Eureka School, Civil Rights museum in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, US.

Eureka School is a civil rights museum in Hattiesburg housed in a striking red brick building with two floors. The site contains exhibits focused on local Black history, education, and key moments from the 1960s.

Eureka School was completed in September 1921 as a two-story brick building of about 27,000 square feet, paid for by a $75,000 bond issue. It was the first brick school building for Black students in Mississippi and the only public school for African Americans in Hattiesburg from 1921 to 1949, teaching grades 1 through 12. Enrollment grew from 800 in 1940 to 1,400 by 1947; after a new Black high school opened in 1949, Eureka served as an elementary school until 1987.

The building now holds an African American Heritage and Cultural Museum, the use planned when restoration began with a 2008 groundbreaking funded by Mississippi Department of Archives and History grants. Its name, Eureka, is the Greek exclamation "I have found it," a phrase associated with discovery and achievement.

The building is located downtown and is easy to reach by car. Visitors should call ahead to arrange a tour and confirm the museum is open for their visit.

The building was struck directly by a powerful tornado in 2013 but survived and was carefully restored afterward. This resilience has added another layer of meaning to the place.