50th Recollection of Gibbs-Green: Survivors Exhibition
2020-02-27 17:30 (America/Chicago) | Jackson State University, 1400 J.R. Lynch Street, Jackson, MS, 39217
In the spring of 1970, college and university students across the country protested against the Vietnam War, racism, gender oppression, and a host of other issues, at times leading to violent and deadly confrontations with police and national guard troops. On May 14th, 1970, students at Jackson State College staged a demonstration condemning racial discrimination in Mississippi and the killing of four students at Kent State University by the Ohio National Guard on May 4th. The demonstration continued into the night. Shortly after midnight on May 15th, police, who claimed they had been shot at, opened fire on students gathered outside Alexander Hall, a campus dormitory. When the shooting stopped, 21-year-old Phillip Gibbs and 17-year-old James Green lay dead. twelve other students were injured.
The 50th anniversary commemoration of the shooting on what is now the campus of Jackson State University will include five major programs. The Student Government Association, Gibbs-Green Commission, and Gibbs-Green Oral History Project developed the programs which will coordinate with Kent State University to link the events on both campuses.
February 27th:
The second event is a reception to open an exhibit that features displays about the lives of the survivors, with pictures, personal papers, and other items that help tell the story about how the experience shaped them in the years following. Vernon Weakley, one of the wounded, and James Lap Baker, Eddie Jan Car, Lee Bernard, Hillman Frazier, Charles Holmes, Gailya Porter, and Quilly Turner, students who were shot at, will speak with the audience about the shooting and how it impacted their lives. The exhibit will remain on display through June 2020.

"Back in the Day" Black History Celebration
2020-02-27 18:00 - 19:00 | New Hope Baptist Church, 5202 Watkins Dr., Jackson, MS, 39206
A month-long series of programs honoring African American history in Mississippi, culminating in the keynote address from Hon. Constance Slaughter-Harvey on February 27.
After serving as student body president and graduating from Tougaloo College with a degree in political science, Slaughter attended law school at the University of Mississippi. In 1970, amid death threats and constant prejudice, she became the first African American woman to receive a law degree from the school. She subsequently worked for the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights under Law as a staff attorney and represented the families of two students who were killed by highway patrolmen during the Jackson State University massacre. Slaughter-Harvey filed the desegregation lawsuit against the Mississippi State Highway Patrol that resulted in the hiring of African American highway patrolmen.

SB: Parallels of Southern Storytelling & Folktales from Around the World
2020-02-28 09:00 - 13:00 | 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.
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.

Corinth Contraband Experience
2020-02-29 13:00 - 14:00 | Corinth Coliseum, 404 Taylor St., Corinth, MS, 38834
Northeast Mississippi Community College has partnered with the National Park Service to create augmented reality to provide interpretation for existing statues and reliefs at the Corinth Contraband Camp.

The Global South and the Black Diaspora--From Mississippi to the Caribbean
2020-03-04 18:00 - 19:00 | Millsaps College, 1701 N. State Street, Jackson, Mississippi, 39202
A two-day event with keynote presentations by Dr. Jarvis McInnis, the Cordelia and William Laverack Assistant Professor of English at Duke University. A graduate of Tougaloo College, Dr. McInnis’s upcoming book, The Afterlives of the Plantation: Aesthetics, Labor, and Diaspora in the Global Black South, examines black transnational identity through African American and Caribbean culture and literature during the early twentieth century. McInnis’s recognition that black identities overlapped as much as they diverged, offers a unique insight into this period of history where the consolidation of white power–through imperialist growth and systematic black disempowerment–tend to dominate the historical narrative.

McInnis offers two lectures, both free and open to the public:
Wednesday, March 4th @ 6pm, at Millsaps College (focused on the book project with an eye toward the meaning of the “Global South” and racial identity
Thursday, March 5th @ 12PM, at the 2020 Mississippi Historical Society’s annual meeting in Cleveland, MS (focused on his archival journey and the process of developing his recently published article, “A Corporate Plantation Reading Public: Labor, Literacy, and Diaspora in the Global South,”–Which focuses on Cotton Farmer, an African American newspaper published by black tenant farmers in the Mississippi Delta.)

