Mississippi Humanities Council

SB: Rethinking Mass Incarceration for a Better Way Forward
2019-04-01 18:00 - 19:00 (America/Chicago) | Hines Hall Auditorium, 101 Cunningham Blvd., Booneville, MS, 38829
This presentation consists of a brief introduction of the current state of incarceration in America and Mississippi. Dr. Pickett will then share with the audience the long history of incarceration in Mississippi beginning with the institution of slavery, the first jails in Natchez and Jackson, the black codes and the convict lease system in the late nineteenth century. He will then describe the shift in the state’s history for prison reform to penitentiaries like Parchman at the turn of the twentieth century. Finally, he will examine incarceration and punishment through the Jim Crow era and the use of lynching, imprisonment during the Civil Rights movement and the modern day situation of private, for-profit prisons in Mississippi. He will then provide examples of ways in which we can begin to, as a society, rethink the prison space through discussing the creation and founding of the Prison to College Pipeline program. He will demonstrate that providing small investments in education has tremendous results in reducing recidivism, enhancing re-entry and lowering the violence level of incarcerated spaces. Introducing a humanities-driven curriculum meant to encourage, inspire and to bring hope and dignity to incarcerated men and women across the state will help this continue.
Speakers Expertise:
Dr. Pickett holds a Ph.D. in U.S. history from the University of Mississippi and has taught history courses at the University of Mississippi and Mississippi College, which included the institution of slavery, the convict lease system and the modern carceral state. He has also taught courses on the history and literature of the Civil Rights Movement at Parchman Mississippi State Penitentiary and the Central Correctional Facility.

Behind the Big House
2019-04-04 - 2019-04-06 | Hugh Craft House, 184 S. Memphis St., Holly Springs, MS, 38635
The Behind The Big House Tour is uncovering the truth about slavery in antebellum Holly Springs. Re-enactors channel the lives of enslaved people in the houses where they actually lived. They demonstrate the labor of slaves in the kitchen, the yard, and the big house.

For All the World to See: Visual Culture and the Struggle for Civil Rights
2019-04-04 17:00 - 19:00 | Museum of the Mississippi Delta, 1608 Hwy 82 West, Greenwood, MS, 38930
The Museum of the Mississippi Delta is hosting the traveling exhibit “For All the World to See: Visual Culture and Struggle for Civil Rights,” with an opening cocktail reception on Thursday, April 4. This exhibition examines the role visual culture played in shaping and transforming the struggle for racial equality in America from the late 1940s to the mid-1970s. The exhibit is not a history of the Civil Rights Movement itself, but rather an exploration of the vast number of potent images that have influenced how Americans perceived race and the struggle for equality.
Museum members admitted free, non-member tickets are $10.00

MHC Public Humanities Awards and Gala
2019-04-05 17:30 - 20:00 | Old Capitol Museum, 100 South State Street, Jackson , MS, 39201
The Mississippi Humanities Council will hold its Public Humanities Awards and Gala April 5, 2019, at the Old Capitol Museum in Jackson. The awards recognize outstanding work by Mississippians in bringing the insights of the humanities to public audiences.
Help celebrate awardees Patti Carr Black, Winterville Mounds, Mississippi Today, Dr. Stephanie Clanton Rolph, Dr. Brinda Fuller Willis, and our 32 Humanities Teacher Award winners by purchasing a ticket or sponsorship here: http://mshumanities.org/program/public-humanities-awards/
Thank you to our event sponsors Trustmark, Entergy Mississippi, and BancorpSouth for their generous financial support.

