Bennie G. Thompson Academic and Civil Rights Research Center
As the first academic building built on this HBCU campus since 1959, this project fulfilled numerous academic needs. The diverse program of the new building includes multi-disciplinary meeting and teaching spaces, a conference suite, and a 150-seat lecture hall. The building also accommodates Tougaloo’s important African American and African art collection with archival, curatorial, storage, and display spaces. This new building is sited on the historic campus green, fulfilling Tougaloo’s mission “where history meets the future”: the resulting building both fits in and stands out.
One of the key requirements was the educational mission to honor civil rights teachers and veterans and continue the College’s tradition of cultivating civil rights activists and leaders. The building has become one of the most popular meeting places on campus. The College’s president recently remarked that, besides being a great academic asset, the building also embodies the Tougaloo mission by “respecting its history and looking to the future with hope,” as it helps teach new students about civil rights, freedom, equity, and the importance of being a servant leader.
Project Team
- Duvall Decker
- JPA Inc
- Structural Engineering Associates, LLC
- Atherton Consulting Engineers, Inc
- The Power Source, LLC
Awards
- 2025 PORCH: An Architecture of Generosity, Venice Biennale, U.S. Pavilion Exhibition Finalist
- 2013 AIA Gulf State Region Honor Citation
- 2011 AIA Mississippi Honor Award
- 2011 Brick Industry Southeast Design with Brick President’s Award
Publications
- The New York Times, 2025
- Common Edge, “Duvall Decker Architects Thompson Center and the Long Arc of Practice” by George Dodds, PhD, 2021
- The New York Times, 2017
- Design Bureau, ARCHITECTURE: People, Places, and Ideas Driving Contemporary Design, 2012
- Jackson Free Press