Mississippi Humanities Council

HTA: When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemon Meringue Pie
2019-01-15 18:00 (America/Chicago) | ICC Fine Arts Auditorium, 602 W Hill Street, Fulton, MS, 38843
Humanities Teacher Award winner Anna Britt Begnaud presents her public lecture, “When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemon Meringue Pie: Success in Less Than Ideal Circumstances.” Reception to follow.
Students worry about grades more than content in courses. When a test, an essay, or a major assignment goes wrong, many students may torpedo themselves in a course—stop turning in work, drop the course, or simply stop attending–rather than mastering the content and learning new skills, both of which would ultimately lead to success in the course. While content and new skills are important, the struggle to master them is even more important to long term success. Learning to overcome the obstacles is a skill that translates into every future endeavor students will undertake.

Ideas on Tap: Women in Music
2019-01-15 18:00 - 19:00 | CS’s, 1359 N West St, Jackson, MS, 39202, United States
On January 15, Jackson Indie Music Week and the Mississippi Humanities Council will host a free panel about women in the music industry. The Ideas on Tap program will feature some of the best and brightest women in the entertainment industry!
Moderated by Catherine Lee. Our panelists include Maranda Joiner (Brand and Life Coach at Maranda J Marketing), Kendra Wright (99 JAMS WJMI), and Charlie Buchwald (Program Director at Y101). Join us as we pick these ladies’ brains on what it means to be a woman of influence in the world of entertainment!
The Ideas on Tap program will be free and open to the public. To hear even more from female artists, join us at the Many Moons: Women’s Showcase event later that evening.

HTA: Compositional Techniques in Leonard Bernstein's Anniversaries for Solo Piano
2019-01-15 18:00 - 19:00 | Hines Hall Auditorium, 101 Cunningham Blvd., Booneville, MS, 38829
Humanities Teacher Award winner Dr. Ray Harris (Northeast Mississippi Community College) will present his public lecture titled, “Compositional Techniques in Leonard Bernstein’s Anniversaries for Solo Piano.” Reception to follow.
“My presentation will be, “Compositional Techniques in Leonard Bernstein’s Anniversaries for Solo Piano.” Though the pieces range from twenty seconds to two minutes in performance time, I will illustrate that each is a unique music statement containing a high level of structure achieved by a variety of compositional techniques. The presentation will include a performance of selected works.”

HTA: From Slidell to Saudi
2019-01-17 14:00 - 15:00 | Horace C. Holmes Student Union Building, 1156 College Drive, Summit, MS, 39666
Humanities Teacher Award winner Amy Gazzo (Southwest Mississippi Community College) will present her public lecture, “From Slidell to Saudi.” Reception to follow.
“From Slidell to Saudi” describes the years when the presenter, Amy Gazzo, lived in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. The presentation includes an overview of the Muslim culture focusing on their faith, traditions, and food and how a then seventeen year old, Southern girl faced living by this new set of standards. It is a personal narrative of her challenges, joys, and adaptation to a new world.

Water/Ways @ Ag Museum: Enviroscape Table
2019-01-19 10:00 - 14:00 | Mississippi Agriculture & Forestry Museum, 1150 Lakeland Drive, Jackson, MS, 39216, United States
On January 19, the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum will host a free and open to the public interactive presentation about water pollution. The program will feature Melissa Wells, Education Outreach Coordinator for the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, to present MDEQ’s Enviroscape Table. The Enviroscape Table provides a hands-on, interactive demonstration of the sources and effects of water pollution and how to prevent it. Presentations of the Enviroscape Table will take place every half hour between 10am and 2pm.
This program takes place in conjunction with Water/Ways, a traveling exhibit offered by the Museum on Main Street division of the Smithsonian Institution and sponsored by the Mississippi Humanities Council. The exhibit explores water’s connection to all aspects of our society, including the endless motion of the water cycle, water’s effect on landscape, settlement and migration, and its impact on culture and spirituality.

