins.

From Alcorn, drive south to Natchez, the oldest permanent settlement on the Mississippi River. Visit the site of an old slave market at the "Forks of the Road" on the old Natchez Trace. Nearby are markers commemorating the Rhythm Club and lives lost during its tragic fire, and Richard Wright, one of America's greatest African- American writers.

In the evening, explore Natchez Under-the-Hill, once the notorious lair of robbers and riverboat gamblers, now a historic district of shops and restaurants overlooking the Mississippi River and a present-day steamboat landing.

Day 6

A tour of historic African-American churches includes Zion Chapel A.M.E. Church, which the Reverend Hiram Revels left to become a U.S. Senator and the first African-American representative to either House of Congress. There are over 500 antebellum structures in Natchez; many are the architectural accomplishments of slave artisans. Several can be toured year-round, and over 30 are included in the famous Natchez Pilgrimage.

Continue on to the beautiful Mississippi Gulf Coast in Gulfport. Take a ferry to Ship Island and Fort Massachusetts where, during the Civil War, the Union's Second Infantry Native Guard was stationed and conducted one of the first successful raids involving African-American forces. At Bay St. Louis, tour St. Augustine Seminary, where African-Americans train for the priesthood, or historical Gulf Side United Methodist Assembly.

ITINERARY 2

Day 1

Memphis to Holly Springs .... 45 miles
Holly Springs to Oxford ....... 30 miles
Total miles for the day ........ 75 miles

Travel from Memphis, Tennessee, to Holly Springs, Mississippi, the beautiful city where the movie COOKIE'S FORTUNE was filmed. Visit the Hillcrest Cemetery where Hiram Revels, the first African-American member of the U.S. Senate, is buried. Then tour Rust College campus founded in 1866 - where Hiram Revels served as Chaplain, where slaves were auctioned off, and where General Ulysses Grant camped. While on campus, visit the Leontyne Price Library and view the Roy Wilkins Collection, an extensive collection of papers and personal artifacts belonging to the former executive director of the NAACP. After lunch browse through the Ida B. Wells Barnett Family Art Gallery, located in the Spires Boling historic home where the native Mississippian, journalist and civil rights activist was born. The Gallery features African-American and African art and sculptures available for purchase.

Continue on to Oxford and tour the Center for the Study of Southern Culture located on the campus of the University of Mississippi. There you will discover the music, literature and folk life that are the very soul of Mississippi. The Blues Archive includes B.B. King's personal collection of over 10,000 recordings. Explore the campus where James Meredith was the university's first African-American graduate in 1963. After an enjoyable dinner, spend the night in Oxford.

Day 2

Oxford to Columbus .......... 62 miles

After a leisurely southern-style breakfast, head to Columbus. You will travel through West Point, where each year a festival is held to pay tribute to Blues great, Chester "Howlin Wolf" Burnett. In Columbus visit "Catfish Alley," a central meeting and business district for the Columbus African-American community in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. "Catfish Alley" got its name from the aroma of catfish cooking in the alley. Tour Union Academy established in 1877 as the first free African-American school in Columbus. Drive by Queen City Hotel; constructed in 1909, it was owned and operated by Robert Walker, a former slave. After lunch visit Missionary Union Baptist Church, built in 1833, the oldest African-American church in northeast Mississippi. See the Bridge Street Bridge, designed by Horace King, an African-American bridge builder, completed in 1844. Visit The Haven, built in 1843 by Isaac and Thomas Williams, free men of color. This home is on Spring Pilgrimage yearly. Enjoy dinner and an overnight stay in Columbus.

