Mississippi Humanities Council

HTA Lecture: Gloria Anzaldua as a Feminist Revolution and Vindication of the Myth of "La Llorona"
2025-03-04 13:00 - 14:30 (America/Chicago) | 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.

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: 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.

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.

_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).

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

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

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

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

"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.

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

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

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.’

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.

Black Indigenous + Solidarity "We Are the Promised Land"
2025-03-30 08:00 - 17:00 | 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

The Thirty-First Oxford Conference for the Book
2025-04-02 - 2025-04-04 | University of Mississippi, P.O. Box 1848, University, MS, 38677, United States
The Oxford Conference for the Book is a three-day gathering inaugurated in 1993 and held annually, except in 1997 and 2020. The event takes place in Oxford and on the campus of the University of Mississippi. Since its inauguration, the conference has celebrated books, writing, and reading, and has also dealt with practical concerns on which the literary arts and the humanities depend, including literacy, freedom of expression, and the book trade itself. Beginning in 1999, the conference has been open to the public without charge.
The Thirty-First Oxford Conference for the Book will take place on April 2, 3, and 4, 2025 with events on the UM campus (University of Mississippi Museum, Memory House, Overby Center for Southern Journalism and Politics, and Nutt Auditorium) and in the town of Oxford (Off Square Books, Southside Gallery, Lafayette County and Oxford Public Library, and the Powerhouse). We will have readings, panels, music performances, and book signings.

Behind the Big House 2025
2025-04-02 17:30 - 2025-04-05 17:00 | Hugh Craft House and Property, 184 South Memphis Street, Holly Springs, MS, United States
The Rosa Foundation continues its annual public event known as Behind the Big House (BTBH), a nationally recognized program, and recipient of the 2024 Excellence in History award from the Mississippi Historical Society.
Behind the Big House 2025 will take place April 2-5, 2025 at 184 S. Memphis Street, Holly Springs, MS. The property site, owned by Rosa Foundation, includes the 1847 living quarters and kitchen built for enslaved Africans and the 1851 family home of Hugh and Elizabeth Craft. The program focuses on the history and culture of enslaved Africans in northern Mississippi with public tours facilitated by experienced historical interpreters. Through narratives that have often been overlooked or suppressed, our experts will highlight the daily lives and work of enslaved adults and children within the context of the social, economic, and cultural context of northern Mississippi in the mid-19th century.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2:
5:30 pm David B. Person Welcoming Reception at The Depot
6:00 pm Dinner and Presentation
THURSDAY, APRIL 3
9:00 am – 5 pm Tour Day with Historical Interpretation
Tour Stations:
1. Historical Context and introduction with Sally Godard
2. Quarters for the enslaved persons with Joseph McGill
3. Laundress role with Tammy Gibson
4. Food and Cooking with Jordan Wimby
5. Brick-Making with Dale DeBerry and Wayne Jones
6. Household duties of enslaved children and Museum Exhibit with Sally Godard, Rolanda Lester
7. African American Geneology with Deborah Davis, Rhkty Amen Jones, Beverly Bevel
8. Onsite archaeology field work with Carolyn Freiwald and students
FRIDAY, APRIL 4
9:00 am- 5 pm Tour Day with Historical Interpretation (same tour stations as above)
SATURDAY, APRIL 5
9:00 am – 5 pm Tour Day with Historical Interpretation

Rust College French Film Festival
2025-04-04 08:00 - 2025-04-06 17:00 | Rust College, 150 Rust Ave, Holly Springs, MS, 38635, United States
The Rust College, Division of Humanities, French Film Festival for ‘The Young Who Want to go to France’ is a public program film festival combined with a real-aloud workshop of dissertations and film criticism essays on black bodies in cinema. We will also host a writing workshop to expand upon on our current journal-writing/personal narrative project – to be digitized in the future.
Film screenings: April 4, 5, 6, 11, 12.

