On Dec. 10, 1817, Mississippi became the nation’s 20th state. To celebrate the bicentennial, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH), with grant support from the Mississippi Humanities Council, is touring the state with Mississippi’s 1817 Constitution and a rare 20-star 1818 United States flag.
The Museum of the Mississippi Delta is the only venue in the Delta to host this exhibition. The exhibit will officially open at 10 a.m. on Wednesday with opening remarks given by Greenwood Mayor Carolyn McAdams. The artifacts may be viewed until 7 p.m. Wednesday. On Thursday, the artifacts may be viewed between 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. All events are free and open to the public.
MDAH staff will make presentations on the artifacts on Wednesday at 12:15 p.m. in the museum’s community room, where visitors are invited to bring a brown bag lunch. Another presentation on the artifacts will be held later in the day at 5:30 p.m. MDAH staff will make presentations on the artifacts on Thursday at 12:15 p.m. during which visitors may bring a brown bag lunch.
Bringing this exhibit to Greenwood was a collaborative effort of the Museum of the Mississippi Delta, the Greenwood Convention and Visitor’s Bureau and the City of Greenwood.
We are proud to be able to offer this historical exhibition to Delta citizens and our visitors from around the world. It is important to remember those who paved the way for our citizenship, those who led the debates and carved out a place for the State of Mississippi to take its place as the 20th state in the union.
The state of Mississippi was founded upon the 1817 Constitution. On March 1, 1817, President James Madison signed legislation enabling inhabitants of the western portion of the Mississippi Territory to form a constitution and state government, while the eastern part would become a new territory. Forty-eight convention delegates assembled near Natchez in Washington on July 7, drafting the constitution and, after weeks of deliberation, adopting it on Aug. 15.
The 20-star flag became the third official United States flag on April 4, 1818, following the signing of the Flag Act of 1818. Twenty-star flags are very rare, because there were only in use from April 4, 1818, to July 4, 1819. The flag on exhibit is one of only a handful known to exist. It was acquired by MDAH in 2001, and extensive conservation was completed earlier this year on the large banner, funded by a grant from the Billups-Garth Foundation in Columbus and private donations.
This project was made possible by a grant from the Mississippi Humanities Council, through support from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this exhibition and program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities or the Mississippi Humanities Council.
On Friday, I and several of the museum’s board members will be traveling to Jackson to attend the Mississippi Humanities Council 2017 Public Awards Ceremony. The Museum is honored to receive the Humanities Partner Award. This award was given for the collaboration of the museum and the Humanities Council for the exhibition “The Power of Children: Making a Difference.” This exhibition was organized by the Mid-American Arts Alliance based in Kansas City, Missouri. The museum was one of only 26 venues in the nation to host the exhibition. The museum also received a grant from the Humanities Council to sponsor a series of programs to accompany the exhibition and included lectures, school tours, Holocaust Remembrance Day, collection of oral histories from local citizens, school presentations and Family Free Days. The programs culminated with a quilt project led by local fabric artist Yolande vanHeerden who coordinated with 48 children from the community to make quilt squares that they sewed into a quilt. This beautiful artifact hangs permanently in the museum’s lobby.
For more information about these and other programs, call the Museum of the Mississippi Delta at 453-0925 or visits www.museumofthemississippidelta.com.
The Museum of the Mississippi Delta is located at 1608 U.S. 82 W. in Greenwood.
• Cheryl Thornhill is the executive director of the Museum of the Mississippi Delta. Contact her at director@museumofthemississippidelta.com.
