Where The Grants Go

Have Questions? We’re here to help!

Contact Us
Application Information

Already received a Humanities Grant?

Support for Grantees

America250 Mississippi Grantees

The Town of Mantee
America250 Mississippi Minigrant – $2,600

Mantee History Museum

By updating the Mantee History Museum, the Town of Mantee in Webster County will honor local veterans and their contributions to America’s story through an expanded collection featuring military memorabilia, new display cases, and framed exhibits. The project will also enhance community engagement by creating a digital inventory for online access and refreshing the museum’s interior with new furniture and décor. A ribbon-cutting ceremony will celebrate the updates and invite the community to reconnect with the museum and its history.

Copiah-Lincoln Community College
America250 Mississippi Program Grant – $10,000

Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration

The Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration (NLCC) has, for more than three decades, positioned Mississippi voices, places, and stories within the wider American narrative. The 2026 event theme, “Stories of American Freedom,” will highlight how the pursuit of liberty, justice, and equality has shaped the nation and how Mississippi, and Natchez in particular, has played a vital role in that story. Events feature topics ranging from Revolutionary-era tavern songs, to Native American code talkers, to the Civil Rights struggles of Fannie Lou Hamer and the Mississippi Freedom Movement. By drawing nationally recognized authors and scholars into conversation with Mississippi history and culture, the NLCC situates Natchez not as a backdrop but as a focal point of America’s ongoing struggle for freedom.

Mid-Mississippi Regional Library System
America250 Mississippi Minigrant – $1,200

Community Leadership Consortium

With the “Voices of Mid-Mississippi: A Community Time Capsule” project, the Mid-Mississippi Regional Library System in Kosciusko will create and install a time capsule to capture and preserve residents’ reflections on American ideals and the library’s role in communities across its five-county region. Patrons will contribute handwritten note cards responding to prompts such as “What does America mean to you in the context of our local history?” and “How has the library shaped your pursuit of knowledge and community connection?” The time capsule will also include small mementos like library bookmarks, historical photos of the town, and a proclamation from local officials, such as the mayor, affirming the library’s enduring place in service to the area’s story.

2024 Grantees

Community Leadership Consortium
$1000

Fordice Oral History Project – Phase One

The Fordice History Project launched a website to collect and organize oral histories documenting the life and legacy of Kirk and Pat Fordice, Mississippi’s first Republican governor since Reconstruction. The site served as a portal for participants to sign up for interviews, complete surveys, and access information about the initiative. Through recorded interviews with key figures from Fordice’s administration and supporters, the project preserved firsthand accounts and historical insights into Mississippi’s political landscape in the 1990s.

Magnolia Literacy Project
$2500

The Blossoms Mother-Daughter Reading Club

The Blossoms Mother-Daughter Reading Club, an initiative of the Magnolia Literacy Project, brought together Gen-Z girls and their mothers for virtual workshops exploring themes of girlhood, womanhood, and cultural identity through diverse texts and media. Participants engaged in discussions, literary analysis, and presentations that fostered confidence, critical thinking, and leadership. The program culminated in public presentations at community literacy events, showcasing the voices and stories of the young women involved.

Tupelo Mutual Aid Project
$1545

Still Here, Still Queer:  LGBTQ+ History in Mississippi

The exhibit Still Here, Still Queer: An Exhibit on North Mississippi’s LGBTQ+ History was presented during the Still Here, Still Queer Street Festival in Tupelo, showcasing selected panels from the Magnolia Memories collection curated by the Invisible Histories Project. The exhibit highlighted key moments, individuals, and events in Mississippi’s LGBTQ+ history, with a focus on North Mississippi. The public programming also included a community Q&A panel featuring local queer voices and lived experiences, creating a space for dialogue, education, and visibility.

Jackson State University
$2000

The Griot Tradition: A Day of Poetry at JSU

JSU hosted poets James Cherry, Jerriod Avant, and Kalamu ya Salaam. The event celebrated the griot tradition in Black poetry, focusing on the work of Black men poets through masterclasses, readings, and public conversations. It provided students, faculty, and the community with an inter-generational experience rooted in West African storytelling.

University of Mississippi: Center for the Study of Southern Culture
$2500

1970 at Fifty-five: The End of Massive Resistance

The 1970 at Fifty-Five symposium brought together faculty, students, and community members to examine Black student activism and resistance on Mississippi college campuses during 1970. Hosted by the Center for the Study of Southern Culture, the event featured presentations and discussions highlighting student-led movements at the University of Mississippi, Jackson State, Delta State, and Mississippi Valley State. Through oral histories, archival work, and public dialogue, the symposium explored the enduring impact of Black student resistance and the importance of memory work in confronting institutional injustice.

Create Foundation Inc.
$2500

Possumtown Book Fest

The Possumtown Book Fest provided free, public literary programming to Northeast Mississippi, featuring author panels, workshops, and a children’s program. Funding supported two humanities-focused panels: one on Choctaw history and traditions with the co-editors of Choctaw Tales and Choctaw Traditions, and another with Wright Thompson discussing the historical context behind his book The Barn. These panels helped launch a year-long community engagement series centered on Mississippi’s history, racial justice, and storytelling.

Mississippi2
$1900

From Douglass to Duck Hill, The Bridging of Two Americas

From Douglass to Duck Hill was a public racial healing event that explored the legacy of racial violence in Mississippi by connecting Frederick Douglass’ famous Fourth of July speech to the 1937 lynching in Duck Hill. The program featured keynote addresses, live music, documentary excerpts, and a sacred soil ceremony as part of the Equal Justice Initiative’s community remembrance efforts. Through storytelling, reflection, and historical education, the event fostered dialogue, honored suppressed histories, and promoted community healing.

Blue Mountain Christian University
$2500

Southern Literary Festival Lecture Series

The Southern Literary Festival featured public lectures by author W. Ralph Eubanks and screenwriter Chris Dowling, who shared insights into their creative work and personal stories. The event enriched the community by highlighting Southern writing and storytelling beyond the undergraduate participants. Both speakers engaged audiences at Blue Mountain Christian University, contributing to the festival’s celebration of literary arts.

