The Old Capitol has been restored to its original grandeur and reopened by the state as a free museum focusing on the distinguished history of the building and the events that have taken place in it.&nbsp;Interactive multimedia exhibits explore the roles of the legislature, governor, and high court, as well as the importance of historic preservation to the state, the activities that took place in the building after the New Capitol was constructed in 1903, and much more. Brochures to direct visitors through the building are available free of charge (and may also be viewed online&nbsp;<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://mdah.state.ms.us/oldcap/brochures.php">here</a>)

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The Old Mississippi State Capitol, also known as Old Capitol Museum or Old State Capitol, is presently operated as a museum by the state of Mississippi. The building dates from 1837, and was the Mississippi statehouse until 1903. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1990. 

The Old Capitol was the site of some of the state’s most significant legislative 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.

Old Mississippi State Capitol

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This tour of downtown Jackson includes numerous museums as well as landmarks related to the history of diverse residents of the state from the International Museum of Muslim Cultures to locations of major milestones in the civil rights movement to sites related to the Confederacy. Highlights of the tour include the former Mississippi State Capitol, the Alamo Theater, the Mississippi Museum of Art, and the site where Freedom Riders and other civil rights activists were arrested. The tour includes the Mississippi Department of Archives and History and several museums dedicated to the history of Jackson and the state of Mississippi, so be sure to leave plenty of time to visit each site. 

In Fall 2011, the Museum completed Phase 2 of its modernization&nbsp;plan, opening The Art Garden at the Mississippi Museum of Art, a 1.2 acre public green space complete with outdoor art installations, the sprawling BankPlus Green, a performance stage, and various spaces for visitors to engage with the arts in a variety of forms. Symbolically, The Art Garden breaks down barriers between the neighboring arts organizations and serves as the nexus of a cultural district that empowers creativity, expression, and synergy in the arts community.

The Mississippi Museum of Art dates back to 1911 and is the largest museum in the state. Its permanent exhibit, "The Mississippi Story," includes a comprehensive selection of art by Mississippians, including late-nineteenth century painter G. Ruger Donoho, photographer and writer Eudora Welty, and outsider artists Theora Hamblett, Elizabeth Wright Mohammed and Sultan Rogers. The Museum also collects contemporary works by Mississippi natives such as William Dunlap, Sam Gilliam, Birney Imes, Valerie Jaudon, Gwendolyn A. Magee, Ken Marlow, Ed McGowin and Tom Rankin. The Museum fulfills its mission to collect and exhibit art related to Mississippi's artistic heritage with important collections of works by natives Walter Anderson, Caroline Compton, Marie Hull, Mary Katherine Loyacano McCravey, George Ohr, Edgar Parker, and more than 280 works by William Hollingsworth. Among the significant visiting artists included are John James Audubon, Alfred Eisenstadt, and Lewis Hine. The quilting traditions of Claiborne and Jefferson Counties in Mississippi are represented in a collection of 77 quilts, including examples by National Heritage Award recipient Hystercine Rankin.

Mississippi Museum of Art

Although the importance of an Islamic cultural center and museum was demonstrated by the response of some Americans to the tragic events of September 11, 2001, the museum was not a response to this event. In fact, the museum opened its first exhibit in the spring of 2001. Several years prior to its spring opening, local Muslims met and discussed the need for a museum dedicated to educating the public about Islamic history and culture.&nbsp; With the goal of highlighting the contributions of Muslims to world civilization, the founders began&nbsp;working to create the museum. They also sought to increase citizens’ understanding and appreciation of the richness of Mississippi’s diverse cultural and religious heritage and the role that Muslims have played in the state’s history and development.&nbsp; The Museum opened in April 2001 with a major exhibition,&nbsp;Islamic Moorish Spain: Its Legacy to Europe and the West, that was featured concurrently with&nbsp;The Majesty of Spain, an international exhibition that ran for six months in Jackson at the Mississippi Arts Pavilion, less than a block away.

Located within the Mississippi Arts Center complex, the International Museum of Muslim Cultures offers exhibits and programs related to the history of Islam and Islamic nations. The museum also offers programs and exhibits related to the contributions and experiences of Islamic Americans--especially those in Mississippi and the South. The museum was established in 2001 and was the first of its kind in the United States.