Let the World See What I've Seen
2019-04-06 09:00 - 12:00 | Museum of the Mississippi Delta, 1608 Hwy 82 West, Greenwood, MS, 38930
The murder of Emmett Till remains fresh in our memory as evidenced by recent articles in the Clarion Ledger by a variety of authors particularly since the reopening of the case by the U.S. Attorney General. Patrick Weems of the Emmett Till Interpretive Center will facilitate the panel discussion that will include: 1) Devery S. Anderson, author of Emmett Till: The Murder That Shocked the World and Propelled the Civil Rights Move; 2) Dave Tell, from the University of Kansas, will present on his Emmett Till Memory Project and 3) Wheeler Parker, Till’s cousin who was with him at the time of his abduction.

"Mississippi Justice" Film Screening and Panel
2019-04-08 17:00 - 19:00 | MC Law CNS Building, 151 E. Griffith Street, Jackson, MS, 39201
NMHS Unlimited Productions and the Mississippi Humanities Council present the documentary film “Mississippi Justice,” a film based on actual events that occurred in Pike County, Mississippi in 1951. This event is free and open to the public.
Based on documented records, the film centers around a 20-year-old black female, Hattie Lee Barnes, with only a fourth-grade education, who shot and killed a young blue-eyed, six-foot-tall white male from a local prominent family. At the time the newest and youngest attorney in Pike County, Joe Pigott, was appointed as her public defender. In 20 days, Hattie Lee Barnes was served an indictment, entered a not guilty plea, and was on trial for murder.
After the film is shown, a panel will discuss the judicial and social environment during that period in Mississippi history and how it relates to the issues of today. Panel members will include City of Jackson Municipal Judge June Hardwick; Attorney Brad Pigott, son of the late Justice Joe Pigott; Judge Patricia Wise, retired Hinds County Chancery Court Judge; and Dr. Wilma Mosley Clopton, filmmaker.

"Mississippi Justice" Film Screening and Panel
2019-04-09 16:00 - 18:00 | Jackson State University, 1400 J.R. Lynch Street, Jackson, MS, 39217
NMHS Unlimited Productions and the Mississippi Humanities Council present the documentary film “Mississippi Justice,” a film based on actual events that occurred in Pike County, Mississippi in 1951. This event is free and open to the public.
Based on documented records, the film centers around a 20-year-old black female, Hattie Lee Barnes, with only a fourth-grade education, who shot and killed a young blue-eyed, six-foot-tall white male from a local prominent family. At the time the newest and youngest attorney in Pike County, Joe Pigott, was appointed as her public defender. In 20 days, Hattie Lee Barnes was served an indictment, entered a not guilty plea, and was on trial for murder.
After the film is shown, a panel will discuss the judicial and social environment during that period in Mississippi history and how it relates to the issues of today. Panel members will include City of Jackson Municipal Judge June Hardwick; Attorney Brad Pigott, son of the late Justice Joe Pigott; Judge Patricia Wise, retired Hinds County Chancery Court Judge; and Dr. Wilma Mosley Clopton, filmmaker.
Event will take place in room 100 of the Charles F. Moore building

2019 Sammy O. Cranford Memorial History Lecture
2019-04-11 19:00 - 20:00 | Delta State University, 1003 W Sunflower Rd, Cleveland, MS, 38733, United States
The 2019 annual Sammy O. Craford Memorial History Lecture will take place Thursday, April 11. This year, Dr. Joseph Crespino (Jimmy Carter Professor of American History at Emory University) will deliver a presentation entitled “Atticus Finch: The Biography.”
The lecture will take place at 7pm in the Jobe Hall Auditorium on the DSU campus.

Everywhere with Roy Lewis
2019-04-12 16:00 - 17:00 | Jackson State University, 1400 J.R. Lynch Street, Jackson, MS, 39217
The Margaret Walker Center presents the photography exhibition Everywhere with Roy Lewis as part of its 13th annual student conference at Jackson State University. Roy Lewis has been a celebrated black photographer for the past 50 years, who photographed many of the iconic moments of the modern civil rights movement and was often invited by Dr. Margaret Walker Alexander to photograph the events she hosted at Jackson State.
There will be an opening gallery talk and reception with Roy Lewis himself in the Johnson Hall Art Gallery at JSU, where the exhibition will be installed on Friday, April 12. There will also be a public conversation on Thursday, June 6, in Johnson Hall with Mark Geil, Associate Professor of Art, whose work focuses on photography, and Redell Hearn, Curator of Art and Civil Rights for Tougaloo College and the Mississippi Museum of Art.
The exhibition will run at Jackson State from April 12 to June 28, 2019.

