The Jackson State University
Margaret Walker Alexander National Research Center
40th Martin Luther King Birthday Convocation

“From King to Obama:

New Challenges for the 21st Century”
Friday, January 16, 2009
10:00 a.m.
Rose E. McCoy Auditorium

Dr. Dolphus Weary,

President of Mission Mississippi
Dr. Mark Henderson and MADDRAMA
The Award Winning Jim Hill Choir

11:45 a.m.
The Isaac Byrd “For My People” Awards
Jackson State University New Student Center, Ballroom A
Luncheon Speaker

Dr. Ronald Mason, Jr.,

President, Jackson State University

Award Recipients
Mr. Fred E. Carl, Jr., Founder of Viking Range Corp.,
Dr. Dolphus Weary, Author of I Ain’t Comin Back,
Mrs. Okolo Rashid, Co-Founder Intl. Museum of Muslim Culture,
Mr. Jimmy Travis, Chairman,

Mississippi Civil Rights Veteran Documentation Project,

IMS Engineers

1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Robert G. Clark, Jr. Symposium
Jackson State University New Student Center, Ballroom A

Speaker
The Honorable Robert G. Clark, Jr.,

MS House of Representatives, 1968-2003
“Mississippi Politics:

King’s Dream, Clark’s Reality and Obama’s Fulfillment”

Respondents
Mrs. Elise Winter, Mississippi First Lady, 1980 -1984
Dr. Hilliard Lackey,

Historian & President Jackson State National Alumni Association
Judge Bob Waller, Jackson Municipal Court

~ Shelia Bonner

The Mystic Years

Don't you love this term Dr. Harrison introduced in her presentation!

I very much appreciate Dr. Harrison's historical prespective presentation since I grew up in middle Tennessee. It was a refresher which placed things in a timeline that I had missed since my Mississippi history comes piecemeal from books read.

While discussing this brief era of enlightenment after the Civil War, I was reminded of a book I read last summer. The title is Redemption: The Last Battle of the Civil War by Nicholas Lemann. Author Lemann presents an unbias account of this time period by writing as if he were there watching it unfold. Readers will get both sides of each turning point such as the Easter Sunday Massacre of 1873 in Colfax, Louisiana, where a genteel, white lady writes of her knowledge versus actual interviews conducted with the surviving black families. I consider the book enjoyable narrative nonfiction of heart-wrenching events.

As if you need more to read! *smiles* ~ Maggie

Mississippi Civil Rights Timeline

The format for Dr. Harrison's timeline was changed in order to fit within this post. Blogger is not a big fan of tables. The dates appear in the left margin with national events centered in red and the Mississippi events in blue on the right margin. Please leave a comment if I need to change something.

1948

April - Gladys Noel Bates files suit for equal pay

1954

Brown vs. Wade

July - White Citizen Council formed
September - Medgar Evers denied into U. of MS Law School
December - Evers becomes NAACP Field Secretary

1955

Montgomery Bus Boycott

May - Rev. George Lee shot and killed
August - Lamar Smith shot in Brookhaven

August - Emmett Till murdered

1956

State Legislative Session establishes and funds MS State Sovereignty Commission

1957

Little Rock Crisis

Clyde Kennard attempts to enroll at the U. of S. MS

1959

April - Mack Charles Parker killed and no one tried
April - Gilbert Mason, Sr. led a wade-in of Biloxi beaches

1960

Civil Rights Act

Sit-ins at Greensboro, NC

Election of JFK

1961

Freedom Rides

March - Arrest of Tougaloo 9
September - Murder of Hubert Lee
October – McComb HS students jailed

1962

Anniston bus bombing

September – University of Mississippi Riot

1963

MLK arrested in Birmingham

March on Washington

Birmingham church bombing

Assassination of JFK

May - Tougaloo students attacked for sit-in at Woolworth’s lunch counter

June - Assassination of Medgar Evers

1964

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Democratic Ntl Convention

Freedom Summer

June - Neshoba County killings

1965

Assassination of Malcolm X

Bloody Sunday Selma, AL

Voting Rights Act

1966

Black Power Movement

Black Panther Party formed

January - Murder of Vernon Dahmer

June - Meredith March

1967

Thurgood Marshall appointed 1st black Supreme Court Justice

Robert Clark becomes first black to be elected

to the MS House of Representatives since Reconstruction

1968

Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.

1969

Meridian church bombing
Integration of Highland Park Pool in Meridian
Desegregation of Public Facilities in multiple communities

1970

School Desegregation

After typing this timeline, I was reminded of my town's embarrassing history. The 1970 desegregation of schools apparently scared community members and a decision to tear down the beautiful school was made. Some of the school's bricks now fill in the foundation of our 1873 home. A building to educate Mississippians now holds up one house; although, I think the recycling is nice I would rather see the school intact. ~ Maggie

Miss Welty at 83

Dr. Harrison asked if someone would post pictures of Eudora Welty as she looked in 1983 when One Writer's Beginnings was published. I found a picture of her taken by Tannen Maury for the Associated Press in 1992 that would be nine years after her autobiography. Does anyone else have a picture they would like to share? A personal one would be grand!

I found this picture at my favorite blog for book news, Shelf Life.

Margaret Walker Alexander National Research Center

On Thursday, December 4, 2008, the Margaret Walker Alexander National Research Center will hold it's 16th Annual Dinner Theatre. There will be a special appearance by Dorothy Moore. Entertainment will be provided by the Central Mississippi Blues Society Band. "Proceeds from the Dinner Theatre support the Margaret Walker Alexander NEH Endowment that assist in caring for the Alexander papers, sponsoring interpretive programs, hiring graduate students and purchasing archival supplies. For more information, contact Dr. Alferdteen Harrison or call 601-979-2055.