May 2024 Newsletter

Executive Director's Message

Changing Lives Through Prison Education

I spent much of last week behind bars. It started on Monday with a long drive to Leakesville to visit the Life Builders Book Club at South Mississippi Correctional Institution. Led by Dr. Corinne Dekkers and Dr. Joe Peterson, the men discussed Tyehimba Jess’ remarkable Pulitzer-winning poetry collection Olio. The men dove into the book’s themes about the experience of Black minstrel performers in the years after the end of slavery, sharing insights about wearing masks before particular audiences and the importance of telling your own story. It was a rich, deep discussion.

On Wednesday, I traveled up to Parchman for Mississippi Delta Community College’s end of year completion ceremony, which has become one of the highlights of my year. We have been funding for-credit courses at Parchman for three years. So far, students have earned about 1200 total credit hours. During the ceremony, MDCC President Dr. Tyrone Jackson noted the students’ progress toward associate’s degrees and looked forward to future ceremonies in which the men would receive diplomas.

A few days later, I was at Central Mississippi Correctional Facility for the end of year party and ceremony for Hinds Community College’s program at the women’s prison. I helped the instructors serve the women a special early lunch of hamburgers and chicken tenders the Hinds staff had brought in. Their world history instructor, Eric Bobo, told the women he had never had more engaged and committed students. He had increased his assignments to them to match their energy and ability, and still each of his students aced the course. Dean Melissa Buie told the students about Sha'Metrice Thomas, who started her academic career at Hinds while she was at CMCF and had recently earned her associate degree at the Raymond campus after she was released. Several of the women were slated to be released in the next several months and all of them planned to continue their education on the outside.

But none of this would happen were it not for the commitment of the incarcerated men and women who are hungry for more educational opportunities.

To be honest, I was a little uncomfortable representing the MHC at these events since the achievements they are celebrating are the result of others’ efforts. Carla Falkner, our project coordinator for our prison education programs, attended additional ceremonies at Alcorn and Wilkinson County Correctional Facilities in the past few weeks. Carol Andersen, who oversees our prison education work, accompanied me to Parchman. Our partners at the Mississippi Consortium for Higher Education in Prisons and the Woodward Hines Education Foundation are working toward creating a sustainable statewide system of higher education in Mississippi prison that will eventually outgrow the Mississippi Humanities Council. Our major funders, including the Mellon Foundation and the McMullan/ O'Connor Foundation, have been the economic catalysts for these programs’ growth. But none of this would happen were it not for the commitment of the incarcerated men and women who are hungry for more educational opportunities. With our long list of partners, we are committed to providing them.

While some might see our prison education programs as straying from the essential mission of the MHC, I believe they reflect the best of the Council’s work: reaching underserved communities; centering the humanities in our programs; and using our web of connections to work in collaboration with our partners to build something much bigger than we could create on our own. These programs embody our core philosophy that the humanities are for everyone.

Dr. Stuart Rockoff

MHC Executive Director

Prison Education Offers Hope for the Future

Hope for the future was the dominant theme at the Mississippi Delta Community College completion ceremony at Mississippi State Penitentiary/Parchman on Wednesday, May 8.

With Mississippi Humanities Council support since 2021, students at MPS have earned 1,193 credit hours toward Associate of Arts degrees. At the ceremony, the Beta Omega Theta chapter inducted six new members into Phi Theta Kappa, the international community college honors society.

Opening the ceremony, MSP Superintendent Marc McClure told students, “Look at this as an opportunity, not a sentence…You still have an opportunity to make a difference in your life.”

MDCC President Dr. Tyrone Jackson reminded them, “Each of you is a true member of the Trojan family,” and provided updates on opportunities to complete their degrees.

Student speeches captured the sense of hope, “Today proves one thing for sure—nothing is impossible if you believe in yourself,” while another responded, “Thanks to this program, I now …have hope for the future.”

Struggling to overcome the stigmas of incarceration, one student emphasized, “We are warriors, we are men…we are Trojan kings making every effort to be positive examples for the next generation, especially our children.”

MHC Executive Director Dr. Stuart Rockoff described their impact on higher education in prison statewide. MHC’s support comes from the Mellon Foundation. After a Mellon program officer met with students at MSP and the Mississippi Correctional Institute for Women, the foundation agreed to fund a wider array of courses so students can complete degrees.

The ceremony was the first of several celebrations of incarcerated students’ success this spring. MHC also supports courses at Northeast Mississippi Community College at Alcorn County Correctional Facility, Hinds Community College at Central Mississippi Correctional Facility/MCIW, Southwest Mississippi Community College at Wilkinson County Correctional Facility, and Mississippi Valley State University at Bolivar County and Delta Correctional Facilities, and Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College at George County Correctional Facility.

