Mound Bayou Museum of African American History and Culture

NOTICE

Temporary Museum Location

We’re Still Standing — and Still Serving. Due to winter storm damage, the Mound Bayou Museum is temporarily operating from the former library of John F. Kennedy Memorial High School, located just a few feet from our main building. In the same spirit that built Mound Bayou, we continue our mission—preserving history, telling our story, and welcoming all who come to learn.

Location
JFK High School Campus
204 N Edwards St., Mound Bayou, MS 38762

Hours
Mon–Thu: 9–4
Fri–Sat: 10–3
Sun: Closed

Get Directions

Map

Official Statement from the Mound Bayou Museum

We understand that some of you may have read a recent article regarding South African farm workers and Mound Bayou. In that piece, our Museum Director, Hermon Johnson Jr., was quoted.

To clarify, Hermon’s comments were part of a broader discussion. This issue was not raised from within our community, and the article did not fully reflect the context of his remarks.

Our focus remains on celebrating Mound Bayou’s history and uplifting our local heritage. We welcome all visitors to explore and engage with our true story of community, leadership, and strength.

Thank you for your continued support.

Mound Bayou Museu

More than a museum. A process of uncovering.

“We as Black people are really just now discovering our history. The whole point of this is that instead of us just knowing it and putting it in a museum — which is what museums usually do — we are exposing our history. That’s why I call it an Exposeum. It’s a process, not just a place.”
— Hermon Johnson Jr., Founder

The Mound Bayou Museum is not a typical museum. It’s the first of its kind: an Exposeum, where history isn’t just displayed. It’s uncovered. It’s confronted. It’s honored, from the inside out.

Rooted in the legacy of Mound Bayou, a town founded by formerly enslaved people in 1887, this museum is an active space for revealing the parts of Black history that have been hidden, distorted, or forgotten. What makes us different is that we’re not treating our history like it’s over. We are still in the process of discovering it, exposing it, and passing it on.

This is a place where the stories are personal. From the civil rights work of local leaders to the economic brilliance of the town’s founders, every exhibit is designed to show that Black history is not tragedy with a beginning and end — it’s legacy, it’s resistance, it’s joy, and it’s still happening.

Come experience Mound Bayou; not as a chapter in someone else’s textbook, but as a living, breathing story still being told by the people who know it best.