Water/Ways in Columbus
2019-01-25 - 2019-03-08 | Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Transportation Museum, 318 7th St. N, Columbus, MS, 39703, United States
The Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Transportation Museum will host Water/Ways, a traveling exhibit from the Smithsonian Institution, from January 25 through March 8.
Water/Ways is a traveling exhibit offered by the Museum on Main Street division of the Smithsonian Institution. It consists of five free-standing display units incorporating photographs and text as well as numerous interactives ranging from basic flip charts to state of the art audio and video devices. Requiring a display area of a minimum of 650 sq. ft., the exhibit is designed for smaller venues, thereby achieving the goal of “bringing the Smithsonian to Small Town America.”
Water/Ways explores the endless motion of the water cycle, water’s effect on landscape, settlement and migration, and its impact on culture and spirituality. It looks at how political and economic planning have long been affected by access to water and control of water resources. Human creativity and resourcefulness provide new ways of protecting water resources and renewing respect for the natural environment.

HTA: Changing the World Through Effective Communication & the Spirit of Excellence
2019-01-25 13:00 - 14:00 | B.F. McLaurin Vocational Building, 3240 Friars Point Road, Clarksdale, MS, 38614
Humanities Teacher Award winner Dr. Kishki Hall (Coahoma Community College) will present her public lecture, “Changing the World Through Effective Communication & the Spirit of Excellence.” Reception to follow.
The presentation will give a clear view into the inspirational and unique experience of Dr. Kishki Hall’s public speaking class at Coahoma Community College. The mission is to demonstrate how effective communication can change the world and the importance of operating in the spirit of excellence. Dr. Hall believes that students and people in general will only perform and rise to the expectations set for them. It is her endeavor to inspire students to dream dreams, see visions, and work to make those dreams and visions a reality. She also endeavors to motivate others to be the best version of yourself possible and to never settle for mediocrity.

Representing the Experiences of Women from the English Renaissance to Right Now
2019-01-28 17:00 - 20:00 | Fleming Education Center, USM Gulf Coast Campus, Long Beach, MS, 39560
On January 28, USM Gulf Park will kick-off the series by hosting a pop-up art exhibition featuring two women artists from the Mississippi Gulf Coast community: Julia Reyes, a local multimedia artist and co-owner of Almost Circle gallery in Biloxi, and Paulette Dove, local artist and former art teacher at Biloxi High School. Critically, this exhibition event will open with a humanistic talk for the general public by USM Art Professor Jennifer Torres. The general scope of Torres’ talk, which may make direct reference to some of the works on display in the exhibition, will be the relationship between artistic representation and the treatment/expectations of women in society.

Exploring Hip Hop & History
2019-01-29 10:00 - 17:00 | GRAMMY Museum Mississippi, 800 West Sunflower Rd, Cleveland , MS, 38732, United States
Two workshops with Jonathan Blanchard that uses hip hop music to teach students more about history, cultural heritage, and language.

SB: “Chimneyville,” The Destruction of Jackson, MS during the Civil War, Fact or Myth!
2019-01-29 12:00 - 13:00 | Manship House Museum, 420 E. Fortification St., Jackson, MS, 39202
This presentation lays out the facts pertinent to what happened during the four occupations of the city by Federal forces during the Civil War.
Speakers Expertise:
Grady Howell has worked for the Mississippi Department of Archives and History and has written extensively about Mississippi’s Civil War history.

