The American psyche is, among many things, a composite portrait of people on the move, something Southaven's M. R. Davis Public Library highlights in a new educational exhibit called "Journey Stories."

Created by the Smithsonian Institution with grant support through the Mississippi Humanities Council, the project runs through Aug. 30 and follows the growth of America as a nation from initial periods of colonization and conquest through waves of internal migration. This time, however, the familiar enough tale is told from the perspective of mobility, i.e., how technological advancements from the railroad to aviation have accompanied geographical expansion, helping to define in the process American-branded notions of opportunity and freedom.

A young girl moves from Florida to New Jersey with her family, 1940. This photograph is part of the "Journey Stories" exhibition on display through Aug. 30, at M. R. Davis Public Library.

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The family-targeted exhibit also offers children a chance to get in touch with their own histories and find out where they came from, says Davis library children and youth specialist Nettie Moore, who notes that Mid-Southerners have plenty of their own journey stories to tell.

"Find out about your family, find out where you came from," says Moore. "Everybody's got a story. We want children to know their heritage and for them to see how brave and courageous people were just to step out and not be afraid to move forward. And that should encourage our children to want to step out and take a stand to do better ... to reinvent the drive to say, 'I can do this.'"

A touring exhibit, "Journey Stories" will ultimately visit six locations in Mississippi. At Davis library, a program of month-long events organized by Moore accompanies the multi-media display, including a guided tour of Southaven's historical Edmondson Cemetery from 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday and a program on trains at 2 p.m. Tuesday (for a complete listing of events, visit firstregional.org/journeys.html).

The exhibit doesn't shy away from the more painful episodes in America's history where expansion came with a heavy price. Among its more moving segments are those that address the Underground Railroad and the Trail of Tears. Yet what emerges from the full scope of the exhibit is how unflappably determined Americans have been in their desire to create new lives for themselves, whether escaping religious persecution, the institution of slavery, or the economic and discriminatory hardships that prompted so many families black and white to relocate during the decades of the Great Migration.

"It's just amazing what this country has progressed to from nothing," said Southaven resident Jackie Lorenson, 86, who visited the exhibit on Monday. "And I just admire the people that started it all so that we could have freedom."

As historian James Gregory suggested in his landmark book, "The Southern Diaspora: How the Great Migrations of Black and White Southerners Transformed America," the adversity and uncertainty that accompanied such migratory behavior also brought with it great cultural and social achievements. Wrote the author in setting up his book's thesis (and it could just as well serve to outline aspects of the Smithsonian show): "Certain peoples moving into certain places have managed to impart dramatic changes, achieving conquests of a sort without warfare and sometimes without major conflict."

Those certain people, as told in "Journey Stories," are us, the collective "we" of the American experience, migrants one and all.

"Journey Stories"

On display through Aug. 30 at M. R. Davis Public Library, 8554 Northwest Dr., Southaven, MS. Call 662-342-0102 or go to firstregional.org/journeys.html.