Mississippi Cultural Crossroads began in 1978 with a planning grant to the Youthgrants Program of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The project that would encourage young people in the community to explore and appreciate the rich cultural heritage of Southwest Mississippi. Activities included a film series, field trips, and media projects involving the youth participants in research and presentation. The question addressed was what are the arts, crafts, lore, attitudes, and emotions that characterize the particular cultures that have shaped our community. Since the young people of Claiborne County were (and are) largely segregated into public and private schools, one key goal of the project was to attempt to overcome racial separation by planning an out-of-school program on neutral territory, where young people of both races could meet to explore their common and their differing cultural heritages.

Out of that year of planning came several decisions and realizations: that Mississippi Cultural Crossroads should incorporate as an official organization to help serve the cultural, artistic, and educational needs of the people of Claiborne County; that its first priority should be to encourage young people to explore the folklife of their community through media projects they could execute themselves; and that overcoming racial separation would be a long and difficult process. The first activities of the new organization were a folk arts documentation project, conducted by young people and funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, which led to the publication in 1980 of the first volume of I AIN'T LYING, and a Filmmaker in the Schools residency, which provided training in film and video techniques for students in the local public school. Local support was secured from the Claiborne County Board of Education and the County Board of Supervisors--support that has continued in varying degrees to the present.