The Struggle Continues: Equity in Education
2019-01-29 18:30 - 20:00 | Hancock Performing Arts Center, 7140 Stennis Airport Rd, Kiln, MS, 39556, United States
In 2018, the Hancock Performing Arts Center received a grant for a series of lectures entitled, “The Struggle and the Music It Created.” The purpose of th eproject was to address race in Mississippi and to discuss the relevance of the music that defined the movement. The majority of the audience attending was students. After the lectures ended, Kevin Allemand, a history teacher, noticed a shift in conversations where his students were engaged in the civil rights movement and asking questions and making comments. He realized that placing the students in the historical context as they listened to the lectures was transformative. For the 2019 Spring semester, “The Struggle” conversations will continue by addressing equity in education in a series of three lectures and a poetry reading.
JANUARY 29: Robbie Luckett from Jackson State University will lecture and discuss “Equity in Education in MS.” He will address the history of education equity for the blacks, Choctaws, and Jewish, Italian immigrants who have struggled to overcome obstacles in their education. In addition, he will discuss the work of the sovereign commission.

"Baltimore" Performance & Discussion
2019-02-01 18:00 - 20:00 | Ruleville Community Center, 803 Stansel Drive, Ruleville, MS, 38771
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.

"Baltimore" Performance & Discussion
2019-02-02 14:00 - 16:00 | COFO Building, 1017 J.R. Lynch St., Jackson, MS

HTA: The Elephant in the Room Wants a Cup of Coffee
2019-02-04 18:00 - 19:00 | 113 Painter Hall, 1100 College Street, Columbus, MS, 39701
Humanities Teacher Award winner Thomas Kris Lee (Mississippi University for Women) will present his public lecture, “The Elephant in the Room Wants a Cup of Coffee: A Brief How-To on the Power of Visualization.” Reception to follow.

Lee’s presentation, entitled, “The Elephant in the Room Wants a Cup of Coffee,” is a good-humored, engaging talk about the impact visualization can have on problem-solving and show you how ridiculously easy it is for the problem-solver to stop saying No and start being In-The-Know.

HTA: I'm Here to Tell You Why Those White Supremacists Matter
2019-02-06 12:00 - 13:00 | Millsaps College, 1701 N. State Street, Jackson, Mississippi, 39202
Humanities Teacher Award winner Dr. Stephanie Rolph (Millsaps College) will present her public lecture, “I’m Here to Tell You Why Those White Supremacists Matter” (Or “Things I Never Thought My Humanities Training Would Prepare Me to Say in Public”)

Stephanie Rolph, author of Resisting Equality: The Citizens’ Council, 1954-1989, will reflect on her scholarship as well as the surprising ways that humanities work has deeply impacted her work outside of the academy.

HTA: Violence, Victory, and Voice: Millennials and Social Justice in Angie Thomas’ The Hate U Give
2019-02-07 10:00 - 11:00 | COFO Building, 1017 J.R. Lynch St., Jackson, MS
Humanities Teacher Award winner Dr. Shanna Louise Smith (Jackson State University) will present her public lecture titled, “Violence, Victory, and Voice: Millennials and Social Justice in Angie Thomas’ The Hate U Give.” Reception to follow
Violence, Voice, & Victory: Millennials and Social Justice in Angie Thomas’ The Hate U Give interrogates how millennials come to voice in ways that challenge social issues that feature, impact, and represent them specifically. When Baby Booming and Gen X figureheads fail to articulate her truth, and use thug imagery to cast a pall over the image/reputation of her murdered friend, Khalil, Starr determines to speak for him – and herself. This presentation maps contemporary expressions of orality as both social justice weaponry and an intersectional positioning that places a black teenage girl as the vocal, moral center. Starr’s action answers the call of Margaret Walker Alexander, who demands, after campus protests leave two young black men dead, “What is your role as students in this black struggle for freedom?” (“Reflections on May 1970: The Jackson State University Massacre” 181).

HTA: Gender Stereotypes: Raising Children in the 21st Century
2019-02-07 11:00 - 12:00 | Crosby Hall, River Road, Poplarville, MS, 39470
Humanities Teacher Award winner Kira Arthurs (Pearl River Community College) will present her public lecture, “Gender Stereotypes: Raising Children in the 21st Century.” Reception to follow.

