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As the daughter of civil rights leaders Medgar and Myrlie Evers listened, MDAH fellow Chelsea D. McNutt, Ph.D., recently presented her preliminary findings on the networks of care led by Black women during the Civil Rights Movement.

McNutt is the Mississippi Department of Archives and History’s 2026 Medgar and Myrlie Evers Research Fellow.

For two weeks this summer, McNutt pored over the Medgar Wiley and Myrlie Beasley Evers Papers housed at MDAH to pursue her research. She spent most of her time analyzing how Myrlie Evers was a part of the collective care of Black women in the South during the Civil Rights Movement.

“Following his assassination in June 1963, the Movement confronted not only the loss of one of its most influential leaders, but also the immediate question of how families, communities, and organizations would respond in the aftermath. At the center of that moment stood Myrlie Evers,” McNutt said.

The recent presentation at the Two Mississippi Museums was the culmination of the fellowship for McNutt, who earned her Ph.D. in History from Cornell University and was recently appointed an Assistant Professor of History at Grambling State University.

McNutt researched how Myrlie Evers navigated widowhood, motherhood, national public attention, and the responsibility of preserving the work Medgar Evers had done. Through this, she found a broader historical question: "How did Black women organize care in moments like this and how did forms of care emerge around Myrlie Evers?”

Reena Evers-Everette also attended the fellow's presentation and gave her thanks to McNutt, praising her work for the focus of the role of care in her research.
“Thank you very much for your presentation and for your research and for hearing that you’re going to continue with it,” Evers-Everette said.

McNutt described her research as both challenging and rewarding.

“One of the most rewarding aspects of historical research is that every answer often leads to new questions,” McNutt said. “This fellowship has challenged me to think differently about Black women's political work, collective care, and the intellectual labor that sustains the modern civil rights movement.”

To learn more about MDAH Fellowships visit, https://www.mdah.ms.gov/careers-volunteering/fellowship-opportunities

The special session recently called by Governor Tate Reeves was historic: It ended with passage of the first legislation in the Old Capitol in more than 120 years.

The Mississippi Chancery Youth Court Act of 2026 was passed in the Old Capitol House Chamber on July 17. This bill appears to be the first legislation passed at the Old Capitol since 1903. Archival records make no mention of legislation passed in the Old Capitol once the new state Capitol opened.

Governor Reeves called for a special session regarding the status of youth courts in the state. Construction at the current state Capitol prevented the session from being held in its House chamber.

Administered by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, the Old Capitol now serves as a free museum. The site is open to visitors Wednesday to Friday, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The Old Capitol Museum is Mississippi’s most historic building. It was the site of some of the state’s most significant political actions, such as the passage of the 1839 Married Women’s Property Act, Mississippi’s secession from the Union in 1861, and the crafting of the 1868 and 1890 state constitutions.

The Mississippi Department of Archives and History hosts several genealogy workshops a year, teaching individuals how to trace their family history. During a recent workshop, Joyce Dixon-Lawson shared how the Dawes Rolls are a research tool for Native American genealogy. 

Lawson explored the ways in which participants can utilize census records, land deeds, and other files to build their family tree. She also encouraged the participants to use the archives at MDAH to research their families. 

Lawson has been researching and helping others find their genealogy for years. She formerly served as a manager of research and genealogy at the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum. Lawson told workshop participants that genealogy results can sometimes yield surprising results.

“Genealogy is personal. If you're not ready to embrace whatever record you find, genealogy is may not be something you want to do,” Lawson said.

Lawson encourages anyone who is researching to start with themselves and their families. “You start with what you know, and you systematically work your way down.” Lawson said.

She also reminded people to utilize MDAH resources, including census records, and to be persistent.

“Genealogy is a lifelong journey,” she said.

Ready to begin your genealogy search? Start here.

During a recent History Is Lunch presentation, author April Holm put forth that theological conflicts between the North and the South that preceded the Civil War, existed long after the war's end and reunion, shaping major evangelical denominations and influencing the relationship between the federal government and churches.

Holm, author of In Kingdom Divided: Evangelicals, Loyalty, and Sectionalism in the Civil War Era, is an assistant professor of history and associate director of the Center for Civil War Research at the University of Mississippi. Her book explores religion, morality, and politics during Reconstruction. Her recent presentation at the Two Mississippi Museums was part of the MDAH Religion Initiative, made possible through a grant by Lilly Endowment Inc.’s Religion and Cultural Institutions Initiative. 

Holm said the religious rifts were a major contributing factor to the division between the North and South during Reconstruction. The divisions also led to Black churches forming across the nation.

