“When you’re in Mississippi, the rest of America doesn’t seem real. And when you’re in the rest of America, Mississippi doesn’t seem real.” –Robert “Bob” Moses – Co-Director – Council of Federated Organizations (COFO)

This quote is part of a video recently submitted by the College of Liberal Arts at Jackson State University called, “Looking @ Democracy”. It’s a national competition that offers a total of $100,000 in prize money for short media pieces that focus on democracy. The video begins with an excerpt from NBC’s Saturday Night Live’s “Weekend Update” skit with SNL’s Seth Meyers and comedian Kevin Hart poking fun at how Mississippi was among the last of several states with racist pasts to amend the Voting Rights Act of 1965:

Seth Meyers: And that’s why the Voting Rights Act covers all of Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Virginia.

Kevin Hart: And it should! Because let me tell you something, Seth. I wouldn’t go outside after dark in half of those states. To be honest with you, I wouldn’t go outside if it was cloudy in Mississippi! Really, I wouldn’t do it.

Seth Meyers: And look, we don’t mean to be hard on you, Mississippi, but you just ratified the amendment abolishing slavery two weeks ago. Not only did Mississippi wait 150 years after Lincoln, they waited six months after “Lincoln, the movie!, I mean, really!

Kevin Hart: Really!

The video continues, set to the sounds of an original rap song called “New Jim Crow,” by hip-hop artist and community activist Jason Thompson, aka Pyinfamous, and begins with a quote from Mississippi civil rights leader and SNCC founder Bob Moses. In 1962 Moses also co-founded COFO, a coalition of the major civil rights movement organizations operating in Mississippi, which is now operated by Jackson State as The COFO Civil Rights Education Center. The multifaceted operation is located within the JSU community, and reaches out to a new generation to educate, engage and empower the masses. The video addresses the perception of voter apathy among young people and then briefly highlights a grass roots student-run voter registration campaign, and takes a look at the important role the Margaret Walker Alexander Center has in fostering democracy. The video ends with a sample of the celebration of the rich culture and diversity of International Week, just a few of the many collaborations by Jackson State that strengthen and celebrate the freedom to engage in democracy.

The Looking @ Democracy video will be judged by professionals later this month. The deadline for the $5,000 Popular Choice Awards is May 15th, but there’s still time for you to vote! You can help Jackson State University win in 3 easy steps:

1. Click here to see the video.
2. Click the VOTE button
3. Enter your name, email address, and password (this password is used to give you access to follow the progress of the competition.
The video was spearheaded by Keith McMillian, Project Coordinator of the Fannie Lou Hamer Institute in partnership with the Margaret Walker Alexander Center and History Department, The COFO Civil Rights Education Center, Gallery1, Good As Gold Enterprise (GAGE), The Political Science Department and the Mass Communications Department.

 Click here to Register TODAY.

Click Here for 2013 Workshop Application

 DEADLINE HAS BEEN EXTENDED TO MAY 10, 2013

The Fannie Lou Hamer National Institute on Citizenship and Democracy will be conducting a two week-long summer workshop entitled The Southern Civil Rights Movement: The Pivotal Role of Young People. This event is scheduled for Monday, June 10 – Saturday, June 22, 2013, and will be held on the campus of Jackson State University, New Student Center, Ballroom B. The workshop will also feature field trips to civil rights landmarks in Jackson, MS and McComb, MS. Other benefits of the workshop include:

1. Free notebook and materials;

2. Free lunch , T-shirt and field trip provided by the Hamer Institute; and

3. A workshop ending program conducted by the Hamer Institute faculty and students.

If you have a child or know a child in middle school or high school (7th – 12th graders) who has not participated in this program previously, we are hoping that you will encourage him/her to apply for the workshop because we believe it is an outstanding way for them to advance socially and educationally over the summer break.

This two week-long workshop is designed for middle and high-school students (7th – 12th graders) interested in learning about the contributions and sacrifices made by people who were their age during the Civil Rights Movement. Participants in the intensive workshop will be guided through the history of the movement via lectures, oral history panels, and group and individual work. The workshop will also explore the nature of American democracy and how engaged citizens can advance democratic ideals in the face of resistance and oppression.

An application form, event flyer and workshop schedule are included on this page. We encourage you to duplicate these forms as needed and ask any students you may know to apply well in advance of the DEADLINE, which has been extended to May 10, 2013. Information about the Hamer Institute and materials concerning the workshop can also be obtained by visiting our website at www.jsums.edu/hamer.institute . For more information, please feel free to contact me at hamer.institute@jsums.edu or (601) 979-1562.

Disclaimer: The distribution of this material does not constitute an endorsement or an indication of support by the Jackson Public School District. Parents and students should determine for themselves if they want to use the services. The school district accepts no liability in this matter.

