Meet Me at the Monument 10th anniversary celebration.

TUPELO, Miss. (WCBI)- This month marks the 10th anniversary of a historic civil rights event in Tupelo.

It was ten years ago, in March of 2009 that the Coalition for Change erected this Civil Rights Monument on the grounds of the Lee County Court House.

Every year “Meet Me at the Monument” is celebrated to honor the work and sacrifice it took to make this monument a reality. It remains the only civil rights monument sitting on government property in the state.

“It’s one of the things that we figured everybody in the community could do together, that we really celebrate one common spirit and we’ve got some common goals here that we just kind of stand for,” said James Hull.

And Community Activist James Hull says the monument is about the people.

“All these people come from different walks of life. They come from every basically creed. I mean there are several different religions out here. But we all believe in human justice, human rights. We all believe in Civil Rights, and we’re just grateful that it all worked out together,” said Hull.

District 16 State Senator Angela Turner-Ford was the guest speaker.

“This is a culmination of a fundraising project you know people who are interested in preserving our heritage as African-Americans and this monument has been in place for ten years, I think it’s awesome to celebrate,” said Senator Turner-Ford.

The Coalition for Change erected this monument at the corner of Jefferson Street and Spring Street as a response to all the Confederate monuments that have been erected around the south.

“You cannot erase history. I don’t even want to get into that debate. What I’m saying is, this is an answer to Confederate monuments. This is what we choose to say about Confederate monuments,” said Hull.

“Yes, it shows that we have other aspects of our history; it’s just about Confederate monuments. You know we also have African-Americans who were engaged in the struggle and contributed to the gains in our country,” said Senator Turner-Ford.

The group says this monument is dedicated to Lee County citizens who fought for civil rights and voting rights during the turbulent Civil Rights Movement period between the mid-1950s and the late 1970s.