MDAH News

MDAH is accepting applications for preservation projects across the state. The 2020 Mississippi Legislature has provided funding for another round of the Community Heritage Preservation Grant (CHPG) Program, which helps preserve, restore, rehabilitate, and interpret historic courthouses and schools. In Certified Local Government communities, grant funds may also be used for projects involving historic buildings other than courthouses or schools.

The MDAH Board of Trustees will award the grants at a special meeting in December. County or municipal governments, school districts, and nonprofit organizations granted 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status may submit applications. A cash match of at least twenty percent is required, and grant awards are reimbursed upon the successful completion of the project.

Guidelines and applications may be downloaded from the following link: CHPG Application. The deadline to submit completed applications is October 2. For more information call 601-576-6940.

The fifty-five CLG communities in Mississippi are Aberdeen, Baldwyn, Biloxi, Booneville, Brandon, Canton, Carrollton, Carthage, Claiborne County, Clarksdale, Cleveland, Clinton, Columbia, Columbus, Como, Corinth, Durant, Gautier, Greenville, Greenwood, Hattiesburg, Hazlehurst, Hernando, Holly Springs, Indianola, Jackson, Kosciusko, Laurel, Leland, Lexington, Louisville, McComb, Meridian, Mound Bayou, Mount Olive, Natchez, New Albany, Newton, Ocean Springs, Oxford, Pascagoula, Philadelphia, Port Gibson, Quitman, Raymond, Senatobia, Sharkey County, Starkville, Tunica, Tupelo, Vicksburg, Water Valley, West, West Point, and Woodville.

The Commission to Redesign the Mississippi State Flag met on Tuesday, July 28, at the Two Mississippi Museums—the Museum of Mississippi History and Mississippi Civil Rights Museum. Present were Reuben Anderson, Cyrus Ben, Sherri Carr Bevis, Frank Bordeaux, Betsey Hamilton, T.J. Taylor, and J. Mack Varner. Mary Graham and Robyn Tannehill joined the meeting via Zoom.

After Reuben Anderson called the meeting to order, the commission unanimously approved a plan for reviewing the hundreds of flag submissions and selecting a flag for the ballot by September 2. Only flags submitted by August 1 that meet the legislative criteria will be considered.

The flag submissions will be placed on the Mississippi Department of Archives and History’s website for public view on August 3. The commissioners will each choose twenty-five flags by August 7, narrowing more than a thousand entries to a maximum of 225. Commission members will then rank their top ten choices.

During the next meeting on August 14, the commissioners will select five flags for final consideration. These five flags will be placed on the MDAH website for public comment.

After expert Clay Moss presented about the principles of flag design, the commissioners voted to meet again on August 25 and September 2. The commission will select the final flag to submit to the governor and the Legislature at the September 2 meeting.

Each of the upcoming meetings will stream live on MDAH Facebook page. Watch the July 28 meeting here. The minutes from the July 22 are located here. For more information email info@mdah.ms.gov.

At its first meeting held on July 22 at the Two Mississippi Museums, the Commission to Redesign the Mississippi State Flag set August 1 as the new deadline for the public to submit designs for a new state flag. The deadline will allow the commission to complete its work in time for ballots to be printed for the November 3 election.

Commissioners unanimously elected Reuben Anderson to serve as chairman. Anderson, a former Mississippi Supreme Court justice, serves as president of the Board of Trustees of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

Other commission members present at the meeting included Sherri Carr Bevis, T.J. Taylor, and J. Mack Varner. Robyn Tannehill and Mary Graham joined the meeting via Zoom. House Speaker Philip Gunn welcomed the commissioners and thanked them for their service.

Flag designs may be emailed to emcraney@mdah.ms.gov. Submissions may also be mailed to Commission to Redesign the Mississippi State Flag, Mississippi Department of Archives and History, P.O. Box 571, Jackson, MS, 39205-0571.

For more information email info@mdah.ms.gov.

At its June 23 meeting, Fred Banks was elected chairman of the Board of Directors of the Foundation for Mississippi History, which supports and promotes the activities, programs, and projects of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH). P. Ryan Beckett was named vice-chairman.

Fred Banks is a senior partner in the general litigation group in the Jackson office of Phelps Dunbar. He served in the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1976 until 1985, when he was appointed as a circuit court judge. Banks served as a justice on the Mississippi Supreme Court for eleven years. Banks has served on the National Board of Directors of the NAACP for the past thirty-nine years.

P. Ryan Beckett is a partner in the commercial litigation group in the Ridgeland office of Butler Snow.  He currently serves on the Board of Trustees of Millsaps College.  He previously served as the Legal Director of the Homeless Legal Clinic through the Mississippi Volunteer Lawyers Project.  Beckett is a past chairman of the Mississippi Tort Claims Board, the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra’s Encore Board, and the Advisory Board of Metropolitan Bank.

Phil Bryant, the sixty-fourth governor of Mississippi, has been elected to the Foundation board. Bryant was a strong supporter of the Two Mississippi Museums project and was governor when the Museum of Mississippi History and Mississippi Civil Rights Museum opened in 2017.

The Foundation board meets at least twice a year to review financial reports and to consult with staff on strategic plans for the department’s museums, sites, and programs. A particular function of the Foundation is advising MDAH on the direction of the Museum of Mississippi History and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum. The Foundation raised $20 million for the construction of the Two Mississippi Museums.

In an effort to expand the number of voices advising MDAH on all aspects of its programming, the Foundation for the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum has merged with the Foundation for Mississippi History.

