PRISON BOOK CLUBS STREAM LIVE WITH JESMYN WARD

Mississippi Award winning author Jesmyn Ward discussing her latest novel with book club participants.

Two Mississippi Humanities Council prison book clubs enjoyed a unique opportunity to live-stream with a national award-winning author Jesmyn Ward last month.



Ward, who has won the National Book Award twice, joined the men of the Freedom Within Book Club at Mississippi State Penitentiary, Parchman, and the women of the Epic Dreamers Book Club at Delta Correctional Facility, Greenwood, on January 26. Both clubs have read all of Ward’s major works, including her latest novel, Let Us Descend. 

After spending an hour answering their questions, Ward praised the members. In a social media post, the Mississippi author wrote, “They called me back to myself…Thank you for reminding me of who I am, who I come from, and why I do this.”

“We have all stood firm on this journey of storytelling…So we would like to thank you, Ms. Jesmyn Ward…I couldn’t imagine what the book club would be without your works.”

Freedom Within book club participant

A spokesman for the Freedom Within Book Club prepared a formal thank you, explaining the unique connection the men feel with Ward’s works and describing her as “a master storyteller with captivating force.”

Calling her latest novel a masterpiece, he stated, “We have all stood firm on this journey of storytelling…So we would like to thank you, Ms. Jesmyn Ward…I couldn’t imagine what the book club would be without your works.”

MHC sponsors 11 book clubs in seven prisons, all led by humanities scholars. To allow time for in-depth discussions, typically a club spends four sessions on each book.

Dr. Ebony Lumumba, department chair and associate professor of English at Jackson State University, leads the Freedom Within Book Club. LaTonzia Evans, instructor of English at Mississippi Valley State University, facilitates The Epic Dreamers. 

Join us for an unforgettable evening celebrating leaders in public humanities! Get your tickets now for the 2024 MHC Public Humanities Awards, March 22nd at 5:30 pm at the Two Mississippi Museums in Jackson.

Making Sites of Memory

Grenada School Integration Freedom Trail Unveiling- Grenada; January 2024

Executive Director's Message

It was such a memorable day – a cold but sunny January morning in Grenada, Mississippi. Members of the MHC staff and I were there to help dedicate a new Mississippi Freedom Trail marker designating the site of the turbulent Grenada school integration.

The events the marker commemorates were traumatic – indeed it was one of the darkest chapters of the civil rights era. After a federal judge issued an order enforcing school integration in 1966, over 100 brave Black children went to school at Rundle High School and Horn Elementary School, which had previously been all White. A mob of 400 White adults, armed with pipes, axe handles, and chains, waited outside and proceeded to beat the children went they left school. They also attacked national reporters and photographers. Local police looked on and did little to stop the violence, which made the front page of the New York Times. No member of the mob was ever convicted of a crime. For weeks after the attack, parents escorted the children to school to protect them. National civil rights leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr. and Andrew Young, came to Grenada in September that year to accompany these students on their walk to school.

The dedication of an official Mississippi Freedom Trail Marker was the culmination of the longtime efforts by local leaders like Diane Freelon-Foster to remember and honor this history.

During the marker unveiling last month, a large group gathered across from the school where the violence took place. A list of 119 names of students who had courageously integrated the Grenada schools was read aloud. Several survivors of the incident spoke. I had the honor to speak as well. I noted that history is not what happened in the past, but rather it is events from the past that have been remembered and their records preserved. For a long time, the violence in Grenada was largely forgotten by the larger community. This was violence that could not be blamed on a small group of extremists, but rather it implicated a large part of the local White community. Perhaps it’s not surprising that many did not wish to revisit the past, but the students who endured it did not forget.

In 2016, the Mississippi Humanities Council gave a grant to a local organization to help them coordinate a series of events commemorating the 50^th anniversary of the Grenada school integration. We later helped fund an oral history project and documentary film about it. The dedication of an official Mississippi Freedom Trail Marker was the culmination of the longtime efforts by local leaders like Diane Freelon-Foster to remember and honor this history. As I stood among this large group on a street corner in Grenada, I realized these markers are more than just pieces of metal in the ground. They are a promise that these events will not be forgotten, that they will forever be a part of Mississippi history. As the commemorative t-shirts printed for the occasion read, we were “making a site of memory.” The Mississippi Humanities Council is proud to work with local communities across the state to preserve and share their vital histories and to create sites of memory that inspire us to confront our past and build a better future.

