Mississippi Humanities Council

HTA: Introductions and the Social Trinity
2019-02-21 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Chicago) | Cliff E. Williams Auditorium, 14000 US-82, Itta Bena, MS, 38941
Humanities Teacher Award winner Rev. Dr. Jo Baldwin (Mississippi Valley State University) will present her public lecture, “Introductions and the Social Trinity.”
Reception to follow
“Introductions and My Social Trinity” shows how Dr. Baldwin connects with students the first day of class and inspire them to learn the art of maintaining good relationships, doing intentional critical thinking, and showing emotional control.

HTA: Mississippi's Monumental Men: Jefferson Davis and J.Z. George
2019-02-21 14:00 - 15:00 | Corey Forum, J K Avent Drive, Grenada, MS, 38901
Humanities Teacher Award winner Jay Wilson (Holmes Community College) will present his public lecture, “Mississippi’s Monumental Men: Jefferson Davis and J.Z. George.” Reception to follow

For the last several years there has been much discussion of many of the public monuments raised early in the last century. A common refrain from the defenders of these monuments and statues has been “Leave them alone, they are history.” Oddly, the majority of people that say this seem to have a limited knowledge of the history they claim to be protecting. With that in mind, this presentation is aimed at recounting the history of the two men memorialized by Mississippi in the National Statuary Hall Collection in the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington D.C.; Jefferson Davis and James Z. George.

A Way Pass Struggles Reenactment of Amir Ibrahim
2019-02-21 18:00 - 19:30 | Mississippi Art Center, 201 East Pascagoula Street, Jackson, MS, 39201
Reenactment of an enslaved African named Abdul-Rahman ibn Ibrahim Sori, of his life as a free African and as an enslaved man in Natchez, MS. Art exhibit and discussion panel.

SB: Parallels of Southern Storytelling and Folktales from Around the World
2019-02-22 09:00 - 12:00 | William Carey University, 710 William Carey Parkway, Hattiesburg, MS, 39401
Diane uses the art of storytelling to uncover folktales from the south, oral history from Mississippi, often paralleling these story motifs with folktales from around the world.
Presentation will take place in the Lorena Smith building.
Speakers Expertise:
Diane Williams is a neo-griot, along the lines of the storytellers from times gone by when oral historians were crucial to maintaining black folks’ history because book publishers didn’t believe the history worth chronicling. Williams is also a quilter, an artistry befitting for a woman known for paying homage to the past. Williams uses silk yarns, beads, stones and vibrant colors to make traditional quilts with Motherland inspiration to tell stories of strength, resilience and hope.

HTA: "Coffee Spoons and Cell Phones"
2019-02-22 10:00 - 11:00 | Meridian Community College, 910 Hwy 19 N, Meridian, MS, 39307
Humanities Teacher Award winner Morgan Boothe presents her public lecture, “Coffee Spoons and Cell Phones: Isolation and Loneliness in T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”

Boothe will be discussing Prufrock’s lack of social interaction as a means of control. In trying to control his life, he has lost all means of communication, and we should learn how vital face to face contact becomes to our existence.

HTA: History of Wesson and Copiah-Lincoln Community College
2019-02-22 11:00 - 12:00 | Smith Hall-Room 101, H F McCarty Drive, Wesson, MS, 39191
Humanities Teacher Award winner Kyle Britt (Copiah-Lincoln Community College) will present his public lecture, “History of Wesson and Copiah-Lincoln Community College.” Reception to follow.
This presentation will be on the history of Wesson, Mississippi and Copiah-Lincoln Community College from mills to modern times. It will examine the boom times of the late 1800’s Mississippi Mills to its decline then examine how public education became an important part of Wesson. Describing establishment of Copiah-Lincoln Agricultural High School and eventually developing into Copiah-Lincoln Community College that has help educate students for the past century.

"Baltimore" Performance & Discussion
2019-02-22 18:00 - 20:00 | Alpha Kappa Alpha, 718 Main Street, Greenville, MS, 38701
The Sunflower County Freedom Project youth drama will present Baltimore, a play by Kirsten Greenridge. Baltimore focuses on a group of college students whose lvies are shaken when someone draws an offensive picture of the wall of their residence hall. The play shines light on issues of equality, racism, community, and the question of who gets to belong where. After the performance, the students and audience will participate in a facilitated conversation.

