By Lisa Skriloff, Multicultural Travel News
What’s multicultural about Coastal Mississippi, an area encompassing 62 miles of shoreline along three coastal counties? Multicultural Travel News visited recently to find out. Our visit, from Bay St. Louis to Ocean Springs, turned up woman owned and run establishments as well as businesses owned by and museums honoring the many ethnic communities that have made this area home for generations. Here’s a snapshot of what my partner John and I explored.
Maritime & Seafood Industry Museum
In Biloxi, at the Maritime & Seafood Industry Museum, Elizabeth Alexander, the museum’s Education and Outreach coordinator, toured us around the three floors and gave us both an industry and family history of this area, once known as The Seafood Capital of the World.
The personal stories she told us were passed along to her from her great-great grandfather and family members who worked in the seafood factories where the casinos are now. The Vietnamese fisherman, who left their country due to the war, are just the newest opportunity-seeking community who arrived, joining the Cajuns and immigrants from Austria, France, Greece, Italy, Spain, England, Canada, Mexico, Africa, Hungary, Denmark, Switzerland, Russia, Germany, Ireland, Scotland, Poland and Croatia.
With its display cases of artifacts and vintage photos of factory workers, the museum is dedicated to preserving the history and impact of the maritime and seafood industry by telling the story from the first Native American settlement through the arrival of the immigrants that make up the melting-pot, or as Elizabeth called it “gumbo” culture of the Gulf Coast.
The 300 years of history, culture and heritage of the fishing, shrimping and oystering industry is told in these featured exhibits as well as a 30′ gaff rigged cabin sloop built in Biloxi in 1898 at the Johnson Shipyard (the “Nydia,”) and a room dedicated to the devastating hurricanes (Camille and Katrina and earlier ones) featuring rescued artifacts and a fascinating video.
An exhibit along a wall explains the TED (turtle exclusion device,) a bar placed in the net, that allows any turtle accidentally caught up in a shrimping net to escape. http://www.maritimemuseum.org/
It’s one thing to walk around the museum but how about going out on a shrimp boat to see a trawl net put in the water and hear directly from the captain as he pulls up the catch.
Biloxi Shrimping Trip
Earlier in the day we had learned about the TED net from the captain of the boat on the Biloxi Shrimping Trip, a 70-minute excursion from the Biloxi Small Craft Harbor along the shoreline. As we watched him set the shrimping net and later reel it in, (with a power winch) he educated us on the catch and the industry, both shrimping and oystering. Now apprenticing his daughter, he spoke about the changes he has seen over his years in the industry and the cooperation among the Vietnamese, Cajun and Croatian fishing communities. As today’s catch came out of the water- shrimp, squid, eels and fish- the seagulls circled overhead waiting for the release of the catch-and-release system of this tourist boat. Highly recommended unique experience! http://www.biloxishrimpingtrip.com
On the Biloxi Shrimping Trip excursion (photos Lisa Skriloff)
Mississippi Aviation Heritage Museum
In Gulfport, Francisco Gonzalez, executive director of the Mississippi Aviation Heritage Museum, told us about the genesis of the area’s newest museum. Over 20 years ago, the John C. Robinson “Brown Condor” Historical Association was incorporated with a mission to celebrate the life of the pioneering African American aviator who grew up in Gulfport. Seeking artifacts, original documents and oral history interviews to “illustrate the life and times” of John C. Robinson, the association planned this collection as an initial core of what would eventually become a museum honoring the achievements of all Mississippians in aviation and space flight.
Robinson was the first African American pilot to ever fight in combat in the Ethiopian War against Fascist Benito Mussolini in 1935 & 1936.
Gonzalez, also a filmmaker and pilot himself, had read Thomas Simmon’s book “The Man Called Brown Condor: The Forgotten History of an African American Fighter Pilot” and wanted to make a movie about it. That didn’t come to pass but he jumped over the hurdles to create a museum from finding the abandoned furniture store that became its home to petitioning before the Jackson legislature to scavenging everything from floor tiles to display cases to computers.
Airplanes are on view in the hangar-like building, flight simulators, an air traffic control tower, videos and exhibits such as the one honoring the Tuskegee Airmen; the local chapter meets here, school groups visit, birthday parties and galas are held, and a summer camp has brought in speakers such as Gigi Coleman, the grandniece of Bessie Coleman, the first woman pilot in the U.S.
Another exhibit introduces and promotes The Ninety–Nines, an international organization of women pilots that offers educational programs, networking, mentoring and the Amelia Earhart Memorial Scholarship. Ninety-nines.org. The Ninety-Nines, Inc., International Organization of Women Pilots(R).
Francisco Gonzalez can be reached at Gonzaflex1@aol.com or by phone at 601-299-2816.
He provides a paying job and job coaching to an individual with autism working in conjunction with Disability Connection, an organization dedicated to the mission of “creating a connected community to provide social support, ensure healthy futures, eliminate barriers, and foster cooperation and understanding for people with disabilities.” At DisabilityConnection.org, the MS Coast Heritage Information Center tab celebrates the ethnic communities of the region including Native American, French, Irish, Spanish, Danish, Croation, Greek, Italian, African American, Indian Jewish, Vietnamese, German and Lebanese, among others and highlights the places to visit that are barrier free and with accommodations for travelers with disabilities.
