Mississippi Humanities Council

Black Indigenous + Solidarity "We Are the Promised Land"
2025-03-30 08:00 - 17:00 (America/Chicago) | FoxFire Ranch, 1465 Old Oxford Road, Waterford, MS, 38685, United States
We extend a heartfelt invitation to join us at Foxfire Ranch on March 30, 2025, to honor our Hill Country Ancestors. We invite you to share in stories, song, activations, offerings. We will share an excerpt from our upcoming podcast and feature a panel of Hill Country heirs. We’ll end the day with a special performance by Memphissippi Sounds.
In this space of tribute and remembrance, we will:
+ Share and record our stories and memories tied to the North Mississippi Hill Country
+ Add to a collective map of historical and present day Black stewarded cultural spaces in the region
In our panels and conversations we will contemplate:
+ The history of Black land in the Mississippi Hill Country.
+The role of Black land as sites for cultural generation and preservation.+ How we honor cultural inheritance and the traditions that flow within our bloodlines.
+ The vision we hold for these traditions as they blossom in the next century, and what we choose to nurture or release.
Our “Hill Country Heirs” panel features Cameron Jones, Autreniece Folsom, Stud Ford, and Annette Hollowell and will be moderated by Rhondalyn Peairs.
These local MS Hill Country musicians are not merely artists, but vessels of ancestral wisdom. As keepers of the flame of our Black folkways, they remind us that our music is a living connection to all that has birthed and molded us, including our beloved ancestors. This is a time for deep listening, for feeling the pulse of the earth beneath our feet, and for connecting with the spirits of the land.
Following this conversation, we will enjoy a classic Foxfire Ranch Sunday evening blues show, free and open to the community thanks to the support of the Mississippi Humanities Council, the North Mississippi Hills Heritage Area Alliance, the Open Architecture Collaborative… Tell a friend and bring a friend!
We Are The Promised Land Podcast & The Foxfire Ranch Family
P.S. Tune into our Hill Country Harmonies playlist on youtube to get into the spirit of the day! Watch live performances, listen to interviews, and dance along to the sweet sound of MS Hill Country legends here: https://rb.gy/lbkne9

2025 Public Humanities Awards
2025-03-28 17:30 - 20:30 | TWO MISSISSIPPI MUSEUMS, 222 NORTH STREET , JACKSON, MS, United States
The Mississippi Humanities Council recognizes this year’s incredible honorees who have made outstanding contributions to promoting and preserving the humanities in our state. Join us to celebrate these achievements at the 2025 Public Humanities Awards Ceremony.
Each year, the Mississippi Humanities Council honor scholars, educators, and organizations who have made significant contributions to the public humanities in Mississippi. Join us at the 2025 Public Humanities Awards on March 28th at the Two Mississippi Museums in Jackson.

Follow the Frenchmen through Natchez: The Return Tour of the Marquis de Lafayette, a Bicentennial Salute
2025-03-27 13:00 - 2025-03-29 22:00 | Natchez Convention Center, 211 Main Street, Natchez, MS, 39120
The Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration (NLCC) is a well-established scholarly conference in the state of Mississippi, with an outstanding reputation as one of the state’s most significant annual events devoted to literature, history, film, and culture.
This year, we will partner with the Sons of the American Revolution to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Marquis de Lafayette’s Farewell Tour. Programming that has historically been the last weekend of February, is now the last weekend of March to accommodate the tour’s schedule. The theme, ‘Follow the Frenchmen through Natchez: The Return Tour of Lafayette,’ will include scholarly presentations, lively conversations, and events that examine the life and historic contributions of the Gilbert du Motier, the Marquis de Lafayette. In addition, the three-day event will include a live educational encampment with the goal of inviting over 700 children from nearby public and private schools to learn about life during the Revolutionary War through witnessing living history.
Friday programming will take place concurrently with a second day of the Living History Educational Encampment. As the encampment continues at Rosalie, we will start the morning with a choice of a second screening of Lafayette: The Lost Hero, for any who missed it the night before, or a grave marking ceremony with the SAR. This will be followed by speakers Rev. Jason Philip Bird ‘James Armistead Lafayette: Slave, Spy, Patriot, and Friend,’ and ‘The Gard Nationale de Paris in America.’ This will be followed by a lunch and presentation by Lafayette expert historian Dr. Robert Rhodes Crout, who will take us on a deeper dive into Lafayette’s life and legacy following lunch. Dr. June Burton, author of Napolean and the Woman Question, will also do a presentation on Adrienne de Noailles, the wife of Lafayette. Later in the afternoon, there will be an SAR grave marking at Historic Gloucester, which will include Sweet Tea and Lemonade in the Gardens along with a house tour. In the evening, we will gather at Rosalie for a reception.
Saturday programming will begin with a reenactment of Lafayette disembarking from the American Cruise Line Splendor, with much fanfare including a brass band, cannon salute, dockside reception, and drum escort parade to the grounds of Rosalie. It will be followed by a ceremony at the Bluff Park Bandstand. Throughout the day, there will be a silent auction, historical exhibits, and a series of lectures. Speakers include Jak McGee Smith ‘Lafayette, The Young Eagle,’ Thomas Gerard Lilly Jr. ‘Washington’s Favorite Son,’ and Julien Icher ‘Lafayette and the Regeneration of European Freedom.’ The day will end with the General’s Banquet, which will feature period music and dance, and Julien Icher as the keynote speaker, ‘Lafayette’s Return to his Beloved America.’

