Starkville leadership working with the Mississippi Department of Archives and History to preserve Civil Rights landmarks

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – The city of Starkville is currently in the process of working with the Mississippi Department of Archives and History to preserve local landmarks from the Civil Rights Era.

“Mississippi is a state that struggled to do the right thing during the Civil Rights Era,” says Ward 5 Alderman Hamp Beatty. “We had to be dragged along figuratively kicking and screaming to do the right thing during the 50s and 60s.”

One year after social justice marches took center stage across the nation, Alderman Beatty and other city leaders in Starkville are working to make sure the fights for equality of the past are not forgotten.

It was back in June when Alderman Beatty brought the proposal to the Starkville Board of Alderman (which they approved) to find and designate buildings and locations of significance to the Civil Rights movement throughout the city.

“Mississippi has made significant strides over the last 50 years but we still have a long way to go and this is our way of saying ‘We want to do the right thing,'” he says.

The Mississippi Department of Archives and History awarded the city a grant, that the board voted to match, that ads up to at least $10,000 for the preservation of Starkville’s Civil Rights landmarks.

“I’m old enough to remember in my former hometown which churches and things where the civil rights struggle took place,” Alderman Beatty says.

The idea came from the Starkville Historic Preservation Commission, which secured that certified local government grant. They are now working with the Department of Archives and History to select a firm that will identify any and all historic landmarks.

“There’ll be a lot of research done and hopefully they’re still some people living that were involved locally in those events,” Alderman Beatty says.

Then it will be up to the city to put up signs explaining a given location’s significance. Alderman Beatty also says the markers can serve as a reminder that the struggle is not over.

“People still have to work and be diligent and governments need to be diligent to make sure that people are not denied their civil rights,” he said. 

But much like the changing of the state flag, he believes it can be another small but important step forward for Mississippi.

“It sends a signal to people in other parts of the country that our state is changing for the better,” Alderman Beatty says.

Once a firm has been selected, Alderman Beatty says they expect to have all major landmarks identified by September of 2022.