The Civil Rights History Project: Survey of Collections and Repositories

Civil rights in the South collection

Repository: University of Southern Mississippi. McCain Library and Archives

Collection Description (Extant): The collection is a compilation of various materials relating to the Civil Rights Movement in the South donated by WDAM-TV, WUSM-FM, faculty at The University of Southern Mississippi, and other individuals between the years 1999-2005.

The collection includes videos, publications, correspondence, pamphlets, and other items relating to the Civil Rights Movement. Of particular interest are:

- CBS News Production video of "History Undercover: Mississippi State Secrets" (2001)
- WDAM-TV film footage of civil rights related events between 2001-2004
- Hattiesburg High School's 2004 production of "Freedom Summer"
- Compact disc of a 2004 WUSM interview with Howard Zinn
- Two photocopied letters written by Byron De La Beckwith, Sr., to his son Byron De La Beckwith, Jr. (1963). The letters were written while Beckwith, Sr. was detained in the Mississippi State Hospital following his arrest for the murder of Medgar Evers
- Medical Committee for Human Rights booklet that contains biographical sketches of members of the MCHR that assisted in the Civil Rights Movement (1997)
- Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission correspondence (1958-1967)
- Several programs of Civil Rights celebrations in Hattiesburg, Mississippi (2004)

Also in the collection are advertising posters for Hattiesburg High School's production of "Freedom Summer"; a September 22, 1958 copy of Life magazine that includes several articles about desegregation; and an August 18, 1962 copy of Mississippi Free Press.

More materials may be added to this collection in the future.

Date(s): 1958-2004

Digital Status: Partial

Existing IDs: M406

Finding Aid URL: http://www.lib.usm.edu/legacy/archives/m406.htm

Language: English

Interviewees: Clyde Kennard, Howard Zinn

Rights (CRHP): Contact the repository which holds the collection for information on rights

Subjects:

African Americans--Civil rights--Mississippi
Civil rights movements--Mississippi

Genres:

Interviews
Sound recordings
Videorecordings