The Wednesdays in Mississippi: Civil Rights as Women’s Work exhibit website aims to preserve the legacy these women who worked successfully to change the face of race relations in Mississippi. They did this by opening a dialogue between women across regional, racial, religious, and class boundaries to bridge their differences, and in so doing, initiate both understanding and reconciliation.

Sponsored by the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW), Wednesdays in Mississippi (WIMS) was the only civil rights program organized by women, for women, as part of a national women’s organization. Despite that distinction, their work, like that of so many women in the movement, has remained virtually invisible. In order to fully understand how change occurred during this time, one must look beyond the household names and headline events to explore the important work done behind the scenes. Wednesdays in Mississippi: Civil Rights as Women’s Work details the history of one such effort with the intent of reaching out to educators, scholars, and the general public so that we might learn from their example. It is also our goal to inspire the next generation of activists to further social, racial, and economic justice in the future.

To support further research and development of the WIMS website, please specify “Wednesdays in Mississippi Web Development” and send donations to:

Center for Public History
University of Houston
Science and Research 2
3455 Cullen Blvd., Room 521
Houston, TX 77204-3007
(713) 743-3087

This project began as a collaboration between the Virginia Center for Digital History, the National Council of Negro Women,  National Archives for Black Women’s History, Wednesdays in Mississippi Film Project, and National Civil Rights Museum with Holly Cowan Shulman, editor-in-chief. In November 2009, the University of Houston Center for Public History took over responsibility for the website.

University of Houston Center for Public History

• Debbie Harwell, Editor-in-chief, Houston History magazine dzharwell@uh.edu 
• Wes Jackson, Program Director, wtjacks2@central.uh.edu

Virginia Center for Digital History (to Nov. 2009):

• Holly Cowan Shulman, Editor-in-chief

Wednesdays in Mississippi Documentary Film Project:

• Marlene McCurtis, Project Director, Producer,/Co-director
• Joy Silverman, Producer/Fundraising Consultant
• Cathee Weiss, Producer

National Archives for Black Women’s History

• Kenneth Chandler, Archivist