International Museum of Muslim Cultures

When construction began in 1846, architect William Gibbons planned a two-story government building, but soon plans were amended to add a third-story to be used by the local Masonic Temple. Shortly after construction was completed in 1847, a ball was held in the building to honor the Mississippi Rifles, veterans of the Mexican War led by Jefferson Davis. During the Civil War, the building served as a hospital; following the war, the building was one of the few remaining structures in Jackson. The City Hall building was renovated in 1953 and again in 1963. Records of the 1953 renovation are unclear about the details of the work; the 1963 project dealt completely with the building's interior. In 1972, a statue of Andrew Jackson was erected in front of the building, though as of summer 2020 it is scheduled for removal and will likely be relocated to a museum. However, as of November 2020, no definite plans had been settled upon.

Originally constructed in 1847, Jackson City Hall is one of the only remaining Greek Revival-style antebellum government buildings in Jackson. The building has also been used as the local Masonic Hall and served as a Civil War hospital. City Hall was one of the only buildings left standing in Jackson after the Civil War. The building was added to the National Historic Register in 1969. More recently, the City Hall grounds have been subject to controversy, as the statue of Andrew Jackson has sparked debate. In July 2020, the city council voted to relocate the Andrew Jackson statue, though plans remain indefinite. 

City Hall

The building is named after Charlotte M. Capers who was a long time employee of the MDAH. Capers was born in Tennessee in 1913 but grew up and spent the rest of her life in Mississippi. She started working as a journalist but then began working at the MDAH in 1955 as a secretary. She soon became a restoration expert and museum designer. She was appointed director to several departments, including the archives and history division. She retired in 1983 and the building's name was changed to honor her dedication to the department.

Built in 1983, the Charlotte Capers Archives and History Building is home to the Historic Preservation Division of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH). The division dates back to its foundation in 1902 and is responsible for working with individuals and local governments to preserve historically significant sites. The division provides tax incentives and grants to facilitate these projects and employs archaeologists and architectural historians who work in the building and throughout the state. The division's work involves managing the state and national landmark programs. The division also works to create state historical markers.

Charlotte Capers Building, Mississippi Department of Archives and History

The Winters building houses 60,000 cubic feet of historic materials. Items include government records, manuscripts, photographs, maps, drawings, oral histories, video, and audio. The government records date to the Colonial period when the French, Spanish, and English controlled the region; these records also include documents when the state was an American territory. The earliest map dates to 1588 and there are around 100,000 photographs. The manuscript collection is strong in several areas including the antebellum period, the Civil War, Reconstruction, economic development, and women's history.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Founded in 1902, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) is the state's official organization to collect, preserve and provide access to archival material related to Missouri history. Its headquarters is located in this building, the William F. Winters Archives and History Building, which is located next to the Museum of Mississippi History and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, both of which the MDAH administers. The MDAH is also responsible for managing other museums historic sites in the state, overseeing programs for historic preservation, government records management, and publications.



Mississippi Department of Archives and History

<div>The MMH houses 22,000 artifacts and other items that date from 15,000 years ago to modern times. Everything from ancient Native Americans, European contact, slavery, the Civil War, the Civil Rights, industrial innovations, and other topics, are explored. Items of note include a 20-star flag signaling the admission of Mississippi in the United States, rare quilts, letters, photographs, and a necklace stolen by a Union soldier during the Civil War.</div><div> </div><div>The MCRM provides visitors with an unflinching look at the period between 1945 to 1976 when Mississippi was at the forefront of the Civil Rights movement. Items of note on display include a chess set made out of dried bread created by a Freedom Rider, the front doors of Bryant Grocery Store, where young African American Emmett Till made comments to a white woman that would later get him viciously lynched (he would soon become an icon of the Civil Rights movement), and the rifle that shot African American activist Medgar Evers. Music and stories of the period are also an important part of the museum.<div><div><div><div>&nbsp;Explore the movement that changed the nation. Discover stories of Mississippians like Medgar Evers, Fannie Lou Hamer and Vernon Dahmer—as well as those who traveled many miles to stand beside them, come what may, in the name of equal rights for all.Mississippi is a key chapter in the nation's ongoing struggle for equality, but the state has been slow to acknowledge the racism and violence in its past. The new museum now tells that difficult story.Museum guests journey through the Emancipation Proclamation and Reconstruction, when African-American communities begin to thrive. Then the tour takes a turn into a room dominated by a tree with limbs sprawling overhead.There are five lynching monoliths, etched with the names of some 600 victims. The museum was dedicated by President Trump in 2017. It spans from the Stone Age and Native American cultures through the Great Mississippi River Flood of 1927 to Hurricane Katrina. The civil rights museum brings a deeper focus to the 30-year period when Mississippi was at the center of the movement. Both museums tap the vast collection of the state archives, including the papers of Medgar and Myrlie Evers-Williams. </div></div></div></div></div>

Located next to each other and sharing the same entrance, the Museum of Mississippi History (MMH) & Mississippi Civil Rights Museum (MCRM) opened in December 2017. Both are a part of the museum division of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, which is a state-run agency founded in 1902. It is located next to the museums in the William F. Winters Archives and History Building.