Mississippi State University Institute for the Humanities
$2500

Writer in Residence

Chigozie Obioma served as Writer in Residence at Mississippi State University, where he engaged students, faculty, and the broader community through a public reading and a virtual workshop. His reading, focused on themes of family and Nigerian heritage, encouraged the audience to reflect on their own histories, followed by a Q&A and book signing. The virtual workshop explored character-driven fiction and its role in fostering empathy and self-understanding.

University of Southern Mississippi
$790

Dirt and Deeds in Mississippi/Impressions of the Struggle

The University of Southern Mississippi screened the award-winning documentary Dirt and Deeds in Mississippi and hosted a conversation featuring civil rights veteran Virgie Clark and filmmaker David Shulman, moderated by faculty member Dr. Rebecca Tuuri. The event highlighted the overlooked role of African-American property owners in Mileston who risked their land to support the civil rights movement. Attendees also viewed the Impressions of the Struggle exhibition, which showcased primary documents and told the broader story of Mileston’s impact on Mississippi’s civil rights history.

Mississippi University for Women
$1500

Community Read Author Event

The Community Read brought together MUW, MSMS, The City of Columbus, Columbus-Lowndes Public Library, Friendly City Books, and Columbus Light & Water to engage the community in a shared reading of First Gen: A Memoir by Alejandra Campoverdi, exploring themes like the immigrant experience, mental health, and generational trauma. The program included book giveaways, monthly discussions, a panel for Hispanic Heritage Month, a teaching circle, and a creative response contest for students. The events culminated with the author’s visit to campus to speak and connect with the community.

Maritime and Seafood Industry Museum
$2500

Gulf Coast Vietnamese Narratives: A Story of Refuge and Resilience of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Vietnamese

The Gulf Coast Vietnamese Narratives exhibit was established as the first permanent Vietnamese American display at the Maritime and Seafood Industry Museum, honoring the community’s history and contributions to the region’s seafood industry. The exhibit featured personal stories, artifacts, and multimedia presentations, alongside educational programs such as storytelling kiosks, workshops, and panel discussions to engage visitors of all ages. This project preserved and celebrated the Vietnamese American legacy, providing an important cultural and historical resource for the Gulf Coast community and beyond.

International Museum of Muslim Cultures
$2500

From the Lowlands of Mississippi to the Highlands of Ethiopia: William Leo Hansberry and the Birth of African Studies

The International Museum of Muslim Cultures hosted Professor Debora Heard as the first speaker in its Gallery Talk series, where she shared insights on William Leo Hansberry’s contributions to African Studies. The event included a panel discussion with local scholars, engaging the audience in dialogue about Hansberry’s legacy and related topics. This program offered a free, public opportunity to explore African history and scholarship within the museum’s intimate setting.

University of Southern Mississippi
$2578.76

Mississippi Philosophical Association 2025: Keynote: ‘AI, Art, and Artists: What They Are, What They Could Be, What They Should Be,’ Dominic McIver Lopes

The University of Southern Mississippi hosted the annual Mississippi Philosophical Association conference, featuring a keynote address by renowned philosopher Dominic McIver Lopes on the intersection of AI and art. The public event attracted scholars, students, and community members, sparking wide interest due to Mississippi’s rich artistic heritage. The conference provided a platform for philosophical engagement while fostering broader community involvement in contemporary discussions on art and technology.

Mississippi Historical Society
$2500

_Local People_ at 40: Reflecting on the Impact and Legacy of John Dittmer’s Groundbreaking Work

A public panel held at the Two Mississippi Museums explored the legacy of Local People: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi by the late historian John Dittmer. The event brought together prominent scholars whose work was influenced by Dittmer’s groundbreaking book, offering personal reflections and analysis of its lasting impact on civil rights scholarship in Mississippi. Hosted by the Mississippi Historical Society and free to the public, the panel honored Dittmer’s contributions while highlighting the continued relevance of his research.

Natchez Convention Promotion Commission (NCPC)/Visit Natchez
$2111

Prince Ibrahima: A Profile and Self-Guided Tour
 
A self-guided tour brochure was created to share the life and legacy of Prince Abdul Rahman Ibrahima Sori, an African prince who was enslaved near Natchez for 40 years. The publication included a map of significant local sites, historical context, photographs, and a QR code for enhanced digital access. The launch of the brochure was marked by a public program featuring a guided tour and remarks from Ibrahima’s descendants.

Copiah-Lincoln Community College
$2500

Follow the Frenchmen through Natchez: The Return Tour of the Marquis de Lafayette, a Bicentennial Salute
 
The Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration presented a three-day public humanities event themed Follow the Frenchman Through Natchez: The Return Tour of Lafayette, exploring the life and legacy of the Marquis de Lafayette. The celebration featured scholarly presentations, film screenings, historical exhibits, a living history encampment for students, and period-themed performances. Through lectures, reenactments, and educational programming, the event brought Lafayette’s 19th-century Farewell Tour to life for contemporary audiences.

Laurel Jones County Black History Museum and Arts
$2500

Blues on 5th Street
 
The Laurel-Jones County Black History Museum and Arts hosted Blues on 5th Street, a community event celebrating the rich blues heritage of southeast Mississippi. The program featured lectures by Rashad the Blues Kid and Jock Webb on the history and unique sound of Pine Belt Blues, a regional fusion of blues, gospel, soul, and rock. Through music, storytelling, and discussion, the event highlighted the cultural roots and emotional depth of Mississippi’s blues tradition.

Lincoln Lawrence Franklin Regional Library
$825

THE JAZZMEN: PRESERVATION HALL PORTRAITS IN BLACK AND WHITE,
THE PHOTOGRAPHS OF BOB COKE
 
The Lincoln County Library hosted an exhibit of Bob Coke’s photographic collection The Jazzmen, featuring twenty images that later joined the library’s permanent art collection. A public program included a gallery talk by David Kunian, Curator of the New Orleans Jazz Museum, and a live performance by Dr. Jessie Primer of Tougaloo College. The event highlighted the cultural and historical context of the photos during segregation and the jazz revival era.