SB: Robert Johnson at the Crossroads
2019-04-12 18:00 - 19:00 | Lee County Library, 219 N. Madison Street, Tupelo, MS, 38804
In colorful costume,storytellers Rebecca Jernigan and Wendy Garrison retell the tale of legendary bluesman Robert Johnson. With music, drama and sign language, they recount his fateful encounter with the Prince of Darkness at the crossroads in the Delta. In educational venues they stress that the audience is integral to any live performance. They discuss the historical person Robert Johnson, and they share the role of the blues as an indigenous musical genre that grew out of the challenges of life in the Mississippi delta.
Speakers Expertise:
Wendy Garrison is an Oxford, MS, slide guitar player profiled on the Mississippi Arts Commission’s Folk Life and Folk Artist Directory.

2019 Petal Southern Miss Powwow
2019-04-13 - 2019-04-14 | Willie Hinton Park, 718 S. Main Street, Petal, MS, 39465, United States
The 2019 Petal Suthern Miss Powwow will be held on April 13-14 with a school day on April 11. It will take place at Willie Hinton Park in Petal, with Natives and non-Natives in celebration of American Indian Culture, crafts, foodways, dance, and song.

Artistic Expression during the Civil Rights Movement
2019-04-13 10:00 - 12:00 | Museum of the Mississippi Delta, 1608 Hwy 82 West, Greenwood, MS, 38930
Turry Flucker will lead a panel that will focuses on two significant art groups that responded to the Civil Rights movement: The Art Committee for Tougaloo College and Spiral: An African American Art Collective. Active from the summer of 1963 through 1965, he group of artists met weekly to discuss the role of African-American artists in politics and the Civil Rights Movement, as well as in the larger art world, and organized one group exhibition.

The 39th Annual Alcorn State University Jazz Festival: Dee Dee Bridgewater
2019-04-13 16:00 - 17:00 | Vicksburg Convention Center, 1600 Mulberry Street, Vicksburg, MS, 39180
An hour-long educational workshop conducted by Grammy and Tony Award-winning jazz giant Dee Dee Bridgewater. She will discuss various topics that relate to the heritage and history of jazz in the U.S. South.

Ideas on Tap Clarksdale: The Future of Public Education in Mississippi
2019-04-16 17:30 - 19:00 | Meraki Roasting Company, 282 Sunflower Ave, Clarksdale, MS, 38614, United States
On April 16, join the Mississippi Humanities Council, the Phil Hardin Foundation, and Meraki Roasting Company in Clarksdale for the first in a special two-part Ideas on Tap series on public education in the state.
The program will feature an ideologically diverse panel of education policy experts to discuss different approaches to improving public schools. Panelists include Constance White (Empower Mississippi), Nancy Loome (The Parents’ Campaign), and Sanford Johnson (Mississippi First). MHC Executive Director Dr. Stuart Rockoff will moderate.
A follow-up program that addresses public education in Clarksdale will take place on May 14. Both programs are part of a larger yearlong series on public education in communities around the state.
As always, snacks and great conversation are on us, and drinks are on you.

