skip to main content

February 2023

“Blackout: The Continuing Assault against Black Bodies” – Barbara Harris Combs

Wednesday, February 1

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM

Virtual Event – Register here

Blackness in a society built largely on anti-Black sentiments simultaneously renders Black bodies both a heightened sense of visibility and invisibility in society. In this talk, Combs shares insights from her new book, Bodies out of Place: Theorizing Anti-Blackness in US Society, which examines practices of racial entrenchment as they have manifested in post-Obama expressions of anti-Blackness in discursive, legal, interactional, and extralegal contexts. Combs examines recent incidents of everyday racism against Black persons (the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, the Central Park birding incident, various cases on college campuses, among others) to arrive at a theorization of what expectations about bodies, space, and belonging tell us about the way racism is perpetuated in US society.

Barbara Harris Combs is professor of sociology and chair of the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at Kennesaw State University. Combs is also the author of From Selma to Montgomery: The Long March to Freedom. Her forthcoming book, Black Places and Spaces of Political Empowerment, with coauthors Todd C. Shaw and Kirk Foster, is under contract with Oxford University Press.

Center for the Study of Southern Culture

photo of Dr. Obianiyu Njoku and information on the Sarahtalk event

Sarahtalk event information

Sarahtalk: Beyond the “Subaltern: Sounding Sexual Revolt and the Discourse of Oppression among Muslim Women 

Thursday, February 2

4:00:00 PM – 5:00:00 PM

LGBTQ Lounge, 4th Floor, Lamar Hall 

This presentation explores how the compendium of music performance, sexual innuendos, comical euphemisms, and other performative mechanisms are invoked in the music-making praxis of Muslim women. I excavate this discourse through the performance of senwele music— a women’s music form in Ilorin, which is commonly fraught with contestation against a background of its sexually suggestive text.

The Sarah Isom Center for Women and Gender Studies

Spring 2023 Educator Recruitment Day

Friday, February 3

8:30:00 AM – 11:00:00 AM

Jackson Avenue Center Ballroom

Schedule of Events:

8:30 am – 11:00 am: Career Fair ( interviews will be scheduled during this time)

11:45 am – 3:30: Interviews (conducted in the ballrooms of The Jackson Center on Jackson Ave scheduled by school representative during fair)

Please note: You do not need to register for afternoon interviews, but ONLY the fair. Schools will set up interviews during the fair and provide the time. Please bring copies of your resume and meet school representatives. PROFESSIONAL DRESS REQUIRED. Questions about the career fair? Contact the Career Center at 662-915-7174. 

Career Center

Red dots at the top with information on the next level pop up shop

Next Level Pop Up Shop presented by social responsibility and engagement in athletics

Next Level Pop-Up Shop

Friday, February 3

6:00:00 PM – 8:00:00 PM

C.M. Tad Smith Coliseum, Coliseum Dr., University, MS , 38677

The Social Responsibility and Engagement Unit – Department of Athletics would like to cordially invite you to our 2nd Next Level: Pop-Up Shop. We are excited to be joined by local community members and students of the university, as they offer a wide variety of products and services for the L.O.U. Community to purchase from.

Social Responsibility and Engagement Unit – Department of Athletics

Sites of Resistance, Sites of Healing

Saturday, February 4

In connection with the commemoration of 60 years of integration this academic year, join us as we visit sites in Mississippi to reflect on the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement. Leaving from Oxford, MS, we will travel to Jackson, MS, stopping at the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum. Here we will learn about the history of the Civil Rights Movement in the state of Mississippi between 1945 and 1970. We will also stop by Jackson State University to visit the COFO Civil Rights Education Center and the Margaret Walker Center. Here we will learn more about COFO efforts in organizing the 1963 Freedom Vote, the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, and the 1964 Mississippi Summer Project, along with the impact and legacy of African American history and culture.  

The trip is open to all UM students, faculty, staff, and LOU community residents. Space is limited. A $20 deposit is required to reserve a spot. Information on how to submit the non-refundable deposit will be sent to those who are accepted to participate. Please complete this form if you’re interested in participating.