The Global South and the Black Diaspora–From Mississippi to the Caribbean
2020-03-05 12:00 - 14:00 | Delta State University, 1003 W Sunflower Rd, Cleveland, MS, 38733, United States

Margaret's Grocery: The Oral History of a Southern Vernacular Place
2020-03-07 18:00 - 19:00 | Strand Theatre, 717 Clay Street, Vicksburg, MS, 39183
Located north of downtown Vicksburg on old Highway 61, Margaret’s Grocery is a unique vernacular art environment created by Reverend H.D. Dennis. Margaret Rogers Dennis ran the former country store for years. When she met and married Reverend Dennis in the early 1980s, he promised her that he would transform her simple store into a place that the world would come to see. Although the site is no longer open as a store, the Grocery has attracted visitors from around the world to experience Reverend Dennis’ creation.

Bridging Cultures: Working for Equity Across Race, Class, Religion, and Ethnicity
2020-03-12 08:00 - 17:00 | International Museum of Muslim Cultures, 201 East Pascagoula Street, Jackson, MS, 39201
Through its “Bridging Cultures” Program, the International Museum of Muslin Cultures utilizes its two signature exhibitions: “Muslims with Christians and Jews: An Exhibition of Covenants and Coexistence,” and “The Legacy of Timbuktu: Wonders of the Written Word” to develop a series of programs and educational opportunities. IMMC’s Islamic Thought Institute engages local and national partners to host a series of conversations and/or panel discussions around the various themes of the two exhibitions.
The topic for March’s event is “Religion and the Freedom Movement: The Historical and Current Role of Women,” A conversation exploring religion’s connection with the Freedom Movement through the role of women.

Voice and Vision: Tunica-Biloxi Living History
2020-03-13 18:00 - 19:00 | Walter Anderson Museum of Art, 510 Washington Ave, Ocean Springs, MS, 39564
These programs are part of the Museum’s Voice and Vision initiative that stages dialogues between the works of Walter Anderson and artifacts from other collections, along with voices across time and place. Voice and Vision includes four in-gallery installations composed of artworks, objects, scholarship, and documentary fieldwork, representing a diversity of stories and experiences rooted in the Southern land.
Walter Anderson’s art and life were the products of wide-ranging and multicultural influences, encompassing transcendentalism, folktale, and indigenous ways of understanding the world. In partnership with the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana, this interdisciplinary public program connects Anderson’s art to the history and traditions of First Nations Americans who called the Gulf Coast home prior to European arrival. Special guests include John D. Barbry, Donna M. Pierite and Elisabeth Pierite-Mora, co-authors of The Tunica-Biloxi Tribe: Its Culture and People, and leaders of the Language & Cultural Revitalization Program of the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana. Cost: Free to the public.

50th Recollection of Gibbs-Green: Doris Derby Exhibit
2020-04-03 16:00 - 17:00 | Jackson State University, 1400 J.R. Lynch Street, Jackson, MS, 39217
In the spring of 1970, college and university students across the country protested against the Vietnam War, racism, gender oppression, and a host of other issues, at times leading to violent and deadly confrontations with police and national guard troops. On May 14th, 1970, students at Jackson State College staged a demonstration condemning racial discrimination in Mississippi and the killing of four students at Kent State University by the Ohio National Guard on May 4th. The demonstration continued into the night. Shortly after midnight on May 15th, police, who claimed they had been shot at, opened fire on students gathered outside Alexander Hall, a campus dormitory. When the shooting stopped, 21-year-old Phillip Gibbs and 17-year-old James Green lay dead. twelve other students were injured.
The 50th anniversary commemoration of the shooting on what is now the campus of Jackson State University will include five major programs. The Student Government Association, Gibbs-Green Commission, and Gibbs-Green Oral History Project developed the programs which will coordinate with Kent State University to link the events on both campuses.
April 3rd:
A photography exhibit about the shooting included with the Creative Arts and Scholarly Engagement Festival. The opening reception will be held in Ayer Hall. Dr. Doris Derby, retired Georgia State University professor of Anthropology and Civil Rights documentary photographer, will speak about the history of the Civil Rights movement, contextualizing the Jackson State shooting both within Civil Rights activism and the wave of protests occurring on college campuses around the country.
The exhibit itself, which will be on display through June 2020, had two components. The first is Derby’s photographs. Derby was working for Margaret Walker at the Jackson State College Institute for the Study of History, Life, and Culture of Black People at the time of the shootings in 1970 and photographed the event. The photos include never-before-exhibited imaged from the immediate aftermath of the shootings on campus and images from James Green’s funeral. These photos will be paired with images from the Phillip Gibbs and James Green Memorial collection in the JSU archives.

