Jackson, MISS. – March 30, 2022 – In partnership with The Margaret Walker Center at Jackson 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 Tuesday, April 12 from 6-7:30 p.m. at the COFO Civil Rights Education Center located at 1017 John R. Lynch St. on the campus of Jackson State University in Jackson.

The speakers for the panel are as follows:

Dr. Wilma Mosley Clopton explores the values and traditions of organizing and activism that are passed down within families through her presentation “Generational Courage.”

Dail Chambers presents the story of her family quilting tradition and the community activism that inspired her to create a quilt as a response to the Ferguson Uprising in “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot: Ancestral Quilting for the Future.”

Dr. Robert Luckett focuses on the incredible life of Dr. Doris Derby, a photographer, teacher and activist who documented the civil rights movement in Mississippi in “Doris Derby: The Lifework of an Activist and Artist.”

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 and traditional arts director, at 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.