The McCombLegacies.org website is designed to share the history of McComb, Miss., with an emphasis on the stories of working people of all races, women, and young people and how they have strived for equity in labor, civics, education, economics, and the arts. The site is designed by students with an emphasis on oral histories conducted by students in an effort to understand, preserve, and share their local history.

Although this site will include stories from all of McComb’s history, most of the documents and interviews on the site currently are about the Civil Rights Movement. McCombLegacies.org was launched with a focus on the 1950s and 1960s to serve as a resource for the 50th anniversary commemorations of the Burglund High School student walkout. We will work throughout the year with U.S. history teachers and students in McComb to add stories from other time periods.

Students as Historians and Leaders

Students in the McComb School District are not only learning history, they are helping to collect and preserve history. One place they are also doing this is in the Local Culture class at the high school. In this semester-long course, students learn about McComb’s labor history and involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. Students then conduct oral history interviews with local elders who have played a key role in that history. These interviews will be submitted to historical archives for posterity and used in classrooms to bring Mississippi history to life. Students in the junior and senior high school have participated in a youth leadership program called the Young People’s Project. Here they learn how to help younger students with academics and how to play a role in improving their own schools and community.