Voice and Vision: Fire and Water
2020-04-21 18:00 - 19:00 | Walter Anderson Museum of Art, 510 Washington Ave, Ocean Springs, MS, 39564
These programs are part of the Museum’s Voice and Vision initiative that stages dialogues between the works of Walter Anderson and artifacts from other collections, along with voices across time and place. Voice and Vision includes four in-gallery installations composed of artworks, objects, scholarship, and documentary fieldwork, representing a diversity of stories and experiences rooted in the Southern land.
Walter Anderson sought harmony between humanity and the environment, in part as a response to what he observed as the destruction that accompanied modern society. In partnership with the Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, this interdisciplinary public program connects Anderson’s life and art to current Gulf Coast conservation efforts. Special guests include Jack E. Davis, professor of history and the Rothman Family Chair in the Humanities at the University of Florida, where he specializes in environmental history and sustainability studies. In 2018, his book The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea won the Pulitzer Prize in history. Cost: Free to the public.

SB: Mississippi in the Great War
2020-05-14 12:00 - 13:00 | Columbus-Lowndes Public Library, 314 7th St N, Columbus, MS, 39701, United States
School textbooks rarely mention much about the Great War — World War I. Although the United States only participated in the final two yeas of the conflict, it changed the world. Drawing on letters published in Mississippi newspapers from across the state, this presentation tells the story of Mississippians who participated in the Great War. The letters were written by soldiers, aviators, sailors and YMCA and Red Cross workers. They reflect the experiences of young men as they endured training camp, voyaged across the Atlantic to France and participated in horrific battles. The letters also reveal the experiences of nurses and humanitarian workers, describing drills, uniforms, parades and parties–a”lighter” view of the war.
Speakers Expertise:
Anne Webster is a retired archivist at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

SB: Black Women and the Suffrage Movement in Mississippi, 1863-1965
2020-06-26 12:00 - 13:00 | MS
Black women in Mississippi actively participated in the suffrage movement after the Civil War. They fought actively for women’s suffrage even as they supported Black men and passage of the 15th Amendment. With passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920, Black women could not claim victory. It would take another 40 years before they could exercise the right to vote. White supremacy robbed Black women of the right to vote. White women, who should have been allies in the fight for women’s suffrage, turned their backs on Black women. Black women, then, fought both racism and sexism in the struggle for the right to vote. They created a vibrant, active political culture that began during the Civil War. They attended political rallies, campaigned and raised money for candidates, monitored polling places, and counted ballots. They participated actively in political clubs, first in Loyal Leagues and later in Republican Clubs. Black women built a vibrant political culture in the church, secret societies, clubs, and even their independent enterprises. They did so despite being shunned by White women suffragists; subjected to extralegal racial sexual violence and economic repression by Whites; and undermined by the sexism of Black men. This presentation provides an overview of the 100-year-fight by Black women in Mississippi to maintain their place in public political discourse, from the Civil War to passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965.