Civil Rights-Era Music Panel
2019-04-16 18:00 - 19:30 | Museum of the Mississippi Delta, 1608 Hwy 82 West, Greenwood, MS, 38930
This panel will focus on the music from the Civil Rights Era. They will be using audio and video clips from the time period, which is also included within the exhibition itself. These will include songs that were written about Emmett Till and the Three Civil Rights workers who were murdered near Philadelphia, Miss. There are over 20 clips from the Ed Sullivan Show where African American performers were showcased, many for the first time. They will discuss how African Americans became accepted to white audiences by their choice of music/songs and individual performances.
Panelists include:
Scott Barretta, Blues Historian, Author, Filmmaker
Ben Wiley Payton, blues musician
Dr. Alphonso Sanders, Mississippi Valley State University, Professor and Blues musician

The Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi
2019-04-20 10:00 - 12:00 | Museum of the Mississippi Delta, 1608 Hwy 82 West, Greenwood, MS, 38930
This panel will discuss aspects of the Civil Rights Movement with focus on their specific areas of expertise.

Facilitator and Panelist: Dr. Robert Luckett, Associate Professor, Department of History and
Director, Margaret Walker Center, Jackson State University. Dr. Luckett will speak about the invention of Jim Crow and what became known as the “Mississippi Plan” that became a model for the rest of the South. The Mississippi Plan and Jim Crow stood on the shoulders of black disfranchisement, segregation and sharecropping to guarantee white power as well as second-class citizenship for African Americans throughout the South, a status black southerners have fought ever since.

Presenter: Dr. Stephanie R. Rolph, Associate Professor, History Department, Millsaps College Author of Resisting Equality: The Citizen’s Council 1954-1989. Rolph examines the history of the Citizens’ Council, an organization committed to coordinating opposition to desegregation and black voting rights

Book Signing: Mississippi Witness
2019-04-23 17:00 - 19:00 | Museum of the Mississippi Delta, 1608 Hwy 82 West, Greenwood, MS, 38930
Florence Mars, whose family go back four generations in Neshoba County, braved social ostracism and threats of violence to denounce the murders of the three Civil Rights workers-Schwerner, Goodman and Cheney—through then lens of her camera. She bought a camera and built a dark room and began to photograph and document a racial order she knew was dying.

James Campbell is the Edgar E. Robinson Professor in U. S. History at Stanford University. Elaine Owens is the retired director of image/sound archives at the Miss. Dept. of Archives and History where she helped collect and curate the Florence Mars Collection.

Ideas on Tap Jackson: The Future of Public Education in Mississippi
2019-04-23 17:30 - 19:00 | Hal & Mal’s, 200 Commerce Street, Jackson, MS, 39201, United States
On April 23, join the Mississippi Humanities Council and the Phil Hardin Foundation in Jackson for the first in a special two-part Ideas on Tap series on public education in the state.
The program will feature an ideologically diverse panel of education policy experts to discuss different approaches to improving public schools. Panelists include Grant Callen (Empower Mississippi), Nancy Loome (The Parents’ Campaign), and Rachel Canter (Mississippi First). MHC Executive Director Dr. Stuart Rockoff will moderate.
A follow-up program that addresses public education in Jackson will take place on May 21. Both programs are part of a larger yearlong series on public education in communities around the state.
As always, snacks and great conversation are on us, and drinks are on you.

The Struggle Continues: Equity in Education
2019-04-29 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 centering 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 ways citizens can play a role in equity in education. The April 29 event will be a student poetry event, the Second Annual “The Struggle: Hearing Our Voices.” Students will share poetry that reflects their interpretation of the struggle for equitable education, past and present.

Greenville Renaissance Scholars Spring Showcase
2019-05-02 17:30 - 19:30, 2019-05-14 17:30 - 19:00 | EE Bass Center, 323 S. Main St., Greenville, MS
Young People are capable of amazing work and can open up hearts and minds in a way that adults cannot. This project aims to further racial equity by having young people create a performance that will be showcased in two Mississippi Delta communities about their experiences with race and afterward facilitate a public discussion on racial equity with audience members.