Museum of Mississippi History & Mississippi Civil Rights Museum

Though the Woolworth’s lunch counter sit-in is arguably more well-known, the very first sit-in demonstration in the state of Mississippi actually took place at the Jackson Municipal Public Library on March 27th, 1961 (Fultz 2006). Nine students at Tougaloo Southern Christian College (now Tougaloo College) participated in the sit-in, though more students were involved in planning the demonstration, and on the day of, as look-outs (Eberhart). These nine students, four women and five men, were dubbed the "Tougaloo Nine:" On the morning of March 27th, the nine students first went to what was then the Black George Washington Carver branch and requested books that they knew were not available there. They then walked to the Jackson Municipal Public Library, which only served white patrons. Some of the students began using the card catalog and seating themselves at tables. One of them, Joseph Jackson Jr., president of the NAACP Youth Council at Tougaloo College, decided to approach the circulation desk and request a book. The library assistant yelled at him, “You know you don’t belong here!” and “You go back to your library!” (Wiegand 2018). The library’s acting director, Frances French, first called the police, then approached the students, asking them to leave the library and go to a “colored branch.” The police then arrived, and ordered the students to leave. When they refused, they were placed under arrest, taken to the police stating in squad cars, and charged with breach of the peace. They were booked into the county jail and held on a $500 bond, which none of them could pay. (Wiegand 2018) That afternoon, a group of Tougaloo students that had heard about the arrest tried to bring their schoolmates small bags of food. When authorities would not allow the students to visit their jailed schoolmates, the students “bombarded police headquarters with bags of food and cookies for the prisoners” (Creswell 1996). Also that day, students at the state-funded, Black-attended Jackson State College (now Jackson State University), working with NAACP field secretary Medgar Evers, organized a prayer vigil in protest outside their campus library, which was disbanded by the college president, who feared losing state funding (Hilton 2017). The next day, March 28th, a group of Jackson State students boycotted classes and marched toward the city jail, but their march was broken up by police. Several blocks away, hundreds of white people marched through the city streets under a large Confederate flag. Meanwhile, supporters of the jailed students gathered outside the courthouse in a show of support. When the students arrived for trial, the crowd began to applaud, and at this point the police set upon them with clubs and dogs. Several people, including women, children, and Medgar Evers himself, were pistol-whipped and required stitches. Two Black ministers were bitten by police dogs, and an 81 year-old man had his arm broken in a beating by police (Wiegand 2018). The students had to spend a second night in jail, and the trial did not begin until March 29th. On the evening of March 29th, 1500 people attended a mass meeting organized by the NAACP to protest the police brutality (Wiegand 2018). At their trial, the Tougaloo Nine were found guilty of a breach of the peace and fined $100 each. Their 30-day jail sentence was suspended on the condition that they “participate in no further demonstrations” (Wiegand 2018). This sit-in and its aftermath inspired a wave of protests around the state. A subsequent lawsuit on behalf of the Tougaloo Nine pushed the public library system into integration. On January 12, 1962, NAACP attorneys field a class-action lawsuit on behalf of the library protesters (though none of the Tougaloo Nine were actually named as plaintiffs). The lawsuit challenged Mississippi segregation statutes, and claimed violations under the Fourteenth Amendment and civil rights statutes. In a somewhat complex decision, the judge in the case decided in favor of the plaintiffs, while also arguing that the defendants, Jackson city officials, did not intentionally violate the law in encouraging “voluntary separation of the races” (Wiegand 2018). Although the judge refused to enter an injunction against the defendants, this decision served as a signal to the state of Mississippi and the public that segregation of public institutions could not continue, and the public library system quietly desegregated shortly thereafter (Wiegand 2018). This historical marker is part of the Mississippi Freedom Trail, and was dedicated in August of 2017. The Jackson-Hinds library system raised the money to create and install the marker, and some of the living members of the Tougaloo Nine were present at the dedication. The original library building is still standing, but is no longer owned by the city, and is not currently in use (Hilton 2017). Jackson's current central library, the Eudora Welty branch, is located across the street from the marker. You can read a transcription of the full text on the front and rear side of the marker online at the Historical Marker Database entry for the site, linked <a href="https://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=109294" target="_blank">here</a> and below. Because the local NAACP members had contacted the press as part of planning the demonstration, there is TV news footage of the sit-in at the library, and portions of the arrest. The Mississippi Department of Archives and History recently discovered a copy of this footage, and used it along with numerous archival photos and news articles to produce a video presentation about the Tougaloo Nine, linked <a href="https://youtu.be/IIUJISVoVf8" target="_blank">here</a> and below.