Civil Rights and The Arts
2019-02-23 15:00 - 18:00 | Bennie G. Thompson Building, 500 West County Line Road, Jackson, MS, 39174, United States
This event will feature three key parts: An activism workshop, panels featuring guest speakers, and a film screening.

3:00-3:35 PM
“Social Justice Writing and Activism in the Arts” featuring Clinnesha D. Sibley
3:40-4:20PM
Speaker Dr. Daphne Chamberlain
Freedom Riders Q&A
Panel Discussion: “George Raymond: Thirst for Freedom.”
4:30-6:00PM
Film screening of “Respect Our Black Dollars” by Chris Winfield

HTA: Making as a Revolutionary Act: Black women Artist and the Forging of New Societies
2019-02-25 10:00 - 11:00 | Bennie G. Thompson Building, 500 West County Line Road, Jackson, MS, 39174, United States
Humanities Teacher Award winner Phoenix Savage (Tougaloo College) will present her public lecture titled, “Making as a Revolutionary Act: Black women Artist and the Forging of New Societies.” Reception to follow.
The lecture will look at the lives and works of Edmonia Lewis, Augusta Savage, and Clementine Hunter. Each woman in her own right selected the revolutionary act to be an artist. And in creating something from nothing, a change occurred, connecting each woman to present day mores in which we see the world around us.

Representing the Experiences of Women: The Changeling
2019-02-25 17:30 - 19:00 | Fleming Education Center, USM Gulf Coast Campus, Long Beach, MS, 39560
The University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Park Campus premieres its spring 2019 Cultural Arts Series, “Representing the Experiences of Women, From the English Renaissance to Right Now.” On February 25th, Atlanta-based Resurgens Theatre Company returns to the Gulf Park campus to present Rowley and Middleton’s The Changeling, an English Renaissance tragedy of profound contemporary relevance.

SB: Mississippi Water: Shaped by the Past, Molding the Future
2019-02-26 17:00 - 18:00 | Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Transportation Museum, 318 7th St. N, Columbus, MS, 39703, United States
With the flexibility to address multiple basin areas (including the Yazoo, Tennessee-Tombigbee, Big Black, Pearl, South Independent Streams, Pascagoula, and Coastal Streams), this presentation can be tailored to the particular interests of the audience. The talk will give a brief introduction on the past and current governance of water resources in the state and the state agencies responsible for regulating water quality and use. The presentation will also include an overview of historical water use trends, or how water has been used in the basin (recreational, industrial, agricultural, etc.) in recent decades, and lead the audience up to the current state of water resource and opportunities in the basin. The talk will highlight the importance of value of water to not only our health but our livelihoods and the economic stability of our state.
Speakers Expertise:
Dr. Mary Love Tagert has experience on a variety of water resource issues, including drinking water, watershed management, best management practices to reduce nonpoint source pollution, agricultural water use, and flood control. Tagert received an M.S. degree in Forest Resources and a Ph.D. in Plant and Soil Sciences, both from Mississippi State University. She currently works for the Mississippi State University Extension Service.

Ulysses S. Grant, Reconstruction, and Civil Rights
2019-02-26 17:00 - 19:00 | Old Capitol Museum, 100 South State Street, Jackson , MS, 39201
Former Rhode Island Supreme Court Chief Justice Frank Williams will present “Ulysses S. Grant, Reconstruction, and Civil Rights” at the Old Capitol Museum.
Williams is the longtime president of the Ulysses S. Grant Association and was instrumental in the creation of the U.S. Grant Presidential Library at Mississippi State University. In 2017, Williams and his wife, Virginia, donated their Lincolniana Collection—documents, books, artifacts, ephemera, philately, numismatics, paintings, and statuary related to the life of Abraham Lincoln—to the library.
A reception will begin at 5 p.m. and the lecture will start at 6 p.m. in the House Chamber of the Old Capitol. Free, for more information call 601-576-6998 or email info@mdah.ms.gov.
The program is organized in association with the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library at Mississippi State University and co-sponsored by the Mississippi Humanities Council.