Read-alouds of the following dissertations:
– See Me Show Me: Black Women Representation in Television Sitcoms by Dr. Lauryn Jennings (April 4)
– Scripting the Black Body in Popular Media by Dr. Ronald L. Jackson (April 5)
– Revaluing the Black Body: Changing the Visual Narrative by Dr. Thomas Allen Harris (April 6)
– Where is the Black Barbie? An Analysis of the Media Portrayals of Single Black Women by BreOnna Tindall (April 11)
Piano performance of Thelonious Monk’s ‘Bright Mississippi’ by Pianist/Assistant Professor of Piano, Maeve Brophy. (April 5)
Lecture/Discussion by Languages and Literature Chair, Dr. John Blumer, on the subject of the wrap party during Jim Crow at Rowan Oak following the filming of the adaptation of William Faulkner’s novel ‘Intruder in the Dust.’ (April 11)
Performance by the Rust College A’Cappella Choir under the direction of Dr. Karl Twyner, Dean of Humanities. (April 12)

Graded and archived personal narrative coursework expanded to include journaling the film festival experience by Rust College students – this is part of an ongoing writing project that will be digitized, published and archived.
The venue for all talks and screenings: Morehouse Auditorium, Natalie Doxey Fine Arts Building, Rust College campus.

Southern Literary Festival Lecture Series
2025-04-04 14:30 - 16:00 | Blue Mountain Christian University, 201 W Main St, Blue Mountain, MS, 38610
The Southern Literary Festival is an event held yearly to encourage undergraduate writing and is open to the community. Featuring renowned author W. Ralph Eubanks and established screenwriter Chris Dowling, these speakers would appear on April 4 and April 5, respectively. The writers will speak about their experiences and their work, enriching the community not only by sharing the creative journeys but also through sharing the stories of their lives.
W. Ralph Eubanks is a Mississippi author whose rich prose style and engaging narratives have made him a success across multiple venues. His work has appeared in such publications as The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and The New Yorker; he was director of the Library of Congress for almost twenty years; he has received multiple prestigious fellowships.
Chris Dowling is a screenwriter and director born in Flowood, Misissippi. A veteran of the movie industry for almost twenty years, his films run the gamut from faith-based themes to apocalyptic horror, and he has won awards from the Heartland Film Festival, the Dallas Film Festival, the Dove Awards, and Movieguide. He also has had the opportunity to work with a variety of actors, including Thomas Haden Church and Dennis Quaid. The major factor in his invitation to this event was the nature of his talent: his success as a screenwriter.
The lectures will take place over the space of two days: April 4-April 5, 2025 at Blue Mountain Christian University in Blue Mountain, Mississippi. They will be held in Garrett Auditorium. More specifically, Eubanks will speak on April 4, 2025 at 2:30 pm – 4:00 pm, and Dowling will speak on April 5, 2025: 10:30 am – 12:00 pm.
Blue Mountain’s parking facilities are open to the public.

The Southern Literary Festival
2025-04-05 10:30 - 12:00 | Blue Mountain College, 201 W Main Street, Blue Mountain, MS, 38610
The Southern Literary Festival is an event held yearly to encourage undergraduate writing and is open to the community, featuring established screenwriter Chris Dowling April 5. The writer will speak about his experiences and work, enriching the community not only by sharing the creative journeys but also through sharing the stories of their lives.
Chris Dowling is a screenwriter and director born in Flowood, Misissippi. A veteran of the movie industry for almost twenty years, his films run the gamut from faith-based themes to apocalyptic horror, and he has won awards from the Heartland Film Festival, the Dallas Film Festival, the Dove Awards, and Movieguide. He also has had the opportunity to work with a variety of actors, including Thomas Haden Church and Dennis Quaid. The major factor in his invitation to this event was the nature of his talent: his success as a screenwriter.
The lectures will take place April 5, 2025 at Blue Mountain Christian University in Blue Mountain, in Garrett Auditorium 10:30 am – 12:00 pm.
Blue Mountain’s parking facilities are open to the public.

"We Make," A film about Siggers High School
2025-04-06 15:00 - 17:00 | Shannon Elementary School, 695 Romie Hill Ave, Shannon, MS, 38868, United States
Announcing the premiere of “We Make,” a film (with Ethan Payne) about Siggers High School, an all-Black school that served communities in Shannon, MS from roughly 1940-1970. It was originally known as Shannon Colored School.

What: “We Make” Film Premiere & Community Presentation
When: Sunday, April 6, 2025 – 3:00 P.M.
Where: Shannon Elementary School (Shannon, MS)

Brian Foster began working on this a few years ago—interviewing alumni of Siggers, collecting photos and historical documents, researching the history of education in Mississippi. The result is a project that “We Make.”