Division of Diversity and Community Engagement

Family Activity Day: Black History Month Series: A look into southern Black people’s rich tradition of Folk Art

Saturday, February 4

10:00:00 AM – 12:00:00 PM

University Museum

Black History Month Series: A look into southern Black people’s rich tradition of Folk Art. Art of the people, for the people, and by the people! Folk Art is made by artists whose creative skills tell tales about their community’s authentic cultural identity. Everyone in the family, adults and children, will embrace their inner Folk Artist and create artwork using non-traditional materials and expressive subject matters. Venture into the Museum to learn and make art inspired by fabulous folk artists like Clementine Hunter, Luster Willis, M.B. Mayfield, LV Hull, and more. Free, open to all ages, pre-registration is not required, free refreshments.

University Museum and Center for Inclusion and Cross Cultural Engagement

flyer with a photo of Dr. Charles Ross on the right and save the date information on the left.Crossing the Lines: Soul Food Dinner – A Trip Down History Lane

Monday, February 6 

6:00:00 PM – 8:00:00 PM

Location: TBA

The Social Responsibility and Engagement Unit under the Department of Athletics would like to cordially invite you as we begin our year, in celebration of Black History Month. We are excited to host an opportunity of fun, fellowship and Black History. During this event, we will be guided in an Open Forum Discussion, focusing on the Black History of the United States, the Black History of the Univ. of Mississippi, with context on the First African-American Student-Athletes to earn scholarship. Dr. Charles K. Ross, Author and Professor of History and African American Studies, here at the University of Mississippi, will be our facilitator for the evening. There will also have an opportunity to partake in some of the rich food traditions passed down through history, first come, first served.

To RSVP, please have them fill out the link below: https://forms.gle/7gJfdVayvnvC8Xgn6

Social Responsibility and Engagement Unit under the Department of Athletics

Photo of Ada Límon

What poetry can do lecture with Ada Límon

“What Poetry Can Do” with US Poet Laureate Ada Limón

Tuesday, February 7

5:30:00 PM – 6:45:00 PM

Fulton Chapel 

Ada Limón will be delivering the Baine Lecture. Ada Limón is the author of six books of poetry, including The Carrying, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry. Limón was also the host of the critically-acclaimed poetry podcast, The Slowdown. Her new book of poetry, The Hurting Kind, is out now from Milkweed Editions. She is the 24th Poet Laureate of The United States. She will be signing books before the event, starting at 4:30 PM, please wear a mask.

The Department of English at the University of Mississippi is pleased to continue its lecture series that invites the best and brightest scholars and writers to our campus. The Baine lecturers and writers are chosen on the basis of energetic and engaged scholarship and creative work, innovative approaches, and dynamic presentation styles. The lectures showcase paradigm-shifting research and groundbreaking writing. The visiting scholars and writers are intended to expose undergraduates to the fullness of a life deeply engaged in literature while inspiring graduate students to pursue ambitious work.

Department of English presents the Eleventh Annual Lecture of the Edith T. Baine Lecture Series for Scholars and Writers, Co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of Southern Culture

Pasta Salad Cooking Demonstration

Tuesday, February 7

6:00:00 PM – 7:00:00 PM

William Magee Center for Wellness Education Kitchen

Join the William Magee Center for two free cooking demonstrations during the month of February! Any University of Mississippi student can participate, and you are encouraged to bring your friend, roommate, or partner. All ingredients and cooking supplies are provided, and everything you cook is yours to take home! [Sign-up Form]. Sign-up now as spots are limited! Please share any food sensitivities or restrictions in the form with at least 48 hours notice. Contact Sadie Britton at stbritto@go.olemiss.edu if you have any questions.

William Magee Center for Wellness Education

Study Abroad Fair

Wednesday, February 8

10:00:00 AM – 2:00:00 PM

Gertrude C. Ford Ole Miss Student Union Ballroom

Do you want to study abroad? Come visit the Study Abroad Fair in the Student Union Ballroom! There will be representatives from various UM Study Abroad partners to speak with you about all of the opportunities related to studying abroad with Ole Miss! Study Abroad programs are offered throughout all terms including summer, intersessions, semesters, and academic year – all for academic credit! Come meet to discuss and learn about how studying abroad can fit into your degree! We are open to all majors on campus! 

