Mississippi's marquee free day is a generous one: the Two Mississippi Museums in downtown Jackson — the acclaimed Mississippi Civil Rights Museum and the Museum of Mississippi History, sharing a single building — are free to everyone every Sunday, special exhibitions included. The first Saturday of the month is the other big opportunity: the Mississippi Museum of Art opens its ticketed special exhibitions free through its 'Access for All: Free First Saturdays' program (its permanent collection is free every day), and over in Meridian, the Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Experience (The MAX) waives admission for all visitors. Every free day below was checked against the museum's own website.
Several Mississippi museums are simply free all the time — most notably the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art in Laurel, the state's first art museum, which has never charged admission since opening in 1923. You'll also find free admission at Tupelo's GumTree Museum of Art, the Meridian Museum of Art, Jackson's Old Capitol Museum, and Vicksburg's Lower Mississippi River Museum. Note that many of the coast's ticketed museums — the Walter Anderson Museum of Art, the Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art, the Mississippi Children's Museum, and the Museum of Natural Science — don't run a recurring public free day, but most offer free summer admission to military families through the Blue Star Museums program and discounted 'Museums for All' rates to SNAP/EBT cardholders.
Jackson
Two Mississippi Museums
Regularly $15 adults / $8 youth 4–22 / $13 seniors & militaryTwo state-run museums share one striking building in downtown Jackson: the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, whose eight interactive galleries trace the movement from 1945 to 1976 around a luminous central sculpture, and the Museum of Mississippi History, which tells 15,000 years of the state's story. Admission to both — plus any special exhibitions — is free to everyone every Sunday (open 11 a.m.–5 p.m.), operated by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Regular admission is $15 for adults, $8 for youth 4–22, and $13 for seniors and military. Free parking is available on North Street.
🌐 Check current dates →Mississippi Museum of Art
Regularly Permanent collection free / special exhibitions $15 adultsThe largest art museum in the state, the Mississippi Museum of Art anchors downtown Jackson's cultural district with a deep collection of Mississippi and American art. Its permanent collection galleries are free to all every day. On the first Saturday of every month, the museum also drops the ticket price on its special exhibitions in the Barksdale Galleries through the 'Access for All: Free First Saturdays' program — children 5 and under and members are always free. Special-exhibition admission is otherwise $15 for adults, $13 seniors, and $10 youth and college students.
🌐 Check current dates →Meridian
Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Experience (The MAX)
Regularly $14 adults / $8 youth 6–17In the heart of historic downtown Meridian, The MAX celebrates Mississippi's outsized influence on music, film, literature, and the visual arts — from B.B. King and Elvis to Jim Henson and Eudora Welty — across five permanent galleries plus changing exhibits. Admission is free for everyone on the first Saturday of every month. Regular admission is $14 for adults and $8 for youth 6–17, and Mississippi Power customers pay just $2.50 all summer; members, kids under 5, and educators are always free.
🌐 Check current dates →Always Free in Mississippi
No free day needed — these flagship museums never charge general admission.