Dr. Jane Ellen McAllister House Foundation
$10,000.00

“Shaping the Cultural Environment…Window on the World”: The Dr. Jane Ellen McAllister Symposium
 
A two-day symposium was held at Hinds Community College in Vicksburg to examine the cultural impact of Dr. Jane Ellen McAllister. The event honored her legacy as the first African American to earn a Ph.D. in teaching from Columbia University’s Teachers College in 1929. It highlighted her contributions as a distinguished scholar and educator.

The Walter Anderson Museum of Art
$10,000.00

The White Whale and the White Rabbit: Following Humanities Threads Beyond Walter Anderson
 
The Walter Anderson Museum of Art reinterpreted its Introductory Gallery to reflect the diverse Southern experience connected to Mississippi landscapes. Public programs accompanied this effort, engaging audiences with new perspectives. Additionally, an “Art of the Book” project involved K-12 students and storytellers in creative writing and multimedia activities inspired by Anderson’s illustrated Alice in Wonderland.

Coahoma Community College
$10,000.00

MS Delta Tennessee Williams Festival
 
The 32nd annual event celebrated the life and works of Mississippi playwright Tennessee Williams. The 2024 program focused on his play Spring Storm, set in a fictional Mississippi town with references to local landmarks and personalities. The event highlighted Williams’s enduring connection to the state.

We Are the Promised Land Podcast (Mississippi Presenters Network, fiscal agent)
$10,000.00

We Are the Promised Land
 
A web-based archive was created to host podcasts and content exploring the history of Black land legacies in Mississippi Hill Country. Public engagement included podcast listening parties, panel discussions, and community conversations. These activities fostered dialogue around the region’s cultural and historical heritage.

GRAMMY Museum Mississippi (Cleveland Music Foundation)
$9,178.00

Music America: Iconic Objects from America’s Music History Museum Day Events
 
The Grammy Museum in Cleveland held a grand opening event for the exhibit Music America: Iconic Objects from America’s Music History. The exhibit showcased contributions from Mississippi to the nation’s musical heritage. The event celebrated the state’s rich impact on American music.

Arts Foundation of Kosciusko
$10,000.00

Home Sweet Home: L.V. Hull in Community–an exhibition contextualizing the life and work of Mississippi artist L.V. Hull
 
Public programs are planned to support a new exhibit on Kosciusko artist L.V. Hull, including the launch of an oral history project and docent training for the exhibit site. The programs will also feature a screening of the documentary Love is a Sensation about Hull’s life and work. These activities enhanced community engagement with Hull’s artistic legacy.

Mississippi State University
$9,435.00

Remembering ‘Mississippi in Africa’ – A Multidisciplinary Approach to Understanding Prospect Hill and Liberian Colonization
 
Ongoing archaeological study at Prospect Hill Plantation in Jefferson County, MS, was supported, involving public participation in excavations and humanities presentations. The project explored the site’s history, including its ties to enslavement and global connections. Earlier funding helped establish a model for future community-engaged archaeological programs.

Jackson Advocate
$10,000.00

Rosedale, Mississippi: Oral History Grant
 
An oral history project was conducted documenting the desegregation of the formerly all-white public school in Rosedale, MS. The project gathered firsthand accounts to preserve this important local history. Plans for a documentary film based on the project were considered for future funding through a separate grant program.

Friendly City Books
$7,500.00

Possumtown Book Fest
 
A new book festival was held in east-central Mississippi, featuring authors and panel discussions centered around a food theme. Organizers coordinated with the Mississippi Book Festival to ensure a complementary event. The inaugural festival brought together writers and audiences for a unique literary celebration.

Mississippi Presenters Network
$5,875.00

MSanctuary Arts Festival
 
The inaugural arts festival was held to highlight how an artist’s “place” influences their work, focusing on the artists’ personal stories rather than the art itself. Organizers intended for this to become an annual event celebrating creative connections to place. The festival marked a new addition to the local arts programming supported by multiple grant sources.

Mississippi Film Society
$10,000.00

Mississippi Film Society 2024-2025 Screening Program
 
Free monthly film screenings were offered across Mississippi, featuring films rarely shown in multiplexes, followed by discussions with filmmakers and humanities scholars. Grant support helped cover participation fees for the SouthArts Southern Circuit Film Series and funded a three-day film festival at the Capri Theatre in Jackson in April 2025. The program continued MHC’s partnership to expand access to diverse and thought-provoking films statewide.

From the Heart Productions
$10,000.00 

Fannie Lou Hamer’s America – Driving Tour
 
A virtual driving tour of Fannie Lou Hamer sites in the Mississippi Delta was completed, expanding to 17 locations with enhanced still and video imagery. The web-based tour offers an immersive way to explore Hamer’s legacy and important historical sites. This digital resource complements the related documentary film, providing broader access to civil rights history.

Jackson State University
$10,000.00

60th Anniversary of Freedom Summer
 
The 60th anniversary of Freedom Summer was commemorated with two panels featuring civil rights scholars and activists. One panel focused on Mississippi’s role in voting rights history, while the other shared stories from movement veterans. The event highlighted important perspectives on the civil rights struggle in the state.

Young, Gifted & Empowered Media
$10,000.00

Young, Gifted & Empowered Youth Media Project’s Voices of Change: Mississippi’s Black Media in the Civil Rights Era
 
A summer camp was held for 30 students to explore the role of Mississippi’s Black media during the Civil Rights Era. The program included field trips, guest speakers, interactive lectures, and hands-on activities focused on media, history, and social justice. The camp aimed to deepen participants’ understanding of how Black journalists shaped the civil rights movement and its narratives.

Delta Arts Alliance
$10,000.00

Grant Proposal for Delta Arts Alliance: A Blizzard for Christmas
 
The Delta Arts Alliance, in collaboration with StoryWorks, produced A Blizzard for Christmas, an original play set in the Delta during an ice storm. The story focused on an inter-generational and interracial family confronting their past and embracing hope for the future. The play aimed to convey humanities themes to a broad audience through its narrative.

