Cultural Bridges is a collaborative project connecting the histories of Vicksburg and Mound Bayou through research, storytelling, cultural preservation, and community memory.
Project Events + Community Touchpoints
Cultural Bridges will unfold through public programs, community conversations, screenings, exhibits, and story-sharing opportunities in Vicksburg and Mound Bayou. These events are part of how the project connects people to the history, invites participation, and brings the work into public spaces.
Myrlie Evers Civil Rights Park Grand Opening
The grand opening of the Myrlie Evers Civil Rights Park will be another important public touchpoint connected to this work. The park creates space for remembrance, education, and community gathering while honoring Vicksburg’s civil rights legacy.
Date TBD
Future Cultural Bridges Programs
Additional Cultural Bridges programs will include community conversations, story-sharing opportunities, museum exhibit updates, and public events in Vicksburg and Mound Bayou.
Stay tuned!
Everlasting Screening + Panel Discussion
The Everlasting screening and panel discussion was one of the first public programs connected to Cultural Bridges. The event brought community members, partners, and storytellers together for a conversation about history, memory, place, and the importance of preserving community stories.
Date: May 16, 2026
Time: 5:30-7:30 pm
Location: The Strand, Vicksburg
About the Project
Cultural Bridges brings together the Catfish Row Museum in Vicksburg and the Mound Bayou Museum to preserve, share, and connect the histories of these two communities.
Through research, storytelling, oral history, public programming, and museum interpretation, the project explores the deep cultural and historical ties between Vicksburg and Mound Bayou.
The goal is to create something lasting: a shared record of history that is accessible, meaningful, and rooted in the people and places it represents.
What We’re Creating
Through this project, we are developing:
A Short Film
A visual story that connects the histories and lived experiences of both communities.
Museum Exhibits
Permanent exhibits in Vicksburg and Mound Bayou that share timelines, stories, and cultural connections.
A Story Archive
A collection of oral histories, memories, and community contributions preserved for future generations.
Public Programs
Community events, screenings, conversations, and opportunities to learn more about the shared history of Vicksburg and Mound Bayou.
The Connection: Vicksburg + Mound Bayou
Vicksburg and Mound Bayou are connected through a shared history rooted in freedom, land, self-determination, and community-building.
One of the earliest links is Davis Bend, a community near Vicksburg where formerly enslaved people, including members of the Montgomery family, began building independent lives after emancipation. From this foundation, leaders like Isaiah Montgomery went on to help establish Mound Bayou as one of the first all-Black self-sustaining towns in the United States.
Cultural Bridges explores those connections and what they mean today, linking past and present through history, memory, and lived experience.
Project Leadership + Team
Cultural Bridges is led through Shape Up Mississippi / Catfish Row Museum in Vicksburg, Mississippi, in partnership with the Mound Bayou Museum and supporting project partners.
LF Voices Collective is contracted to carry out key work outlined in the IMLS grant, including storytelling strategy, creative direction, community engagement, oral history coordination, digital engagement, and public-facing narrative development.
LF Voices Collective Project Team
Lauchlin Fields
Project Lead & Creative Direction
Founder, LF Voices Collective
Ashley F.G. Norwood
Community Engagement & Oral History Lead
LF Voices Collective and FG Media Productions
Jim Beaugez
Story & Content Lead
LF Voices Collective
Miriam Howard
Engagement & Transcription Support
LF Voices Collective and FG Media Productions
Bethany Atkinson
Design & Experience Lead
LF Voices Collective
Cortney Lancaster
Digital Engagement Lead
LF Voices Collective and OPUS
Micah Sanford
Videographer
LF Voices Collective and The Wall Street Image
Joyce Dixon-Lawson
Researcher
LF Voices Collective
Additional Project Leadership
Linda Fondren
Executive Director
Shape Up Mississippi / Catfish Row Museum
Darryl Johnson
Executive Director
Mound Bayou Museum
John Spann
Director of Strategic Initiatives, Mississippi Humanities Council
Project Partner
Institute of Museum and Library Services
Funder
Partners + Credits
This project is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services as part of its Museum Grants for African American History and Culture program.
This project is led through Catfish Row Museum in Vicksburg, Mississippi, in partnership with Mound Bayou Museum and supporting project partners.
