Jackson State College unveiled mural honoring civil rights activist

A mural was unveiled Saturday morning at Jackson State University in honor of civil rights legends, living and dead, who paved the way for equality.

The mural entitled “Chain Breakers” shows six civil rights activists rising over a broken chain. The notable characters on the mural range from the parish’s first florist to the state’s first African American MP.

• Rep. Alyce G. Clarke, the first African American MP in Mississippi
• Fannie Lou Hamer, civil rights activist who organized the Mississippi Freedom Summer and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
• Bob Moses, civil rights activist and Secretary of State for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
• Rose Elizabeth Howard Robinson, Lanier High School teacher
• Louise Marshall, the first African American bookstore owner in the Washington Addition community
• Albert Powell, the first African American florist in the Washington Addition Parish

The mural was painted on the outside of the Council of Federated Organizations building at 1017 John R. Lynch St. on the Jackson State campus.

The Council of Federated Organizations was founded in 1961 as a coalition of several large civil rights groups in Mississippi, according to a press release from the university. Groups included the Nonviolent Coordinating Committee for Students, the Congress on Racial Equality, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

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Although each had a different name, the groups worked together in the council to register voters and conduct other civil rights-related activities.

Heather Denné, director of community engagement at Jackson State University, said in the press release that the mural is part of the university’s effort to bring art to the community.

“We started this journey about two years ago to create art in our communities,” she said. “We always wanted murals because of the lack of art.”

Denné hired local Jackson artist Sabrina Howard, who has created other murals in Jackson, such as the Milton Chambliss Shoe Hospital mural on the 900 block on John R. Lynch Street and “Sawing the Seeds of Love” in the Blackburn Learning Garden near the Jackson State Main Campus.

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Among those present were Louise Marshall; Representative Alyce G. Clarke; Fannie Lou Hamer’s daughter, Jacqueline Hamer Flakes; Rose Elizabeth Howard Robinson’s grandson Jason Robinson; Albert Powell’s niece Regina Orey; and Angela Stewart, archivist at the university’s Margaret Walker Center.

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