Mississippi Humanities Council

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

"Baltimore" Performance & Discussion
2019-03-02 15:30 - 17:00 | Meraki Roasting Company, 282 Sunflower Ave, Clarksdale, MS, 38614, United States
The Sunflower County Freedom Project youth drama will present Baltimore, a play by Kirsten Greenridge. Baltimore focuses on a group of college students whose lvies are shaken when someone draws an offensive picture of the wall of their residence hall. The play shines light on issues of equality, racism, community, and the question of who gets to belong where. After the performance, the students and audience will participate in a facilitated conversation.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Baltimore" Performance & Discussion
2019-02-22 18:00 - 20:00 | Alpha Kappa Alpha, 718 Main Street, Greenville, MS, 38701

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The 30th Annual Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration: The Great River Road
2019-02-21 - 2019-02-23 | Natchez Convention Center, 211 Main Street, Natchez, MS, 39120
THURSDAY CINEMA EVENT: February 21, 2019
6:00-7:15p.m.: Mark Brockway and Tim Givens present: Mississippi Madam: The Life of Nellie Jackson
7:30 p.m.: Beverly Adams and Mark LaFrancis present: Making the Film—Women of the Struggle
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 22, 2019
8:30 a.m.
Opening Ceremony, Recognition of William Winter
Award Winners—Dr. Jane Hulon, Mayor Darryl Grennell,
and Vice President Teresa Busby
9:15 a.m.
Anne Butler: Deep Roots
10:00 a.m.
James Pate: Pickett’s History of French Louisiana
11:00 a.m.
Book Signing
1:00 p.m.
Presentation of Thad Cochran Award
1:30 p.m.
Gene Dattel: The Jewish Experience
2:30 p.m.
Pamela D. Arceneaux: Guidebooks to Sin
3:30 p.m.
Book Signing
3:50 p.m.
Mark Brockway and Tim Givens: Making the Film: Mississippi Madam
5:00 p.m.
Reception, NAPAC Museum
5:00 p.m. & 5:30 p.m.
Tours of Concord Quarters: ticketed event $15; for more
information, see our ticketed events flyer

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 23, 2019
8:30 a.m.
Opening Remarks, Dr. Jane Hulon; Recognition of The
John D. W. Guice Young Writer’s Competition, Vice
President Teresa Busby.
9:00 a.m.
Beth Ann Fennelly, Poet Laureate of Mississippi
10:15 a.m.
Book Signing
10:30 .a.m.
Richard Wright Awards for Literary Excellence
11:30
Luncheon, Dunleith Plantation: ticketed event, $30; for
more information, see our ticketed events flyer)
1:00 p.m.
Tom Franklin: Southern Fiction
2:00 p.m.
Michael Twitty, winner of the James Beard Award for
The Cooking Gene
3:15 p.m.
Book Signing
3:45 p.m.
Dr. Karen Cox: The Rhythm Nightclub Fire
5:30-7:45 p.m.
Benefit Gala Reception: Magnolia Hall, ticketed event
$60—proceeds from this event go toward support of
future NLCC Conferences; see ticketed event flyer for
more information.
Natchez Convention Center—211 Main Street—Natchez Mississippi: All events at the NCC are free and open to the public

The Orators: Democratic Faith in Dark Times
2019-02-20 14:00 - 17:00 | Mississippi State University, Bost Theater, Starkville, MS
“Democratic Faith in Dark Times” will be a meditation on piety, faith, and the transformative potential of self and society.
Melvin Rogers grew up in the Bronx and was educated at Amherst College, Cambridge, and Yale University. After holding professorships at University of Virginia in Political Science, Emory University in Philosophy, and the UCLA in Political Science and African American Studies, he joined Brown University as Associate Professor in Political Science.
Rogers has wide-ranging interests in democratic theory and the history of American and African-American political and ethical philosophy. The key figures that shape Rogers’ intellectual outlook include David Walker, Frederick Douglass, John Dewey, W. E. B. Du Bois, Anna Julia Cooper, Ralph Ellison, James Baldwin, Cornel West and more distantly Martha Nussbaum. He is the author of The Undiscovered Dewey: Religion, Morality, and the Ethos of Democracy (2008), editor of John Dewey, The Public and Its Problems (2016), and co-editor of Oxford’s New Histories of Philosophy book series. Presently, he is the book review editor for Political Theory. In addition to his academic publications, he has also published on contemporary issues in Boston Review, Dissent, and Public Seminar.
LOCATION: Forum Room, Griffis Hall, MSU campus