Mississippi Heritage Trust
$10,000.00

10 Most Endangered Historic Places in Mississippi
 
The Mississippi Heritage Trust carried out its 2025 10 Most Endangered Historic Places in Mississippi program, researching the status of previously listed sites and interviewing advocates working to preserve them. Updates were made to the program’s website and online story map, enhancing public access to images and information about endangered sites. The initiative culminated in the installation of five outdoor exhibits unveiled alongside the announcement of the 2025 list.

Canton-Madison County Historical Society
$5,900.00

History Room Kiosk

An interactive kiosk was installed in the history room of the Old Canton Jail, featuring digital images, documents, and narratives about the jail, the City of Canton, and Madison County. The project culminated in a public unveiling reception, inviting the community to explore and engage with local history in a dynamic, accessible format.

Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College – Jackson County Campus Library
$10,000.00

Fiesta de Cultura: Celebrating Hispanic Heritage

The event celebrated the rich cultural heritage of the Hispanic community on the Mississippi Gulf Coast through three components: a culinary and art history discussion, a panel discussion, and a family-friendly evening of entertainment. It highlighted the community’s traditions, contributions, and cultural expressions.

Copiah-Lincoln Community College
$10,000.00

Follow the Frenchman through Natchez: The Return Tour of Lafayette

The 2025 edition of this annual scholarly conference focused on literature, history, film, and culture, with a special emphasis on the 200th anniversary of the Marquis de Lafayette’s Farewell Tour. In partnership with the Sons of the American Revolution, the event featured academic presentations, living history encampments for over 700 schoolchildren, and a historical exhibit showcasing Lafayette-related artifacts. The conference concluded with a President’s Banquet featuring period music and dance reminiscent of Lafayette’s 1825 visit to Natchez.

University of Mississippi Center
$7,000.00

The Thirty-First Oxford Conference for the Book

The Oxford Conference for the Book is a three-day annual gathering inaugurated in 1993. The event takes place in various locations throughout Oxford and on the campus of the University of Mississippi. The mission of the conference is to promote reading, literacy and literature and to broaden knowledge about contemporary writing and publishing, as well as the history and role of books in American culture, particularly but not exclusively in the South.

Foundation for Mississippi History
$9,600.00

Teaching Hard History: Places, Objects, and
People

History Is Lunch (HIL) is a weekly lecture series exploring Mississippi’s history and providing a platform for presentations by scholars, experts, authors and thought leaders from both local and national spheres. Topics have ranged from Mississippi’s musical and literary legacies to pivotal moments in Civil War and civil rights history. In its upcoming season, HIL will prioritize lecture series that reflect the cultural heritage of Black communities. This request is for two speakers, Dr. Sharbreon Plumber, curator of an upcoming quilt exhibit (“Of Salt and Spirit”) at the Mississippi Museum of Art, who will spotlight the work and story of Hystercine Rankin, a native of Jefferson County, MS, who created 46 quilts throughout her lifetime. The second speaker is Dr. Hasan Kwame Jeffries, who lectures on the physical sites associated with formerly enslaved people in Mississippi.

Emmett Till Interpretive Center
$10,000.00

Remembering Emmett: From Silence to Social
Justice

The Emmett Till Interpretive Center (ETIC) will mark the 70th anniversary of the murder of Emmett Till in 2025 and its impact on Mississippi, the South and the nation. As part of this year-long reflection, with multiple events culminating in an August 2025 commemoration, ETIC will create a traveling exhibit and programming intended to educate young people about this tragic yet triumphant story in American history.

Mississippi College
$3,850.00

Surviving Southampton: A Story in Three Grandmothers

Mississippi College has secured Dr. Vanessa Holden of the University of Kentucky to present a keynote lecture as part of its 2025 African American Studies Lecture Series. Holden will share research from her award-winning book Surviving Southampton: African American Women and Resistance in Nat Turner’s Community (University of Illinois Press, July 2021), which explores the contributions that African American women and children made to the Southampton Rebellion, often called Nat Turner’s Rebellion.

Hancock County Library System
$7,540.00

HOMEGROWN: A WRITERS’ EXCHANGE

The third annual literary arts event will take place in early 2025 presenting acclaimed southern authors in moderated panel discussions pertinent to writing and publishing, hosted at the University of Southern Mississippi’s Gulf Park Campus. The two-day event includes one day devoted to a youth audience from area middle and high schools, with sessions facilitated by USM faculty and graduate students from the USM Center for Writing in Hattiesburg. The second day will be directed primarily to an adult audience featuring author panels throughout the day.

Margaret Walker Center, Jackson State University              
$8,641.00

The History of the Mississippi Movement: Honoring 30 Years
of John Dittmer’s Local People &
Charles Payne’s I’ve Got the Light of Freedom

JSU Margaret Walker Center will host a retrospective panel on local people’s activism and organizing tradition, featuring two texts of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement—John Dittmer’s Local People: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi (1994) and Charles M. Payne’s I’ve Got the Light of Freedom: The Organizing Tradition and the Mississippi Freedom Struggle (1995). The panel discussion will be part of multiple events centered around the University’s annual MLK Convocation and For My People awards. Originally envisioned as a conversation between Dittmer and Payne, due to Dittmer’s unexpected passing in July, the event will now feature a conversation among past For My People award recipients.

Mississippi Museum of Art        
$9,250.00

L.V. Hull: Love is a Sensation

L.V. Hull: Love is a Sensation is the first solo museum exhibition to chronicle the art and life of visionary artist L. V. Hull (1942–2008), a self- proclaimed “unusual artist” who merged artmaking and the Southern art of “visiting” to transform her home in the rural town of Kosciusko, MS, into an immersive art environment that attracted visitors from around the world. Various public engagement activities related to the exhibit will be offered, including a screening of a new documentary film about Hull and her work.

The SouthWay Foundation      
$8,500.00

The Small-Town Preservation Symposium in Eupora,
MS

The SouthWay Foundation will coordinate a Small-Town Preservation Symposium in Eupora, MS, with a goal of bringing together local, state and national leaders for discussions on the preservation movement, cultural heritage and the value of sharing an inclusive history. The symposium agenda will include two panel conversations addressing themes of architectural preservation, the power of historic preservation and its relevance to small towns.