March 21, 2013

The JSU Reading Community

Native Son by Richard Wright

Dollye M.E. Robinson Liberal Arts Building Room 166/266

11:30am

Novel by Richard Wright published in 1940. The novel addresses the issue of white American society’s responsibility for the repression of blacks. The plot charts the decline of Bigger Thomas, a young African-American imprisoned for two murders–the accidental smothering of his white employer’s daughter and the deliberate killing of his girlfriend to silence her. In his cell Thomas confronts his growing sense of injustice and concludes that violence is the only alternative to submission to white society. 

February 21, 2013

Medgar Evers/Ella Baker Civil Rights Lecture Series

“Voting as a Constitutional Right in the 21st Century:

How Do We Institutionalize the 1965 Voting Rights Act?”

Jackson State University

H.T. Sampson Library

Java Cafe

6:30p.m.

www.jsums.edu/Hamer.Institute

Hamer.Institute@jsums.edu

601-979-1562

Murder, violence, terrorism and the attack by state troopers on peaceful marchers heading to the state capitol in Montgomery, Alabama, persuaded President Johnson to sign the voting rights act into law on August 6, 1965.  The Voting Rights Act itself has been called the single most effective piece of civil rights legislation ever passed by Congress. However, today, minority voters still face significant obstacles in registering to vote and casting ballots. Attempts to manipulate the law in ways that will disadvantage communities of color continue nationwide.

Panel Members Include:

Dr. Michelle D. Deardorff, Professor and Chair, Department of Political Science, Jackson State University

Mr. Rob McDuff, Civil Rights and Criminal Defense Attorney, McDuff Law Firm

Mr. Mike Sayer, Senior Organizer and Training Coordinator, Southern Echo

Mr. Ellis Turnage, Attorney, Turnage Law Office

February 20, 2013

The COFO Center Presents: “Black History Makers”:

Celebrating the Life and Legacy of Medgar Wiley Evers

Jackson State University

Dollye M.E. Robinson Liberal Arts Building Room 166/266

Jackson, Mississippi

10:00a.m. – 2:30 p.m.

COFO.Center@jsums.edu

Hamer.Institute@jsums.edu

On June 12, 1963, Medgar Evers made the ultimate sacrifice when his life was taken during the height of the Mississippi civil rights struggle.  From the Mississippi Delta to the Capital City, Evers made a significant impact on the direction of the movement, and his memory lives on.

Please join Jackson State University, the Institute for Social Justice and Race Relations at the COFO Civil Rights Education Center, and the Department of History and Philosophy as we commemorate the 50^th anniversary of Evers’ assassination and celebrate his life and legacy.

10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. – Keynote Address: Dr. Michael Vinson Williams, Author of Medgar Evers: Mississippi Martyr

1:00 p.m. – 2:15 p.m. – Student Paper Presentations

2:30 p.m. – 3:50 p.m. – Impressions of a Leader: Remembering Medgar Wiley Evers Panel Discussion

Special Guests include:

Colia Lafayette Clark, Special Assistant to Medgar Wiley Evers

Derrick Johnson, President of the MS State Conference of the NAACP

Yohance Myles, Assistant Professor, JSU Theater Department

Albert Sykes, Director of Advocacy and Policy, the Young Peoples Project

February 19, 2013

The JSU Reading Community

Medgar Evers: Mississippi Martyr by Dr. Michael V. Williams

COFO Center

6:00p.m.

Book signing and reception to follow

COFO.Center@jsums.edu

Hamer.Institute@jsums.edu

Civil rights activist Medgar Wiley Evers was well aware of the dangers he would face when he challenged the status quo in Mississippi in the 1950s and ’60s, a place and time known for the brutal murders of Emmett Till, Reverend George Lee, Lamar Smith, and others. Nonetheless, Evers consistently investigated the rapes, murders, beatings, and lynching’s of black Mississippians and reported the horrid incidents to a national audience, all the while organizing economic boycotts, sit-ins, and street protests in Jackson as the NAACP’s first full-time Mississippi field secretary. He organized and participated in voting drives and nonviolent direct-action protests, joined lawsuits to overturn state-supported school segregation, and devoted himself to a career that cost him his life.

This biography of a lesser-known but seminal civil rights leader draws on personal interviews from Myrlie Evers-Williams (Evers’s widow), his two remaining siblings, friends, grade-school-to-college schoolmates, and fellow activists to elucidate Evers as an individual, leader, husband, brother, and father. Extensive archival work in the Evers Papers, the NAACP Papers, oral history collections, FBI files, Citizen Council collections, and the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission Papers, to list a few, provides a detailed account of Evers’s NAACP work and a clearer understanding of the racist environment that ultimately led to his murder.

Panel Members Include:

Moderator: Dr. Rico Chapman, Assistant Professor of History, Jackson State University

Dr. Michael Vinson Williams, Author, Medgar Evers: Mississippi Martyr

Ms. Precious Vines, Graduate Student, History, Jackson State University