Starkville Civil Rights

This digital oral and public history project was a cooperative effort between faculty and students at Mississippi State University History Department and Libraries. The site narrates the unique history of Starkville, Mississippi’s civil rights struggles with particular emphasis on the local fight for school desegregation. African Americans fought for equal rights and freedom on the streets and in the schools of every Southern town during the Jim Crow Era. Yet each community and its residents have their own stories to tell about how local individuals organized, protested against inequality, and fought for equal employment, school desegregation, and voting rights. Through the use of digitized archival documents and oral history interviews, “A Shaky Truce” highlights Starkville’s story and the voices of its participants in order to position this town and its people as critical reflections of this national movement.