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• The most recent edition of the Hamer Happenings newsletter will be mailed in January 2009. A downloadable PDF version of the newsletter is available here.

• The National Endowment for the Humanities has funded our 2009 summer workshop for community college professors, Landmarks of American Democracy: From Freedom Summer to the Memphis Sanitation Workers’ Strike. Two separate one-week workshops will be conducted in June; the first will be held July 5-11, and the second July 12-18. More information will be posted to the Programs section of this website as soon as it is available.

• The consultation phase of our NEH grant “Interpreting the History of the Civil Rights Movement” was completed in December 2006. During this stage of the project, The Hamer Institute identified 110 Mississippi communities in which substantial civil rights activities occurred between 1960-68. The project grouped these communities into seven regions and also identified major themes and people who played historically significant roles during the movement. Future work on this project will involve the identification of historically significant sites and the development of interpretive tours and educational materials.

• The Hamer Institute was awarded the 2005 “Educator of the Year” award by the Mississippi Humanities Council. Pictured below are Jeff Kolnick, Dave Deardorff, Michelle Deardorff, and Leslie McLemore, receiving the award at the 2006 Mississippi Humanities Council’s annual banquet. (Photo courtesy of the Mississippi Humanities Council.)