Rosa Foundation      
$10,000.00

Behind the Big House 2025

The Rosa Foundation plans to continue its annual public event, Behind the Big House. The 2025 event will take place April 2-5 at the antebellum home known as the Craft House in Holly Springs, which includes the 1847 living quarters and kitchen built for enslaved Africans and the 1851 family home of Hugh and Elizabeth Craft. Experienced interpreters will interact with visitors, highlighting the challenges encountered and the skills required by those enslaved workers on this property. Featured presenters will include historical interpreter with the Slave Dwelling Project, Joseph McGill (Charleston, SC), who will speak about the daily life and work of the enslaved in historical context; Chef Jordan Wimby (Chicago), who will provide the history of the African origins of mid- 1800s food and cooking methods; and historical interpreter Tammy Gibson (Chicago), who will illustrate the complex and demanding task of the laundress. Additionally, a total of seven uniquely themed stations will be available to all audiences on the property.

Friendly City Books
$10,000.00

Mississippi Poetry Week

A collaboration between the Friendly City Books Community Connection, a special project of the CREATE Foundation, and the Mississippi Poetry Project, led by Mississippi Poet Laureate Catherine Pierce.
Mississippi Poetry Week will feature events for children and adults in four different regions of the state: Cleveland, Hattiesburg, Starkville and Jackson. Planned events include hands-on learning experiences with professional poets, panel presentations by established poets and a culminating poetry celebration in Jackson featuring presentations about former, current and future Mississippi poets.

University of Mississippi Center
$10,000.00

The Thirtieth Oxford Conference for the Book

Annual three-day conference celebrating books, reading, and writing with author panels and lecture sessions, as well as book-signings and writer exchanges.

Mississippi College
$4,350.00

Something Better for My Children: Black Education in and Freedom

Public lecture by award-winning historian, author and professor Dr. Crystal Sanders of Emory University, as part of Mississippi College’s continued effort to bring lived and scholarly expertise of the African American experience to MC students and the metro Jackson community. Sanders will share her award-winning research from her book A Chance for Change: Head Start and Mississippi’s Black Freedom Struggle. Sanders’s lecture will serve as the keynote for a month-long commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Brown decision.

Copiah-Lincoln Community College
$10,0000.00

Rites, Rituals, and Religion in the Deep South

Annual event exploring southern history and culture through film and books. The 2024 festival theme will be “Rites, Rituals, and Religion in the Deep South,” will include scholarly presentations and various public events examining topics such as death and burial rites, historical cemeteries and their influence on landscape architecture, mourning practices, church rituals, voodooism and antebellum Christmas traditions. Sessions will illuminate how early Mississippians used these traditions to establish cultural norms, institutional practices, and patterns of social responsibility which continue to define us today.

The Mississippi Aviation Heritage Museum—$10,0000.00

Mississippians in the Vietnam War Exhibit

The creation of a permanent exhibit highlighting Mississippians who served in the Vietnam War.

The Rosa Foundation—$10,000.00

Behind the Big House 2024

Educational tour of former slave dwellings, and related programs, offered in conjunction with annual pilgrimage of historic homes in Holly Springs. Both Joseph McGill of the Slave Dwellings Project and culinary historian Michael W. Twitty have again committed to participate, as well as Tammy Gibson, a professional storyteller whose work focuses on illuminating the African American experience. The 2024 event will also bring back Dale DeBerry, artist, storyteller and brickmaker, who will demonstrate how enslaved men and women created construction materials for the “big houses.” Events will include lectures, tours, antebellum cooking demonstrations, African American genealogy presentations and more.

Mississippi Museum of Art—$5,800.00

Depictions of Mental Health in American Film

Collaborative public panel discussion series to explore depictions of mental health and illness in American cinema. The discussion series will take place in conjunction with an upcoming exhibition at the Mississippi Museum of Art about an itinerant optometrist whose mental illness and subsequent disappearance resulted in his erasure from the family history. The discussion series also connects with ongoing work with the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s Asylum Hill project to excavate, preserve and study burial sites on the UMMC grounds where the Mississippi State Insane Hospital once stood – and where the missing optometrist from the MMA exhibit was eventually institutionalized.

Jimmie Rodgers Foundation, Inc. —$7,870.00

The Jimmie Rodgers Foundation Music History Seminar, Rodgers: Blues to Bluegrass

Public history seminar exploring the intersection of the work of music artists Bill Monroe (the “Father of Bluegrass”) and Jimmie Rodgers (the “Father of Country”).

The Alluvial Collective—$10,000.00

Critical Places: Mississippi Sites of Slave Rebellion Community Engagement

Photo exhibit, dialogue circles and panel presentations exploring historic sites of rebellion by enslaved men and women in Mississippi.

Operation Shoestring—$5,500.00

Raising Children in Central Jackson Oral History Project Phase II: Community Engagement

Phase II of an oral history project to capture the memories, opinions and beliefs about being raised and raising children in central Jackson.

International Museum of Muslim Cultures—$10,000.00

“Discovering the Soul of Oman and Mississippi” through Basel Almisshal’s Lens

Photography exhibit contrasting and comparing Mississippi and Oman, two vastly different landscapes with similar histories and cultural integrations from Africa, through the lens of photographer Basel Almisshal

Pike School of Art-Mississippi—$4,950.00

LOCKED / LABELED

A series of four panel discussions examining various aspects of the criminal justice system, part of a larger art project and platform for formerly incarcerated individuals to share their stories and encourage dialogue about the juvenile system in Pike County. The aim of both the art project and the panel discussions is to address the dual challenges faced by formerly detained youth: the physical imprisonment (locked) and the societal stigma and stereotypes that came with it (labeled).

Mississippi Department of Archives and History—$6,700.00

Increasing Equity and Access with MDAH’s Digital Archives

Digital exhibits highlighting two important topics in Mississippi history—Freedom Summer and Eudora Welty. The exhibits, while aimed at educators and students, will be available to the general public, once online. Contextualizing historical essays will be created to accompany both digital exhibits.