Melvin Rogers, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Dept. of Political Science, Brown University

HTA: The Interesting Question that History Can Answer (or Not)
2019-02-20 12:30 - 13:30 | 165 Reeves Hall, 501 E. Main Street, Raymond, MS, 39154
Humanities Teacher Award winner Sheila Hailey (Hinds Community College) will present her public lecture, “The Interesting Question that History Can Answer.” Reception to follow.
“This presentation will focus on unusual and off-beat questions that students have asked me in my years as a teacher. These questions range from when did we start using forks to why do people have tattoos. I have been spurred to research many topics to answer these questions and will share some of the answers in this lecture.”

Water/Ways @ Columbus: Ebbs and Flows of Mississippi History
2019-02-19 19:00 - 20:00 | Columbus Convention & Visitors Bureau, 117 3rd St S, Columbus, MS, 39701, United States
On February 19, the Tenn-Tom Waterway Transportation Museum will host Dr. Jim Giesen of the MHC’s Speakers Bureau to present his free program, “Ebbs and Flows of Mississippi History.” The free program will take place in conjunction with the Smithsonian traveling exhibit Water/Ways, on display at the Tenn-Tom Waterway Transportation Museum through March 8.
There are few states where water has been more central to its history and culture than Mississippi. From ship-building on the coast to Native American migration along rivers and streams, from Civil Rights Movement wade-ins to Civil War strategy, water has played a central role in how and why the Magnolia State looks and operates as it does today. From massive natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina and the 1927 Mississippi River Flood, to great success stories like the shipbuilding and fishing industries, to less well-known incidents where water played an important role in the development of small communities and towns, the talk will tell not just the well-known water histories of the state, but show how water has become an often overlooked factor in our past, present, and future
Water/Ways is a traveling exhibit offered by the Museum on Main Street division of the Smithsonian Institution. The exhibit explores water’s connection to all aspects of our society, including the endless motion of the water cycle, water’s effect on landscape, settlement and migration, and its impact on culture and spirituality.
Exhibit hours are Monday-Friday 9am-3pm and Saturday by appointment. School and group visits are welcome but are encouraged to schedule a visit by contacting the library in advance at 662-328-8936.
Future Water/Ways events in Columbus:
February 26, 5pm: Mississippi Water: Shaped By the Past, Molding the Future

The Struggle Continues: Equity in Education
2019-02-19 18:30 - 20:00 | Hancock Performing Arts Center, 7140 Stennis Airport Rd, Kiln, MS, 39556, United States
In 2018, the Hancock Performing Arts Center received a grant for a series of lectures entitled, “The Struggle and the Music It Created.” The purpose of the project was to address race in Mississippi and to discuss the relevance of the music that defined the movement. The majority of the audience attending was students. After the lectures ended, Kevin Allemand, a history teacher, noticed a shift in conversations where his students were engaged in the civil rights movement and asking questions and making comments. He realized that placing the students in the historical context as they listened to the lectures was transformative. For the 2019 Spring semester, “The Struggle” conversations will continue by addressing equity in education in a series of three lectures and a poetry reading.
FEBRUARY 12: Dr. Sherita L. Johnson from the University of Southern Mississippi will give a lecture and discuss the story of Clyde Kennard’s admission to the university and how his story united the campus to secure his legacy.

Delta Hill Riders
2019-02-19 18:30 - 20:00 | Delta Arts Alliance, 104 S. Court Street, Cleveland, MS, 38732
In mid-February 2019, the first solo photography exhibit of Rory Doyle will open at the Delta Arts Alliance. The public exhibit will feature work from over two years of documenting the African-American cowboy and cowgirl subculture in the Mississippi Delta. On opening night, February 19, Dr. Shalando Jones of Delta State University will present a lecture on the history of black cowboys in Mississippi and across the country. The exhibit will hang until March 15, 2019.

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

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

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

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

"Baltimore" Performance & Discussion
2019-02-15 19:00 - 20:00 | Lamar Hall at University of Mississippi, 615 Grove Loop, Oxford, MS, 38655
The Sunflower County Freedom Project youth drama will present Baltimore, a play by Kirsten Greenridge. Baltimore focuses on a group of college students whose lives are shaken when someone draws an offensive picture of the wall of their residence hall. The play shines light on issues of equality, racism, community, and the question of who gets to belong where. After the performance, the students and audience will participate in a facilitated conversation.

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

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

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