Judy Wigging presents, "A Will of Her Own, Judith Sargent Murray, 1751-1820"
2025-03-25 17:30 - 19:30 | Historic Natchez Foundation, 108 S. Commerce St., Natchez, MS, United States
Hear Judy Wiggins’s give a presentation titled, “A Will of Her Own, Judith Sargent Murray, 1751-1820,”
Judy Wiggins, retired humanities coordinator and English instructor at Copiah-Lincoln Community College, will give a presentation titled, “A Will of Her Own, Judith Sargent Murray, 1751-1820,” at the Tuesday, March 25 meeting of the Natchez Historical Society.
Judith Sargent Murray, (1751-1820) a playwright, essayist, and poet is considered one of the first public champions of women’s rights in the United States. In ‘On the Equality of the Sexes,” (1790) she uses humor and satire to prove that women are indeed equal to men mentally if not physically.
In 1818, when she arrived in Natchez with her daughter, Judith Sargent Murray, the wife of Adam Bingaman, brought 20 letter books with her. Those letter books, now in the Mississippi Department of Archive and History, give insight into the American Revolution and her hopes for women in the new Republic. Lack of education, argues Murray, is the stumbling block that keeps women in an inferior position.
Wiggins’ presentation will be given at the Historic Natchez Foundation, at 108 S. Commerce St. The program will begin with a social at 5:30 p.m., followed by the presentation at 6 p.m. It is free to the public. The presentation is part of a lecture series that is funded by a grant from the Mississippi Humanities Council through funding by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
For more information, send email to info@natchezhistoricalsociety.org.
Come and bring a friend!
WHAT: Meeting of the Natchez Historical Society
WHO: Judy Wiggins will present a lecture titled, “A Will of Her Own, Judith Sargent Murray, 1751-1820,”
WHEN: Tuesday, March 25, 2025
* 5:30 p.m. – Social
* 6 p.m. – Judy Wiggins’s presentation

We Are The Promised Land
2025-03-23 12:00 - 21:00 | FoxFire Ranch, 1465 Old Oxford Road, Waterford, MS, 38685, United States
Come to Foxfire Ranch for two ultra-special [FREE] community days honoring the legacies of the Mississippi Hill Country!

March 23rd: To kick it off, we invite you to breathe with us and celebrate regional Black Folk Life with our Hill Country Heirs Day!

We’re starting the party with a beautiful libation ceremony by Rkhty Amen. From there, we’ll break bread over a hot and tasty lunch, listen to exclusive podcast excerpts, and enjoy an enriching panel on Black land, cultural preservation, + legacy!

We’ll engage in remembrance and play through cultural mapping, storytelling, + the sweet embrace of community connection.

Dinner will be for sale and delicious, as always. It will be followed by an enchanting live performance with Memphissippi Sounds.

March 30th:
Weekend Two will be a time of dear fellowship touching on Black + Indigenous Solidarity in the region. More details coming soon!