At the Mississippi Aviation Heritage Museum (photos Lisa Skriloff)
At the Lynn Meadows Discovery Center for Children, located in a 1915 schoolhouse, just blocks from the beach in Gulfport, children on the autism spectrum and their families can visit the museum during Sensory Sundays, the second Sunday of each month from 10am-12pm. This exclusive free event includes modifications of a less crowded environment and light and sound reduction. KultureCity® Sensory bags, offered at no charge, contain special KCVIP badges, feeling thermometer, fidget tools, and noise-canceling headphones. Remaining 2024 Sensory Sunday dates are November 10 and December 8, 2024. Sensory Sundays | Lynn Meadows Discovery Center https://lmdc.org/sensory-sundays/
Mississippi Aquarium
Earlier this year the Mississippi Aquarium held its first Sensory Day which featured early access to the Aquarium, exclusive meet-and-greets with ambassador animals, hands-on educational activities, crafts, and sensory bins, fun time with the dolphins and animal care staff at the underwater viewing window and designated quiet spaces. https://www.msaquarium.org
100 Men Hall
Founded in 1894, as an organizing group for the African American community, the existing Hall was built in 1922 as a place to gather for social events and entertainment. Over the years, notable Blues musicians such as Etta James, Ray Charles, Muddy Waters, BB King, Chuck Berry, James Brown and Fats Domino have performed at 100 Men Hall. Ownership changed hands several times, Hurricane Katrina wreaked damage followed by restoration then the current owner, Rachel Dangermond, purchased the Hall in 2018 and she and her son, Constantin “Tin” Dangermond moved to Bay St. Louis from New Orleans. Today, the mission has expanded to be inclusive of all communities. Events such as the Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead mariachi live music event), Drag shows and The Matzo Ball join regularly scheduled music performances and the annual Soulful Christmas, SwampGrass Get Down and Rock-n-Roux. 100 Men Hall’s premier fundraiser event is the three-day Booker Fest each Labor Day weekend, celebrating James Carroll Booker III, known as the Black Liberace, raised in Bay St. Louis, who mentored Harry Connick, Jr. and Dr. John who called him “The best black, gay, one-eyed junkie piano genius New Orleans [and Bay Saint Louis] has ever produced.” Weekly, The Lava Lounge is a Thursday happy hour with free apps and dancing.
Rachel found the place when she was looking for a venue to hold writers workshops, she told me. “I walked in and it called to me,” she said. She was able to resurrect the non-profit status with a mission “to preserve and maintain this place and tell the story,” “by commissioning mainly Black artists in the visual and performing arts,” she said. “The original mission for this place was for the Black community and we have enlarged this to include other cultures and communities that don’t get the limelight,” Rachel said. She also started the 100 Women DBA to be of service to women of color in Hancock County, provide help to women in business also available to anyone starting a business and has given out scholarships. Music events, private events (such as the bar mitzvah of her son) and the writers workshop held every second Saturday are the continuation of the original purpose.
Rachel welcomes inquiries for Hall rentals with a seating capacity of 200, 400 for standing room. Contact Rachel at 100MenHall@gmail.com or to learn more visit http://100menhall.com.
Mississippi Blues Trail
The 100 Men Hall is one of the few physical sites still standing on the Mississippi Blues Trail made up primarily of markers. Learn more and request an official map at MSBluesTrail.org.
A good place to start your own visit to multicultural Coastal Mississippi is the Biloxi Visitors Center, a museum of sorts, housing nearly a dozen multi-media exhibits that tell the story of Biloxi, its people, its connection to the water, and its cultural diversity.
By Lisa Skriloff, Multicultural Travel News
Travel
Breeze Airways – We flew Breeze Airways https://www.flybreeze.com nonstop from Las Vegas to Gulfport. Orlando and Tampa are also served nonstop from Gulfport/Biloxi
We stayed at The Inn at Long Beach and Gulf Hills Hotel & Resort
Women owned /women run restaurants and stores
Mockingbird Café Bay St. Louis
Robin’s Nest In The Pass Owner Dorothy Roberts, sister of Good Morning America’s Robin Roberts
Le Bakery – In a quintessential example of blending of cultures, Owner Sue Nguyen’s Le Bakery serves both Vietnamese specialties such as Banh Mi and King cakes for Mardi Gras. 280 Oak Street, Biloxi Le Bakery | Facebook Le Bakery & Café | Biloxi
More restaurants and cafes
Cat Island Coffeehouse/Pass Christian
Coterie Restaurant & Oyster Bar
McElroy’s Harbor House Seafood Restaurant
Other Top Visits
Waveland’s Ground Zero Hurricane Museum
Coastal Mississippi Mardi Gras Museum
Learn more at https://www.coastalmississippi.com/
Multicultural Travel News 