Vicksburg Seeks to Turn Pioneer Black Education Scholar’s Home Into Museum

Vicksburg Seeks to Turn Pioneer Black Education Scholar’s Home Into Museum: The Vicksburg, Miss., home of the first Black woman in the United States to receive a doctorate in education could be preserved and turned into an African-American museum if a state grant is awarded.

The Vicksburg Board of Mayor and Aldermen on Monday accepted transfer of the home, which belonged to the late Dr. Jane McAllister, from its current owner, Yolande Robbins, in an effort to restore it through a grant program focusing on the preservation of the Civil Rights Era.

“This is a great opportunity for us to take a dinosaur of a building and bring life back to it,” says mayor Paul Winfield. “I saw it as a great opportunity for us to preserve a significant history of Vicksburg.”