Bring your earbuds/headphones! Tell a friend & bring a friend!

FREE admission, but RSVP for March 23rd!
Foxfire Ranch
March 23 + 30, 2025

RSVP here: RSVP @ https://rb.gy/xrftiq

"Lift" Free Screening
2025-03-20 19:00 - 21:00 | Capri Theatre, 3023 N State St,, Jackson, 39216, United States
Free screening alert!
Join the Mississippi Film Society on Thursday night, March 20, at 7 pm at the @capritheatre (where the new garage is now open for convenient parking) for a free screening of LIFT and an in-person conversation with director/producer David Peterson.

Filmed over ten years, LIFT shines a spotlight on the invisible story of homelessness in America through the eyes of a group of young homeless and home-insecure ballet dancers in New York City. After performing all over the world, ballet dancer Steven Melendez returns to the Bronx shelter where he grew up to give back to his community, offering a New York Theatre Ballet workshop to children. His traumatic reaction to the shelter from his childhood sends him on an unexpected journey with three kids to reckon with a past he had escaped from through ballet. As young dance students, Victor, Yolanssie, and Sharia face the same chasm of home insecurity that long separated Steven from his audience and makes the arts inaccessible to so many kids who share his background. The children he mentors offer him insight into turning a hidden trauma into dance, and together, they make an aristocratic art form into an expression all their own.

Thanks to the @mshumanitiescouncil and @filmmississippi for co-sponsoring this screening, which is part of @southartsorg @southerncircuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers. Since its inception in 1975, Southern Circuit has brought influential independent filmmakers and their films from around the country to communities throughout the South.

The program is made possible through a partnership with @neaarts.

The Community Read Event
2025-03-20 18:00 - 19:30 | Mississippi University for Women, 1100 College Street, Columbus, MS, 39701
About Community Read
Community Read, sponsored by Mississippi University for Women, is a community-wide shared reading experience that:

draws on the university and community’s rich literary heritage and The W’s commitment to liberal arts education
develops connections between students, faculty, staff, and community members
fosters intellectual curiosity and broadens our understanding of our world, our community, and our neighbors
promotes gatherings of readers to explore and talk about issues raised in selected books

Our selection for ’24-’25 academic year is First Gen: A Memoir by Alejandra Campoverdi. In her memoir, former White House aide Campoverdi reflects on her experience as a first generation American and college student, identifying and reframing challenges that ‘First and Only’s’ often face in pursuit of the American Dream. The book contains many themes relevant to our community, including women’s health, mental health, the immigrant experience, generational trauma, and healing.
This spring, Dr. Vergara is leading a teaching circle around the book for MUW faculty. A Creative Response Contest centered on the book’s themes is open to local high school and college students, who can submit an essay or multimedia project for the chance to win a cash prize. The year’s events will culminate with the author’s visit to campus to speak on March 20th.
Program Details: March 20th at 6pm
Poindexter Hall
Mississippi University for Women
Columbus, MS 39701

EGO TRIPPING: Celebrating Nikki Giovanni
2025-03-19 11:00 - 2025-03-26 14:00 | Jackson State University, 1400 J.R. Lynch Street, Jackson, MS, 39217
EGO TRIPPING: Celebrating Nikki Giovanni
Join us for English & Modern Languages Week (March 19-26) as we honor the legendary Nikki Giovanni with panels, film screenings, workshops, and literary events!
From exploring the Black Arts Movement to visual poetry and literary salons, this week is packed with inspiration. Don’t miss out! Check the full schedule and scan the QR code for details.
All events free and open to the public!
📍 Jackson State University
🎭 Hosted by the Department of English & Modern Languages + Mississippi Humanities