Writer in Residence
2025-04-09 17:30 - 18:30 | Mississippi State University Campus, Starkville, MS
Chigozie Obioma, a Nigerian writer and the Helen S. Lanier Distinguished Professor at the University of Georgia whose first two novels were shortlisted for the Booker Prize, will spend a week (April 8-12) at Mississippi State University as the Writer in Residence, engaging with students and faculty as well as the wider community of the Golden Triangle area. He will give a reading of his work that is free and open to the public.
The centerpiece of his visit—the public reading—will take place on Thursday, April 10 at 7:30 pm to allow working members of the community to attend. It will be free and open to the public and will be held in the Old Main academic building on Mississippi State’s campus, which is on a bus line, has parking, and is handicap accessible, ensuring that the reading will be approachable to a public audience.
For the public reading, Obioma will read some of his writing. He is a gifted public speaker, and he will engage the audience, not only because his language is so vivid, but because his focus on family dynamics and the unique struggles of Nigeria, the country in which he grew up. All of these themes have a great potential to connect with a large audience.
Through this reading, Obioma will prompt the audience to engage with their own histories and heritages so that they may more profoundly make sense of their lives and the human condition.
The public reading will end with a Q&A between Obioma and the audience, and, afterwards, attendants can buy signed copies of his novels.
Obioma’s visit will also include a free virtual workshop (April 9 at 5:30 pm) open to the public. He will speak about “the fiction condition,” focusing on how character-driven fiction can uncover truths about human nature. By doing so, Obioma will highlight the guidance in empathy and self-reflection that literature can afford its readers. He will discuss these themes during the workshop, providing the audience with the tools they need to better understand themselves and those around them.

Speakers Bureau: "Wanted--1,000,000 Frogs: Weird and Wonderful Things Found in Mississippi Newspapers"
2025-04-10 12:00 - 13:00 | Embassy Suites by Hilton Jackson North Ridgeland, 200 Township Ave, Ridgeland, MS, 39157, United States
Lecture by speaker Tracy Carr:
A monkey named Jocko who lived at the Great Southern Hotel in Gulfport, the biggest cabbage in Coahoma County, and lots and lots of crime: these are the stories found in Mississippi’s historical newspapers. Ranging from the late 1800s to midcentury, these newspaper articles from across the state are given context (and some fact-checking) in this presentation.
What can old news tell us about Mississippians of the past? We can learn what was important and interesting to them, through both the “news” articles and the advertisements. We can learn what trends came and went and how attitudes changed. We can learn how easy it was to shape the public’s perception of events, and what power someone writing and article for a newspaper had in the days before fact-checking and accountability. Learning what information people had about an event or person helps to inform why those people were the way they were.
While some remain mysteries (including why the Mitchell brothers, farmers from Jonestown, were looking for a million frogs in an advertisement), the interesting and odd news items that made it into the papers are researched and explained. Topics discussed include embezzlements, murders, bootlegging, accidental deaths in large dough mixers, hookworms, fish falling from the sky, and a Holmes County psychic, among others.

Speakers Bureau: "No One Writes Songs about Polyester: Re-making Cotton’s Image in the Late Twentieth Century"
2025-04-10 18:00 - 19:30 | Delta State University, 1003 W Sunflower Rd, Cleveland, MS, 38733, United States
James Giesen presents “No One Writes Songs about Polyester: Re-making Cotton’s Image in the Late Twentieth Century.”
Mississippi has long reigned as the capital of cotton country, but by the mid-twentieth century, the crop’s dominance faced a serious threat from synthetic upstarts like Polyester and Rayon. This talk opens in the storied lobby of Memphis’s Peabody Hotel, where a Delta planter from Clarksdale tries to rally powerful cotton interests to rescue their struggling industry—not through farming innovation, but by transforming how the world saw their product. Cotton had become the fabric of choice for hippies and civil rights activists, while the country’s rich and famous embraced Polyester for its sheen and ease of care. To save their livelihood, these cotton leaders launched Cotton, Inc. and the “Fabric of Our Lives” campaign, one of the most memorable advertising efforts in American history.