Watch the presentation on the MDAH YouTube Channel.

Learn more about the MDAH Religion Initiative.

Ralph Boston, a native of Laurel, competed in three Olympic games – and won medals in each, including gold in 1960. His record-breaking track and field achievements are highlighted in the Mississippi Made exhibit at the Two Mississippi Museums – all thanks to his family who have loaned the artifacts for display.

Janna Newell, Boston’s niece, said loaning the Olympian’s shoes he wore during the games and three of his medals was a way of sharing his story with a new generation.

The Mississippi Made exhibit highlights several home-grown innovators, artists, entertainers, and athletes. The exhibit features 250 artifacts to reflect Mississippi’s contributions to American history. 

Boston was a record-breaking long jumper. He won his first Olympic medal – gold – in 1960. He won his silver medal at the 1964 Olympics and bronze at the 1968 Olympics.

The exhibit displays his spikes worn at the 1960 Olympics in Rome. One year later, he became the first man to jump over 27 feet, breaking his own world record.

Newell said Boston’s family always supported him.

“We were always very proud of his accomplishments. We didn’t think of him as a hero or somebody extremely special. We just knew him as our uncle,” Newell said. “To make it to one Olympics in itself is a beat but to go to three Olympics and medal in all three of them, that's something special.”

The medals and shoes have been loaned to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, which administers the Two Mississippi Museums. The artifacts will be on display until the exhibit closes Nov. 6. 

Newell said there’s a reason her family was willing to loan the artifacts to MDAH.

“These are the types of things that were instilled upon us – you should give back.”

See who else is highlighted in the Mississippi Made exhibit. Visit the Two Mississippi Museums.

Betty Bobo Pearson, whose life is highlighted as a Point of Light in the Two Mississippi Museums, is remembered by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History for her lifelong civic engagement, including advocacy for civil rights and voting rights.

Pearson died May 26, 2026, at the age of 104.

Pearson joined the United States Marines in the fall of 1943, eventually earning the rank of Second Lieutenant. She spent the war years at the San Diego Naval Base.

MDAH recognizes Pearson as a Point of Light in the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum.

In 2016, her life was the subject of a History Is Lunch program based on Sally Palmer Thomason's biography, Delta Rainbow: The Irrepressible Betty Bobo Pearson.  

According to the book, a defining moment in Pearson's life came in 1955, when she attended the trial for Emmett Till alongside her close friend, Florence Mars. Witnessing firsthand the blatant injustice and deep-seated racism on display transformed Pearson's perspective and strengthened her resolve to fight for equality.

"Betty Bobo Pearson's courage, compassion, and unwavering moral conviction continue to inspire generations of Mississippians," said Two Mississippi Museums Director Michael Morris.

The late Mississippi Governor William Winter once reflected on the book and Pearson's enduring impact: "This is the intimate, tell-it-all account of the life and career of one of the most remarkable women whom I have ever known. If Mississippi had had more people of conscience and courage like Betty Bobo Pearson and her friend, Florence Mars, we would have spared ourselves much unnecessary grief in the past, as we struggled with the issue of race. But this intriguing book is not just about race. It is an enlightening and inspiring insight into the character and values of one who was always true to herself and, as a result, to everyone else."

The Rev. Ed King, a United Methodist Church minister and co-founder of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP), is remembered by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History as a key figure in the Civil Rights Movement. 

King died July 4, 2026, at the age of 89.

Born Ralph Edwin King, he joined the ministry as a young man and enrolled at Boston University, where he volunteered for civil rights causes. In 1963, he accepted a position as chaplain at Tougaloo College and joined the Jackson Freedom Movement, organizing a downtown Jackson boycott with Mississippi NAACP field secretary Medgar Wiley Evers and John Salter, a professor at Tougaloo College. King served as an “observer” during the 1963 Jackson Woolworth sit-in, reporting the demonstration’s ensuing violence to Evers.

The day after the sit-in, police arrested King and others for trespassing when they attempted a kneel-in on the steps of the Federal Building on Capitol Street in Jackson. King’s civil rights activism provoked White ministers to expel him from his home church. He continued fighting for equal voting rights in the state, serving as Aaron Henry’s running mate in 1963’s Freedom Vote, a mock election opposing disenfranchisement among African Americans, and as a challenger to the seating of an all-White Mississippi delegation at the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City. Despite facing attacks and threats from White supremacists, King advocated for solidarity between White and Black churches in Mississippi. His journey as a civil rights veteran is featured in the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum of the Two Mississippi Museums.

