MLK Day Free Weekend & Night of Culture at Two Mississippi Museums

Overview

Celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy with three days of free admission to both the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum and Museum of Mississippi History, generously sponsored by FedEx.

The weekend culminates in MLK Night of Culture on Monday evening, featuring special performances in the Craig H. Neilsen Auditorium. This year's program is inspired by the Black Empowerment gallery and celebrates the unity and determination of Black Mississippians in their fight for civil rights from 1965 to the mid-1970s. Performances will explore how African Americans persevered through racial violence and demanded their rights through boycotts, marches, and protests across Mississippi.

This free weekend, sponsored by FedEx, will include themed crafts and activities for students and parents, performances by local talent, museum tours on voting rights, gallery talks by Freedom Rider Hezekiah Watkins, and on-campus voter registration by the Mississippi Secretary of State's Elections Division.

Throughout the weekend, visitors are encouraged to participate in a food drive benefiting Stewpot Community Services in Jackson. This is an opportunity to honor Dr. King's legacy of service while learning about his significant connections to Mississippi, including his support of Mississippi Freedom Summer in 1964 and his continuation of James Meredith's March Against Fear in 1966.