Last updated: January 16, 2025
Article
Life on Guynes Street
In southern states like Mississippi, African Americans were relegated to less desirable neighborhoods and were excluded from much of the housing market. But in 1955, two African American entrepreneurs named Winston J. Thompson and Leroy Burnett partnered up to develop the Elraine subdivision, a neighborhood that was built for middle-class African Americans.
Directions
Read about the Elraine Subdivision where the Evers family lived, and search for the answers to the questions below. Click each question to find out the correct answer. When you are finished, share what you learned with a friend!
She purchased her home in the neighborhood for $9,500 in 1955. That’s over $100,000 today!
It was the largest African American real estate firm in Mississippi. In only four years, Thompson built over 250 homes for African Americans throughout the state.
Three bedrooms, a large bath, central heat, an attached storage room, and a landscaped lawn. Guynes Street, later renamed Margaret W Alexander Drive, was the first complete street of homes of this caliber built in Jackson for African Americans.
The neighborhood was made up of a very close-knit community, and they held neighborhood and family celebrations, started a garden club, and even had a Christmas pageant!
The Elraine subdivision was designated the first neighborhood historic district in Jackson in 1994.
There are 44 buildings in the Medgar Evers Neighborhood Historic District, and most of them are 1950’s Ranch-style homes similar to the one the Evers family lived in.