Bennie G. Thompson Academic and Civil Rights Research Center

As the first academic building built on this HBCU campus since 1959, this project had many requirements to fill 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. As such, it had the added responsibility to fulfill Tougaloo’s mission “where history meets the future”: the resulting building both fits in and stands out. Of the many requirements was the educational mission to honor the 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. As evidence of the project’s success, the College’s president recently remarked that besides being a great academic asset on campus, 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. Duvall Decker was assisted by JPA Inc, Structural Engineering Associates, LLC, Atherton Consulting Engineers, Inc, and 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