At noon Wednesday, August 6, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Leslie-Burl McLemore, civil rights veteran and professor emeritus of political science at Jackson State University, will be joined by historians Jeff Kolnick, history professor at Southwest Minnesota State University, and Michelle Deardorff, professor of government and department head at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, for the History Is Lunch series. This panel will explore the struggle for voting rights in Mississippi, the state’s role in the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the implications of the Shelby v. Holder decision by the United States Supreme Court in 2013 in the Craig H. Neilsen Auditorium of the Two Mississippi Museums and will also stream live on the MDAH Facebook page and YouTube channel. Food will be provided by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Don't forget to also attend the Voting Rights Act 60th Anniversary gallery talk and flash tour, see our event calendar for more information, call 601-576-6850 or email info@mdah.ms.gov.
At noon Wednesday, October 1, Ellen Ann Fentress, author of The Steps We Take: A Memoir of Southern Reckoning and founder of Admissions and The Academy Stories websites, and Rita Watts Boone, a writer for Admissions, will discuss a powerful online collection of interviews, articles, and oral histories that document the experiences of individuals through the early years of public school integration, known as Admissions and Academy Stories, as part of the History Is Lunch series. These stories share personal experiences of those who attended private segregation academies as well as those who remained within the public school system during integration. This program will take place in the Craig H. Neilsen Auditorium of the Two Mississippi Museums and will also stream live on the MDAH Facebook page and YouTube channel. Copies of The Steps We Take will be available for sale with a book signing to follow. For more information, call 601-576-6850 or email info@mdah.ms.gov.