SB: Delta Epiphany: RFK in the Mississippi Delta
2019-05-02 18:00 - 19:00 | Hernando Public Library, 370 W Commerce Street, Hernando, MS, 38632
In 1967, while visiting Mississippi as part of the Senate subcommittee on poverty, Robert Kennedy cradled hungry children, talked with mothers about how they fed their families and examined empty refrigerators. Although he was only in the Delta for a day, Kennedy, the people he encountered, Mississippi and the nation felt the impact of that journey for much longer. What he found in the Delta both shocked and motivated Kennedy to work for significant changes in the nation’s food aid policy. It was a crucial step toward his decision to run for the presidency a year later.
Drawing upon archival research and interviews, Meacham’s presentation outlines Kennedy’s journey through Mississippi and what he saw and heard, concluding with how Kennedy’s visit affected food aid policy, what has changed there and what has not changed since his visit.

Speakers Expertise:
Ellen Meacham is a Tennessee native, longtime resident of Mississippi, and a career journalist and journalism instructor at her alma mater, the University of Mississippi. She is the author of Delta Epiphany: Robert F. Kennedy in Mississippi and has been a working journalist for more than two decades. She is a member of the faculty in the University of Mississippi’s journalism school where she teaches news reporting and editing. Meacham is uniquely positioned to write about the South and Mississippi. Her experience as a newspaper reporter has given her extensive contacts within the state’s political and journalistic circles. In addition, her master’s degree in Southern Studies from the University of Mississippi undergirds her understanding the culture and the people of the South and the Mississippi Delta.

SB: Nursing Care in the 1878 Yellow Fever Epidemic
2019-05-07 12:00 - 13:00 | Columbus-Lowndes Public Library, 314 7th St N, Columbus, MS, 39701, United States
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.

SB: The Mississippi Melting Pot
2019-05-07 19:00 - 20:00 | South Mississippi Genealogy & Historical Society, 307 2nd Ave , Hattiesburg , MS
A brief history (from tamales to red beans and rice) of the various ethnic and racial culinary traditions that have shaped Mississippians’ diets.
Speakers Expertise:
Dr. Andrew P. Haley is a professor of American cultural history at the University of Southern Mississippi. He has recently completed a book on restaurant dining in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and is currently working on a history of children and eating.

SB: The ABCs of Making a Documentary Film: From Concept to Creation
2019-05-13 17:00 - 18:00 | Lincoln-Lawrence-Franklin Regional Library, 100 South Jackson Street, Brookhaven, MS, 39601
The ABCs of Making a Documentary Film: From Concept to Creation de-mystifies the creation of a documentary film. LaFrancis, award-winning producer, creator, and director, uses humor, actual projects, and a tremendous amount of personal experience to help beginning and intermediate documentarians not only conceptualize, but create their projects. This is a lively, fast-paced, in-depth program with loads of Q&A time.
Speakers Expertise:
As a veteran of 23 years (active duty during the Vietnam War era and Air National Guard) and as a writer for more than 30 years, LaFrancis is professionally and personally qualified to offer what is a moving and unique presentation. LaFrancis has more than 25 years experience as a professional speaker and presenter, particularly on the topics of creative writing and journalism. With the war ever-present in our lives, his presentation of the experiences of the soldiers and their loved ones will enlighten and engage a wide range of audiences.

Ideas on Tap: The Future of Public Education in Clarksdale
2019-05-14 17:30 - 19:00 | Meraki Roasting Company, 282 Sunflower Ave, Clarksdale, MS, 38614, United States
On May 14, join the Mississippi Humanities Council and the Phil Hardin Foundation in Clarksdale for the final in a special two-part Ideas on Tap series on public education in the state.
The program will feature a panel of Clarksdale community and education leaders knowledgeable about the state of public education in Clarksdale. The panel will be moderated by Mississippi Today columnist Aallyah Wright.
The program is part of a larger yearlong series on public education in communities around the state.
As always, snacks and great conversation are on us, and drinks are on you.