Dirt and Deeds in Mississippi/ Impressions of the Struggle
2025-03-13 17:30 - 21:00 | University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg , MS - Mississippi, 39406
In conjunction with the screening of the Television Academy award-winning documentary, Dirt and Deeds in Mississippi, the University of Southern Mississippi is inviting a veteran of the civil rights movement from the Delta community of Mileston. Ms. Virgie Clark will join a conversation with filmmaker David Shulman, moderated by faculty member Dr. Rebecca Tuuri. This conversation will highlight the little-known story of African-American property owners who risked their land while providing financial support to further the fight for civil rights. The screening of the film will be followed by a special viewing of the exhibition, Impressions of the Struggle. The primary source documents and accompanying gallery talk will tell the story of Mileston in the context of the broader civil rights movement in Mississippi while conveying the subjugation, threats and tensions of the era.
Thursday, March 13, 2025, beginning at 5:30 pm. The venues will be the Gonzalez auditorium and the McCain Library and Archives.
5:30-7:30 Discussion and screening of ‘Dirt and Deeds in Mississippi’
7:30-9:00 Special viewing of ‘Impressions of the Struggle’ exhibition

Sunday Screeing: "My Mind To Me A Kingdom Is"
2025-03-09 14:00 - 16:00 | TWO MISSISSIPPI MUSEUMS, 222 NORTH STREET , JACKSON, MS, United States
Join us for a free screening of “My Mind To Me A Kingdom Is” on Sunday, March 9, at 2 p.m. in the Craig H. Neilsen Auditorium of the Two Mississippi Museums. Directed by David Rae Morris, this thirty-minute documentary focuses on the life and career of Dr. Jane Ellen McAllister, the first African American woman to earn a doctorate in education.

This program is in partnership with the Mississippi Humanities Council, Mississippi Film Office, and the Mississippi Film Society. For more information, call 601-576-6850

_Local People_ at 40: Reflecting on the Impact and Legacy of John Dittmer’s groundbreaking work
2025-03-07 10:30 - 12:00 | TWO MISSISSIPPI MUSEUMS, 222 NORTH STREET , JACKSON, MS, United States
When it was first published in hardback in 1994 (with paperback published in 1995), John Dittmer’s _Local People: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi_ made a tremendous impact in the scholarship of the Mississippi civil rights movement. While working at Tougaloo and later at Brown and DePauw, Dittmer collected oral histories and consulted countless archival repositories and newspaper articles related to the Mississippi movement. His detailed and careful review of the Mississippi movement from the post-World War II era through the late 1960s, reflected the passion and care that he brought to this story as both a scholar and longtime resident of the state. His book was praised by scholars and activists alike, winning the Bancroft Prize in American History, the historical profession’s highest prize for any book written on American History, in 1995.
Sadly Dr. Dittmer passed in July 2024. Instead of holding a retrospective symposium, the Mississippi Historical Society will now be hosting a panel at its annual meeting that will feature prominent scholars of the Mississippi civil rights movement whose research and scholarly trajectories were impacted by Dittmer and Local People. These panelists represent different eras of scholarship that were impacted.
This panel will be held at the Two Mississippi Museums in Jackson during the Mississippi Historical Society’s annual meeting; however, this panel will be free and open to the public (unlike the rest of the conference).

Reading the Room
2025-03-06 18:00 - 20:00 | Urban Foxes, Jackson, MS, 39202, United States
Hey book community! It’s that time again! Join us for our next Reading the Room event on Wednesday, February 12th at 6:00 pm, at Urban Foxes! Bring any book and enjoy time to read, talk books with your community, and celebrate Mississippi’s vibrant literary culture with us! Reading the Room is presented in partnership with Mississippi Book Festival.

HTA Lecture: The Ice Age of Making Babies and (Pro)creating Meaning in the 21st Century
2025-03-04 16:00 - 17:30 | Mississippi University for Women – Fant Memorial Library, 1200 5th Ave S, Columbus, MS, 39701, United States
Jill Drouillard is Mississippi University for Women’s 2025 Humanities Teacher of the Year. Drouillard’s lecture, The Ice Age of Making Babies and (Pro)creating Meaning in the 21st Century, will be presented 3/4/25 at 4:00 pm on the college’s campus in the Fant Library.
Drouillard will be among those honored at the Mississippi Humanities Council Awards Ceremony March 28, 2025 at the Two Mississippi Museums in Jackson. The event pays tribute to outstanding faculty in traditional humanities fields at each of the state’s institutions of higher learning.

