In 2018, the Hancock Performing Arts Center received a grant for a series of lectures entitled, “The Struggle and the Music It Created.” The purpose of th eproject was to address race in Mississippi and to discuss the relevance of the music that defined the movement. The majority of the audience attending was students. After the lectures ended, Kevin Allemand, a history teacher, noticed a shift in conversations where his students were engaged in the civil rights movement and asking questions and making comments. He realized that placing the students in the historical context as they listened to the lectures was transformative. For the 2019 Spring semester, “The Struggle” conversations will continue by addressing equity in education in a series of three lectures and a poetry reading.
JANUARY 29: Robbie Luckett from Jackson State University will lecture and discuss “Equity in Education in MS.” He will address the history of education equity for the blacks, Choctaws, and Jewish, Italian immigrants who have struggled to overcome obstacles in their education. In addition, he will discuss the work of the sovereign commission.
