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Mississippi Humanities Council Newsletter - June 2020
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Executive Director's Message
Remembering Estus Smith in This Moment
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Stuart Rockoff
Executive Director |
Since the murder of George Floyd May 25th, the country has been experiencing what I've been calling "the moment," a time for all of us, but especially white people, to think deeply about the racism that continues to afflict our country. Many of us have learned racism is not simply an issue of personal prejudice, but rather something embedded into the systems that shape our daily lives-- including the jobs we have, the health care we receive, where we live, and where our children go to school.
Of course, for many of us in Mississippi, this is not news. We know well that for too much of our state's history black lives have not mattered as much as white lives. We know the rule of law did not protect black communities from white violence. We know African Americans had to organize and fight for equal citizenship rights, which were only won after the federal government imposed them. Mississippi still bears the burden of this history today.
As we have thought about how the MHC can meet this moment, our focus has been on actions rather than words. On this issue, we should be judged on how we serve and reach our state's African American community and other communities of color. Are we creating spaces for important conversations about continuing racial inequities in our state? Are we helping Mississippians understand this complicated history?
If this is a teachable moment, then we want to teach and prod people, especially white people, to see aspects of our state's history that have too often been ignored. Understanding this difficult history is crucial to our one day overcoming it. Our charge is to use the tools of the humanities to help uncover and explain the continuing problem of systemic racism.
In response to these recent events, we decided to use our social media platforms to explore how we got to this moment by focusing on how white supremacy has shaped Mississippi. If this is a teachable moment, then we want to teach and prod people, especially white people, to see aspects of our state's history that have too often been ignored. Understanding this difficult history is crucial to our one day overcoming it. Our charge is to use the tools of the humanities to help uncover and explain the continuing problem of systemic racism.
Wrestling with the legacy of white supremacy has been a major part of the MHC's work since its founding in 1972. The MHC has never shied away from addressing racial issues. We have always had strong relationships with African American institutions. Our board has always looked like Mississippi, still a rarity in our state. I inherited this legacy from our former executive directors, Dr. Cora Norman and Dr. Barbara Carpenter. But another central figure in this legacy was Dr. Estus Smith, who recently passed away.
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Dr. Estus Smith (right) pictured with Dr. Stuart Rockoff
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Dr. Smith received our inaugural Cora Norman Award in 2015 to honor his lifetime commitment to the public humanities. After growing up in Brookhaven, Dr. Smith graduated from Jackson State College in 1949. He later became a professor and administrator at his alma mater. Jackson State President Dr. John Peoples asked Smith to represent the college at a meeting at the National Endowment for the Humanities in Washington to discuss the creation of a state humanities council for Mississippi. In early 1972, Smith became one of the five founders of the Mississippi Committee for the Humanities, and for the next dozen years, was instrumental in its development. In 1977, he became chairman of the Mississippi Humanities Council board, leading the Council for five years.
During these crucial early years, Dr. Smith worked to ensure the MHC reached out to all segments of our state and addressed important contemporary issues; this philosophy was later encapsulated by our motto, "the humanities are for everyone."
In 1984, Dr. Smith left Mississippi to work for the Kettering Foundation in Dayton, Ohio, where he supported numerous education and community engagement projects around the country. After retiring in 2003, he came back home to Mississippi. Throughout his life and career, Dr. Smith demonstrated that the humanities can be a crucial tool in improving our state and our world.
And so, I end this message by honoring Estus Smith, who had the vision for what the MHC could be, and set us on a path so we could be ready to meet this moment.
I hope
his legacy of humanity can serve as a beacon during this difficult time.
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MHC Awards $460,000 in CARES Emergency Grants
The Mississippi Humanities Council has awarded 46 CARES Emergency Grants, totaling $460,000, to help support Mississippi cultural organizations affected by the COVID-19 crisis.
"We are very pleased to be able to direct these federal emergency funds to help the institutions that preserve and document Mississippi's unique cultural heritage while enriching the quality of life in our communities," said Dr. Stuart Rockoff, executive director of the MHC.