The very first sit-in demonstration in the state of Mississippi took place at the Jackson Municipal Public Library on March 27th, 1961. At the time, this large central library served only white patrons. The arrest and subsequent trial of the nine college students involved (dubbed the Tougaloo Nine), as well as the violent police response, received press coverage on both local and national levels. This first sit-in demonstration started a wave of protests across the state, including the well-known Woolworth's sit-in. It also led to a class action lawsuit, brought by the NAACP, that effectively forced the desegregation of the Jackson-Hinds county public library system, and library systems throughout the state. 



Jackson Municipal Public Library Sit-In (Historical Marker)

Mississippi began as a territory, ceded from Spain in April of 1798 by the United States Congress. Mississippians chose Natchez as the capital; however, there was no official building built. The General Assembly members held meetings wherever they could, although, these meetings were infrequent since they didn’t have a permanent meeting place. The capital did not remain in Natchez for long; it was moved to a community six miles east of Natchez to a city called Washington. This happened in 1802 when the Republican party gained power and wanted to move the capital away from what they viewed as aristocratic corruption. There wasn’t anything built for regular meetings here, either. After several other moves around the state, it was finally decided to make Jackson, the city named after Andrew Jackson, the seat of the capital permanently. The first actual building was started by John Lawrence in 1844, but the state was upset over his lack of speedy progress and replaced him with William Nichols, only a year after Lawrence started. Nichols finished his building in January of 1839.The architect who designed the current state capitol is none other than Theodore Link, from St. Louis, Missouri. He was given almost one million dollars, and with this he designed the building Mississippians know as the capitol building. The money to pay for this construction was earned through back taxes owed to the state by the railroad companies. The state capitol building encompasses 171,000 square feet. Various types of marble retrieved from many states can be found throughout the building. There are also many stained glass windows, made in Chicago, Illinois, which add to the natural beauty throughout the entire building. Mississippi’s capitol also houses one of the rare replicas of the Liberty Bell, and a monument honoring the women of the Confederacy. The capitol uses 750 original light fixtures and on top of the dome sits the impressive 8 foot tall, 15-foot wide gilded eagle. At one time. the capitol hosted all forms of Mississippi’s government, but now only the legislative branch works in the building. The eagle recently went under a restoration project. In 2014, the funds for a major restoration of the capitol were approved, and the eagle was a vital part of the plan. Mississippi hired a company from Maryland to strip the old gilding off the eagle, and then they used three ounces of gold leaf to completely regild the large bird. The eagle needed to be redone because while UV rays might not harm the gold leaf, bird claws and droppings, as well as hail, can be detrimental to the gilded surface. Most state capitols have eagles or some sort of statue on top of the building, but Mississippi’s eagle is slightly different from all the rest because it faces south, while all other states face the direction of Washington D.C. Some Mississippians are insistent on the eagle remaining in its south-facing position.<blockquote>“Lobbyist John Sullivan works at the capital and noticed it immediately. He remarked that ‘it’s always [his] habit after a storm to look up at the eagle and see just how bad it was… and, sure enough, he was turned a little to the side.’”</blockquote>On April 30th, 2016, a storm came through and turned the eagle slightly. It was so important to Mississippians that it remained facing South that they hired the use of a helicopter by the National Guard to replace its position.The state capitol building will continue to be a vital piece of Mississippi’s history as long as it stands. The state has had a long reputation of not being able to agree on where to place the capital, but this is one of the rare instances where the leaders of the state were able to compromise and make something with unique architecture, as well as long-standing, durable design. The work put into this building will not soon be forgotten, as it is an integral piece of Mississippi’s story.

This structure is the official capitol building for the state of Mississippi. While this is the current capitol, one other capitol building still stands, commonly referred to as “the Old Capitol,” and it has turned into a museum that explores the history of the site.  The new building was approved for construction in 1900, and construction cost one million dollars. The architecture of the building was designed with many smaller details meant to portray the history of the state, including the good and bad. For example, there is a large, gilded eagle that faces south on top of the capitol, which pays heed to Mississippi's past as a Confederate state. 