Study Abroad Office

Desiree Dawn Kapler Artist Talk

Wednesday, February 8

11:00:00 AM – 12:00:00 PM

Meek Hall Gallery 130

Desiree Dawn Kapler is a Southern artist and filmmaker. She grew up in Mississippi, attending Hinds Community College and the University of Mississippi, where she received her BFA in Imaging Arts. She then received an MFA in Photography and Film from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2017. She is a childhood cancer survivor and self-proclaimed feminist artist, and her work centers primarily around physical and mental health, stemming from her personal perspective as a woman growing up in the lower-class with medical hardships and generational trauma. In 2013, Desiree exhibited work at the San Antonio Public Library for the Making Herstory exhibition. In 2014, she was awarded a scholarship from the Mississippi State Committee of the National Museum for Women in the Arts. In 2015, Kapler presented a sculptural performance piece in the Feminine Cartographies exhibition for the Isom Center Gender Conference in Oxford, MS. In 2018, below the neck, above the knees won Best Experimental Film in the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival. Her work has screened nationally and internationally in festivals such as Dallas VideoFest, Leiden International Short Film Experience, Indie Grits, and Cincinnati’s Fotofocus Biennial. Desiree is also an art educator and has recently collaborated the Vicksburg Juvenile Detention Center, where she produced artwork, including murals, with detained students. She currently resides and creates in Vicksburg, MS with her dog, two cats, and rabbit. She works as a video producer in Corporate Communications for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC). Snacks will be provided!

Dept. of Art & Art History

​​“I Don’t Wanna Say the Wrong Thing! How to Reconcile with Race in the Classroom” – Frederick Gooding Jr.

Wednesday, February 8

12:00:00 PM – 1:00:00 PM

Tupelo Room, Barnard Observatory

Discussing topics centering around race can often be awkward and uncomfortable—but it doesn’t always have to be! Uncover and discover how we are closer to racial reconciliation than we think by learning the three key steps we can take inside of our classrooms. This session will persuade attendees to reflect upon their campus practices and consider additional ways in which they can provide welcoming and culturally relevant institutionalized experiences for both their current and future students. Frederick Gooding Jr. is an associate history professor and the Dr. Ronald E. Moore Endowed Professor of the Humanities at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. Featured in national publications such as the New York Times and USA Today, Gooding critically analyzes images within mainstream culture and engages audiences on racial patterns hidden in plain sight. “Dr. G,” as he is affectionately known, has also provided social commentary on CBS, NBC, and Fox News networks, and served as inaugural Chair of TCU’s Race & Reconciliation Initiative.

Center for the Study of Southern Culture

Heart healthy relationships

Relationship workshop flyer

Healthy Relationships Workshop

Wednesday, February 8 

4:00:00 PM – 5:00:00 PM

Gertrude C. Ford Ole Miss Student Union – Room 326

Join The Center for Inclusion & Cross Cultural Engagement & VIP: Survivor Support Services for a Healthy Relationships Workshop on February 8th, from 4-5p.m in the Student Union room 326. This workshop will allow participants to exploring personal boundaries, practice communication creating personalized communication toolbox, identify green, gray and red flags exploring healthy and unhealthy relationship characteristics. Participants will be invited to engage in individual reflection, small group and large group discussion across different topics throughout the workshop.

Please feel free to reach out to VIP Program Manager, Christin Dobbs at : cdobbs@olemiss.edu for further information or questions regarding the workshop.

Registration Required: Registration Form

VIP: Survivor Support Services & Center for Inclusion and Cross Cultural Engagement

Film Screening: Promised Land: A Story about Mound Bayou

Thursday, February 9

5:30:00 PM – 7:00:00 PM

Overby Auditorium, Overby Center for Southern Journalism and Politics (555 Grove Loop)

Description: In 1887 two formerly enslaved cousins bought 840 acres of swampland in the Mississippi Delta. Benjamin T. Green and Isaiah T. Montgomery used the site to found Mound Bayou, which went on to prosper as the largest and most self-sufficient all-Black town in the United States. Promised Land: A Story about Mound Bayou “not only tells the history of Mound Bayou, it celebrates the achievements of its residents and contributes to the conversation about its future,” said Claire Winn, director of programs for the Mississippi Heritage Trust, which funded the project alongside the National Park Service and others.

A discussion and Q&A will follow the film screening. Castel Sweet, director of UM Center for Community Engagement, will moderate the discussion, and W. Ralph Eubanks, the Black Power at Ole Miss Faculty Fellow at the Center for the Study of Southern Culture, will provide opening remarks. Sweet and Eubanks are joined by Mound Bayou-natives and community leaders, Hermon Johnson Jr., Darryl Johnson, and Hermon Johnson Sr. 

Hermon Johnson Jr. is a Mound Bayou native. To support the revitalization of Mound Bayou and the Mississippi Delta area, he cofounded the Mound Bayou Movement nonprofit with his brother, Darryl Johnson, and his father, Hermon Johnson Sr. Hermon is now the executive director of the Mound Bayou Museum of African American Culture and History.

Darryl Johnson is the founding pastor of the Walk of Faith Covenant Church. He is a former mayor of Mound Bayou, one of five founders of Historic Black Towns and Settlements Alliance, and vice president of World Conference of Mayors.

Hermon Johnson Sr. is referred to by many as “the man behind the scenes.” After graduating from Southern A&M College and serving in the military, he moved to Mound Bayou, where he originally worked as a field officer for the Magnolia Mutual Life Insurance Company under Dr. T. R. M. Howard, replacing Medgar Evers. Hermon is former vice mayor of Mound Bayou and cofounder and former president of Delta Housing and Development Corporation. 

Center for the Study of Southern Culture and the Center for Community Engagement

Step Afrika!

Monday, February 13

7:30:00 PM – 8:30:00 PM

Gertrude C. Ford Center for the Performing Arts

Step Afrika! blends percussive dance styles practiced by historically African American fraternities and sororities; traditional West and Southern African dances; and an array of contemporary dance and art forms into a cohesive, compelling artistic experience. Performances are much more than dance shows; they integrate songs, storytelling, humor and audience participation. The blend of technique, agility, and pure energy makes each performance unique and leaves the audience with their hearts pounding. Founded in 1994 by C. Brian Williams, Step Afrika! is the first professional company dedicated to the tradition of stepping. Step Afrika! now ranks as one of the top ten African-American dance companies in the United States.

Gertrude C. Ford Center for the Performing Arts

​​“Great Fiction Needs More Than One Translation: Translating Welty’s Delta Wedding into Japanese” – Koji Motomura and Annette Trefzer

Wednesday, February 15

12:00:00 PM – 1:00:00 PM

Tupelo Room, Barnard Observatory

Koji Motomura, who is currently working on the translation of Eudora Welty’s Delta Wedding into Japanese, will take up various issues surrounding his translation and discuss with Annette Trefzer. The topics that Motomura will discuss include the overall reception of Welty’s oeuvre in Japan, the Japanese translations of Welty’s major works, a comparison between the two existing Japanese translations of Delta Wedding, and the difficulties and problems of translating Delta Wedding. Finally, as one of the more difficult and problematic issues, Motomura will pay attention to the textual inconsistencies that prevent him from making up a family tree of the Fairchilds in the novel.

Koji Motomura is a professor of English at Komazawa University in Tokyo, Japan. He has written twenty-one articles on American literature and published five literary reviews in journals or magazines in Japan. He is the author of sixteen books in Japanese: fifteen books were written jointly with other scholars, and a book, The Dialogue between Texts: A Reading of William Faulkner and Eudora Welty is single authored.

