This presentation consists of a brief introduction of the current state of incarceration in America and Mississippi. Dr. Pickett will then share with the audience the long history of incarceration in Mississippi beginning with the institution of slavery, the first jails in Natchez and Jackson, the black codes and the convict lease system in the […]

The Museum of the Mississippi Delta is hosting the traveling exhibit "For All the World to See: Visual Culture and Struggle for Civil Rights," with an opening cocktail reception on Thursday, April 4. This exhibition examines the role visual culture played in shaping and transforming the struggle for racial equality in America from the late […]

The Mississippi Humanities Council will hold its Public Humanities Awards and Gala April 5, 2019, at the Old Capitol Museum in Jackson. The awards recognize outstanding work by Mississippians in bringing the insights of the humanities to public audiences. Help celebrate awardees Patti Carr Black, Winterville Mounds, Mississippi Today, Dr. Stephanie Clanton Rolph, Dr. Brinda […]

The murder of Emmett Till remains fresh in our memory as evidenced by recent articles in the Clarion Ledger by a variety of authors particularly since the reopening of the case by the U.S. Attorney General. Patrick Weems of the Emmett Till Interpretive Center will facilitate the panel discussion that will include: 1) Devery S. Anderson, author […]

NMHS Unlimited Productions and the Mississippi Humanities Council present the documentary film “Mississippi Justice,” a film based on actual events that occurred in Pike County, Mississippi in 1951.  This event is free and open to the public. Based on documented records, the film centers around a 20-year-old black female, Hattie Lee Barnes, with only a […]

NMHS Unlimited Productions and the Mississippi Humanities Council present the documentary film “Mississippi Justice,” a film based on actual events that occurred in Pike County, Mississippi in 1951.  This event is free and open to the public. Based on documented records, the film centers around a 20-year-old black female, Hattie Lee Barnes, with only a fourth-grade education, […]

The 2019 annual Sammy O. Craford Memorial History Lecture will take place Thursday, April 11. This year, Dr. Joseph Crespino (Jimmy Carter Professor of American History at Emory University) will deliver a presentation entitled "Atticus Finch: The Biography." The lecture will take place at 7pm in the Jobe Hall Auditorium on the DSU campus.

The Margaret Walker Center presents the photography exhibition Everywhere with Roy Lewis as part of its 13th annual student conference at Jackson State University. Roy Lewis has been a celebrated black photographer for the past 50 years, who photographed many of the iconic moments of the modern civil rights movement and was often invited by Dr. Margaret […]

In colorful costume,storytellers Rebecca Jernigan and Wendy Garrison retell the tale of legendary bluesman Robert Johnson. With music, drama and sign language, they recount his fateful encounter with the Prince of Darkness at the crossroads in the Delta. In educational venues they stress that the audience is integral to any live performance. They discuss the […]

Turry Flucker will lead a panel that will focuses on two significant art groups that responded to the Civil Rights movement: The Art Committee for Tougaloo College and Spiral: An African American Art Collective. Active from the summer of 1963 through 1965, he group of artists met weekly to discuss the role of African-American artists in […]

  An hour-long educational workshop conducted by Grammy and Tony Award-winning jazz giant Dee Dee Bridgewater. She will discuss various topics that relate to the heritage and history of jazz in the U.S. South.

This panel will focus on the music from the Civil Rights Era. They will be using audio and video clips from the time period, which is also included within the exhibition itself. These will include songs that were written about Emmett Till and the Three Civil Rights workers who were murdered near Philadelphia, Miss. There […]

This panel will discuss aspects of the Civil Rights Movement with focus on their specific areas of expertise.   Facilitator and Panelist: Dr. Robert Luckett, Associate Professor, Department of History and Director, Margaret Walker Center, Jackson State University. Dr. Luckett will speak about the invention of Jim Crow and what became known as the “Mississippi Plan” that […]

  Florence Mars, whose family go back four generations in Neshoba County, braved social ostracism and threats of violence to denounce the murders of the three Civil Rights workers-Schwerner, Goodman and Cheney—through then lens of her camera. She bought a camera and built a dark room and began to photograph and document a racial order […]

"The Struggle Continues: Equity in Education" is a series of three lectures centering on the history of equity in public education. The series will examine today's political climate and the role of the federal, state, and local governments in education, and will consider ways citizens can play a role in equity in education. The April […]

  Young People are capable of amazing work and can open up hearts and minds in a way that adults cannot. This project aims to further racial equity by having young people create a performance that will be showcased in two Mississippi Delta communities about their experiences with race and afterward facilitate a public discussion […]

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 […]