HTA Lecture: Traditional Poetry: I'm Not Dead Yet
2025-03-04 14:00 - 15:30 | Holmes Community College, 1 Hill Street, Goodman, MS, 39079, United States
William Moorer is Holmes Community College’s 2025 Humanities Teacher of the Year. Moorer’s lecture, Traditional Poetry: I’m Not Dead Yet, will be presented 3/4/25 at 2:00 pm on the college’s campus in McMurrough Library (Goodman Campus).
Moorer will be among those honored at the Mississippi Humanities Council Awards Ceremony March 28, 2025 at the Two Mississippi Museums in Jackson. The event pays tribute to outstanding faculty in traditional humanities fields at each of the state’s institutions of higher learning.

HTA Lecture: Gloria Anzaldua as a Feminist Revolution and Vindication of the Myth of "La Llorona"
2025-03-04 13:00 - 14:30 | William Carey University, 710 William Carey Parkway, Hattiesburg, MS, 39401
Janie Covarrubias is William Carey University’s 2025 Humanities Teacher of the Year. Covarrubias’s lecture, Gloria Anzaldua as a Feminist Revolution and Vindication of the Myth of “La Llorona, will be presented 3/4/25 at 1:00 pm on the college’s campus Room 100, Asbury Academic Center.
Covarrubias will be among those honored at the Mississippi Humanities Council Awards Ceremony March 28, 2025 at the Two Mississippi Museums in Jackson. The event pays tribute to outstanding faculty in traditional humanities fields at each of the state’s institutions of higher learning.

Speakers Bureau: "Parallels of Southern Storytelling and Folktales from Around the World"
2025-03-02 14:00 - 15:30 | St. Peters Telling, 246 CR 471, Water Valley, 39065, United States
Diane Williams presents: “Parallels of Southern Storytelling and Folktales from Around the World.”
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.

HBCUs: Their Legacy and Continued Relevance in Southern Black Higher Education
2025-02-28 17:30 - 19:30 | Crossroads Cultural Arts Center, 332 Delta Ave, Clarksdale, MS, 38614, United States
What a fun and enlightening way to round out the 2025 Black History Month Celebration! Attendees are encouraged to wear your Greek and/or HBCU attire and share this fabulous evening among friends and family!
We are excited to welcome speaker Jean Greene, co-director of the Utica Institute Museum who will speak about The Legacy of William H. Holtzclaw.
William H. Holtzclaw, son of former slaves and mentee of Booker T. Washington, founded the Utica Normal & Industrial Institute for the Training of Colored Young Men and Women in Utica in 1903. The Institute, initially a privately funded facility and later a public school, has been in operation in the Utica community for more than 100 years. Now known as Hinds Community College-Utica Campus, the Institution retains its HBCU status and traditions. The Utica Jubilee Singers, founded by Holtzclaw to promote the school and help raise funds, remains one of the defining elements of the school. This presentation gives an overview of the Utica Institute from its founding in the Jim Crow-era South through the Civil Rights years and beyond.
Arrive at 5:30 to mix and mingle at the Crossroads Cafe and mocktail bar including door prizes and more! Program begins at 6:00

HTA Lecture: From Incarceration to Education: An Analysis of Barriers to Higher Education in Mississippi Prisons
2025-02-28 13:00 - 14:30 | Southwest Mississippi Community College, 1156 College Drive, Summit, MS, 39666
Ashley Weathers is Southwest Mississippi Community College’s 2025 Humanities Teacher of the Year. Weathers’ lecture, From Incarceration to Education: An Analysis of Barriers to Higher Education in Mississippi Prisons, will be presented 2/28/25 at 1:00 pm on the college’s main campus in the Holmes Student Union Auditorium.
Weathers will be among those honored at the Mississippi Humanities Council Awards Ceremony March 28, 2025 at the Two Mississippi Museums in Jackson. The event pays tribute to outstanding faculty in traditional humanities fields at each of the state’s institutions of higher learning.

Charles Evers Freedom Trail Marker Unveiling
2025-02-28 12:00 - 13:00 | Jefferson County Courthouse, 1483 Main St, Fayette, MS, 39069, United States
The Mississippi Humanities Council, in partnership with the Visit Mississippi, will unveil a Freedom Trail marker February 28th in Fayette at the Jefferson County Courthouse at 12 pm to honor the extraordinary work of Charles Evers. Evers was elected in Fayette, Mississippi, as the first African-American mayor of a biracial town in Mississippi since the Reconstruction era, following passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which enforced constitutional rights for citizens.

