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 […]

Holly Springs native Katherine Sherwood Bonner McDowell (1849-1883) left her Mississippi Home in 1873 to pursue a literary career in the Northeast. She became "Sherwood Bonner," a writer whose witty stories shed light on the dynamics of region, race, and gender in both the reconstruction South and post-Civil War America. Bonner enjoyed brief notoriety during […]

Please join The Freedom50 Research Group as they present critical perspectives of the Clyde Kennard case in relation to racial progress at the University of Southern Mississippi by means of a three-part lecture series in the spring of 2017. This lecture series is designed to examine the (in)visible signs of cultural change that have occurred […]

Award-winning journalist Alysia Burton Steele’s Delta Jewels: In Search of My Grandmother’s Wisdom is a visual and lyrical tribute to African American church mothers from the Mississippi Delta. This groundbreaking collection of oral histories and photographs tells nationally and internationally significant stories rooted in the Mississippi Delta, a distinctive region called “The Cradle of American […]

Please join The Freedom50 Research Group as they present critical perspectives of the Clyde Kennard case in relation to racial progress at the University of Southern Mississippi by means of a three-part lecture series in the spring of 2017. This lecture series is designed to examine the (in)visible signs of cultural change that have occurred […]

The Delta State Community is hosting the 2017 Sammy I. Cranford Memorial History Lecture. Dr. Calvin White, Jr., Associated Professor and Chair of the Department of History at the University of Arkansas, will deliver a lecture entitled, "Standing at the Vanguard: Oscar Staton De Priest, A Black Congressmen Amongst White Segregationists." This lecture will take […]

Many Mississippians today have had scant exposure to genuine philosophical inquiry and debate and know little about philosophy's long, distinguished history. Even those who may have taken a philosophy course in college likely studies only selected topics and have a limited sense of the wide range of issues philosophers discuss. As a result, many people […]

A dramatic monologue drawn from the nonfiction prose of Flannery O’Connor. The one-woman show incorporates O’Connor’s opinions on a variety of subjects, including writing, other writers, religion, and peacocks. Beverly Fatherree is an English Instructor at Hinds Community College. She has performed as O'Connor at the Flannery O'Connor Birthplace Trust and in a variety of […]

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. […]

Fifty-Seven years ago, Biloxi's beaches were restricted to white persons only. In 1960, local African American residents led by physician, Dr. Gilbert Mason, Sr., waded into the waters of the Mississippi Sound, to challenge the beach segregation, triggering a riot by white residents. Federal officials intervened with litigation that desegregated the beach. To commemorate the […]

Flonzie Wright Brown has been involved in the Civil Rights Movement since 1963. Her presentation examines the role of youths in the movement, the importance of women in the struggle, the impact of slavery and lessons learned and the impact today of obtaining the right to vote. Ms. Brown recaps the Civil Rights Movement and […]

Flonzie Wright Brown has been involved in the Civil Rights Movement since 1963. Her presentation examines the role of youths in the movement, the importance of women in the struggle, the impact of slavery and lessons learned and the impact today of obtaining the right to vote. Ms. Brown recaps the Civil Rights Movement and […]

Mississippi Public Broadcasting will air “Yazoo Revisited: Integration and Segregation in a Deep Southern Town,” a documentary film looking back at the history and integration of Yazoo City schools and how race relations have developed since then. In 1970, under a ruling by the Supreme Court, Mississippi finally implemented full integration of its public schools. […]

Dr. Willis teaches educators how to integrate blues education into their lesson plans for social studies, geography and history. She gives them background information, current events, historical landmarks that are significant to blues music and blues artists. She shows photos, posters and records from her private collection and also gives first-hand information from her personal […]