Ideas on Tap: Systemic Racism in America (Part I): Policing and Criminal Justice
2020-07-14 17:30 - 19:00 | MHC Facebook Page
On July 14, join the Mississippi Humanities Council for the first program in a multi-part series on systemic racism in America.
The July program will address how racism exists at the systemic level in policing and criminal justice in the U.S. Panelists include Scott Colom, District Attorney for Mississippi’s 16th Judicial District; Cliff Johnson, director of the MacArthur Justice Center at the University of Mississippi School of Law; and others. Dr. Temika Simmons, MHC boardmember and director of the Local Government Leadership Institute at Delta State University, will moderate.
Future programs in the series will focus on housing, education, wealth accumulation, food access, and more.
The July 14 program will be livestreamed to the MHC’s Facebook page.

SB: Over and Under the Fence
2020-07-22 12:00 - 13:00 | MS
At noon on Wednesday, July 22, as part of the #HistoryIsLunch series, Felder Rushing will present “Over and Under the Fence: Historic Passalong Plants as Social Glue.”
For centuries, flowers, vegetables, and herbs that survive on little care and are easily propagated have been shared across social lines—both in the open and underground.
“Those plants conjure historic events and places,” Rushing said. “The stories of some are more astounding than anything Welty or Faulkner could have imagined.”
Rushing, a garden journalist with an international reputation, is this summer quarantined in his beloved Mississippi cottage rather than at his usual summer home in England. His presentation will explore plants and garden habits that mark otherwise diverse Mississippians as part of a unique cultural whole.
“Plants don’t care how your mama’n’them are,” Rushing said. “More than anything else—even more than food, music, sports, and religion—plants connect people both in the present and to their past.”
Felder Rushing, a retired horticulture professor whose ancestors have been bringing plants into Mississippi since in the 1770s, has written more than two dozen garden books, thousands of newspaper columns, and numerous articles in national magazines. The prolific garden lecturer is the longtime host of Mississippi Public Broadcasting’s weekly Gestalt Gardener program.

SB: Delta Epiphany: RFK in the Mississippi Delta
2020-07-24 12:00 - 13:00 | MS
In 1967, while visiting Mississippi as part of the Senate subcommittee on poverty, Robert Kennedy cradled hungry children, talked with mothers about how they fed their families and examined empty refrigerators. Although he was only in the Delta for a day, Kennedy, the people he encountered, Mississippi and the nation felt the impact of that journey for much longer. What he found in the Delta both shocked and motivated Kennedy to work for significant changes in the nation’s food aid policy. It was a crucial step toward his decision to run for the presidency a year later.
Drawing upon archival research and interviews, Meacham’s presentation outlines Kennedy’s journey through Mississippi and what he saw and heard, concluding with how Kennedy’s visit affected food aid policy, what has changed there and what has not changed since his visit.

SB: From the Fields to the Factories
2020-07-31 12:00 - 13:00 | MS
In this presentation, Dr. Brinda Willis will explore the Great Migration of African Americans from the rural South to the urban North in the 20th century.

Virtual program: Visit link below to attend

HumBox: The MAX (Meridian)
2020-07-31 17:30 - 19:00 | The MAX, 2118 Front St, Meridian, MS, 39301, United States
HumBox, the Mississippi Humanities Council’s newest virtual program, allows communities to come together for relevant, humanities-based conversations in the safety of their own homes. HumBox is a digital resource box curated and compiled by the MHC and scholars that combines educational information, resources, and the opportunity for community-based discussion.
On July 31, the MAX in Meridian will host the HumBox “A Usable Past: Pandemic History in the United States.” Developed by Dr. Amy Forbes (Millsaps College), this HumBox looks at past pandemics like the Spanish Flu and contagious diseases like Polio to understand our historical connection to public health emergencies and what kind of cultural changes we can expect in a post-Covid-19 world. Julian Rankin, director of the Walter Anderson Museum of Art, will host a Zoom HumBox presentation on Pandemic History from his office in Ocean Springs. You can join in-person at the MAX or participate from home via Facebook Live. Participants are invited to pose questions and topics of discussion.
This program is free and open to the public. Registration is recommended and can be here.