The Evolution from Traditional Blues to Southern Soul
2025-02-27 18:00 - 20:00 | BB King Museum, 400 Second Street, Indianola, MS, 38751, United States
B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center and Mississippi Humanities Council is hosting two programs for Black History Month to celebrate special stories and initiatives. Join us for this free program moderated by Jimmie Lee, Jr with panelists Willie Clayton, Chris Ivy, J’Cenae and Dr. Alphonso Sande

Black History Month Talk at IMMC
2025-02-27 18:00 - 19:30 | International Museum of Muslim Cultures, 201 East Pascagoula Street, Jackson, MS, 39201
Join the International Museum of Muslim Cultures for their first Gallery Talk of the year with special guests: Debora Heard, Prof of Anthropology, Nubian Archaeology and Egyptian History at the University of Chicago, Dr. Rico Chapman, Jackson State University Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Professor of History, Daniel Heboe, Tougaloo College Prof of French

Thursday February 27th, 2025 at 6pm in the Museum Atrium
Mississippi Arts Center
201 E Pascagoula St
Jackson MS
Sign Up at Link in Bio

A Centennial Conversation: The Legacy of Medgar Evers, 100 years Later
2025-02-27 17:30 - 20:00 | Smith Robertson Museum & Cultural Center, 528 Bloom St., Jackson, MS, 39202
In honor of the centennial birthday of Medgar W. Evers, the Mississippi Humanities Council and the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument will co-host a program titled A Centennial Conversation: The Legacy of Medgar Evers, 100 years Later.
The program will consist of a conversation between Dr. Miranda Freeman, Dean of Humanities at Tougaloo College and Dr. Michael V. Williams, Chair of the African American Studies department at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and also the author of Medgar Evers: Mississippi Martyr. This program will take place at the Smith Robertson Museum in Jackson February 27th from 6:30 to 8 pm, with reception at 5:30 pm.

Speakers Bureau: “A Look at Mande (West African) Culture Through Traditional Music”
2025-02-27 17:00 - 18:30 | Jackson Hinds Library System, 605 E Northside Dr, Clinton, MS, 39056-3456, United States
This presentation, by Jerry Jenkins, 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.

HTA Lecture: Educators Perceive Biliteracy as a Resource for Students in Mississippi
2025-02-27 16:00 - 17:30 | Blue Mountain Christian University, 201 W Main St, Blue Mountain, MS, 38610
Rosalynn Rutland is Blue Mountain Christian University’s 2025 Humanities Teacher of the Year. Rutland’s lecture, Educators Perceive Biliteracy as a Resource for Students in Mississippi, will be presented 2/27/25 at 4:00 pm on the college’s campus in the Paschal Student Union Building. This is a presentation of portions of a qualitative study, “Listening to the Voices of Educators in the Implementation of the Mississippi Seal of Biliteracy,” conducted in two Mississippi schools whose educators expressed their perceptions of biliteracy as a resource for students. The participants in this study are educators from one school that has adopted the Mississippi Seal of Biliteracy and one school that has not adopted the seal. Regardless of the adoption of the seal, all educators perceived English plus another language as a beneficial educational policy.
Rutland will be among those honored at the Mississippi Humanities Council Awards Ceremony March 28, 2025 at the Two Mississippi Museums in Jackson. The event pays tribute to outstanding faculty in traditional humanities fields at each of the state’s institutions of higher learning.

Speaker Series: Paula C. Johnson
2025-02-25 17:30 - 19:00 | Historic Natchez Foundation, 108 S. Commerce St., Natchez, MS, United States
The 2024-2025 season is an annual program of the Natchez Historical Society, consisting of 8 regular monthly presentations by expert speakers on humanities topics pertinent to the history of the Natchez area. Scheduled for February 25, 2025:
Paula C. Johnson, Professor, Syracuse University College of Law; Co-Founder and Director of the Syracuse University College of Law Cold Case Justice Initiative: Memory Lessons: Meeting the Imperative for Racial Justice Through Memory, Memorials, Knowledge, and Empowerment

