J.R. Lynch Street Civil Rights District Listed on National Register of Historic Places

Located in Jackson, Mississippi, the J.R. Lynch Street Civil Rights District is a discontiguous district comprising of four resources sited on Lynch Street that chronicle the significant activities and events of the Civil Rights Movement in Jackson, Mississippi. This district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 16, 2025.

The district includes four (4) contributing resources: the Stringer Lodge, former administrative office of the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO)/WOKJ radio station, Alexander Hall (JSU women’s dormitory), and the Martyrs of May Monument. The latter two resources are located within the heart of the Jackson State University campus. Each resource comprising the district possesses a direct association with activities and events associated with the struggle for civil rights in the City of Jackson, State of Mississippi, and in some instances, the nation.

Following World War II, Lynch Street connected downtown Jackson to the newly developing, predominantly white suburbs west of the city. Lynch Street travels through the current campus of the historically black, Jackson State University and a predominantly African American neighborhood in West Jackson known as Gowdy (also Washington Addition). During the mid-20th century, this stretch of Lynch Street became a national hub of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s and was the site of growing racial tensions that culminated in a tragic event in 1970 that became known as the Jackson State Massacre.

This nomination was spearheaded by Jackson State University’s Office of Community Engagement, and was supported in part by a Historically Black Colleges and Universities grant from the Historic Preservation Fund administered by the National Park Service, Department of the Interior.