Mississippi University for Women—$2,000.00

Banned Book Week 2023

Banned Book Week- October 1-7, 2023- is a celebration of our right to create, share and have access to the diverse experiences, thoughts and feelings of all people of the world. Librarians and educators in Columbus will participate in Banned Book Week by hosting a series of events at Mississippi University for Women and the Columbus-Lowdes Public Library. October 4th kicks off the series of events, where a panel featuring educators, lawyers and librarians who have experience in combatting book challenges will speak about their experiences. On October 5th, there will be an art exhibit and read aloud at Columbus Art council, where artist will share their work and excerpts from banned books. Friday, a planned discussion about Ban This Book by Alan Gratz is planned with student involvement at MUW and MSMS. Other activities include a library scavenger hunt for banned books and a themed craft.

Community Foundation of Washington County—$2,500.00

Coleman High School Oral History Project

Comprehensive oral history project about  Coleman High School in Greenville, MS. The project will focus on the black history of Greenville that specifically relates to Coleman High School and how the school is critical to our understanding of Greenville and of black education in the Delta region as a whole. The intent of this project is to allow the graduates of Coleman High School to share their stories in their own voices and to create a repository accessible to all present and future Greenville residents.

Friends of Valena C. Jones School— $2,319.00

Valena C. Jones School Oral History Project

Oral history project about Valena C. Jones school concerning integration of schools. Former teachers and students will be interviewed  about the school’s lasting reputation as a hub for the black community during segregation. The school was  designated a Mississippi Landmark in April 2023, and this project aims to educate, entertain, and empower the black community from Bay St. Louis and the surrounding area.

Operation Shoestring— $2,500.00

Planning Grant for the Raising Children in Central Jackson Community-Based Oral History Project

Oral history project that provides a platform for community members of Georgetown, Midtown, Midcity, and Virden Addition neighborhoods of Jackson to explore and document how children across generations grow up in these neighborhoods that are systemically underserved.

Mississippi State University— $2,500.00

Mississippi and Liberia: Public Education Project on Prospect Hill Excavation

Public archaeology project at the Prospect Hill site in Mississippi. Includes a highly interactive community-engaged project that collaborates with the public about the history of Prospect Hill, a former plantation, and the history of enslaved life in Mississippi. This project also includes onsite interpretative panels to educate about the site’s history, the material culture that will be unearthed, and the incorporation of recent anthropological research that highlights the voices of descendants who now reside in Liberia, Africa.

Care Now—$2,500.00

Juneteenth Festival 

Juneteenth Celebration that consists of a Freedom Parade, Reenactment of Notification to African Americans being freed from slavery, Tour of Actual Slave Quarters at Craft House, and many opportunities of teaching and learning about slavery and black history.

Rosedale Freedom Project —$2,462.50

Freedom Project Network Summer Poetry Workshop

A set of two 5-day intensive workshops for 7-12-graders. Students are recruited from West Bolivar and Sunflower counties, and the workshop will be led by Mississippi-based Latinx poet C.T. Salazar. Students will read and study Ashley M. Jones’s Reparations Now!, create their own poems, and perform their poems, which will also be included in a short collection reflecting the students’ work. The culmination of the project will be a public showcase at the end of the summer in which families and community members are invited to see performances of the poems and receive copies of the students’ performed pieces.

Land, Literacy, and Legacy —$2,500.00

Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer

A theatrical adaptation of the award-winning children’s book, Voice of Freedom Fannie Lou Hamer Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement, authored by Carole Boston Weatherford. The actors are faith, school and civic community members in Winona and the counties of Montgomery and Carroll. Voices of Freedom chronicles Mrs. Hamer’s life from childhood through the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. At the conclusion of each performance, there will be an opportunity for audience members to ask questions and share commentary of their experiences.

Center for Social Entrepreneurship—$2,500.00

iVillage E-Summer Camp

The Center for Social Entrepreneurship will provide a free E-STEAM Summer Camp to promote entrepreneurship, STEAM, and the arts for 4th– and 5th-graders residing in West Jackson, MS. This camp aims to offer children a safe, engaging, and supportive learning environment during the summer months, introduce children to various literary forms, to encourage children to express themselves through writing and storytelling, and to foster a love for reading and writing among children.

Hancock County Historical Society—$2,500.00

Mercy Train: Next Stop Bay St. Louis, MS

“Mercy Train: Next Stop Bay St Louis” will be performed September 10, 2023, at 2pm at the Bay St Louis Little Theatre. The one-act play outlines the history of Orphan Trains and tells the life stories of the five children who were adopted by Bay St. Louis families in 1909. The large cast of characters includes at least seven children and 10 adults.

Cottrell Street Music & Heritage Festival Organization —$2,500.00

The Role of Education in West Point during the Civil Rights Movement

Symposium that includes five guest panelists and a moderator to discuss the importance of an education in West Point before and during segregation. This symposium will be presented to high school students from history classes in the Golden Triangle area with a focus on West Point High School, Mary Holmes College, and the Freedom Schools.

Mississippi2—$2,000.00

Unveiling Ceremony for Lynching of Bootjack & Red

A historical marker in Duck Hill, MS, at the site of Roosevelt (Red ) Townes’ and Robert (Bootjack) McDaniels’ lynching.  Townes and McDaniels were lynched April 13, 1937, by a white mob after being labeled as the murderers of a white storekeeper, George Windham. In addition to the unveiling of this marker, an upcoming documentary film is being produced that will shed light on the events leading up to the lynching and its aftermath, exploring the impact of the incident on the local community and the country.

Hinds Community College—$2,500.00

The Utica Jubilee VR Experience

Creation of a new, interactive exhibit allowing participants to sing with the Utica Jubilee Singers in a virtual reality environment as part of the Utica Institute Museum’s Utica Jubilee Singers exhibit. As part of the museum exhibit, visitors will use a VR headset to experience a concert from the perspective of a Jubilee Singer.

