Friends of Smith Robertson Museum

This fund was established to support the programs and operations of Smith Robertson Museum, a restored building housing art exhibits, photos & artifacts exploring local African-American history.

Historical marker for Smith Robertson School, which now houses the Smith Robertson Museum. (Photo courtesy of Gilbert Thompson, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.)

The Friends of Smith Robertson Museum Fund supports the programs and operations of the Smith Robertson Museum and Cultural Center in Jackson, Mississippi.

Located in Jackson’s first public school building for African Americans, the museum preserves and shares the stories, history, and cultural contributions of African Americans in Mississippi and across the South. Named for Smith Robertson, a formerly enslaved man who later became Jackson’s first African American alderman, the museum highlights the everyday lives, achievements, struggles, and artistic expressions of people of African descent through exhibits, artifacts, photography, and educational programming.

Through permanent exhibitions such as Field to Factory: The Afro-American Migration, 1915–1940 and collections focused on Mississippi history and leadership, the museum creates opportunities for visitors to engage more deeply with the history of the Civil Rights Movement, migration, education, and community life in the South.

Through the Friends of Smith Robertson Museum Fund at the Community Foundation for Mississippi, donors can help preserve this important cultural institution and expand access to historical education and storytelling for future generations.