SB: A Look at Mande (West African) Culture Through Traditional Music
2019-02-27 12:30 - 13:00 | Smilow Collegiate Public Charter School, 787 E. Northside Drive, Jackson, 39206
This presentation will give the listener a glimpse of the Mande Culture of West Africa. In the tradition of the Mande, the history and culture is orally preserved in the minds and through the music of the Djeli (oral librarian/mandenka hereditary professional musicians). The establishment of the Mali Empire can be recalled and retold in the musical piece of the legendary Densoba (great warrior) Sunjata. This discussion explores the function of the Mande music and musical instruments, Mande class system, songs, ceremonies and stories. The discussion also examines the influence of West Africa on American culture and why the djembe was outlawed during slavery. Participants will learn about the djembe, its introduction by drummers like Babatunde Olatunji in 1950 and Ladji Camara from Guinea, and how it spread throughout America.
Speakers Expertise:
Jerry Jenkins is a musician and educator trained in the music of West Africa.

SB: Nursing Care in the 1878 Yellow Fever Epidemic
2019-02-28 08:30 - 09:30 | Nelson Student Union, 2500 North State Street, Jackson, MS, 39560
The 1878 yellow fever epidemic in Mississippi resulted in an expansion of nursing care and the recognition of the importance of nurses in disaster care. Much nursing care was provided by family members, but those victims who did not have the advantage of home care often received nursing care from others. Many of the nurses were from the Sisters of Charity and Sisters of Mercy, while others were from the Howard Association. These nurses were vital to the recovery of many who had no one else to care for them as the epidemic caused panic among the citizenry and many fled the disease. Because of the severity of the epidemic, race relations also underwent dramatic changes as African Americans nursed white Mississippians in a post-Reconstruction period fraught with racial tension and violence.
Speakers Expertise:
Deanne Stephens Nuwer is Associate Professor of History at the University of Southern Mississippi.

"Back in the Day" Black History Celebration
2019-02-28 18:00 - 20:00 | New Hope Baptist Church, 5202 Watkins Dr., Jackson, MS, 39206
Annual ecumenical Black History Celebration. 2019 event features Dr. Darius D. Prier of Duquesne University, presenting “Who Got Next: Holding Hostage Hope in the Imagination of Next Generation Leadership.”

"Baltimore" Performance & Discussion
2019-03-02 15:30 - 17:00 | Meraki Roasting Company, 282 Sunflower Ave, Clarksdale, MS, 38614, United States

HTA: Flow and Music
2019-03-05 10:30 - 11:30 | M.P. Bush Fine Arts Auditorium, Bush Drive, Ellisville, MS, 39437
Humanities Teacher Award winner Dr. Lindsay Keay (Jones County Junior College) will present her public lecture, “Flow and Music.”
The term flow can be described as a state of heightened concentration and arousal where a balance of skill and challenge cause someone to be so absorbed in a task that everything else seems to disappear. The result of the experience can be one of immense enjoyment and satisfaction. This presentation discusses how musical activities lend themselves well to the flow experience due to the multifaceted tasks of listening, practicing, performing, or teaching music.

HTA: Bulgarian Art Song: History, Development, and Performance
2019-03-05 19:00 - 20:00 | William H. Zeigel Music Center, 1003 W Sunflower Rd, Cleveland, MS, 38733
Humanities Teacher Award winner Dr. Jamie Dahman (Delta State University) will present a public lecture, “Bulgarian Art Song: History, Development, and Performance”

Bulgarian Art Song, largely unexplored and unperformed in the United States, has a rich tradition and history and deserves a place among the standard repertoires of Classical Art Song. On Tuesday, March 5, 2019 at 7 p.m., Dr. Jamie Dahman, a Fulbright alumnus who studied in Bulgaria, will present a lecture-recital at Delta State University on the history and development of the Bulgarian Art Song.

HTA: "Conversation" in Philosophy and Art
2019-03-06 15:00 - 16:00 | Shackoul’s Honors College, 500 Bailey Howell Drive, Mississippi State, MS, 39762
Humanities Teacher Award winner Dr. Kristin Boyce (Mississippi State University) will present her public lecture titled, “”Conversation” in Philosophy and Art.” Reception to follow.
This presentation will explore the importance of the “art” of conversation (as distinguished from argument or debate) for teaching in the Humanities. It will explore the special ways in which the study of philosophy and the arts can facilitate the development of this art.

HTA: Song Anatomy
2019-03-12 18:30 - 19:30 | Vickers Auditorium, 275 W Broad Street, Decatur, MS, 39327
Humanities Teacher Award winner Chas David Evans (East Central Community College) will present his public lecture titled, “Song Anatomy.” Reception to follow.