Annette Trefzer is a professor of English at the University of Mississippi. She is the author of Exposing Mississippi: Eudora Welty’s Photographic Reflections and Disturbing Indians: The Archaeology of Southern Fiction. She is coeditor of five volumes in the Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Series published by the University of Mississippi Press.

Center for the Study of Southern Culture 

Red square with information in center about multiracial student meet up

Mixed/Multiracial/Multiethnic Student Meet Up

Wednesday, February 15

5:30:00 PM – 6:30:00 PM

Center for Inclusion and Cross Cultural Engagement

Do you identify as biracial, multiracial, multiethnic, mixed? Join us on February 15 in the CICCE to meet other bi-racial, multi-racial, multi-ethnic, mixed students at the University, build community, talk support, and discuss future opportunities.
Please use this RSVP form to let us know if you can join us.

Center for Inclusion and Cross Cultural Engagement

Yoga’s Roots in Ancient Indian Religious Tradition

Wednesday, February 15

5:30:00 PM – 7:30:00 PM

Bryant Hall, Room 209

Please join us as Dr. Anya Foxen, author of Is This Yoga?, discusses the western adaptation of ancient Indian yoga practices. For those unable to attend the live audience viewing in Bryant 209.

Philosophy and Religion

“Vietnamese, Cubans, and Mexicans in the South: An Intertwined History” – Perla M. Guerrero

Thursday, February 16

1:00:00 PM – 2:00:00 PM

Virtual Event – Register here

How are the histories of Vietnamese, Cubans, and Mexicans in the South articulated through national policies but defined through regional specificities? Perla M. Guerrero’s talk will focus on the Asian and Latinx communities in Arkansas in the last quarter of the twentieth century to explore placemaking. Guerrero argues that to fully understand the experiences of Asians and Latinxs in the South, we must also understand the history of place-specific ideologies that are at the center of more recent instantiations of racialized relationships.

Guerrero is associate professor of American studies and US Latina/o Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park. Her research and teaching interests include relational race and ethnicity with a focus on Latinxs and Asian Americans, space and place, immigration and legality, labor, and US history. She has received multiple awards, including a Ford Postdoctoral Fellowship and two fellowships from the Smithsonian Institution. She is working on her second book about deportation and coerced return to Mexico.

Center for the Study of Southern Culture and University of Mississippi Center for the Study of Race and Racism

“The Mystic, The Man: Who is James Meredith?” – Documentary Screening and Q&A with Dr. Judy Meredith

Thursday, February 16

3:00:00 PM – 4:00:00 PM

Gertrude C. Ford Ole Miss Student Union – Room 326

Documentary Screening with a discussion to follow with the Black History Month Keynote speaker and director of the film, Dr. Judy Meredith

Center for Inclusion and Cross Cultural Engagement

Sarahtalk: Fresh and Clean: A Reading of a Novel-In-Progress

Thursday, February 16

4:00:00 PM – 5:00:00 PM

LGBTQ Lounge, 4th Floor, Lamar Hall

Presented by  LaToya Faulk, MFA (Writing and Rhetoric). Feminine hygiene is a billion-dollar industry and women of color are the largest consumers of feminine hygiene products. Studies link excessive use of feminine hygiene products to harmful endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) that cause cancer.  In telling the story of two sisters who struggle with ideas of moral uprightness and obsessive feminine cleanliness, the novel FRESH AND CLEAN interrogates the surveillance of Black female bodies and the ways cleanliness instigates ideas about a woman’s worthiness. I also want readers to consider the deadly consequences of our current consumer culture and how easily we place trust in feminine hygiene products simply because they’re on the shelf.  

The Sarah Isom Center for Women and Gender Studies

blue background with picture of James Meredith in top right corner and picture of Judy Meredith in bottom left corner.

The Mystic, The Man: Who is James Meredith?. The 2023 Black History Month keynote address

“The Mystic, The Man: Who is James Meredith?” Black History Month Keynote featuring Dr. Judy Meredith

Thursday, February 16

6:00:00 PM – 7:30:00 PM

Gertrude C. Ford Ole Miss Student Union Ballroom 

Join us for the Black History Month Keynote featuring Dr. Judy Meredith. As we continue celebrating the legacy of James Meredith and the 60th Anniversary of Integration at the University of Mississippi, Dr. Judy Meredith will share remarks, “The Mystic, The Man: Who is James Meredith?.” The Lift Every Voice award will be presented at the keynote and a reception will follow the keynote. 