With funding from Congress through the National Endowment for the Humanities as part of the federal CARES Act, the MHC offered emergency grants of up to $20,000 to qualifying cultural organizations. Applications were received on a rolling basis starting April 15 and were reviewed weekly by a special committee made up of the MHC board chair, executive director, and the head of the council's grant review committee.
The emergency review committee awarded grants to a wide array of organizations across the state, from large museums like the Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson and the GRAMMY Museum in Cleveland, to small all-volunteer historical societies in Gulfport and Durant. The MHC was also able to support several small local arts organizations that did not qualify for CARES funding from the Mississippi Arts Commission or the National Endowment for the Arts. In all, MHC's CARES grants supported organizations in 25 different cities and towns.
The MHC's priority was to support staff and other operational costs for these organizations that have been forced to close to the public due to the COVID-19 pandemic. "Our goal was to use these federal relief funds to bolster employment in our state's cultural economy while helping these organizations 'keep the lights on' during this time of unprecedented challenges," said Sharman Bridges Smith, MHC chair.
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HumBox Creating Buzz Around Mississippi
The MHC's newest virtual program, HumBox, is now officially live and available for sites to host. Meridian's Arts and Entertainment Experience (MAX) will host the first HumBox program July 24 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. The program, to be conducted virtually, is free and open to the public but registration is required.
The MAX's program will examine the history and cultural legacy of pandemics and other public health emergencies. The HumBox, "A Useable Past: Pandemic History in the United States" was created by Dr. Amy Forbes, associate professor of History at Millsaps College. The MAX's HumBox program will be facilitated by Julian Rankin, Executive Director at the Walter Anderson Museum of Art in Ocean Springs.
The MHC created HumBox to keep communities engaged in the humanities despite being socially distant. HumBox is a digital resource box curated and compiled by the MHC and scholars that combines educational information, resources, and discussion questions on a variety of topics. Host organizations share the digital boxes with their community members and convene an online gathering, where a humanities facilitator guides the audience through the topic and fosters a discussion using the provided questions.
For more information on how to register for the MAX's HumBox program July 24, visit their
website. More information about HumBox topics and how to host a program in your community can be found on our
website.
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MISSISSIPPI HUMANITIES COUNCIL AWARDS NEARLY $60,000 IN GRANTS
The Mississippi Humanities Council is pleased to announce nearly $60,000 in grants to nine Mississippi organizations in support of public humanities programs. In addition to this direct support, each agency was required to present matching cash or in-kind cost share, pledging an additional $60,000 to humanities programming around our state. The humanities programs funded in this major round support projects exploring the legacies of Emmett Till and Tennessee Williams, the rise of all-white academies in Mississippi during the 1960s and 1970s, the history of the U.S. freedom education movement, the shared experiences of military veterans and a study of the American democracy through the lens of a presidential election in a north Mississippi county.
Dr. Stuart Rockoff, executive director of the Mississippi Humanities Council, said, "These projects will help document and interpret some of our state's difficult stories, celebrate our rich cultural heritage, and use the tools of the humanities to serve our military veterans and foster civic education. In a time of social distancing, these projects remind us of the ability of the humanities to connect us."
Humanities grants are awarded to Mississippi nonprofit organizations in support of programs that foster the public's understanding of our rich history and culture.
"Mississippi Humanities Council grants provide the financial resources for Mississippians to explore our past, discuss our present challenges and share our individual experiences with one another," said Council Board Chair Sharman Bridges Smith. "We are pleased to support these nine exceptional programs, taking place in locations across our state, examining important facets of our human experience."
The organizations and projects that were awarded grants, listed by community, include:
Clarksdale:
C
oahoma Community College-$5,000.00
2020 Mississippi Delta Tennessee Williams Festival
Twenty-eighth annual festival examining the life and works of playwright Tennessee Williams. The 2020 festival is scheduled to take place over three days at locations throughout Clarksdale and will use the play, Summer and Smoke, to illuminate connections between Williams' stories and the people and places that inspired many of them.
