Students at the McComb School District Business and Technology Complex (B&T) have launched the McCombLegacies.org website. As it states on the homepage, the 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 high school students with an emphasis on oral histories conducted by students in an effort to understand, preserve, and share their local history. Note that the website has launched with a focus on the Burglund Walkout in time for the 50th anniversary of this historic event.
More local history will be added by students and staff in collaboration with community members. The website also includes a mini-documentary about the Burglund High School walkout created by students at the B&T, based on interviews conducted by students in the Local Culture class at McComb High School.
In addition to the interviews and mini-documentary, there are key books and films for learning about the Burglund Walkout. These include two downloadable chapters that are available on the website courtesy of the publishers for educational purposes. The chapters are: “Mississippi 1: McComb” in SNCC: The New Abolitionists by Howard Zinn (South End Press, 2002) and “Murder and Mayhem in McComb” from The Wrong Side of Murder Creek: A White Southerner in the Freedom Movement by Bob Zellner with Constance Curry (NewSouth Books, 2008). These and more are listed on the resources page. The McComb Legacies website was originally hosted by the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation.