JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – On Wednesday, the National Park Service (NPS) delivered the Mississippi Civil Rights Sites Special Resource Study to Congress.
The study considers a variety of opportunities for the preservation, protection and interpretation of civil rights sites in Mississippi. Officials said the study identified nine sites in the state associated with the 1955 murder of Emmett Till and 1964 Mississippi Freedom project as meeting criteria specifically established by Congress for potential inclusion in the National Park System.
“The state of Mississippi was a center of gravity in the struggle for civil rights in America. The sites evaluated in this study represent the range of courage and resistance in the face of injustice that characterized this pivotal era in our nation’s history,” said NPS Director Chuck Sams. “Events that unfolded in Mississippi during this period spurred civil rights action across the country. Preserving and commemorating Mississippi civil rights sites would help ensure that these important aspects of America’s heritage, and the grave injustices that sparked them, will never be forgotten.”
The nine sites identified in the study as meeting Special Resource Study criteria for potential inclusion in the National Park System are:
- The Bryant’s Grocery Store and Ben Roy’s Service Station site in Money
- The Burned Station Wagon site in rural Neshoba County
- The East Money Church of God in Christ cemetery in Money
- The Glendora Cotton Gin and community center in Glendora
- The Graball Landing river site in Glendora
- The M.W. Stringer Grand Lodge in Jackson
- The Mt. Zion Methodist Church in Neshoba County
- The Neshoba County Courthouse Square in Philadelphia
- The Tallahatchie County Courthouse and Emmett Till Interpretive Center in Sumner