Greenville:
Winterville Mounds/Mississippi Department of Archives and History-$7,500.00
Native American Days 2020
Annual, youth-centered event celebrating the cultures of southeastern Native Americans by focusing on aspects of their lifeways.
Jackson:
Community Foundation for Mississippi-$7,500.00
The Academy Stories
Expansion of a web-based collection of personal accounts related to the rise of all-white academies in Mississippi.
The Southern Documentary Fund-$7,500.00
TEACH
Series of short films examining the legacy of the U.S. freedom education movement (Freedom Schools and Citizenship Schools). Public programs planned in Jackson and McComb.
Oxford:
North Mississippi Rural Legal Services-$7,500.00
North Mississippi Rural Legal Services: The People and the Litigation that Shaped Mississippi's History-Phase 2
Phase 2 of an oral history project to document the history of the NMRLS and its impact on the legal landscape of the state, involving issues ranging from desegregation and congressional redistricting to police brutality and employment discrimination.
Friends of Thacker Mountain Radio, Inc.-$4,050.00
Summer Radio Series
Production of three new summer season radio shows featuring three Mississippi literary
standouts: Pulitzer Prize-winning author Natasha Trethewey, Delta-based author Martha Foose and Oxford-based author Ace Atkins. The shows will also feature a variety of music from regional musicians.
University of Mississippi-$4,081.00
Community Conversations: War and Homecoming across the Humanities
Community dialogues exploring shared experiences among military veterans.
Yoknapatawpha Arts Council-$7,500.00
Oxford to the Ballot Box: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election
Multi-component project to engage audiences on the topic of elections and democracy. Program components include film screenings, roundtable discussions, lectures, exhibits, community forums and website and social media content.
Emmett Till Memorial Commission-$7,500.00
Commemorating Emmett Till
Project to generate recorded content for a mobile app and a multimedia traveling exhibit commemorating the life and death of Emmett Till.
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Speaker Interview: Dr. Deanne Stephens
The MHC is happy to welcome its newest board member, Dr. Deanne Stephens to the Council!
Stephens earned her Ph.D. in American history from the University of Southern Mississippi, and continued post-graduate work in history and political science. She has been an associate professor of History at the USM Gulf Park campus since 2000, and served as Director for the Katrina Research Center from 2009-2015.
Stephens:
I first became interested in health issues in Mississippi when I was an undergraduate history student at the University of Southern Mississippi. I took a Mississippi history class that introduced the topic briefly in discussing the settlement of the various regions of the state and how disease impacted that settlement. No particular diseases were mentioned, so I began looking into major health influences in Mississippi's early history. This is when I learned of the influence of yellow fever in the history of the state.
MHC:
What kind of records did you use to gather information on the history of yellow fever in Mississippi?
Stephens:
I have been the beneficiary of Mississippians' love of history. Many families have private papers and family Bibles that record generations of members. With the generosity of people across the state, I was able to access these private family resources in completing my work. I also used the extensive records at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, the Mississippi State Department of Health, and countless libraries in every county of the state. In researching context, I journeyed to the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, to research yellow fever across the South.
MHC:
Do you draw any parallels from Mississippi's history of dealing with epidemics to the current pandemic? Has studying the past helped you navigate the current climate?
Stephens: In today's pandemic of COVID-19, many parallels exist between the yellow fever epidemics that plagued Mississippi in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Both are viruses that impact people's health. Another example is that quarantine was one method that earlier Mississippians enacted to protect themselves. Shotgun quarantines were often created around entire towns to keep "strangers" out of the area. With no understanding of the germ theory or knowledge of viruses in the mid-and early 19th century, citizens lived in fear of who would contract yellow fever disease. That sense of fear is ongoing as we live through COVID-19.
Understanding past epidemics helps in some ways to comprehend how people and governments will react in modern times. With medical advancements, however, citizens today have modern techniques and medicines, but just as in the past, a virus brought the state to a standstill in many ways--economically, politically, and socially.
MHC: Do you have any reading recommendations that relate to either of your talks?