Dr. Stuart Rockoff

MHC Executive Director

Headlines

MHC Announces First Awards in New Documentary Film Grants Program

The Mississippi Humanities Council has approved the first awards in its new documentary film grant program. The new grant program was launched in December 2023 to support documentary filmmaking in and about Mississippi, and to strengthen the humanities content and approach of documentary film productions.

Following a rigorous review and a vote of the full MHC Board, the Council is pleased to announce $25,000 in support of three documentary film projects that explore the people and places that make Mississippi extraordinary. “The Council has supported documentary film projects for many years through its regular grants program, believing such films offer unique insight into the diverse lives and experiences of Mississippians,” said MHC Assistant Director Carol Andersen. “We are excited to create this new opportunity to support great storytelling through the power of documentary film.”

Mark Rankin, a filmmaker based in Vancouver, Canada, is among the recipients of the Council’s new documentary film grants for his project titled James “Super Chikan’” Johnson—A Life in Blues, on the life and career of the Clarksdale blues musician. “This grant helps us reach audiences that we feel would be most appreciative of our documentary—those from Mr. Johnson’s home state,” said Rankin. “This grant ultimately aids us in continuing to document a man who has given, and continues to give, so much to the Mississippi musical landscape.”

Documentary film grants are accepted annually in December. Please visit the Grants page on our website or contact Carol Andersen for additional information.

Projects awarded include:

Central Mississippi Blues Society, Inc.—$5,000

James “Super Chikan’” Johnson—A Life in Blues



A one-hour documentary on the life and career of James ‘Super Chikan’ Johnson of Clarksdale, MS. The film explores themes of nostalgia and memory within the genre of Delta Blues, the re-emergence of women as strong voices within Blues, the lasting historical impact of the Blues as a musical genre and the ongoing challenges facing working Blues musicians. It also features live performances by Super Chikan, interviews with several of his contemporaries such as Bobby Rush, Charlie Musselwhite, Andrew ‘Shine’ Turner and Cedric Burnside, as well as up-and-coming Blues artists such as Jaxx Nassar. The film raises questions about how socio-economic disparity affects not only Blues musicians, but people within the larger context of the Mississippi Delta.

Southern Documentary Fund—$5,000

UTICA



A documentary film examining how residents of Utica use farming and collaborative community development programs to fight food insecurity and disinvestment in their once thriving community. UTICA puts a face to issues surrounding food security and access, community development, and agriculture,” and explores how access to a life necessity — food — has been threatened for decades in this community. The film paints a portrait of life in rural, southern America while also exploring the idea and power in collaborative community building.

Create Foundation, Inc.—$15,000

POSSUM TOWN



POSSUM TOWN is a documentary film project exploring modern stories of Columbus as they relate to the historical photograph archive of O. N. Pruitt. The project is being completed in conjunction with the decades-long preservation and storytelling efforts of Dr. Berkley Hudson, whose book O.N. Pruitt's Possum Town: Trouble and Resilience in the American South was published by UNC Press in 2022. The film’s diverse documentary accounts of daily life serve as a mirror to those captured in Pruitt's vast collection and invite a conversation to consider the ways Mississippi—as well as the South and the world—has and has not changed in the years since Pruitt's work. POSSUM TOWN will be a full-length feature film.

Inside & Out: The Humanities and Mass Incarceration

A convening for state humanities councils and their community partners

The Mississippi Humanities Council will be among the presenters at a national conference hosted by Illinois Humanities in Chicago next month entitled “Inside & Out: The Humanities and Mass Incarceration.” The goal of the conference is to explore how humanities councils can engage with people and organizations most impacted by the carceral system and how the humanities community can work together to imagine a truly just future.

Carol Andersen, assistant director of the Mississippi Humanities Council and coordinator of the MHC’s prison education program, will help lead a conference session entitled “The Nuts and Bolts of Higher Ed in Prison.” The session will examine how state humanities councils can leverage their relationships to create and support college-in-prison programs, where to find funding for these programs, how to work with departments of corrections and understanding the academic needs of partner colleges and universities for delivering quality education programs inside prisons. The session will underscore the importance of creating curricula that are built around the humanities.

Up next: "Master of Light " March 10th at the Two Mississippi Museums

The film follows a painter, George Anthony Morton, whose time in prison shaped his inspirations for his art.

Stick around after the movie for panel discussion.



Sunday Screenings are always free and open to the public.

Master of Light Trailer

Part of the Southern Circuit, this program is sponsored by the Mississippi Humanities Council and the Mississippi Film Office.

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