HTA: William Blake
2019-03-19 13:00 - 14:00 | William Carey University, 710 William Carey Parkway, Hattiesburg, MS, 39401
On March 19, William Carey University’s Humanities Teacher Award winner Dr. Marsha Newman will present a program on William Blake. The program will be free an open to the public, is part of the MHC’s Humanities Teacher Award program to recognize outstanding humanities teachers at Mississippi’s colleges and universities.
The program will take place in the Fail-Asbury Nursing Building. A reception will follow.

HTA: Overlooked No More: Women's History in the Classroom and Beyond
2019-03-19 17:00 - 18:00 | USM Liberal Arts Building, 114 N. 31st Ave., Hattiesburg, MS, 39401
Humanities Teacher Award winner Dr. Allison Abra (University of Southern Mississippi) will present her public lecture, “Overlooked No More: Women’s History in the Classroom and Beyond.” Reception to follow.
This lecture will explore strategies for restoring the voices and experiences of “overlooked” women in the history classroom and historical scholarship. It will reflect on how to negotiate a balance between making women a central part of the historical narrative, and avoiding ghettoizing their experiences as separate and distinctive. In particular, the lecture will use as a case study the history of the British women who served as secret agents in Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II, in order to explore the mechanisms by which some women get remembered by history, while others get forgotten.

Ideas on Tap: Locked Out: Criminal Justice in Mississippi
2019-03-19 17:30 - 19:00 | Hal & Mal’s, 200 Commerce Street, Jackson, MS, 39201, United States
On March 19, join the Mississippi Humanities Council for the second in a two-part series on criminal justice in Mississippi.
The March 19 program, “Locked Out: Criminal Justice in Mississippi” will examine the process of re-entry back into society for formerly-incarcerated individuals. Hear from former Parchman inmate Eddie Spencer, Mississippi Center for Justice Advocacy Director Beth Orlansky, and director of the Incarcerated Veterans Program at Central Mississippi Correctional Facility B.R. Hawkins. Journalist Ko Bragg will moderate.
As always, snacks and great conversation are on us, and drinks are on you.

The Struggle Continues: Equity in Education
2019-03-19 18:30 - 19:30 | Hancock Performing Arts Center, 7140 Stennis Airport Rd, Kiln, MS, 39556, United States
“The Struggle Continues: Equity in Education” is a series of three lectures that centers on the history of equity in public education. The series will examine today’s political climate and the role of the federal, state, and local governments in education, and will consider the ways citizens can play a role in equity in education. The March 19 lecture will be presented by William Coleman of the Hancock County Historical Society, who will examine the experiences of African Americans, Asians and Hispanics in Hancock, Harrison, and Jackson counties, in their pursuit of education.

SB: The Historic Journey of African American Quilters
2019-03-21 11:00 - 12:00 | Country Club of Jackson, 345 St. Andrew's Drive, Jackson, MS, 39211
Diane Williams, storyteller and fiber artist, begins her presentation with a discussion of Kente cloth weaved fibers of West Africa and moves on to utilitarian quilts made by African slaves in America who sewed for their owners. She provides a reflective look at how the designs of Underground Railroad quilts relate to storytelling, and explores the works of Harriet Powers (1837-1910) and three other female fiber artists. Powers was a model for women quilters of the late 19th-early 20th centuries. In her discussion of 20th and 21st century quilting, she uses the work of Faith Ringgold, Carolyn L. Mazloomi and Mississippi quilter/fiber artist Gwen Magee. Williams uses her storytelling skills to explore how images — in pictures, but also in quilts — can guide us to a place of tolerance, empathy and sensitivity.
Speakers Expertise:
Diane Williams is a neo-griot, along the lines of the storytellers from times gone by when oral historians were crucial to maintaining black folks’ history because book publishers didn’t believe the history worth chronicling. Williams is also a quilter, an artistry befitting for a woman known for paying homage to the past. Williams uses silk yarns, beads, stones and vibrant colors to make traditional quilts with Motherland inspiration to tell stories of strength, resilience and hope.

HTA: Literature in Relief: Healing in the Human Spirit
2019-03-21 15:00 - 16:00 | Golden Triangle Lyceum, 8731 S. Frontage Rd., Mayhew, MS, 39753
Humanities Teacher Award winner Ginny Leonard (East Mississippi Community College) will present her public lecture, “Literature in Relief: Healing in the Human Spirit.” Reception to follow.
The strength of the written word does not rely on simple fact-giving or storytelling. Instead, the true power of literature rests in its ability to soothe and heal the mind, body, and soul of humankind. This presentation will explore the many ways literature of all sorts relieves the pressures of the human condition.