Center for Inclusion and Cross Cultural Engagement

Charcuterie Board Designing Demonstration

Thursday, February 16

6:00:00 PM – 7:00:00 PM

William Magee Center for Wellness Education Kitchen

Join the William Magee Center for two free cooking demonstrations during the month of February! Any University of Mississippi student can participate, and you are encouraged to bring your friend, roommate, or partner. All boards and supplies are provided, and the boards are yours to take home after the demo! [Sign-up form]. Sign-up now as spots are limited! Please share any food sensitivities or restrictions in the form with at least 48 hours notice. Contact Sadie Britton at stbritto@go.olemiss.edu if you have any questions.

William Magee Center for Wellness Education

Black Student Union 10th Annual Black History Month Gala

Friday, February 17

6:00:00 PM – 9:00:00 PM

Inn at Ole Miss

Must obtain a ticket from the ForUM to attend.

Black Student Union

Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians seal at top of the page with a center photo of the Ole Miss women's basketball team

Native American Heritage Night at the Ole Miss women’s basketball game

Native American Heritage Night at Ole Miss Women’s Basketball Game vs. South Carolina

Sunday, February 19

3:00:00 PM – 5:00:00 PM

The Pavilion

Celebrating the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. Special pregame presentation with Chief Cyrus Ben  and national anthem performance by tribal students. 

Ole Miss Athletics and Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians

How to apply to be a peer educator

Rallying against sexual assault peer educator application information

RASA Peer Education Training Day 1

Tuesday, February 21

4:00:00 PM – 8:00:00 PM

Thad Cochran Research Building on the 3rd floor in room 3056 (TCRC 3056)

RASA Peer Education Application

RASA peer-education program aims to raise awareness about the prevalence of sexual assault on  college campuses, educate students about affirmative consent and support survivors of sexual violence. This training will allow you to gain knowledge and information on the discussed topics.

You must complete both training day 1 (Tuesday, February 21st) and training day 2 (Tuesday, February 28th) to become a RASA peer-educator. Please email RASA co-advisor, Christin Dobbs if you have any further questions or concerns.

Rallying Against Sexual Assault/VIP: Survivor Support

blue background with a red outlined box with the words Native American Indigenous Student Association

Native American and Indigenous Student Association Interest Meeting

Tuesday, February 21

5:00:00 PM – 6:00:00 PM

Center for Inclusion and Cross Cultural Engagement

The Native American and Indigenous Student Association is a supportive space for Native American and Indigenous students to build community, engage in social activities, and promote awareness of Native American identity on the UM campus. Undergraduate, graduate, and professional students are welcome to attend. Come to this meeting to learn more about joining NAISA!

Native American and Indigenous Student Association 

six people in center with thought bubbles promoting conversation above each person

Just Conversations

Tuesday, February 21

5:30:00 PM – 7:00:00 PM

Bryant Hall Gallery – First Floor 

Just Conversations is an event that allows students the opportunity to examine complex and controversial ethical issues in a civil way. For this event, students will have a chance to read two short cases from the Nationals Ethics Bowl and then will be led through a discussion of the topic with the moderator pointing out ethical concepts and logical fallacies along the way. It’s a casual conversation about ethics over food and drink. What’s not to love? Registration is required – Registration Form

Food and drink will be provided! 

The Department of Philosophy and Religion, Division of Diversity and Community Engagement and Center for Practical Ethics 

Black History Month Concert

Tuesday, February 21

7:30:00 PM – 9:30:00 PM

Gertrude C. Ford Center for the Performing Arts

The 2023 annual edition of the UM’s Black History Month concerts. Performing groups will include Tanisha Ward (Guest Artist), UM Men’s Glee, LOU Symphony Orchestra, UM Gospel Choir, and Ole Miss African Drum and Dance Ensemble. Open to the general public. Admission fee is NOT required.