Mississippi State University—$2,500.00

Making Space for Lucy: Philosophy, Race and the Arts in Nashville Ballet’s “Lucy Negro Redux”

Three-day conference hosted by Mississippi State University intended to bring together the artist who created Nashville Ballet’s Lucy Negro Redux with both senior and junior scholars in relevant academics. Featured events include a roundtable discussion with poet, Caroline Randall Williams, choreographer Paul Vasterling, and originator of the role of Lucy, Kayla Rowser, a public screening of Nashville Ballet’s Lucy Negro Redux, and invited paper sessions featuring an international and interdisciplinary roster of scholars from African American and African Studies, Dance and Performance Studies, Literary Studies, and Philosophy.

Jackson State University—$1,282.00

THEE Mississippi Culture Forever

EFLSC  (English, Foreign Language, Speech, and Communication) Week celebrates the talents, research, and creative arts of Jackson State University by fostering their deep sense of community among faculty and students while also striving to share their research and accomplishments amongst the Mississippi community. Some events include a film screening of Beauty in Truth, an alumni panel showcasing various careers in humanities, the “THEE I Believe” open forum where students, faculty, administrators, and community presenters share brief statements concerning what they believe about humanities as related to life, civic engagement, social justice, and popular culture, and Mississippi Story-Telling Under the Stars.

Delta State University—$1,050.00

2023 Sammy O. Cranford

Historical lecture at Delta State University given by Dr. Ted Ownby, William Winter Professor of History and Professor of Southern Studies at the University of Mississippi. The lecture is entitled “Mississippi’s Jean Valjean: Chasing, Celebrating, and Maybe Pardoning and Escaped Convict in 1909.”

Mississippi State University—$2,500.00

Writer in Residence 2023

Kali Fajardo-Anstine, a nationally bestselling author, finalist for the 2019 National Book Award, and the Endowed Chair in Creative Writing at Texas State University, will spend a week 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. She will visit classes and meet with faculty and students, as well as holding a workshop and performing a reading of her work that are free and open to the public.

Mississippi University for Women—$2,000.00

Shirley Chisholm and Black Feminist Politics: A Conversation with Biographer Anastasia Curwood

Martha Swain Speaker Series highlights the life and legacy of Shirley Chishom, who made history as the first black woman elected to the US Congress (1968) and the first black candidate to seek a major party’s presidential nomination (1972), for Women’s History Month 2023. Anastasia Curwood, professor of history and director of African American and Africana studies at the University of Kentucky, will discuss her new biography of Chisholm, Shirley Chisholm: Champion of Black Feminist Power Politics. A book-signing will also take place.

University of Southern Mississippi—$2,200.00

Katrina and the Mississippi Gulf Coast

By documenting and digitizing material present in the McCain Archives, this project aims to visualize, for the general public, the impact of Hurricane Katrina on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. On a web-based platform, information concerning the Gulf Coast/Pine Belt region prior to Hurricane Katrina’s impact, the disaster phase, post-Katrina recovery, and ways in which hurricanes like Katrina relate to broader conversations in the present, such as climate change, environmental justice, and affordable housing will be presented.

Mississippi Urban League—$1,950.00

National Day of Racial Healing

The Mississippi Urban League is collaborating with the Mississippi Museum of Art and the Alluvial Collective to host a Jackson-based event in observance of the National Day of Racial Healing. With the Mississippi Museum of Art as the backdrop, the event is being curated as an evening of inspiring conversation about how art can be a catalyst for change. Acclaimed writer and Libby Shearn Moody Professor of English and Creative Writing at Rice University Kiese Laymon is the event’s keynote speaker. The event will be live-streamed to allow for participation from all corners of the world.

Community Library Mississippi—$2,000.00

Community Library Mississippi- Intellect Matters

Community Library Mississippi re-establishes in-person festivities for the Jackson Book Festival. Events include Dr. Janice Neal-Vincent, who directs a Spoken Word Choir, and Tiffany Coleman-McGee, an award-winning gospel artist who is also an actor. The 9th Poetry Contest requires participants to write and recite original poems, with the participants ranging from 6-60 years old. The categories include elementary, middle, high school, and adult competitions.

Delta State University—$2,500.00

“Inaugural Ballers: The Story of the First U.S. Women’s Olympic Basketball Team” with Andrew Maraniss

The New York Times-best selling author Andrew Maraniss talks about his new book, Inaugural Ballers: The Story of the First U.S. Women’s Olympic Basketball Team at Delta State University. DSU is the alma mater of Lusia” Lucy” Harris, a member of the 1976 U.S. women’s Olympic basketball team and the first woman to ever score in an Olympic basketball game. This event is a continuation of a series of events celebrating the life and legacy of Lucy Harris, the upcoming 50th anniversary of the restart of women’s basketball at Delta State, and the 50th anniversary of Title IX.

The following are regular grants awarded for the most recent grant deadline, May 1st, 2023.

Mississippi Action for Community Education (MACE)— $9,750.00

Having Our Say: Women WriteHER Literary Art Series

One-day public literary program, during the three-day Mississippi Delta Blues and Heritage
Festival in Greenville, featuring 13 authors, humanities scholars, literary artists and creatives
reflecting on southern women of the Civil Rights Movement. The schedule includes four sessions
featuring three authors per session, moderated by a humanities scholar.

Invisible Histories Project—$8,000.00

Magnolia Memories: Mississippi’s LGBTQ History

Exhibit and related public programs documenting and exploring Mississippi’s LGBTQ history. The
exhibit will focus on Mississippi LGBTQ history from the 1960s through the 2000s and will
include not only text but also artifacts, textiles, audio/visual content and art. Three separate panel
discussions will address the importance of researching and preserving LGBTQ history in
Mississippi, the experiences of LGBTQ people in Mississippi and the role art plays in Mississippi’s
LGBTQ history in culture.

Jackson/Hinds Library System—$3,000.00

Our Stories, We Remember: Oral Histories of the Jackson/Hinds Library System Eponyms

Oral history project to capture memories of the people for whom the Jackson/Hinds Library System
branches are named.

New Orleans Photo Alliance—$10,000.00

My Mind to Me a Kingdom Is: The Legacy of Dr. Jane Ellen McAllister

Documentary film project exploring the history of education, race relations and African American
studies through the life and work of Dr. Jane Ellen McAllister.

