Twenty-five years after his death, the work of architect and educator Samuel Mockbee continues to shape how people think about design, justice and the American South. Now, a new effort, Better Together: Samuel Mockbee’s Dream for an American Future, is working to bring that influence back into public view.
Mockbee, a long-time Jacksonian and co-founder of Auburn University’s Rural Studio, is widely recognized for redefining architectural education and insisting that design carries a moral responsibility. Yet much of his personal archive, including the drawings, journals, and objects that reveal how those ideas took shape, has remained largely out of view, held privately by his family for more than two decades.
“There’s really nothing to be seen publicly or currently on view for public viewing or access,” said his daughter, Carol Mockbee. “And his students are at a point where they’re asking, where is his work and how do we have access to that?”
That is about to change.
An Intimate Portrait, 25 Years On
Better Together brings together more than 300 original artifacts — many never publicly exhibited — offering a rare look at Mockbee’s work.
The materials range from early sketches and architectural drawings to journals, correspondence and personal objects, offering an intimate portrait of a designer whose thinking evolved over time. For years, former students and colleagues have asked where they might encounter more of Mockbee’s work beyond the well-known Rural Studio projects.
“It’s been 25 years since anyone’s really seen much of it,” Mockbee said. “There is more than enough to see and discuss and be inspired by.”
Heaven in the Details
Those who knew Mockbee often describe him as “larger than life.” But the materials in this collection tell a quieter story, built from small, deliberate choices.
In his sketchbooks, first marks appear less like finished drawings and more like feelings on paper. As Mockbee once wrote, “The initial sketch is always an emotion, not a concept.”
That sense of intention runs throughout the archive.
“Everything he touched and did was so intentional,” Carol said. “Everything had meaning to it.”
His journals weave together myth, observation and lived experience, wrestling with the realities of the South like race, poverty and rural isolation, while searching for ways design might dignify people and place. As collaborator Josh McManus put it, “Heaven is in the details.”
While Rural Studio brought national attention to Mockbee’s work, Better Together places his art, writing and architecture side by side, revealing a fuller picture of his life and work.
Southern Odysseys and a Shared Vision
One of the guiding ideas behind the project draws from Mockbee’s “Southern Odysseys,” journeys across the rural South designed to challenge assumptions and deepen understanding.
“The Odysseys were built to square perception with reality through immersive experience,” said McManus, who was also inspired by Mockbee’s work, shaping how he has interacted with communities across the country.
Mockbee once wrote, “We must use the opportunity to survey our own backyards either to see what makes them special, individual and beautiful.” It was a call to look more closely, stay longer and see differently.
McManus connects those journeys to Mockbee’s formative experiences in the 1960s, when he left Mississippi for Fort Benning alongside a racially diverse group of soldiers during desegregation. Over time, Mockbee came to believe and demonstrate that people were, in fact, better together.
Now, the project’s collaborators, including the Mockbee family, McManus and architect and educator Jennifer Bonner, plan to invite curators, connectors and patrons from across the country to experience both Mockbee’s work and the South firsthand, helping inform future collections, exhibitions and archival efforts.
Rooted in Mississippi, Built for the Future
While Better Together is envisioned for a national audience, its roots remain firmly in Mississippi.
“We want to make sure that the heart of all of this remains right where his heart was, and that’s in Mississippi,” McManus said.
Through the Mockbee Better Together Fund at the Community Foundation for Mississippi, supporters have a way to help preserve and share the collection while expanding its reach.
For Carol, jumpstarting this project and creating this fund is also deeply personal.
“Every time I meet someone who knew my father, I’m always waiting for the story,” she said. “Because there’s always a story.”
Though Mockbee’s influence has often been felt more than seen over the last several decades, Better Together offers a chance to engage directly with his work.
“In aggregate, he was a giant,” McManus said. “But broken down piece by piece, he was an average person who made a lot of choices to try to be on the right side of history.”
If successful, the project may do more than revisit a remarkable career. It may help a new generation see how those choices, made consistently and thoughtfully, can still ripple outward today.