VOA慢速英语--两个新博物馆讲述密西西比的故事

Two New Museums Tell Mississippi's Story

The southern U.S. state of Mississippi turns 200 years old on Sunday.

The day before, the state will open two museums that examine its history. The museums are in Jackson, the state capital. They aim to tell Mississippi’s past clearly and honestly, even when the stories are ugly.

The Museum of Mississippi History takes the long view, 15,000 years from the Stone Age until modern times. The Mississippi Civil Rights Museum targets a shorter -- and intense -- period from 1945 to 1976.

Katie Blount is director of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

“We are telling a much longer story in the Museum of Mississippi History, a much deeper story in the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum,” Blount said. “We want everybody to walk in one door, side by side, to learn all of our state’s stories.”

The general history museum presents Native American culture, European settlement, slavery, the Civil War and Reconstruction¹. It examines natural disasters, including the Mississippi River flood in 1927 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005. It also has pop culture pieces, such as the jeweled headpiece worn by Mary Ann Mobley, the first Mississippian to win the Miss America competition.

The opening comes at the end of a year of events to honor the state’s 200th anniversary. Some events this year celebrated² Mississippi’s success at producing influential³ writers and musicians, such as William Faulkner, Richard Wright, B.B. King and Elvis Presley. Others took a critical look slavery and segregation⁴.

President Donald Trump⁵ plans to attend the opening of the two new museums, a White House official said Monday.

Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant, a Trump supporter, invited the president to the opening. The president of the civil rights group Mississippi NAACP has asked Bryant to withdraw the invitation.

And the group’s state chapter president, Charles Hampton, said, “An invitation to a president that has aimed to divide this nation is not becoming of this historic moment.”

A state divided by its flag

Mississippi is one of the nation’s poorest states. Its population is 59 percent white and 38 percent black. The state is sharply divided by one of its best-known symbols; it is the last state with a flag featuring the Confederate battle emblem⁶. All eight public universities, as well as several cities and counties, have stopped flying it in recent years.

None of the flags fly outside the new museums.

Ellie Dahmer is the wife of former civil rights leader Vernon Dahmer, who was murdered by the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan in 1966. She said the flag represents an unapologetic defense⁷ of slavery. She expressed wonder over the existence of the civil rights museum in a state that will not change its flag.

One display in the civil rights museum tells about the KKK firebombing of the Dahmer home outside Hattiesburg. Vernon Dahmer had announced he would pay poll taxes for black people registering to vote. He fired back at Klansmen who were shooting at his burning house. The family escaped, but Vernon Dahmer died from his burns. The couple’s 10-year-old daughter was also severely⁸ burned.

Parts of the Dahmers’ bullet-damaged truck are in the museum, along with photographs.

The Mississippi museum joins several like it in the country: the Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta; the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee; the Rosa Parks Museum in Montgomery, Alabama and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute in Alabama.

The National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., opened 2016.

Confronting the past 'unflinchingly'

Eddie S. Glaude Jr. is a 49-year-old Mississippi native and chairman of African American Studies at Princeton University. He called Mississippi “ground zero” for the civil rights movement. He said it is meaningful that the state presents an honest report of its history.

“America can’t really turn a corner with regard to its racist⁹ and violent past and present until the South, and particularly a state like Mississippi, confronts it — and confronts it unflinchingly,” Glaude said.

In the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, columns list some 600 documented lynchings — most of them of black men. One gallery’s ceiling is covered with racist advertising¹⁰ images from the past.

Ku Klux Klan robes are also on display. So are mug shots of black and white Freedom Riders arrested in Jackson in 1961 for protesting segregation on buses.

A large display tells the story of Emmett Till. In 1955, the 14-year-old black boy was visiting Money, Mississippi. While there, he interacted with a white woman in a store. The interaction angered the woman’s husband. Four days later, he and another family member kidnapped and beat the child to death.

The central gallery of the civil rights museum also provides a hopeful moment. A nine-meter-tall structure lights up as a soundtrack plays the folk song “This Little Light of Mine.” As more visitors enter, more voices join the chorus and more lights come on.

The display represents the power of people working together to bring about change.?

I’m Alice Bryant. And I'm Phil Dierking.

Words in This Story

anonymity¹¹ –n. the quality or state of being unknown to most people : the quality or state of being anonymous¹²

symbol –n. an action, object, event, etc., that expresses or represents a particular idea or quality

emblem –n. an object or picture used to suggest a thing that cannot be shown

confront –v. to deal with (something) in an honest and direct way

unflinching –adj. looking at or describing something or someone in a very direct way

lynching –n. illegal execution by mob action, usually by hanging

1 reconstruction   

n.重建，再现，复原

参考例句：

• The country faces a huge task of national reconstruction following the war.战后，该国面临着重建家园的艰巨任务。
• In the period of reconstruction,technique decides everything.在重建时期，技术决定一切。

2 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

3 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

4 segregation   

n.隔离，种族隔离

参考例句：

• Many school boards found segregation a hot potato in the early 1960s.在60年代初，许多学校部门都觉得按水平分班是一个棘手的问题。
• They were tired to death of segregation and of being kicked around.他们十分厌恶种族隔离和总是被人踢来踢去。

5 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

6 emblem   

n.象征，标志；徽章

参考例句：

• Her shirt has the company emblem on it.她的衬衫印有公司的标记。
• The eagle was an emblem of strength and courage.鹰是力量和勇气的象征。

7 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

8 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

9 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。

10 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

11 anonymity   

n.the condition of being anonymous

参考例句：

• Names of people in the book were changed to preserve anonymity. 为了姓名保密，书中的人用的都是化名。
• Our company promises to preserve the anonymity of all its clients. 我们公司承诺不公开客户的姓名。

12 anonymous   

adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的

参考例句：

• Sending anonymous letters is a cowardly act.寄匿名信是懦夫的行为。
• The author wishes to remain anonymous.作者希望姓名不公开。