Related Link PROF. JOHN DITTMER SAYS NEW MISSISSIPPI CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUM "HITS RACISM SO STRAIGHTFORWARDLY AND SO HARD"

President Trump’s presence jolted the opening of a civil rights museum here on Saturday, generating boycotts from some leaders in the movement and small protests by activists as the state’s attempt to confront its racially violent past clashed with more recent divisions wrought by Mr. Trump’s presidency.

As the country’s first state-sponsored museum on the South’s civil rights struggle opened its doors, Mr. Trump gave brief remarks, largely sticking to his prepared script as he hailed the icons of the civil rights movement and rejected the racism and hatred on display in the new museum.

“The civil rights museum records oppression, cruelty and injustice inflicted on the African-American community,” Mr. Trump, who had ignored calls to back out of the event by some civil rights veterans, said after a brief tour of the museum.