LORMAN, MISS. – March 9, 2022 – In partnership with Alcorn State University, the Mississippi Arts Commission will host a panel discussion on “Folklife and the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi,” an online exhibit published by the Mississippi Folklife journal. The panel will explore the intersection of traditional arts, community and civil rights history.

The panel will take place on Tuesday, March 22 from 12:30-2 p.m. at the James L. Bolden Student Union Ballroom at 1000 ASU Drive 180 on the campus of Alcorn State University in Lorman, Miss.

The speakers for the panel are as follows:

Dr. J. Janice Coleman focuses on the activist side of B.B. King and describes the quilt she created to bring to light this lesser celebrated aspect of the famous blues musician in “Civil Rights and Civil Wrongs: Reflections on the B. B. King Blues Cotton Sack.”

Dr. Dave and Patty Crosby offer a visual presentation, entitled “Victory Day in Port Gibson,” which documents the origins of Victory Day, a celebration honoring a long-fought victory against oppression in Claiborne County.

Dr. Constance Bailey celebrates the Gulf Coast’s Black Spring Break and emphasizes the importance of Black recreation in Civil Rights history through her work, “Keeping the Civil Rights Movement Alive: Black Spring Break.”

This panel discussion celebrates the release of the “Folklife and the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi” exhibit from Mississippi Folklife’s recently launched exhibits page as part of a new initiative to expand the programming offered on the website. The exhibit was edited by Addie Citchens and Maria Zeringue and is accessible online at http://www.mississippifolklife.org/exhibits.

For more information about the panel program, please contact Maria Zeringue, Folk & Traditional Arts Director of the Mississippi Arts Commission at mzeringue@arts.ms.gov.

This project is possible thanks to the generous support of the Mississippi Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts.