Mississippi Humanities Council Awards $80,000 in Grants

Jackson, Mississippi: The Mississippi Humanities Council is pleased to announce $80,000 in grants to 13 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 $80,000 to humanities programming around our state. The humanities programs funded in this major round support projects exploring history, literature, race, gender politics, and Native American culture.

Dr. Stuart Rockoff, executive director of the Mississippi Humanities Council, said, “We are pleased to be able to support these cultural programs throughout our state. These projects inform and enrich local communities by creating opportunities for Mississippians to understand themselves and share their stories with others.”

Humanities grants are awarded to Mississippi nonprofit organizations in support of programs that foster the public’s understanding of our rich history and culture.

“The Mississippi Humanities Council is excited to support so many creative and important initiatives through its humanities grants,” said Council Board Chair Dr. Wilma Mosley Clopton. “Today, there is a desperate need for understanding, civil discourse, and personal connection. Each of these projects, in its own way, helps to build a sense of community by fostering dialogue about our shared past and shedding light on the human condition.”

Major grants are offered twice each year. Deadlines are May 1 and September 15. Please visit https://mshumanities.org/grants/, or contact Carol Andersen, carol@mhc.state.ms.us, for additional information.

The organizations and projects that were awarded grants, listed by community, include:

Clarksdale:

Griot Arts, Inc.—$6,500
The Griot Interview Series
Student-focused project studying the craft of West African griots (traveling poets, musicians and storytellers who maintain a tradition of oral history).

Cleveland:

Delta State University—$6,500
Delta State University’s Winning the Race Conference 2019
Sixth annual conference to promote dialogue about race and race relations. The 2019 conference will focus on educational outcomes for children.

Greenwood:

Museum of the Mississippi Delta—$6,000
For All the World to See Exhibition Programming Component
Programming to accompany National Endowment for the Humanities exhibit, “For All the World to See: Visual Culture and the Struggle for Civil Rights,” examining the role visual culture played in the nation’s struggle for racial equality 1940-1970.

Gulfport:

Coast Transit Authority—$6,000
Transportation Development along the Mississippi Coast: Repurposing for the Future
Oral history project examining efforts to save the Gulfport Public Library building after it was severely damaged in Hurricane Katrina, now being repurposed as the new Coast Transit Authority headquarters.

Holly Springs:

Preserve Marshall County & Holly Springs, Inc.—$6,500
Behind the Big House program and tour (2019)
Educational tour of former slave dwellings, and related programs, offered in conjunction with annual pilgrimage of historic homes in Holly Springs.

Jackson:

New Hope Baptist Church—$4,000
“Back in the Day” Black History Celebration
Annual ecumenical Black History Celebration. The 2019 celebration will examine the status of youth engagement and how to better equip youths to play more active roles in our society.

Long Beach:

University of Southern Mississippi—$5,000
Representing the Experiences of Women, from the English Renaissance to Right Now
Series of events examining gender and sexual politics, historical and contemporary.

Meridian:

Rose Hill Company—$6,000
Historic Rose Hill Cemetery Costumed Tour
Project to develop stories for historical dramatizations about the lives of persons buried in a local cemetery.

Natchez:

Copiah-Lincoln Community College—$6,500
Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration 2019: We Are the Great River Road—Cultural Connections
Annual literary and cinema festival. The 2019 festival will examine cultural and historical connections linking Mississippi and Louisiana along the “Great River Road.”

Oxford:

University of Mississippi—$6,500
The Twenty-Sixth Oxford Conference for the Book
Annual literary conference based on the University of Mississippi campus. The 2019 conference will explore a range of topics, from literature from Southern photography the literature of the Appalachian South to the life and work of Frederick Douglass and writing on the lives of presidents.

Shaw:

Delta Hands for Hope—$7,500
StoryWorks: Hawkins v. Shaw
Oral history project to collect an estimated 50 interviews examining a landmark Supreme Court Case, Hawkins vs. Shaw (1969-1972), a historic class action civil rights lawsuit that set a national standard for local governments in providing equal access in the allocation of municipal services.

Woodville:

Woodville/Wilkinson County Main Street—$6,500
Wilkinson County Mound Sites: Field Facts & Artifacts
Museum exhibit and associated programming examining the history and anthropology of the earliest inhabitants of the Lower Mississippi Valley.

Statewide:

Mississippi Fiddlers’ Association—$6,500
WPA’s Southern Recording Expedition, 80 Years On—What is Still Practiced in Mississippi?
Film project retracing the route of a 1939 WPA recording expedition documenting Southern musical traditions, and highlighting those traditions still being practiced today.

The Mississippi Humanities Council is funded by Congress through the National Endowment for the Humanities to provide public programs in traditional liberal arts disciplines to serve nonprofit groups in Mississippi.

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