Mississippi's State Capitol 

The George Street Grocery existed as a neighborhood market from 1909 to 1973. Little is known about its earliest years but by 1916 it is clearly recorded that the store was under the control of Mr. William Hollis. The second floor of the building has been used as an apartment, a dance school, and a meeting place over the years. Most notably, the George Street Grocery is located "around the corner" from the childhood home of Eudora Alice Welty. Welty, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author, is known as one of America's best short story writers, having won the O. Henry Award for the nation's best short story six times. Her autobiographical essay "The Corner Store," was first published in Esquire in 1975, highlighting her childhood experiences in the George Street Grocery. The building is now home to the Ole Tavern on George Street, a restaurant and bar dedicated to highlighting Southern fare and preserving this piece of Jackson's history.

Originally opened in 1909 as George Street Grocery, the building now known as the Ole Tavern on George Street was added to the National Register of Historic places in 2010. The building is significant for both its history as a neighborhood marketplace and for its relation to American short story author Eudora Alice Welty, who based her autobiographical essay "The Corner Store" on George Street Grocery. 

George Street Grocery / Ole Tavern on George Street

The museum also houses on a permanent basis the Smithsonian Traveling Exhibition Services organized exhibition, Field to Factory: The Afro-American Migration, 1915-1940. This exhibition interprets African- Americans moving in great numbers from the rural South to the urban North. The larger version of this exhibition is housed at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History. Other permanent exhibitions include works of art from Africa and the Americas, artifacts from Black colleges throughout the state, and a history of Smith Robertson School.&nbsp;

Smith Robertson Museum and Cultural Center is housed in the former Smith Robertson School, the first public school built for African Americans in Jackson. The original school opened in 1894 but a fire destroyed that building in 1909. The current building was completed in 1929 and served the African American community until 1971. One of the most notable graduates of Smith Robertson School is internationally known novelist and 1925 graduate Richard Nathaniel Wright. Though he spent only a few years of his life in Mississippi, those years would play a key role in his two most important works: Native Son, a novel, and his autobiography, Black Boy.

The Smith Robertson Museum and Cultural Center is dedicated to increasing public understanding and awareness of the historical experience and cultural expressions of people of African descent. Artifacts highlight the contributions of Black Mississippians through struggle and achievement, as seen in exhibits such as From Slavery to America, 1670-1864 and in the Hall of Fame, which includes personalities from the state who are pioneers in their respective positions.

Smith Robertson Museum and Cultural Center

The Alamo was one of the last Dual Purpose Theaters in the United States. Realizing the historic significance and its importance to the revitalization of the Farish Street Historic District, in 1992 Sunburst Bank donated the Alamo Theater to the Mississippi Association for the Preservation of Smith Robertson School. During the 1993 Regular Legislative Session $1.5 million was allocated for the renovation of the facility. Restoration of the theater will provide a needed focal point for the revitalization of the historic neighborhood and its potential for Heritage Tourism, as well as meet the need for a small theater in downtown Jackson available for rental to small audience productions. The present structure recently underwent a complete renovation. The first structure was located on Farish Street in the 100 block across from where McCoy Federal Building now stands. The second Alamo was located on West Amite Street at Roach Street. This newly renovated structure (the third) was built in the early 1940s in this Farish Street Historic District.

The Alamo Theatre is one of the premiere sites on the Mississippi Blues Trail. The theater opened in 1942 and showed popular westerns and African-American films. The facility also served as a performing arts theater featuring Black Vaudeville acts, stage bands, and performing artists such as B.B King, Nat King Cole and other top African-American performers. 

The theater is located in the historic Farish Street District and was recently listed on the National Historic Register. The Farish District was the Mecca of a thriving Black professional and trade community prior to its closure in 1960. The theater remained shuttered until 1992 when a community restoration effort began to revive the neighborhood. 

