Join author Michael Farris Smith at the Powerhouse in Oxford for an evening of cinema featuring the film adaptation of his book “Desperation Road.” Smith’s novel was named Indie Next, honored on numerous Best Books lists, and will be his second feature-film adaptation but the first to release. The Southern noir thriller is set in …
Author Archives: Rebecca Lauck Cleary
Historian Focuses on Lives of Black Americans During Reconstruction
Kidada Williams gives annual Gilder-Jordan Lecture Many Americans learn in school that Reconstruction failed, but few can accurately identify who failed to do what and why. In the annual Gilder-Jordan Lecture in Southern Cultural History, historian and author Kidada E. Williams answers those questions in “The Devil Was Turned Loose: African Americans in the War Against Reconstruction.” …
Honor Ted Ownby’s Contributions by Supporting Center Students
Retired University of Mississippi history and Southern Studies professor Ted Ownby often talks of his fondness for former students, and now those students can make history by providing for future scholars through the Ted Ownby Initiative to Support Graduate Education. By establishing the Ted Ownby Initiative to Support Graduate Education, graduate students in the years …
SouthTalks Focus on Creativity in the South
Lectures begin Sept. 6 with discussion of changing minds Creativity in the South is the programming theme for the 2023-24 academic year at the University of Mississippi‘s Center for the Study of Southern Culture. The fall SouthTalks series begins by recognizing that the U.S. South is a region of profound contrast. “Extreme poverty exists uneasily …
Lodge Bolsters Mission of Southern Foodways Alliance
Cast iron cookware manufacturer invests in studies of region’s food and culture The Lodge Manufacturing Company, a fifth-generation, family-owned cast iron cookware company in South Pittsburg, Tennessee, is strengthening the mission of the Southern Foodways Alliance with an unrestricted gift of $150,000. Based at the University of Mississippi‘s Center for the Study of Southern Culture, …
Faulkner Fans to Flock to Oxford for 49th Annual Conference
For the 49th consecutive year, writers, scholars and avid fans of Oxford’s Nobel Prize-winning author will gather at the University of Mississippi for the Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference. This year the conference, themed “Queer Faulkner,” will focus on the diverse genders, sexualities and desires of characters in William Faulkner’s work and people in the noted …
“Rough South of Larry Brown” screening set for July 12
There will be a special free screening of “The Rough South of Larry Brown,” including a discussion with director Gary Hawkins, photographer Tom Rankin, and blues curator Greg Johnson at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 12. The program will include rarely seen photos and clips not in the original film. Sponsored by the Center for the …
Celebrating Juneteenth
Independence Day in the United States is officially celebrated on 4 July, but for many Americans the 1776 Declaration of Independence did not signal freedom. Instead, Pres. Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 Emancipation Proclamation recognized and proclaimed freedom for enslaved people, even though the news did not reach all of them for several years. Juneteenth celebrations commemorate …
Making History: Ted Ownby to Retire After 35 Years
After 35 years as a member of the University of Mississippi faculty, including 11 years as director of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture, history and Southern Studies professor Ted Ownby is preparing to retire at the end of June. During his time as a scholar, researcher and director at the center, it …
Fannie Lou Hamer screening June 10 in Winona
On June 9, 2022, a Mississippi State Historical Marker was unveiled during a ceremony at the corner of Oak Drive and Sterling Avenue in Winona, Mississippi on the site of the old Montgomery County Jail in honor of Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer and the other civil rights heroes who were beaten there in 1963. The …