MHC Virtual Grantwriting Workshop-Registration Required
2020-08-06 10:00 - 11:00 | MS
Join the Mississippi Humanities Council program staff Thursday, August 6 from 10-11am for a Zoom webinar exploring grant opportunities with the Council. The webinar will include basic guidelines for planning public humanities programs and events, grant application procedures, and a special session on planning virtual programs in this time of social-distancing.

The workshop is free and open to all. Community organizations such as nonprofits, libraries, museums, tribal entities, community colleges, universities, and professors are encouraged to attend.

At the conclusion of the webinar, participants may request one-on-one consultation about specific programs or events they may be planning.

To register for this webinar, email Molly McMillan at mmcmillan@mhc.state.ms.us

Ideas on Tap: Systemic Racism in America, Part II--Education and Housing
2020-08-11 17:30 - 19:00 | Virtual
On August 11, join the Mississippi Humanities Council for the second program in a multi-part series on systemic racism in America.

The August program will address how racism exists at the systemic level in education and housing in the U.S. Panelists include Dr. Corey Wiggins (Mississippi State Conference NAACP), Rebecca Sibilia (EdBuild), and Travis Crabtree (City of Jackson Planning Department). Dr. Temika Simmons, MHC boardmember and director of the Local Government Leadership Institute at Delta State University, will moderate.

The August 11 program will be livestreamed to the MHC’s Facebook page.

"Crossroads" Exhibit in Senatobia
2020-09-14 - 2020-10-22 | Northwest Mississippi Community College Learning Resource Center, 4975 Highway 51 N, Senatobia, MS, 38668, United States
Northwest Mississippi Community College will host Crossroads: Change in Rural America, a Smithsonian traveling exhibition, from September 14 through October 22. The exhibit is open to the public Mondays-Thursdays from 8am to 9pm, Fridays from 8am-3:30pm, and Sundays 2-7pm.
Crossroads is a traveling exhibit offered by the Museum on Main Street division of the Smithsonian Institution. It consists of six free-standing display units incorporating photographs, text, and numerous interactive elements. Requiring a minimum of 750 sq. ft., the exhibit is designed for smaller venues to achieve Museum on Main Street’s goal of bringing the Smithsonian to small town America. The exhibit is free and open to the public to visit. The Mississippi tour of Crossroads is sponsored by a generous grant from Entergy Mississippi.
Crossroads: Change in Rural America offers small towns a chance to look at their own paths to highlight the changes that affected their fortunes over the past century. The exhibition will prompt discussions about what happened when America’s rural population became a minority of the country’s population and the ripple effects that occurred.
In addition to hosting the exhibit, Northwest will also host a series of programs that are free and open to the public.
Crossroads events in Senatobia:
September 25, 11am: “Exploring Rural Mississippi Through Population Studies” lecture
September 29, 6pm: “Mississippi Foodways” Speakers Bureau program
October 6, 2pm: Virtual book discussion, Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter
October 16, 11am: “Cultural Appropriation at the Crossroads” lecture
October 20, 7pm: Bluegrass concert featuring local musician Andy Ratliff

Oxford to the Ballot Box: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Elections
2020-09-15 | MS
A series of online, public programs focused on voter engagement in Mississippi. Public programs TBA.

