HATTIESBURG, MS (WDAM) -
Pine Belt residents are helping to plan Mississippi's new civil rights museum. Tuesday night, several dozen people from the Hattiesburg-area shared their ideas with designers of the facility during a public forum at the Sherrill Community Center.
That museum, approved by the Mississippi Legislature last year, could open in Jackson by the end of 2017.
Those who attended had varied opinions about what they'd like to see at the museum.
"In general, I would like to see the true stories that people will give themselves, not necessarily edited down to what the writer thinks they might be," said Clarence Magee, president of the Forrest County Branch of the N.A.A.C.P.
"I think our (Hattiesburg civil rights) history is so important that I think we deserve a room just telling the Hattiesburg history, I think we deserve that," said Glenda Funchess.
"The first thing I think that they should do is to concentrate on the fact that blacks were slaves in this country, especially in the State of Mississippi and that has priority as far as I'm concerned," said Clinard Martin.
Other public forums on the museum's design will be held in McComb, Itta Bena, Cleveland, Holly Springs and the Gulf Coast.
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Hattiesburg-area residents attend a public meeting to offer ideas for the new Mississippi Civil Rights Museum.