Stephens: Yes, my recommended readings: Plague Among the Magnolias: The 1878 Yellow Fever Epidemic in Mississippi by Deanne Stephens; The State of Health and Health Care in Mississippi, edited by Mario J. Azevedo; Two Hundred Years of Pharmacy in Mississippi by Leslie Caine Campbell; Goldberger's War: The Life and Work of a Public Health Crusader by Alan M. Kraut; A Black Physician's Story: Bringing Hope in Mississippi by Douglas L. Conner
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Upcoming Virtual Speakers Bureau Programs
The Mississippi Humanities Council believes the safety and well-being of Mississippians should be top priority in this unprecedented time. While public gatherings are currently limited, we've been working closely with organizations to provide virtual programming through our Speakers Bureau program.
The lectures will take place over Zoom, so be sure to visit the website calendar for information on how to join each meeting. Upcoming lectures include:
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Dr. Shennette Garrett-Scott |
Dr. Shennette Garrett-Scott, Black Women and the Suffrage Movement in Mississippi, 1863-1965
Friday, June 26, 12:00 p.m.
Hosted by Madison County Library System
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.
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Mary Carol Miller
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Mary Carol Miller,
Lost Mississippi
Friday, July 17, 12:00 p.m.
Hosted by Yazoo Library Association
This talk highlights mansions, churches, college buildings, schools, courthouses and other historically significant structures which Mississippi has "lost" to war, fire, neglect and demolition.
Ellen Meacham,
Delta Epiphany: RFK in the Mississippi Delta
Hosted by First Regional Library System
Friday, July 24, 12:00 p.m.
Drawing upon archival research and interviews, Meacham's presentation outlines Robert Kennedy's 1967 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.
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#HumanitiesAtHome
In lieu of our typical "Upcoming Events" section, the MHC staff is providing recommendations for books, series, movies, podcasts and other modes of entertainment that can help you explore the humanities from your h
ome.
CAROLINE
I'm in between books right now, so I have spent the last few days catching up on the
Code Switch podcast from NPR. Each episode uses racism as a way to reexamine and reframe current and historical issues. It's an honest approach that shows how pervasive and ever-present racism is in our society and consistently leaves me reevaluating my own inherent prejudices, biases, and privilege.
CAROL
What I'm reading: On the recommendation of a friend, I am reading E.B. White's
On Democracy. I have always been deeply interested in how democracies work, and particularly, how our American democracy was framed and how it has functioned during the nearly 250 years since. I especially love this sentence from a piece White wrote about democracy for
The New Yorker in 1943: "It is the feeling of privacy in the voting booths, the feeling of communion in the libraries, the feeling of vitality everywhere." (By the way, yes, this is the same E.B. White who wrote
Charlotte's Web.)
What I'm watching:
Laurel Canyon (via Epix), a docuseries about the legendary musicians who inhabited the Hollywood Hills neighborhood in Los Angeles during the late '60s and early '70s. The series includes original interviews with Jackson Browne, Graham Nash, Bonnie Raitt, Linda Ronstadt, Don Henley, Michelle Phillips, Roger McGuinn and a lot of other artists I grew up listening to, and still do. This is a straightforward documentary, not a theatrical collection of covers like those offered in the 2018
Echo in the Canyon.
MOLLY
Some friends and I got together to create a virtual book club focused on Layla F. Saad's
Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor. It's a 28-day challenge that
leads readers through a journey of understanding their white privilege and participation in white supremacy, so that they can stop (often unconsciously) inflicting damage on black, indigenous and people of color, and in turn, help other white people do better, too.
I'm listening to season three of
Serial, which follows several different cases in varying courthouses across Cleveland, OH: "
Inside these ordinary cases we found the troubling machinery of the criminal justice system on full display. We chose Cleveland, because they let us record everywhere-- courtrooms, back hallways, judges' chambers, prosecutors' offices. And then we followed those cases outside the building, into neighborhoods, into people's houses, and into prison.
We watched how justice is calculated in cases of all sizes, from the smallest misdemeanor to the most serious felony."
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