Writer in Residence Public Reading
2025-04-10 19:30 - 21:00 | Mississippi State University Campus, Starkville, MS
Thursday, April 10
7:30-8:30 Reading/Q&A in Old Main 1030
8:30 – 9pm Book Signing
Chigozie Obioma, a Nigerian writer and the Helen S. Lanier Distinguished Professor at the University of Georgia whose first two novels were shortlisted for the Booker Prize, will spend a week (April 8-12) at Mississippi State University as the Writer in Residence, engaging with students and faculty as well as the wider community of the Golden Triangle area. He will give a reading of his work that is free and open to the public.
The centerpiece of his visit—the public reading—will take place on Thursday, April 10 at 7:30 pm to allow working members of the community to attend. It will be free and open to the public and will be held in the Old Main academic building on Mississippi State’s campus, which is on a bus line, has parking, and is handicap accessible, ensuring that the reading will be approachable to a public audience.
For the public reading, Obioma will read some of his writing. He is a gifted public speaker, and he will engage the audience, not only because his language is so vivid, but because his focus on family dynamics and the unique struggles of Nigeria, the country in which he grew up. All of these themes have a great potential to connect with a large audience.
Through this reading, Obioma will prompt the audience to engage with their own histories and heritages so that they may more profoundly make sense of their lives and the human condition.
The public reading will end with a Q&A between Obioma and the audience, and, afterwards, attendants can buy signed copies of his novels.

Rust College French Film Festival
2025-04-11 08:00 - 2025-04-12 17:00 | Rust College, 150 Rust Ave, Holly Springs, MS, 38635, United States
The Rust College, Division of Humanities, French Film Festival for ‘The Young Who Want to go to France’ is a public program film festival combined with a real-aloud workshop of dissertations and film criticism essays on black bodies in cinema. We will also host a writing workshop to expand upon on our current journal-writing/personal narrative project – to be digitized in the future.
Film screenings: April 11, 12.

Read-alouds of the following dissertations:
filming of the adaptation of William Faulkner’s novel ‘Intruder in the Dust.’ (April 11)
Performance by the Rust College A’Cappella Choir under the direction of Dr. Karl Twyner, Dean of Humanities. (April 12)

Graded and archived personal narrative coursework expanded to include journaling the film festival experience by Rust College students – this is part of an ongoing writing project that will be digitized, published and archived.
The venue for all talks and screenings: Morehouse Auditorium, Natalie Doxey Fine Arts Building, Rust College campus.

Sunday Screening: Eudora
2025-04-13 13:30 - 15:30 | Capri Theatre, 3023 N State St,, Jackson, 39216, United States
Join us for a special edition of Sunday Screening of “Eudora” during the Stranger the Fiction Film Festival hosted by the Mississippi Film Society. Please note the showing is at 1:30 at the Capri Theatre in Jackson April 13th.
Renowned short story writer Eudora Welty is explored through intimate and charming interviews, both with Eudora herself and with family and friends. Seen through the backdrop of Jackson, Mississippi, Eudora is a revealing portrait of adventure, daring, humor and love as we meet a writer we only thought we knew. This film is directed by Anthony Thaxton and produced by Robert St. John.
This screening will be followed by a conversation with director Anthony Thaxton and other subject matter experts.

HTA Lecture: For You, Music Can Only Be an Ornament: The Life and Music of Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel
2025-04-16 10:00 - 11:00 | Jones College, 900 S Court St, Ellisville, MS, 39437, United States
Known as the sister of famous composer Felix Mendelssohn, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel composed over 450 works despite being discouraged by family members and 19th-century society. Hear stories of her life and some of her most significant compositions, performed by Dr. Victoria Johnson, assisted by the women of the Jones College music faculty.
Dr. Johnson is the 2025 Humanities Teacher Award Winner for Jones Junior College. Her lecture is scheduled for 4/16/25 at 10:00 am.

Speakers Bureau: "Spanish Dons in Colonial Mississippi: The Spanish roots of Mississippi’s Cotton Kingdom"
2025-04-16 12:00 - 15:00 | Columbus-Lowndes Public Library, 314 7th St N, Columbus, MS, 39701, United States
Christian Pinnen presents: “Spanish Dons in Colonial Mississippi: The Spanish roots of Mississippi’s Cotton Kingdom”
Spain has a short, but important part in Mississippi’s history. Between 1779 and 1798, Spanish administrators sought to wrangle profits and people in small outpost, most prominently Natchez, along the Mississippi River. Enforcing Spanish laws and customs in a polyglot and largely Anglo-American population proved treacherous and created economic and social dynamics that gave rise to more than one chaotic episode as people tried to gain influence and power along the Mississippi.

Speaker Series: Dr. Christian Pinnen
2025-04-22 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 April 22, 2025:
Dr. Christian Pinnen, Professor of History and Co-Director of African American Studies, Mississippi College: Complexion of Empire in Natchez: Race and Slavery in the Mississippi Borderlands
