Southern Tenant Farmers Museum

The Southern Tenant Farmers Museum enhances knowledge and understanding of tenant farming and agricultural labor movements in the Mississippi River Delta region and preserves the cultural memory of sharecropping and its struggles. The museum is located in the historic Mitchell-East Building in Tyronza, Arkansas, which in 1935 served as the first headquarters of the Southern Tenant Farmers Union, a rare interracial agricultural union that fought for the rights and security of all sharecroppers and tenant farmers.

The museum exhibits located in the Mitchell-East Building focus on the development of the tenant farming and sharecropping system of agriculture in Arkansas, the formation and history of the union, and the story of how changes within the agricultural industry affected those who worked the fields.  Facades of the building have been restored to their 1930s appearance, while the interior has been modified to include the museum, reception area, gift shop, office, and classroom.  Stories are told through historic photographs, artifacts related to tenant farming, oral history excerpts, 1930s newsreel footage, and interactive exhibits featuring Southern Tenant Farmers Union songs, poems, and interviews with former union leaders.

Southern Tenant Farmers Museum
117 Main Street
Tyronza Arkansas 72386
United States