HTA: The Dangers of Informing: The Suppression of Journalism from a Historical and Contemporary Perspective
2019-02-07 12:30 - 13:30 | Dees Hall, 51 Main Street, Perkinston, MS, 39573
Humanities Teacher Award winner Ryan Schilling (Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College) will present his public lecture “The Dangers of Informing: The Suppression of Journalism from a Historical and Contemporary Perspective.”
An independent press is essential to a free and open society. With this in mind, the presentation will explore the ways that authoritarian regimes have sought to silence journalists, both in the past and in our current times. A variety of topics will be discussed, including the methods that states often use to control information, growing authoritarianism throughout the world, and the recent assassination of Jamal Khashoggi.

Do Drink the Brown Water: Literary Series (Julian Rankin)
2019-02-07 17:30 - 19:30 | Washington County Welcome Center, 1512 US-82, Greenville, MS, 38701
Do Drink the Brown Water: Literary Series was started June 2018 as a Summer trio of events to focus on and celebrate the rich literary history of Washington County, MS and the surrounding Delta. These programs are free and open to the public. The February 7th event will feature Julian Rankin, executive director of the Walter Anderson Museum of Art and author of Catfish Dream: Ed Scott’s Fight for His Family Farm and Racial Justice in the Mississippi Delta

"Body and Soul" Film Screening
2019-02-10 15:00 - 17:00 | Malco Oxford Commons, 206 Commonwealth Blvd, Oxford, MS, 38655
Body and Soul: An American Bridge
Rating: All Ages
Director: Robert Philipson TRT: 58 min.
Sunday February 10 2019, 3 pm Oxford Commons Malco Screen 1
Logline: Out of all the cross-cultural encounters that have resulted in the richness of American popular music, none has been so prominent or so fraught with fraternity and conflict as the relationships between African Americans and American Jews. Body and Soul: An American Bridge aims to tease out the strands of this cultural knot by focusing on the early performance history of the jazz standard, “Body and Soul.”

Special Screening. Panel hosted by Jewish Federation of Oxford and Mississippi Humanities Council to follow. Free Screening.

HTA: Documenting Freedom in Ancient Greece, and a Bronze Inscription in Oxford, MS
2019-02-11 18:30 - 19:30 | 209 Bryant Hall, University, MS, 38677
Humanities Teacher Award winner Dr. Brad L. Cook (University of Mississippi) will present his public lecture, “Documenting Freedom in Ancient Greece, and a Bronze Inscription in Oxford, MS.”

Freedom in the ancient Mediterranean could be tenuous. In some parts of the Greek world, you could find people setting up public declarations of the freeing of slaves. A small bronze inscription, now at the University Museum in Oxford, MS, documents the freeing of a woman named Philista in the early 2nd century BC. Was this her personal, portable copy, her ancient “freedom papers”? Dr. Cook’s talk will address that question as he reconstructs the life story of this palm-sized bronze plaque.

"Baltimore" Performance & Discussion
2019-02-12 18:00 - 20:00 | B.B. King Museum, 400 2nd St, Indianola, MS, 38751, United States

HTA: On Behaving Honestly When the Crowd is Untruth
2019-02-12 19:00 - 20:00 | Aven Hall, 200 Capitol Street, Clinton, MS, 39056
Humanities Teacher Award winner Dr. John Meadors (Mississippi College) presents his public lecture titled, “On Behaving Honestly When the Crowd is Untruth.” Reception to follow.

HTA: The Humanity of Teaching (and Learning) English
2019-02-13 09:00 - 10:00 | Greenville Higher Education Center, 2900 US-1 South, Greenville, MS, 38701
Humanities Teacher Award winner Renee Moore (Mississippi Delta Community College) presents her public lecture, “The Humanity of Teaching (and Learning) English.” Reception to follow.
Language study represents the heart of the humanities. Any English classroom, face-to-face or digital, knowingly or unwittingly generates powerful interactions of human emotion and intellect. For over two decades, I have researched and written about the teaching of English and the role of teachers, especially in relation to African American students. This presentation explores how teachers and students can approach this most human of subjects with integrity, rigor, and mutual respect.