Department of Music, Office of the Chancellor, Office of the Provost, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Diversity and Community Engagement, College of Liberal Arts, Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College,  Global Engagement, African American Program, School of Journalism and New Media, Center for the Study of Southern Culture, Ford Center for the Performing Arts

Non-Profit Fair

Wednesday, February 22

10:00:00 AM – 1:00:00 PM

Gertrude C. Ford Ole Miss Student Union Ballroom

Local non-profits and community organizations will be sharing about their mission, resources, and ways to become involved in their work including but not limited to volunteer opportunities.

Center for Community Engagement

“Reconciliation: The University and the History of the Ole Miss 89” – W. Ralph Eubanks and Amirhea Bishop

Wednesday, February 22

12:00:00 PM – 1:00:00 PM

Tupelo Room, Barnard Observatory

On the evening of February 25, 1970, during a performance of the clean-cut and upbeat traveling musical ensemble Up with People, members of the Black Student Union (BSU) engaged in a peaceful protest to get the university to listen to their demands, which included a Black studies program, Black professors and administrators, and scholarships to attract more Black students. Eighty-nine students were arrested that evening and eventually eight of those eighty-nine were expelled. At the time, none of them yet knew they were under surveillance by the FBI and the university.

  1. Ralph Eubanks and Amirhea Bishop will discuss the ways they are seeking to collect and preserve the oral histories of the “Ole Miss 89” and the ways their work is seeking to give the 1970 “Up with People protest” the place it deserves in the history and memory of activism at the University of Mississippi.
  2. Ralph Eubanks is the Black Power at Ole Miss Faculty Fellow at the Center for the Study of Southern Culture. A writer and essayist whose work focuses on race, identity, and the American South, his most recent book is A Place Like Mississippi: A Journey through a Real and Imagined Literary Landscape. 

Amirhea Bishop is a native of Madison, Mississippi. She is an alumna of Jackson State University and is a first-year MA student in the Center’s Southern Studies program. Amirhea serves as Eubanks’s research assistant for the Black Power at Ole Miss Task Force committee, which documents the stories and preserves the legacy of the Ole Miss 89 through oral histories. 

Center for the Study of Southern Culture

Within the Bittersweet – Allison Grant

Wednesday, February 22

5:00:00 PM – 6:00:00 PM

Gallery Walk, Barnard Observatory

Within the Bittersweet is a dark, pastoral narrative about raising children amid concerns about the impacts of climate change and environmental contamination. All the photographs in the exhibition were taken in and around Grant’s home in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where dense vegetation and natural beauty intersect with industrial and fossil-fuel facilities that dot the region. These industries spread noxious particulates and hazardous toxins across the terrain and into the air, water, and our bodies. 

In Grant’s artwork, the dark realities of the landscape we live in are interlaced with representations of her deep love for her children and the physical world around them—a living tapestry of incredible complexity that her daughters are just coming to know. The climate crisis will undoubtedly reshape the world they inherit, and through these photographs Grant negotiates the beauty and heartbreak of raising them on a wondrous planet amid such rapid and impactful change.

Allison Grant is an artist, writer, curator, and assistant professor of photography at the University of Alabama. Her artworks have been widely exhibited. She holds an MFA from Columbia College Chicago and BFA from the Columbus College of Art and Design.

Center for the Study of Southern Culture

Photo of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. giving a speech

conversation cafe on great African American speeches

Conversation Cafe: Great African American Speeches

Wednesday, February 22

5:00:00 PM

Speaking Center – Lamar Hall – Room 404

We are gathering in the Speaking Center (Lamar 404) to celebrate Great African American Speeches.Coffee and donuts provided.

University of Mississippi Speaking Center

photo of Marlo David in a rectangular box on the right side of the page

English department event with professor Marlo David

Experimental Aesthetics: Notes on Contemporary Black Cultural Studies – A Lecture by Professor Marlo David

Thursday, February 23

4:00:00 PM – 5:00:00 PM

Bondurant Hall – 204C

Marlo David is an Associate Professor in the English Department at Purdue University where she specialties in Women’s Gender & Sexuality Studies and African American Studies.