“Ed King was a quintessential civil rights activist,” said Barry White, director of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. “His resilience in efforts to desegregate churches and to fight for equal voting rights in the state remain a shining testament to his courage.” 

Two days before our nation marked 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence, 19 people became American citizens during a ceremony at the Two Mississippi Museums.

Jennifer Jimenez was one of them. Before the ceremony, she toured the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum and the Museum of Mississippi History, where she likely saw stories of other immigrants who make up the fabric of Mississippi’s history.

So, after U.S. District Judge Kristi H. Johnson administered the oath, Jimenez succinctly shared how she felt in that moment.

“I am so proud,” said Jimenez, who was born in Panama. “It is good to know this country accepts you.”

In her remarks, Judge Johnson welcomed the new citizens to exercise their rights as Americans.

“I encourage you to strive to make this country, this state, your own community the best they can be, and exercise the rights and privileges you are now entitled to as an American citizen,” Johnson said. “Vote. Serve on a jury, if called. If you want to run for public office – run. But these new privileges and rights carry with them new responsibilities and duties.

“You have a duty to obey the law, pay your taxes, and defend your new country. We are always in need of good citizenship, no matter if we are naturalized or natural born, and we should all leave this ceremony today recommitting ourselves to the ideals represented in the United States Constitution,” she said.

The naturalization ceremony was part of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History’s activities to observe America250. This is the second year the ceremony has been held at the museums in collaboration with the U.S. District Court.

In his opening remarks, Spence Flatgard, president of the MDAH Board of Trustees, told the 19 they were being celebrated.

“You are part of our American family now,” Flatgard said.

The new citizens also received gifts from the Daughters of the American Revolution as they exited the stage with their Certificate of Naturalization.

For Nikitaben Kosada, originally from India, the moment was made even more poignant as it comes so close to the nation’s anniversary.

“It’s like being part of 250 years of history,” she said.

A Mississippi Department of Archives and History archivist recently catalogued an amazing artifact within the agency’s collections – a scrap of a white surrender flag from the Civil War.

Shaun Stalzer, MDAH’s senior archivist of government records, made the discovery while sorting through the collection.

A curious item grabbed his attention, and he was floored by what he found – a yellowing scrap of linen, about 5x10 inches, with these words printed in fading ink, "Piece of white flag that surrendered Ft. Lee, Vicksburg, July 4, 1863.”

MDAH Civil War experts were able to figure out the artifact’s backstory. It was determined that Private Willam C. Phipps of Company A, 11th Indiana Infantry, received this section of flag during the surrender of the Confederate Fort Garrott (then known as Fort Lee). The fort flew white flags of surrender when Confederate Lt. General John C. Pemberton surrendered to Maj. General Ulysses S. Grant. Phipps’ company captain ripped the Confederate surrender flag and distributed pieces to his soldiers.

This background information was determined by historian Jeff Giambrone and Shane Keil, deputy director of the MDAH Museum Division. Keil and Giambrone are currently identifying artifacts for the Vicksburg Civil War Visitor Center that will eventually open in the historic River City. Keil and Megan Bankston, Vicksburg Project manager, are leading the development of the museum that will be adjacent to the Vicksburg National Military Park.

The rare flag artifact will one day be on display at the Vicksburg Civil War Center. Until then, it can be viewed among many other artifacts online. Visit MDAH’s Historic Objects Collection page to see more. To learn more about MDAH’s work on the Vicksburg project, visit here.

The Mississippi Department of Archives and History will accept applications for the Community Heritage Preservation Grant (CHPG) Program July 1 – Oct. 2. Communities across the state are encouraged to apply.

The CHPG program helps preserve, restore, rehabilitate, and interpret Mississippi courthouses and schools across the state. In communities that participate in the Certified Local Governments program, buildings other than courthouses and schools are also eligible, if they have been designated as Mississippi Landmarks.

“We are grateful to the 2026 Mississippi Legislature for funding this year’s program,” MDAH Director Barry White said. “The grant program benefits communities across the state, offering a resource to preserve their local structures, and in turn, their local histories.”

Since its inception in 2001, the CHPG program has provided more than $61 million in funding for 355 projects in 71 counties across Mississippi.

Eligible applicants are encouraged to review the application materials early in the application period to allow adequate time to prepare a complete the submission.

For more information, visit MDAH’s Preservation and Planning webpage. Applications must be submitted before 5 p.m. on Oct. 2.

The MDAH Board of Trustees will award the grants at its quarterly meeting in January 2027. For more information call 601-576-6535 or email chpg@mdah.ms.gov.