The Mississippi Freedom Trail continues to grow as Henry Reeves' marker unveiling approaches in Benton County on June 4th. In a recent interview, Roy DeBerry, Reeves' former mentee, shares touching anecdotes and personal reflections, shedding light on why Reeves' legacy deserves this esteemed recognition. Press play for the full interview with MHC program and outreach officer John Spann and Roy Deberry.

Additional Freedom Trail Marker unveilings include:

Headlines

Final Stop for “Crossroads: Change in Rural America”

“Crossroads: Change in Rural America” has landed at its last stop in Mississippi -- Pontotoc! After traveling to Wiggins, Brookhaven, Marks, West Point, and Rolling Fork, the exhibit opened at the Pontotoc Community House on April 27th.

During the exhibition, the Pontotoc County Historical Society and partners have planned an array of free programs, including a discussion with Leah Kemp of Mississippi State University about communities coming together to create change, a book event with Pontotoc native Gerry Wilson for her historical novel That Pinson Girl, a presentation on Pontotoc’s agricultural history with Stanley Wise, and a discussion of the life-changing introduction of electricity to the county with Pat Ezzell, the official historian of the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Speakers Bureau Applications now Available Online

MHC Speakers Bureau applications are officially open online! The application, which can be found on our website, is open to any non-profit in the state of Mississippi.

The Speakers Bureau features some of our state’s finest historians, writers and storytellers covering a variety of topics related to Mississippi and beyond. From the works of Eudora Welty and Margaret Walker to the history of soul food and the impact of the Mississippi River, we have a speaker for your organization.

The Mississippi Humanities Council will pay a $300 honorarium to Speakers Bureau members for presentations to non-profits, at no cost to the organization.

For more information or to host a speaker, visit our website at mshumanities.org.

‘WZZQ the Movie’ About Iconic Jackson Radio Station to Air on MPB Monday, May 20

On Dec. 8, 1929, WJDX became the first broadcast radio station in Mississippi’s capital city and the first in the state to be affiliated with a national network: NBC. Over the decades the station transmitted a range of music genres, but one evening in 1968, after years of broadcasting easy listening and classical music, it began playing freeform progressive rock, something happening in only a handful of cities in the country such as Boston and San Francisco. By 1973 new studios had been built on Beasley Road and the station’s call letters were rebranded as WZZQ, and for the next seven years it was a musical north star and a creative crucible, inventing, then breaking, the rules of rock radio. Then it was gone, replaced by country station WMSI, better known as MISS-103.

“Only in retrospect can we fully appreciate the importance of the work and the impact WZZQ had on the youth of our state,” says filmmaker Ann Ford, who with producer Robbie Fisher and with support from the Mississippi Humanities Council, has created a documentary film about the iconic Jackson radio station. “It is a Mississippi story that has never been fully told,” Ford says.

The film includes interviews with WZZQ on-air personalities such as Perez Hodge, Sergio Fernandez, Bill Ellison and Randy Bell, as well as recordings of original broadcasts. The film explores how commerce and a changing media landscape brought the station success and contributed to its downfall. “It explores the complex relationship between the desire to make art and the need to make money,” Ford says. “It illuminates the forces behind how WZZQ came to be, how it ended and why it remains a vibrant thread in the culture 40 years later.”

Mississippi Public Broadcasting will host a special live screening event for “WZZQ the Movie,” Friday, May 17, in the MPB auditorium featuring a Q&A with filmmaker Ann Ford, producer Robbie Fisher and original WZZQ personalities Bill Ellison, Perez Hodge and Victor Hawkins. Although reservations for the free screening are now full, MPB will broadcast the premiere of the film Monday, May 20, at 8 p.m. on MPB.

Up next: "Rosenwald " May 19th at the Two Mississippi Museums at 2:00 pm

Rosenwald is a documentary on the incredible story of how businessman and philanthropist Julius Rosenwald joined with African American communities in the South to build schools for them during the early part of the 20th century. This historical partnership as well as the modern-day attempts to pressure the schools is an important, yet too little-known.

Stick around after the movie for a panel discussion. MHC executive director Dr. Stuart Rockoff will moderate a panel with Dr. Sylvia Gist, an expert on black education, Jennifer Baughn, chief architectural historian at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, and Dr. Sherita Johnson, director of the Center for Black Studies at USM.

Sunday Screenings are always free and open to the public.