Forging Ahead, 1946–Present

A Brief History of Camp Shelby

Introduction

When the United States entered World War I in 1917, it was poorly prepared for the challenges ahead. Training a large army required military camps with adequate housing and supplies. To address this need, President Woodrow Wilson commissioned Army General John J. Pershing, Commander of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF), to construct thirty training camps and cantonments across the country, including Camp Shelby.

A Brief History of Camp Shelby

Theme and Time Period
Camp Shelby is a 134,000-acre camp near Hattiesburg that annually trains an estimated 100,000 National Guard personnel and reservists from across the nation.

The Civil Rights Movement in Natchez, Mississippi

Introduction

The oldest city in Mississippi, Natchez was a key site of the Civil Rights Movement in the state. The Ku Klux Klan (KKK), which terrorized Black people through bombings, beatings, and murder, was active throughout southwest Mississippi in the 1950s and 1960s. Blacks were also treated unequally due to the Jim Crow system of discrimination. As a result of the work of Black leaders in the Civil Rights Movement in Natchez, the city and the state moved closer to establishing equal rights for all.

The Civil Rights Movement in Natchez, Mississippi

Theme and Time Period
The civil rights movement in Natchez, Mississippi, is a portrait of hate, hope, and heroism. The movement began during the segregated Jim Crow era when Blacks lived under the constant threat of racial violence and culminated with major concessions from the White establishment.

Okolona Industrial School Lesson Plan

Overview

Okolona Industrial School was founded by Wallace Aaron Battle in 1902, citing the size of Mississippi’s Black population and the high rate of illiteracy as the catalysts for his decision. The school was located in northeastern Mississippi and provided industrial and teacher training for Black residents of the state. Battle structured the school after Booker T. Washington’s curriculum at the Tuskegee Institute.

Okolona Industrial School

Theme and Time Period
Founded in 1902 by Wallace Battle, the Okolona Industrial School offered industrial and teacher training for generations of Black men and women in northeastern Mississippi. The institution was one of the most successful industrial schools in the state, having a plant of 380 acres in Chickasaw County and a valuation of nearly a quarter million dollars by the 1920s.

Muddy Waters and Langston Hughes Spread the Blues at Newport and Beyond

Theme and Time Period
Muddy Waters’s accomplishments and influence as a musician have been recognized by many. Most notably, he was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame (1980) and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1987). He was nominated by the Recording Academy of the United States for twelve Grammy Awards and won seven.

Muddy Waters and Langston Hughes Spreading the Blues at Newport and Beyond

Overview

Muddy Waters (born McKinley Morganfield) grew up in the Mississippi Delta, yet he helped transform popular music in America and Europe. Waters’s notable innovation of amplified electric guitar sound not only expanded the blues but also helped shape rock and roll. His performance at the Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island in 1960 was a pivotal point in his career.

The Big Dreamer: James Meredith’s Fight for Integration

Theme and Time Period
Applying to the University of Mississippi on January 20, 1961, Meredith was immediately rejected after writing in his application that he was a Black man. Unwavering in his mission to be admitted, he reached out to Medgar Evers, field secretary for the NAACP.
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