GRAMMY Museum—$4,000.00

Highway 61: Traveling America’s Music Highway

Free museum day for community members and visitors to tour a new contemporary exhibit
exploring the musical history along Highway 61 from New Orleans to St. Louis, including the
Mississippi Delta. An MHC grant would support a public panel discussion about the history of
Highway 61 and how the artists and the music of the Mississippi Delta contributed to the shaping of
other music genres including jazz, blues and rock and roll. Other grant-funded activities would
include a free exhibit viewing day and activities designed for students.

Alex Foundation—$5,729.50

Landmarks in Humanities: Teaching Architecture, History, and Culture with Historic Places

Free summer youth workshop engaging middle school students with local architecture, history and
culture. Programming will take place at The Belmont 1857, a former plantation home.

Walter Anderson Museum of Art—$10,000.00

Culture on the Open Road: Travel and Exchange in the American South

Following a similar model as past community outreach programs that inform the creation of a new
exhibition, the applicant proposes a series of public programs and dialogues focused on Mississippi
artist Walter Anderson’s bicycle travels across the Americas. Four public programs will explore
topics such as the history and art of the Highwaymen, a group of mostly self-taught African
Americans who devoted themselves to capturing Florida’s landscapes beginning in the late 1950s—
landscapes Anderson encountered on his bicycle trips through the Sunshine State. These
community dialogues will contribute to the vision for a new WAMA exhibit in early 2024, “The
Bicycle Logs.”

Coahoma Community College—$10,000.00

2023 Mississippi Delta Tennessee Williams Festival 

Annual festival examining the life and works of playwright Tennessee Williams. The 2023 festival
will explore two Williams’ plays, The Unsatisfactory Supper and Twenty-seven Wagons Full of
Cotton, upon which the controversial 1956 film Baby Doll was based. Festival activities will include
panel discussions featuring Williams scholars, a public screening of Baby Doll, a tour of the Baby
Doll house in Benoit, a performance of The Unsatisfactory Supper followed by a scholar panel
discussion and the annual student drama competition and porch plays.

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill—$5,000.00

Okay, Mr. Ray!

Documentary film about a beloved Vicksburg auctioneer and storyteller, Ray Lum, using footage
collected more than 50 years ago by recent MHC Cora Norman Award recipient and folklorist
William Ferris. The film project is presented as a tribute to the power of storytelling and oral
traditions to understand a particular place and time.

Jackson State University—$10,000.00

Phillis Wheatley Poetry Festival

Fiftieth anniversary celebration of a groundbreaking conference for Black women writers hosted
Margaret Walker at Jackson State University in 1973. While the festival is a ticketed event, an MHC
grant would support a free closing lecture by Walker biographer Dr. Maryemma Graham.

The following are regular grants awarded for the September 15th, 2022 deadline.

University of Mississippi —$7,500.00

The Twenty-Ninth Oxford Conference for the Book

Annual three-day event celebrating books, reading, and writing. The 2023 conference will explore a variety of topics, including ongoing work through research and books to illuminate a fuller history of slavery in the U.S. and the Caribbean South, the life and works of Oxford writer Larry Brown and the work emerging from the Mississippi poetry community.

Copiah-Lincoln Community College —$6,600.00

Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration

Annual event exploring southern history and culture through film and books. The 2023 festival theme will be “The Better Half: Fact, Fiction or Fable?” and will focus on the achievements of women and their contributions to a variety of sectors of home and civic life in the South and the nation. Public humanities events will include scholar panel discussions and author Q&A sessions.

Preserve Marshall County & Holly Springs, Inc. —$7,500.00

Behind the Big House Program & Tour

Educational tour of former slave dwellings, and related programs, offered in conjunction with annual pilgrimage of historic homes in Holly Springs. Both Joseph McGill of the Slave Dwellings Project and culinary historian Michael W. Twitty have again committed to participate, as well as Tammy Gibson, a professional storyteller whose work focuses on illuminating the African American experience. Events will include lectures, tours, antebellum cooking demonstrations and more. The MHC supported the creation of a 15-minute film telling the story of the BTBH project.

Mississippi College —$3,650.00

Mississippi Founders and Black Resistance

Speaker series to accompany MHC’s Mississippi Founders traveling exhibit at Mississippi College. Presentations will address topics related to the exhibit themes. Proposal requests honorarium for only one speaker, Dr. Kellie Cherie Carter Jackson of Wellesley College, who will speak from her book, Force and Freedom, which analyzes the history of Black abolitionism, as well as from her forthcoming book project on Black responses to white violence.

Austin Film Society —$7,500.00

It’s In the Voices

Documentary film project exploring the life and work of Daisy Greene, who led the Washington County (Mississippi) Oral History Project from 1976-1979.

University of Southern Mississippi —$7,500.00

Yakni Achukma Olka Achukma (Healthy Land, Healthy People)

Four public programs centered around a Medicine Wheel Garden, featuring indigenous and organic plant life, on the campus of the University of Southern Mississippi. Sessions will cover topics related to native plants and their traditional uses.

Dr. John Bowman Banks Museum —$5,000.00

St. Catherine Street, Natchez, MS: Yesteryear through Today

Multifaceted project to preserve and share the history of St. Catherine Street in Natchez, MS – a mini-version of Black Wall Street in Tulsa, OK. Applicant proposes two components for MHC support: development of a walking tour of the St. Catherine Street area and an oral history project with people who once lived in the area of St. Catherine Street.

The Bean Path —$5,450.00

The Meaning in Making for our Community: The Makers’ Narrative Toolbox

Planning grant to fund facilitated conversations with “makers” in west Jackson communities in the 39203 Zip Code area, which will inform future public programs and offerings at The Bean Path, whose outreach includes a “Makerspace”—a collaborative, community workshop space to engage Jackson in S.T.E.A.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art & Math) pursuits. Project partners include the Margaret Walker Center, the Mississippi Museum of Art and the Wolfe Studios & Foundation.

Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting —$5,000.00

Mississippi Banned Books Festival

Support requested for Spring 2023 event centered on the increasing practice of banning certain in the U.S. Planning partners include the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Institute and Millsaps College.

 

2021 Grants