Other Foundation board members include Reuben Anderson, Donna Barksdale, Kane Ditto, Haley Fisackerly, Mike Espy, Jack Garner, Beverly Hogan, H.T. Holmes, John Horhn, Jonathan Lee, Ebony Lumumba, Leslie-Burl McLemore, Nora Frances McRae, John Palmer, John Peoples, Chip Pickering, Leroy Walker, and William Winter.

Katie Blount serves as president of the Foundation and Robert Benson is secretary-treasurer. For more information email info@mdah.ms.gov.

House Bill 1796 established a commission to redesign the Mississippi State Flag. The Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH), which is providing clerical support for the commission, is now accepting flag design submissions. The sole purpose of the commission, according to the bill, is to develop, design, and report to the governor and the legislature its recommendation for the design of the new state flag no later than September 14, 2020.

Governor Tate Reeves, Lieutenant Governor Delbert Hosemann, and House Speaker Philip Gunn will each appoint three members to the Commission to Redesign the Mississippi State Flag no later than Wednesday, July 15. The chair of the commission will be chosen by the majority vote of the members of the commission during their first meeting.

Criteria

1. Only unique flag design submissions that include the words “In God We Trust” will be considered by the nine-member commission. Flag descriptions will not be considered.
2. The new flag design cannot include the Confederate battle flag.
3. Flag design submissions must adhere to principles of the North American Vexillological Association:
   • Keep It Simple. The flag should be so simple that a child can draw it from memory.
   • Use Meaningful Symbolism. The flag’s images, color, or patterns should relate to what it symbolizes.
   • Use Two or Three Basic Colors.
   • Be Distinctive or Be Related.

The deadline for submissions is August 1, 2020. Flag designs may be emailed to info@mdah.ms.gov. Submissions may also be mailed to Commission to Redesign the Mississippi State Flag, Mississippi Department of Archives and History, P.O. Box 571, Jackson, MS, 39205-0571.

For more information email info@mdah.ms.gov.

Nissan is supporting free admission to the Museum of Mississippi History and Mississippi Civil Rights Museum Saturday, July 18. Admission will also include the special exhibit Mississippi Distilled: Prohibition, Piety, and Politics.

“We are thankful to Nissan for their continued generosity and support,” said Katie Blount, director of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. “We will provide a safe experience for all visitors that take advantage of this opportunity to explore the museums.”

In a continuing effort to stem the spread of COVID-19, visitors will be required to wear masks, which will be available on site. All the public spaces have been sanitized, and thorough cleaning will continue every day. Staff will be on site to ensure that social distancing guidelines are maintained. A limited number of visitors will be allowed inside at one time. Visitors are encouraged to purchase their tickets online at tickets.mdah.ms.gov.

“Nissan believes that education promotes conversations, conversations enable understanding, and understanding builds community. Building respect and greater civic spirit within our communities is needed now more than ever, “said Parul Bajaj, senior manager, Philanthropy, Nissan North America, Inc. “We are honored to welcome our neighbors across Mississippi to the museums on July 18.”

Since opening its doors in 2003, Nissan’s assembly plant in Canton, Mississippi has donated more than $15 million and worked more than 8,000 volunteer hours to support 200 nonprofit organizations in the Great Jackson area. The facility employs nearly 6,000 employees who build the Nissan Altima, Murano, Frontier, TITAN and TITAN XD, NV Cargo and NV Passenger vehicles.

The museums will be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on July 18. They are located at 222 North Street in Jackson. For more information email info@mdah.ms.gov.

At noon on Wednesday, July 15, as part of the History Is Lunch series Scott Barretta will present “Music on the Gold Coast during Prohibition.” The presentation is in conjunction with the opening of the new Mississippi Distilled exhibit at the Museum of Mississippi History and Mississippi Civil Rights Museum.

Located in Rankin County just across the Pearl River from downtown Jackson, the Gold Coast was infamous for bootlegging from the 1930s through the 1960s.

“The strip of nightclubs along Fannin Road run by and catering to African Americans, who referred to the district as ‘across the river,’ is lesser known,” said Barretta. “That area was particularly active from the late '40s to the mid '50s, when the chitlin’ circuit—the national network of African American clubs—was taking off, and alongside the venues catering to larger acts were dozens of local clubs and bootlegers.”

Eventually much of the nightclub activity in the region moved to Highway 49 north of the city limits, where enforcement of alcohol laws was likewise lax.

A resident of Greenwood, Barretta is a writer and researcher for the Mississippi Blues Trail, the host of Highway 61 on Mississippi Public Broadcasting, and a sociology instructor at the University of Mississippi. He was a recipient of a Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts in 2016.

This program is made possible by the Mississippi Historical Society. Learn more about the group at mississippihistory.org.

The streaming-only program will take place at noon on Wednesday, July 15. It will be shown live on the Mississippi Department of Archives and History’s Facebook page— https://www.facebook.com/MDAHOfficial —and uploaded afterwards to the MDAH YouTube channel— https://www.youtube.com/MDAHVideo, as well as being available here.

On June 30, 2020, Governor Tate Reeves signed House Bill 1796, which establishes a commission to redesign the Mississippi state flag. According to the legislation, the removal of the former official state flag shall take place not later than fifteen days from the effective date of this act.

On Wednesday, July 1, Lieutenant Governor Delbert Hosemann and House Speaker Philip Gunn presented MDAH with the last flags to fly over the state capitol. The flags will be added to the permanent collection.

The Mississippi Code does not provide guidelines for flag retirement ceremonies, but according to Mississippi Code Section 3-3-15, “The state flag shall receive all of the respect and ceremonious etiquette given the American flag.”

Organizations that receive flags for dignified and respectful removal include local fire departments, American Legion posts, Veterans of Foreign Wars posts, and the Boy Scouts of America. In some cases, local history museums may accept donations of flags.