The Mississippi Delta was the epicenter of the Civil Rights movement in the South and there are those who want to tell their story of how it happened in Clarksdale, Mississippi and the nation.
The North Mississippi Civil Rights Museum is opening with a temporary location at the new Higher Purpose office at 238 Issaquena Ave. in downtown Clarksdale.
The partnership between the North Mississippi Civil Rights Museum and Higher Purpose Co. was announced at a press conference outside of the location last week. The permanent location of the museum is expected to be on Martin Luther King Drive.
Dollars have already been raised for the museum and will be folded into the project as the funding grows.
“We’re just so happy that you have come with us to share this occasion, a momentous occasion I must say,” said Dr. Jimmy Wiley, who has led the effort to bring the museum to Clarksdale.
“This will be the temporary home of the Civil Rights museum. You know we committed ourselves to the lot over here next to Haven Methodist Church. There are signs over here. That’s where it will eventually be, but you know what eventually means. It doesn’t necessarily mean tomorrow.”
Wiley mentioned the work Civil Rights leaders Dr. Aaron Henry and Vera Mae Pigee did in Clarksdale.
“I don’t think you can even discuss Civil Rights in Mississippi without mentioning Aaron Henry’s name,” Wiley said. “If we let this go undone, we have done an injustice to ourselves.”
Tim Lampkin, CEO of Higher Purpose, talked about plans for the museum as well as how some of the funds were raised.
“I am deeply grateful to be here today and stand before you as we announce a historic partnership,” Lampkin said.
Lampkin thanked everyone from Higher Purpose who helped make the partnership possible.
“About a year ago, we started on a journey to really think about how we could be, not just involved with our community, but impactful from a historical standpoint,” Lampkin said. “And what would our legacy be?”
Lampkin said regular updates on the museum could be found at https://nmcrm.org/. He mentioned a window exhibit of Henry and Pigee.
He said $50,000 was raised to support exhibits going into the space at Higher Purpose Co.
Dr. Rolando Herts, director of The Delta Center for Culture and Learning at Delta State, helped secure a grant to make the partnership possible.
“I will say it is phenomenal that a small investment that we make in this project with our regional engagement and advancement partnership fund, $5,000 has turned into this,” Herts said. “It is phenomenal, phenomenal that this could happen. It’s through collaboration of partnerships that this kind of work could take place. We are a regional serving organization.
“It’s very, very important particularly around the Civil Rights heritage here in the Mississippi Delta.”
Brenda Luckett also helped the museum come together.
“That’s my life,” Luckett said. “When Dr. Wiley came up with the concept of the Civil Rights Museum, I knew I had to be a part of it because it’s all my life. It has been all my life and I am just so happy that he allowed me to take this journey with him because I know how much it meant to him to bring this to fruition and to have Rolando step in and help us.”
Clarksdale mayor Chuck Espy expressed his support for the museum.
“Higher Purpose has been a trailblazing entity that has mostly, and I know people don’t like to give a lot of accolades and say, ‘Well, look at what happened,’” Espy said. “Well, let me tell you something. Tim Lampkin is one of our individuals that are one of our pillars in the state of Mississippi. He has been able, as a young individual, to come back and stir us all in the right direction.”
As mayor, Espy said he would support Higher Purpose and make sure Lampkin is at every single seat that the community possibly has.