HTA: Global Perspective on Social Work Practice
2019-02-14 12:30 - 13:00 | J.D. Boyd Library, 1000 Asu Dr #539, Lorman, MS, 39096
Humanities Teacher Award winner Sandra M. Dembly-Davis (Alcorn State University) will present “Global Perspective on Social Work Practice”

Global Social Work Practice with individuals, families, and communities around the world that have been impacted after a disaster requires social workers to have a specific set of skills and knowledge to help these individuals, families and communities face many challenges to return to some level of normalcy.

"Baltimore" Performance & Discussion
2019-02-15 19:00 - 20:00 | Lamar Hall at University of Mississippi, 615 Grove Loop, Oxford, MS, 38655
The Sunflower County Freedom Project youth drama will present Baltimore, a play by Kirsten Greenridge. Baltimore focuses on a group of college students whose lives 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.

HTA: Sharp Bargainers: John Eaton, Jr's 63rd VSCT
2019-02-18 18:00 - 19:00 | McCarty-Varnell Building, 150 Rust Ave., Holly Springs, MS, 38635
Humanities Teacher Award winner Dr. Alisea McLeod (Rust College) will present her public lecture titled, “Sharp Bargainers: John Eaton, Jr’s 63rd VSCT.” Reception to follow.

SB: Margret and H.A. Rey: A Partnership that Created and Icon
2019-02-19 10:00 - 11:00 | Thames Conference Center, Wesson, MS
For 75 years, children have been captivated by “Curious George.” Much is known about “George,” but little is know about his creators. The lived of Margret and H.A. Rey are as interesting as the little monkey they created-if not more so. This presentation will examine their lived- telling of their lives in Hamburg, Germany, as well as the journeys that brought them to the United States. The de Grummond Children’s Literature Collection at The University of Southern Mississippi holds the Rey’s literary archive, containing diaries, correspondence, autobiographical sketches, original illustrations, audio and video tapes, and their creative process.
Speakers Expertise:
Training and experience as a librarian, educator, grant writer, and instructor of children’s literature gives me the background for my topic. Currently serving as the Curator of the de Grummond Children’s Literature Collection with the University of Southern Mississippi Libraries.

Ideas on Tap: Locked Up: Criminal Justice in Mississippi
2019-02-19 17:30 - 19:00 | Hal & Mal’s, 200 Commerce Street, Jackson, MS, 39201, United States
On February 19, join the Mississippi Humanities Council for the first in a two-part series on criminal justice in Mississippi.
The February 19 program, “Locked Up: Criminal Justice in Mississippi” will examine the state of the criminal justice system in Mississippi, existing laws, and ongoing reform efforts. Hear from panelists Jennifer Riley-Collins (ACLU of Mississippi), James Robertson (Empower Mississippi), and Johnnie McDaniels (Henley-Young Juvenile Justice Center) as they share their thoughts.
As always, snacks and great conversation are on us, and drinks are on you.

SB: The Soul of Southern Cooking I & II: Miz Bob's Second Batch Cooking from a Mississippi Slave Girl's Table
2019-02-19 18:00 - 19:00 | Train Depot, 308 Newman Street , Hattiesburg , MS
Miz Bob (known as Bob Hunter to friends and family) learned to cook from her mother and her grandmother. Her mental catalogue includes over 500 recipes and follows the art of cooking from the slave kitchen to her great-grandmother’s table. Miz Bob began teaching her daughter, Kathy Starr, all 500 recipes at about age 5, and in the process, Kathy Starr has preserved a lost art of cooking for future generations.
Speakers Expertise:
Kathy Starr received a Congressional honor for her book The Soul of Southern Cooking and has appeared on numerous cooking shows, talk shows, in magazine and newspaper articles.
