Mississippi Civil Rights, history museums set to surpass attendance projections

If current attendance rates hold, the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum and the Museum of Mississippi History could see up to 300,000 visitors in 2018. 

That would top almost all the civil rights museums in the South. The highest, the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis located in the old Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, had 310,352 visitors last year.

Author Ralph Eubanks said many are attracted to Mississippi because it was ground zero for the modern civil rights movement and much of what happened here is known, in contrast with some other states, still grappling to comprehend their pasts.

"We've had to confront a lot more of our demons," said Eubanks, who detailed his Mississippi childhood in his memoir, "Ever Is A Long Time." "That doesn't necessarily mean we've dealt with all those demons, but our demons have been put out into the open."

When Mississippi's two museums opened on Dec. 9, tourism officials projected 180,000 visitors in the first year, with an annual economic impact of $17 million.

Museum officials are almost halfway there with more than 80,000 visitors since the opening.

Eubanks said there were some fears the two museums would be "separate but equal." Instead, he said, the pair are "part of a continuum, which helps give you more background for the civil rights movement."

Attendance at the two museums has been boosted by the 10,000 who visited opening weekend and the 16,000 who attended for free on Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, thanks to support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

"Hopefully visitation will continue apace," said Katie Blount, director of the state Department of Archives and History.

One thing that will help: Each third Saturday, the museums will be open free of charge.

So far, the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum has received glowing reviews from Time, Newsweek and others.

"Now, at a time when our country is more divided than ever," The Washington Post declared, "the state has given all Americans an opportunity to come to Mississippi and reflect on our dark and not-so distant past. The Mississippi Civil Rights Museum is a reason to go — and to learn."

A review for The New York Times bore the headline, "The New Mississippi Civil Rights Museum Refuses to Sugarcoat History."

Review: Mississippi Civil Rights Museum not for the timid

Sen. John Horhn, D-Jackson, who sponsored the legislation that made the museums a reality, said the fact the civil rights museum "presents its history in a truthful and honest way is the biggest compliment you can pay. It puts the naysayers to shame that Mississippi could not tell its story in an honest and open way. We are not where we need to be, but we've come a mighty long way."

One of the most praised parts of the museum is the "This Little Light of Mine" exhibit, which lights up and plays songs by civil rights activists when a crowd gathers in the room.

"There's a rejuvenating quality to it," Horhn said. "It lends to the hopefulness that we can overcome."

Mississippi appears to be catching the wave of civil rights tourism at just the right time.

The Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture, which opened in fall 2016, saw more than 2.3 million visitors in 2017, making it a top attraction in the nation's capital.

In addition, a 14-state U.S. Civil Rights Trail has been unveiled, focusing on about 130 sites related to the movement. Stops include the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum and the restored Tallahatchie County Courthouse, where the 1955 murder trial of Emmett Till's killers took place.

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More and more tour groups are trekking to Mississippi to take in the movement and the museum, sometimes after hours.

School groups, Blunt said, are signing up "faster than we can accommodate them."

She said it's been exciting for those who have worked so hard on the museums "to watch people come in and experience these powerful people. These museums belong to the people."

When a kindergarten class came in this week, Pamela Junior, director of the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, spoke to them about the movement in a way they could understand, teaching them the words to the song, "This Little Light of Mine" that civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer made famous.

"One of the most gratifying is seeing the multigenerational groups going through the museum together, grandparents explaining the exhibits to younger family members," Blount said. "Or children finding pictures of their grandparents on the walls. It's really special, and it's happening over and over again."

Attendance in 2017:
National Civil Rights Museum: 310,352
The Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta: 200,000
Birmingham Civil Rights Institute: 140,000
International Civil Rights Center and Museum in Greensboro, North Carolina: 70,000
The Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama: 35,000+