Rebecca Tuuri’s Mississippi Humanities Council talk will explore how black women leaders of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) helped ensure democracy for all Americans in the 1960s. By running for Congress and leading a series of high-profile challenges to voting restrictions in the state, MFDP women built support for the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and later, pushed for its enforcement. Tuuri will highlight these women leaders themselves by including audio clips, written quotations, and images from the rich archival collections at Southern Miss. This talk will also emphasize the importance of reconceptualizing ideas about leadership given that black women’s fundamental political work often remained behind the scenes.
This event will be virtual and open to the public: https://usm-edu.zoom.us/j/93274768312