Ideas on Tap Oxford: The Future of Journalism
2019-03-21 17:00 - 18:30 | Rafters, 1002 Jackson Avenue East, Oxford, 38655, United States
On March 21, join the Mississippi Humanities Council and the Overby Center for Southern Journalism and Politics at the Annex at Rafter’s Music and Food in Oxford for “Ideas on Tap: The Future of Journalism.”
This special Oxford edition of Ideas on Tap will focus on the role of community journalism in our society and how economic restraints affect how journalism is produced and disseminated. Hear from panelists R.L. Nave (Mississippi Today), Cynthia Joyce (University of Mississippi School of Journalism and New Media), and Elizabeth Zaremba Walters (Daily Journal). Charles L. Overby will moderate.
This program is supported by the The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s “Democracy and the Informed Citizen” initiative, in partnership with the Federation of State Humanities Councils.
The MHC will provide appetizers and attendees are welcome to purchase their own drinks. As always, this event is free and open to the public.

HTA: Fallen Ministers and Reformed Seductresses...
2019-03-21 19:00 - 20:00 | Garrett Auditorium, 201 W Main Street, Blue Mountain, MS, 38610
Humanities Teacher Award winner Dr. Mikki Galliher (Blue Mountain College) will present her public lecture titled, “Fallen Ministers and Reformed Seductresses in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and Alice Cary’s Hagar, A Story of Today.” Reception to follow.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic text has much in common with another novel, Hagar, A Story for Today by Hawthorne’s contemporary Alice Cary. Both novels feature a young woman who is seduced, impregnated, and then betrayed by her lover. However, while Hawthorne’s novel is a beloved classic studied in high school and college classrooms, Cary’s work has fallen into obscurity, unchampioned even by most feminist recovery projects despite Cary’s popularity and influence during her lifetime. I posit that much of the reason for the disparity in reception lies in the way that Hawthorne’s text elicits empathy for the male seducer, while Cary does not.

SB: Music of the War Between the States, 1861-1865
2019-03-22 09:00 - 15:00 | Mississippi’s Final Stands Interpretive Center and Battlefields, 1067 Highway 370, Guntown, MS, 38849
Music of this period played on the Appalachian Mountain dulcimer, banjo-mier and wooden spoons. Period clothing worn. Audience may help play the spoons.
Speakers Expertise:
Mr. Arinder has studied Early American and Native American cultures for nearly 50 years, assembling a sizeable collection of artifacts which he uses to leade living history programs for local schools, civic clubs and museums. He volunteers as an interpretive historian with the Natchez Trace Parkway, leading monthly history and pioneer craft demonstrations at the Visitor Center in Tupelo.

SB: Southern Wisdom from Delta Church Mothers
2019-03-22 13:00 - 14:00 | Millsaps College, 1701 N. State Street, Jackson, Mississippi, 39202
Award-winning journalist Alysia Burton Steele’s Delta Jewels: In Search of My Grandmother’s Wisdom is a visual and lyrical tribute to African American church mothers from the Mississippi Delta. This groundbreaking collection of oral histories and photographs tells nationally and internationally significant stories rooted in the Mississippi Delta, a distinctive region called “The Cradle of American Culture” by the National Park Service and “The Most Southern Place on Earth” by historian James Cobb.The Mississippi Delta produced cotton, Blues music and the Civil Rights Movement. It shaped the lives and contributions of numerous cultural and social justice icons—black and white, women and men—including Fannie Lou Hamer, Eudora Welty, Emmett Till, William Faulkner, Medgar Evers, Richard Wright, Tennessee Williams…and the celebrated Delta Jewels church mothers. Come sit a spell and hear the revered voices of these living figures of history captured by Alysia Burton Steele.
Speakers Expertise:
Alysia Burton Steele is a visual educator at the University of Mississippi, with a focus on oral history and visuals. For this presentation, Steele shares her experiences finding and nurturing relationships to earn trust to collect stories and share them with audiences. She shares audio and video stores as part of her presentation.

*Presentation will take place in Room 215 of the Academic Complex