Crossroads @ Senatobia: Exploring Rural Mississippi Through Population Studies
2020-09-25 11:00 - 12:30 | Virtual
On September 25, the Learning Resource Center at Northwest Mississippi Community College in Senatobia will host Dr. John Green, state scholar for the Crossroads exhibit, to present his free program, “From Snapshots to a Collage: Exploring Rural Mississippi through Population Studies.” The virtual program will take place in conjunction with the Smithsonian traveling exhibit Crossroads: Change in Rural America, on display in Senatobia through October 22. The event will be conducted on Zoom.
Zoom meeting info:
https://zoom.us/j/98626395139
Meeting ID: 986 2639 5139
Many popular images of rural people and places present them as homogeneous in terms of demographic, social, and economic characteristics and trends. This may lead to oversimplification of rural areas and limited efforts to meet the needs and priorities of people living in these places. Achieving a better understanding of rural communities requires defining our concepts and identifying indicators of rural life in terms of continuity and change. Following an exploration of the terms “rural” and “non-metropolitan,” Dr. Green will share a series of graphical images and narratives about Mississippi’s rural people and places using population-level information, emphasizing what these “snapshots” of rural life tell us about Mississippi and how we might use them to form a “collage” that captures both the similarity and diversity.
Crossroads: Change in Rural America offers small towns a chance to look at their own paths to highlight the changes that affected their fortunes over the past century. The exhibition will prompt discussions about what happened when America’s rural population became a minority of the country’s population and the ripple effects that occurred.
The exhibit is open to the public Mondays-Thursdays from 8am to 9pm, Fridays from 8am-3:30pm, and Sundays 2-7pm.
Future Crossroads events in Senatobia:
September 29, 6pm: “Mississippi Foodways” Speakers Bureau program
October 6, 2pm: Virtual book discussion, Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter
October 16, 11am: “Cultural Appropriation at the Crossroads” lecture
October 20, 7pm: Bluegrass concert featuring local musician Andy Ratliff

Ideas on Tap: Don't Tread On...Us? Individual Rights and the Common Good
2020-09-29 17:30 - 18:45 | MS
On September 29, join the Mississippi Humanities Council for a conversation on individual rights and the common good in the COVID-19 era.
The program will address how individual rights and the common good can–or can’t–co-exist during a global pandemic, and how COVID might further divide private and public interests. Panelists include Cassandra Welchlin, lead organizer of the Mississippi Black Women’s Roundtable; Dr. Patrick Hopkins, professor of philosophy at Millsaps College and faculty member at the Center for Bioethics and Medical Humanities at UMMC; and Russ Latino, Senior Vice President for Empower Mississippi. MHC program officer Caroline Gillespie will moderate.
The event will be livestreamed to the MHC’s Facebook page.

Crossroads @ Senatobia: Mississippi Foodways
2020-09-29 18:00 - 19:30 | Northwest Mississippi Community College Learning Resource Center, 4975 Highway 51 N, Senatobia, MS, 38668, United States
On September 29, the Learning Resource Center at Northwest Mississippi Community College in Senatobia will host MHC Speakers Bureau member Malcolm White to present his free program “Mississippi Foodways.” The program will take place in conjunction with the Smithsonian traveling exhibit Crossroads: Change in Rural America, on display in Senatobia through October 22.
This presentation offers observations by a longtime connoisseur of Southern food and culture on topics ranging from the history of Comeback Dressing to how the tamale came to Mississippi to the evolution of dining out in Mississippi.
Crossroads: Change in Rural America offers small towns a chance to look at their own paths to highlight the changes that affected their fortunes over the past century. The exhibition will prompt discussions about what happened when America’s rural population became a minority of the country’s population and the ripple effects that occurred.
The exhibit is open to the public Mondays-Thursdays from 8am to 9pm, Fridays from 8am-3:30pm, and Sundays 2-7pm.
Future Crossroads events in Senatobia:
October 6, 2pm: Virtual book discussion, Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter
October 16, 11am: “Cultural Appropriation at the Crossroads” lecture
October 20, 7pm: Bluegrass concert featuring local musician Andy Ratliff

Crossroads @ Senatobia: Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter Book Discussion
2020-10-06 14:00 - 15:30 | Virtual
On October 6 at 2pm, the Learning Resource Center at Northwest Mississippi Community College in Senatobia will host a virtual book discussion of Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter featuring the book’s author Tom Franklin. The program will take place in conjunction with the Smithsonian traveling exhibit Crossroads: Change in Rural America, on display in Senatobia through October 22.
Crossroads: Change in Rural America offers small towns a chance to look at their own paths to highlight the changes that affected their fortunes over the past century. The exhibition will prompt discussions about what happened when America’s rural population became a minority of the country’s population and the ripple effects that occurred.
The exhibit is open to the public Mondays-Thursdays from 8am to 9pm, Fridays from 8am-3:30pm, and Sundays 2-7pm.
Future Crossroads events in Senatobia:
October 16, 11am: “Cultural Appropriation at the Crossroads” lecture
October 20, 7pm: Bluegrass concert featuring local musician Andy Ratliff

