Jackson's Civil Rights Hub and Art Moderne Dealership Earn Historic Status

Two Jackson properties joined Mississippi's National Register of Historic Places in 2025, preserving crucial chapters of the city's civil rights history and mid-century architectural heritage.

Jackson's Civil Rights Legacy Honored

The John R. Lynch Street Civil Rights Historic District earned its National Register designation on January 16, recognizing a cluster of buildings on Jackson State University's campus that served as ground zero for organizing the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi during the 1950s and 1960s.

The district includes the building that housed the state office of the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO), where activists coordinated voter registration drives and direct action campaigns. Perhaps most significantly, it contains the M. W. Stringer Grand Lodge, where Medgar Evers maintained his office and where organizers planned and executed Freedom Summer 1964. That landmark campaign brought hundreds of volunteers to Mississippi to register Black voters and establish Freedom Schools, fundamentally challenging the state's segregationist power structure.

These buildings witnessed strategic discussions, late-night planning sessions, and the daily courage required to challenge Jim Crow in one of the most resistant states in the South. The designation ensures these physical spaces remain protected, offering future generations a tangible connection to Mississippi's pivotal role in the national struggle for civil rights.

Mid-Century Modern on State Street

Just days after the civil rights district's designation, another Jackson property earned National Register status. The Whitehead & Lloyd Motor Company building, listed January 22, represents a different aspect of the city's history—the optimism and design innovation of the post-World War II era.

Constructed in 1945 and designed by Jackson architect Edgar Lucian Malvaney, the automobile dealership embodies the Art Moderne style that symbolized the country's entry into a new modern age. The building's streamlined design, with its horizontal emphasis and smooth surfaces, captured the forward-looking spirit of an industry—and a nation—eager to leave wartime austerity behind.

What makes this building particularly significant is its survival. State Street once functioned as Jackson's "automobile row," lined with competing dealerships. The Whitehead & Lloyd building is the only one from that era that retains its historic integrity, making it an irreplaceable architectural artifact of mid-century Jackson. Today, the building serves as the Mississippi Department of Public Safety Driver License bureau, giving it continued public purpose while maintaining its distinctive historic character.

Mississippi's 2025 National Register Additions

Beyond Jackson, thirteen other Mississippi properties joined the National Register in 2025:

• Historic Districts: Holly Bluff on the Jourdan Historic District (Bay St. Louis vicinity), Tupelo Downtown Historic District Boundary Increase, Holmesville Historic District (Pike County's first county seat), and Greater Biloxi Subdivision Historic District (a post-WWII veterans' neighborhood)
• African American Education: J. W. Randolph School in Pass Christian (a Rosenwald school that survived Katrina), Walker High School in Yalobusha County, and Easom High School in Corinth (both Equalization schools from the 1950s)
• Historic Homes and Buildings: Raymond House in Verona (the town's oldest residence), Evans House and Barn in Laurel vicinity, Hystercine Rankin House near Lorman (home of the award-winning quiltmaker), and Provine Chapel at Mississippi College in Clinton (built in 1860)
• Country Stores: J. W. Crawford and Co. General Store in Hickory Flat and Mitchell & McLendon General Merchants in Enid (both representing a disappearing rural building type)

These fifteen additions bring Mississippi's total National Register listings to 1,534 properties. Each tells part of the state's story—from the freedom struggle to post-war suburbanization, from one-room schools to Main Street commerce.

The National Register of Historic Places is maintained by the National Park Service, with nominations reviewed by the Mississippi National Register Review Board, administered by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.