Day 3

Columbus to Kosciusko ..... 81 miles
Kosciusko to Meridian ....... 81 miles
Total miles for the day ...... 162 miles

After breakfast in Columbus, continue your journey to Kosciusko. Drive
by the building where Oprah Winfrey stood before her first audience and recited her Easter speech, the Buffalo Community Center. Then visit the original home-site of the famous talk show host. After lunch in Kosciusko, continue on to Meridian; pause in the Longdale community of Philadelphia to visit the Mt. Zion Church and memorial to Civil Rights Activists James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman.
In Meridian tour Con Sheehan Block built on Main Street. In 1870, it was a hub for dentists, shop owners, doctors, pharmacists and other businesses owned and operated by African-Americans. Visit Wechsler School built in 1884; it was the first brick public school built for Blacks in Mississippi. Tour the E.F. Young Jr. Manufacturing Company, the oldest African-American owned manufacturing company in the U.S. View the manufacture of cosmetics and hair care products made especially for African-Americans.

Before leaving Meridian, drive to the Okatibbee Cemetery and visit the gravesite memorial to Meridianite James Chaney a somber reminder of the sacrifices of Chaney, who volunteered with Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman during the Freedom Summer of 1964. Later choose from a variety of entertaining clubs and restaurants, and then spend the night in Meridian.

Day 4

Meridian to Hattiesburg .... 88 miles
Hattiesburg to Biloxi ......... 82 miles
Total miles for the day ...... 170 miles

After breakfast travel south to Hattiesburg, the home of Osceola McCarty who gave her life savings to establish a scholarship fund for minority students attending the University of Southern Mississippi. Drive through the Mobile Street Historic District in beautiful downtown Hattiesburg, a cultural resource of Hattiesburg's African-American heritage, developed into a major business district between 1895 and 1910. Included in this district is Mt. Carmel Baptist Church formed in 1886, the first African-American Baptist church in Hattiesburg. After a leisurely lunch, continue south to Biloxi and the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Visit the George E. Ohr Arts & Cultural Center in Biloxi, which features an African-American gallery devoted entirely to African-American exhibits. Browse and shop at some of the many shops in Biloxi. Tour the Biloxi Mardi Gras Museum. The only remaining pre-Civil War hotel on the Gulf Coast, it now houses a glittering collection of Mardi Gras costumes and memorabil- ia. In the evening enjoy dinner at one of the fine local restaurants and try your luck at one of the many Las Vegas-style casinos.

Day 5

Biloxi to Gulfport ..................... 12 miles
Gulfport to Bay St. Louis ......... 16 miles
Bay St. Louis to New Orleans .. 58 miles
Total miles for the day ............. 86 miles

After breakfast continue on down scenic Highway 90 to Gulfport and board a ferry to Ship Island. In 1862 during the Civil War, the Union organized the 1st Regiment of the Native Guards, an African-American regiment consisting of men of color and ex-slaves. These black Union soldiers secured the island and the Fort. Ship Island is also home to Fort Massachusetts, one of the last masonry forts in the U.S. After leaving Ship Island enjoy a delicious lunch at one of the restaurants along the beautiful Gulf Coast.

Continue your drive along the coast to the quaint city of Bay St. Louis. Visit St. Augustine Catholic Church and Seminary. The first Catholic seminary in the U.S. established to train black men for the priesthood, it is now a retirement center for priests and brothers. Tour the Agony Grotto designed and built by Thaddeaus S. Boucre, a gifted African-American bricklayer. Then tour St. Rose DeLima Catholic Church, established in 1926 by the Divine Word Missionaries. The altar is adorned with the magnificent mural, "Christ in the Oak."

Drive through Bay St. Louis where you will see many murals, including one that depicts the works of the famous African-American sculptor, Richard Barthe. View the Queen Ann-style cottages and other homes and businesses built by Eugene Ray, an African-American architect and builder, and the only undertaker in the city of Bay St. Louis during the late 1800's. Stop and shop at some of many quaint shops located in downtown Bay St. Louis. Visit the city of Waveland and the Gulfside United Methodist Assembly. This beautiful retreat was established in 1923 by Bishop Robert E. Jones and sits on 600 acres of beachfront property. Gulfside Assembly was a prominent religious and educational institution and a meeting site for African-Americans during segregation. Gulfside was at one time the only place African-Americans had access to the beach.

Enjoy a delicious dinner before heading on to New Orleans.