Mississippi Hispanic Heritage Month & Indigenous People's Day: A Night of Art and Storytelling
2020-10-13 08:00 - 17:00 | Mississippi Museum of Art, 380 South Lamar Street, Jackson, MS, 39201
There are three components to our project: a short film, a panel discussion, and an art exhibit. On October 13, the MS Museum of Art will premier a short film, host a panel discussion, and unveil an art exhibit comprised of photographs. The film will be presented in person and online via Zoom and Facebook Live followed by the panel discussion. The panel will be composed of Lorena Quiroz, Noel Didla, Ingrid Cruz, and immigrant community members who were impacted by the August 7, 2019, immigration raids. The purpose of the panel is to discuss lived experiences, the rapid response of MS organizers to the August 7, 2019, raids, and the future for immigrant
communities in Mississippi and immigrant justice in Mississippi. Questions from the audience and public will be answered. Following the panel discussion, the art exhibit will be unveiled and open to explore. This event is free and open to the public and takes into consideration accessibility (interpretation, online participation, etc.) and COVID-19.

2020 Mississippi Delta Tennessee Williams Festival
2020-10-15 08:00 - 2020-10-17 20:00 | Clarksdale Historic Downtown District
The 28th annual Mississippi Delta Tennessee Williams Festival seeks to build on a mission of presenting programs on the life and works of Tennessee Williams in the context of Clarksdale and Coahoma County. The 2020 festival will focus on a large scale production of Williams’ Summer and Smoke, as well as increased educational outreach and engagement with artists and scholars.

Crossroads @ Senatobia: Cultural Appropriation at the Crossroads
2020-10-16 11:00 - 12:30 | Northwest Mississippi Community College, 4975 Hwy 51 N, Senatobia, 38668
On October 16, the Learning Resource Center at Northwest Mississippi Community College in Senatobia will host Northwest English instructor Leelee Haraway to present her program “Cultural Appropriation at the Crossroads: A Discussion Informed by the Art of Eudora Welty, Alice Walker, Jessie Mae Hemphill, and Son House.” The free program will take place in conjunction with the Smithsonian traveling exhibit Crossroads: Change in Rural America, on display in Senatobia through October 22. The event will take place in person in Tate Hall Room 106, but seating is limited.
Haraway’s presentation will draw on a variety of texts, including short fiction by Eudora Welty and Alice Walker, as well as selected songs from Jessie Mae Hemphill and Son House, to explore the relationship between rural and urban art and the potential for revitalization that exists in the artistic traditions of the rural South.
Crossroads: Change in Rural America offers small towns a chance to look at their own paths to highlight the changes that affected their fortunes over the past century. The exhibition will prompt discussions about what happened when America’s rural population became a minority of the country’s population and the ripple effects that occurred.
The exhibit is open to the public Mondays-Thursdays from 8am to 9pm, Fridays from 8am-3:30pm, and Sundays 2-7pm.
Future Crossroads Events in Senatobia:
October 20, 7pm: Bluegrass concert featuring local musician Andy Ratliff

Crossroads @ Senatobia: Andy Ratliff Bluegrass Concert
2020-10-20 19:00 - 20:30 | Northwest Mississippi Community College Learning Resource Center, 4975 Highway 51 N, Senatobia, MS, 38668, United States
On October 20, the Learning Resource Center at Northwest Mississippi Community College in Senatobia will host musicians Andy Ratliff and Eric Lewis to present a free bluegrass concert.
Crossroads: Change in Rural America offers small towns a chance to look at their own paths to highlight the changes that affected their fortunes over the past century. The exhibition will prompt discussions about what happened when America’s rural population became a minority of the country’s population and the ripple effects that occurred.
The exhibit is open to the public Mondays-Thursdays from 8am to 9pm, Fridays from 8am-3:30pm, and Sundays 2-7pm.