Speakers Bureau: "The Mississippi Plan and the Rise of Jim Crow"
2025-02-25 17:00 - 18:30 | Margaret Walker Alexander Library, 2525 Robinson St, Jackson, MS, 39209
Dr. Robbie Luckett presents: “The Mississippi Plan and the Rise of Jim Crow”
After the Civil War, African Americans in the South, newly freed, expressed a tangible optimism that led to the reuniting of families, the development of social institutions like the black church, the rise of cultural expressions like the Blues and jazz, the establishment of black-owned businesses and other economic endeavors, and the wielding of significant political power. On the other hand, as Dr. Luckett explains in this talk, most white southerners, especially in Mississippi, saw this rise of black social, economic and political power as a direct threat to their hegemony, which had been so well established during the era of slavery, and whites sought to “redeem” their place in the southern hierarchy through violent extra-legal measures like lynching and through the realm of law. The invention of Jim Crow and what became known as the “Mississippi Plan” became the models 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.

Annie Devine Freedom Trail Marker Unveiling
2025-02-25 10:00 - 13:00 | Canton High School, 634 Finney Rd, Canton, MS, 39046, United States
The Mississippi Humanities Council, in partnership with the Visit Mississippi, will unveil a Freedom Trail marker February 25th at Canton High School 10 am in Canton to honor the extraordinary work of Annie Devine, one of the first three Black women to stand on the floor of the House of Representative in Washington, she demanded that the House deny membership to the representatives-elect because African Americans were still denied the right to vote.

Speakers Bureau: "Pushing Forward: Hezekiah Watkins and the Youth Movement of Mississippi"
2025-02-24 13:00 - 15:00 | Hines Hall Auditorium, 101 Cunningham Blvd., Booneville, MS, 38829
In 1961, young Hezekiah Watkins was arrested at the Greyhound Bus Station in Jackson, Mississippi at the age of 13 where he was sent in a paddy wagon to Mississippi’s State Penitentiary, known as Parchman Penitentiary, and placed on Death Row. His crime? Allegedly participating with a group known as the Freedom Riders who had embarked on a journey from Washington D.C. to New Orleans to push for equal rights for African-Americans, while also desegregating bus terminals throughout the south. After spending five days at Parchman, Hezekiah’s life would forever be changed. He would continue his involvement in Mississippi’s fight for equality, resulting with him being arrested over 100 times more in the years to follow. These experiences guided him along a path to focus on improving the quality of life for African-Americans everywhere, eventuallly resulting in Hezekiah’s recognition by the 112th Congress of the United States for his service to Mississippi and to mankind. Pushing forward tells the story of a young man who became a grown up overnight, and whose life continues to focus on serving a much greater cause

HTA Lecture: An Act of Hope: Teaching Research-Based Academic Writing Through the Literature of Octavia E. Butler
2025-02-21 11:00 - 12:30 | Northwest Mississippi Community College, 4975 Hwy 51 N, Senatobia, 38668
Ramona Brawner is Northwest Mississippi Community College‘s 2025 Humanities Teacher of the Year. Brawner’s lecture, An Act of Hope: Teaching Research-Based Academic Writing Through the Literature of Octavia E. Butler, will be presented 2/21/25 at 11:00 am on the college’s campus.
Brawner will be among those honored at the Mississippi Humanities Council Awards Ceremony March 28, 2025 at the Two Mississippi Museums in Jackson. The event pays tribute to outstanding faculty in traditional humanities fields at each of the state’s institutions of higher learning.

HTA Lecture: Stories That Save Us: Teaching Elie Wiesel and the Holocaust
2025-02-21 09:30 - 10:30 | Meridian Community College, 910 Hwy 19 N, Meridian, MS, 39307
Amanda Thompson is Meridian Community College’s 2025 Humanities Teacher of the Year. Thompson’s lecture, Stories That Save Us: Teaching Elie Wiesel and the Holocaust, will be presented 2/21/25 at 9:30 am on the college’s campus in the McCain Theatre.
Thompson will be among those honored at the Mississippi Humanities Council Awards Ceremony March 28, 2025 at the Two Mississippi Museums in Jackson. The event pays tribute to outstanding faculty in traditional humanities fields at each of the state’s institutions of higher learning.