Ideas on Tap: The Future of Public Education in Jackson
2019-05-16 17:30 - 19:00 | Hal & Mal’s, 200 Commerce Street, Jackson, MS, 39201, United States
On May 16, join the Mississippi Humanities Council and the Phil Hardin Foundation in Jackson for the final in a special two-part Ideas on Tap series on public education in the state.
The program will focus on the Better Together Commission, changes taking place under new JPS leadership, and what these changes mean for student achievement. Panelists include JPS Superintendent Dr. Erick Greene, JPS parent organizer Rosaline McCoy, City of Jackson CAO Dr. Robert Blaine, and W.K. Kellogg Foundation director of Mississippi and New Orleans programs Dr. Rhea Williams-Bishop. The program will be moderated by Mississippi Today education reporter Kayleigh Skinner.
The program is part of a larger yearlong series on public education in communities around the state.
As always, snacks and great conversation are on us, and drinks are on you.

SB: Mixed Messages: Rabbit Foot Minstrels’ Long History and Ambiguous Legacy
2019-05-23 12:00 - 14:00 | Mississippi Cultural Crossroads, 507 Market Street , Port Gibson , MS, 39150, United States
The famous Rabbit Foot Minstrels traveled through Mississippi performing in a large tent. Their marching band paraded through town at noon to attract attention, and their orchestra played inside the tent at night for the singers, dancers, comedians and variety artists. All the performers were black, and some appeared on stage in blackface, a relic of the days when minstrel shows were performed by whites. They performed for mixed audiences of whites and blacks who crowded into the tent.
Rabbit Foot began life in 1900 as a musical comedy troupe owned and operated by a black businessman from Florida named Pat Chappelle. They played theaters, opera houses and tents, traveling on their own railroad cars. When Chappelle died in 1911, a white carnival owner from Michigan named F.S. Walcott acquired the show, moving its headquarters to Port Gibson, Mississippi, in 1918.
This presentation examines how the change from a black owner to a white one affected the way the show was presented to the public, and raises questions about how that eventually affected other mass entertainment venues like radio and television.
Speakers Expertise:
A retired professor from Alcorn State, Dr. David Crosby has conducted many oral history interviews with people who were involved with the Rabbit Foot minstrels in Port Gibson or who witnessed the show in other parts of Mississippi. He has curated an exhibit that recreates the music, images and feel of the old African American traveling tent show.

Ideas on Tap: Meridian
2019-05-23 17:00 - 18:30 | The MAX, 2118 Front St, Meridian, MS, 39301, United States
On May 23, join the Mississippi Humanities Council and the MAX for the first ever Meridian Ideas on Tap program about art and what makes it “good” or “bad.”
The May 23 program will focus on how we perceive art, the artists behind the works, how historical context affects perceptions of art, and the gatekeepers to the canon. Panelists include Mattie Codling (Walter Anderson Museum of Art), Marty Gamblin (The MAX – Mississippi’s Arts + Entertainment Experience), Lisa Howorth (author and co-founder of Square Books), and Stacey Wilson (The MAX – Mississippi’s Arts + Entertainment Experience). The panel will be moderated by The MAX – Mississippi’s Arts + Entertainment Experience historian Tony Lewis.
As with all our Ideas on Tap programs, snacks and a great conversation are on us, and drinks are on you. Beer is generously provided by Mitchell Distributing.
Don’t forget to purchase a ticket for the MAXEats “Jazz Your Grits” event immediately following Ideas on Tap.

One Forest, Many Different Trees: E.O. Templeton Jr. Genealogy Fair 2019
2019-06-01 08:30 - 15:30 | Mitchell Memorial Library, 395 Hardy Road, Mississippi State, MS, 39762
One Forest, Many Different Trees is the 13th annual genealogy fair sponsored by Mississippi State University Libraries. Participants will learn skills required to research their families and create family histories and family trees. Participants are asked to register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/eo-templeton-jr-history-genealogy-fair-2019-tickets-56044375235
A full schedule of events can also be found on the event website.