The Alamo Theater

<div>Jackson was the second planned stop of the Freedom Riders' journey from Montgomery, Alabama to New Orleans. National Guardsmen were stationed at each location and the Riders left Montgomery without incident (and escorted by the Guard and highway patrolmen). The departure made national headlines.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div> </div><div>When the two buses of Riders arrived at the station no angry mob was there to greet them. However, upon entering the whites-only waiting room, police arrested them and took them to jail. The next day they&nbsp;were sentenced to 60 days in prison for violating state law. The judge at the trial turned his back on the riders' defense attorney, Jack Young, as he spoke on behalf of the riders. With the assistance of the NAACP, however, the convictions were soon overturned. Around 300 Riders would travel through the South in 1961.</div>

This former Greyhound Bus Station was the site of an important event during the Civil Rights era. On May 24, 1961, a group of 27 Freedom Riders (both white and Black students) arrived at the station and were immediately arrested and charged with trespassing into the whites-only room. The incident attracted national attention and encouraged others to go on Freedom Rides throughout the South. The interior of the station has been beautifully renovated to appear as it might have during WWII. There is a mural that appears to have changed the word "Colored" with baggage, apparently seeking to distance the station from that day. Beyond a historic marker outside the building, there is little inside the restored station (which now serves as the office of an architectural firm) to remind visitors of the 1961 Freedom Rides that made this bus station famous. That history appears below through images and links to articles, books, and videos. 


Old Greyhound Bus Station-Site of the Arrest of the Freedom Riders, 1961

Built in 1839, the Greek Style home is "the second oldest continuously occupied governor’s residence in the United States." It was designed by William Nichols of Bath and is considered one the best examples of period architecture. The first Mississippi governor to live in the mansion was Tilghman M. Tucker, who moved in with his family after his inauguration in 1842. The home experienced some deterioration over the years, but in the early 1970s, "Governor Waller and the First Lady initiated a three-year project that restored the Mansion to the historical period of its construction and guaranteed its continued use for many years to come." Today, the public can tour the mansion which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is also a National Historic Landmark as well as a Mississippi Historic Landmark. 

Mississippi Governor's Mansion

Anne Moody later published the best-selling book "Coming of Age in Mississippi" based on her experiences. Joan Trumpauer Mulholland worked for Tougaloo College and attended the dedication of the historical marker in 2013. "Segregation was unfair," she recalled believing in 1963. "It was wrong, morally, religiously. As a Southerner—a white Southerner—I felt that we should do what we could to make the South better and to rid ourselves of this evil. While much work is still to be done, I am glad that we are at a point in history when we can come together to honor these past efforts." John Salter was the head of the Jackson MS NAACP Youth Council and a sociology professor at Tougaloo College. An oral history interview of his experiences in the movement and beyond appears below.

On May 28, 1963, Tougaloo College students Pearlena Lewis, Anne Moody, Joan Trumpauer, and Memphis Norman, along with their sociology professor, John Salter, sat at the whites-only lunch counter to challenge segregation. For three hours, the group endured insults and attacks by an increasingly violent white mob. Memphis Norman was physically thrown from his seat and kicked in the head as he lay on the floor. The rest of the white mob slapped the protesters, hit them with items from the lunch counter, and even burned cigarettes on their skin. Others dumped drinks on the protesters or laughed as others covered them in sugar, mustard, and ketchup. Jackson Daily News photographer Fred Blackwell took the now iconic photo of the sit-in that depicted the anger of the white mob.

Woolworth Sit-In, Jackson Mississippi, May 28, 1963

Johnny Vincent, originally John Vincent Imbraguglio, was born in 1925 in Laurel, Mississippi. He joined the Merchant Marines straight out of high school, and in 1953 became a talent scout for Specialty Records. His most popular production under Specialty was "The Things I Used to Do," featuring Guitar Slim, aka Eddie Jones, and Ray Charles on piano; it became one of the biggest R&amp;B hits of the 1950s. Despite some success with Specialty, Vincent left the company in 1955 to form his own company. Despite being located in Mississippi, Ace Records became incredibly important for New Orleans music. The company's first hit, "These Lonely Lonely Nights," featured New Orleans blues artist Earl King. Ace Records was successful through the late 1950s and into the 1960s, but as more record companies began popping up in New Orleans, artists began leaving Vincent. Though Vincent himself blamed The Beatles and the British Invasion for his declining success, it was largely due to these Louisiana-based competitors. However, a British company, Music Collective, bought Ace Records for a reported one million pounds in 1997. Vincent died three years later.

Founded in 1955 by Johnny Vincent, Ace Records was Mississippi's most successful record label in the 1950s and 1960s. It is included on the Mississippi Blues Trail due to the number of blues artists who recorded there, including Arthur Crudup, Sam Myers, King Edward, Pat Brown, and Willie Clayton, as well as hit singles by Louisiana singers Jimmy Clanton, Frankie Ford, Huey “Piano” Smith, and Earl King.

Tour of Historic Jackson Mississippi

Old Mississippi State Capitol

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Additional Information