Department of English

History as a Guide for the Future: University of Mississippi Activism Then and Now

Thursday, February 23

4:30:00 PM – 6:00:00 PM

Robert C. Khayat Law Center, Weems Auditorium, Room 1078

A discussion with Dr. Joy Williamson-Lott, author of Jim Crow Campus: Higher Education and the Struggle for a New Southern Social Order

The University of Mississippi Law School

Master Class with Dr. Robert Young

Monday, February 27

1:00:00 PM – A master class during the Instrumental Area Meeting in Nutt Auditorium

7:30:00 PM – Guest Artist Recital in Nutt Auditorium with Professor Adrienne Park

Music Building, Nutt Auditorium

Dr. Robert Young will be visiting our campus on Monday, February 27th to present a Guest Artist Recital and teach a master class to the Instrumental Area students in the Music Department. Both events are free and open to the public. The is event is made possible by the generous support from the following departments and divisions on campus; Diversity Incentive Fund, Music Department, History Department, and Lecture Series

Music Department

Are You Ready? Dialogue Series

Monday, February 27

5:00:00 PM – 6:15:00 PM

Bryant Hall – Room 209

The Are You Ready? dialogues series seeks to provide space for participants to learn about challenging topics, listen to fellow campus community members share their perspectives and knowledge, and take away skills and practices they can implement for themselves and within their communities at the University of Mississippi and beyond.

Center for Inclusion and Cross Cultural Engagement

How to apply to be a peer educator

Rallying against sexual assault peer educator application information

Donald R. Guillory – Book Signing

Tuesday, February 28

1:00:00 PM

Ole Miss Bookstore

Donald R. Guillory is a PhD Candidate at the University of Mississippi and the author of The Token Black Guide, which discusses and examines experiences and perspectives (historical and personal) on race in America. He is also the author of Bastards of the Bayou and Magnolia Lane, fictional works which blend History and Horror.

Ole Miss Bookstore

RASA Peer Education Training Day 2

Tuesday, February 28

4:00:00 PM – 8:00:00 PM

Thad Cochran Research Building on the 3rd floor in room 3056 (TCRC 3056)

RASA Peer Education Application

RASA Peer Educators achieves its goal by doing peer education events for other organizations and classes; holding awareness activities and honoring survivors; and holding prevention events to spread bystander intervention principles. This training will allow you the knowledge and skill to be able to be a peer-educator across campus.

You must complete Training Day 1 (February 21st) and Training Day 2 (February 28th) to become a RASA Peer Educator. If you have any questions or concerns regarding this training event please reach out to RASA co-advisor, Christin Dobbs, cdobbs@olemiss.edu.

Rallying Against Sexual Assault/VIP: Survivor Support

Photo of Riché Richardson in a circle on the bottom left of the page

English department event with Professor Riché Richardson

Riché Richardson – Black Marriage Matters: Reframing Race, Nation and Family in Tayari Jones’s An American Marriage

Tuesday, February 28

4:00:00 PM – 5:00:00 PM

Bondurant Hall 204C

Dr. Richardson is a Professor of African American Literature in the Africana Studies and Research Center at Cornell University.

Department of English

CICCE Movie Night – 90’s Throwback Movie Series: Selena

Tuesday, February 28

5:30:00 PM – 7:30:00 PM

Center for Inclusion and Cross Cultural Inclusion

We’re screening three influential films from the 90’s in the CICCE this semester! Come for one or come for all three. All films will be screened at 5:30pm in the CICCE (first floor of the Student Union). First up on Tuesday, February 28 is “Selena” Released in 1997 and based on the true story of Tejano music star Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, the film stars Jennifer Lopez and Edward James Olmos. In 2021, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film rEgistry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

Later this semester: March 28 Watermelon Woman (1996) and  April 25 Higher Learning (1995)

Center for Inclusion and Cross Cultural Inclusion

X