Reflecting Mississippi

Annalise Flynn, Yaphet Smith, and Allen Massey reflect on the life and legacy of artist L.V. Hull and the efforts to preserve her work through the L.V. Hull Legacy Center. They also discuss the importance of archives, community memory, and how exhibitions and film, including Love Is a Sensation, help bring Hull’s story to new audiences while honoring her place in Mississippi’s cultural history.

Dr. Elise Smith, Sarah Meeks, and Olivia Spann reflect on the history of Southern garden clubs and what they can teach us about people, communities, and the past. They also discuss how historic house museums like the Eudora Welty House & Garden and the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home help preserve this history while bringing people together through gardening.

Dr. Ralph Didlake, Lida Key, and Dr. Jennifer Mack discuss the Asylum Hill Project and their efforts to uncover the stories of the Mississippi State Lunatic Asylum. We also explore the connections between science, archaeology, and the humanities.

How do places marked by violence, oppression, and injustice become spaces for remembrance, learning, and healing? In this episode of Reflecting Mississippi, we explore the powerful role historic sites play in shaping public memory with two National Park Service leaders on the front lines of this work: Keena Graham, Superintendent of the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument, and Kathleen Bond, Superintendent of Natchez National Historical Park, who is leading the interpretation of the historic Forks of the Road slave market. Together, they discuss the challenges and responsibilities of preserving difficult histories, centering the humanity of those who experienced them, and engaging communities in telling these stories with honesty and dignity. Whether you're passionate about history, museums, preservation, or the ongoing work of confronting America's past, this conversation offers thoughtful insight into why these places matter—not only for understanding where we've been, but for shaping where we're going.

In this episode, Shaniece Mabry, Dr. Christina Thomas, and Bently Cochran discuss the groundbreaking History Day program at the Youthful Offenders Unit (YOU) in Pearl, Mississippi. They’ll share about the program’s beginning, how it has evolved and expanded in the past three years, and the ways that the YOU students are studying and making history in our state.

We speak with filmmaker David Crews and Senator Hob Bryan about The Whiskey Speech, a documentary exploring one of Mississippi’s most memorable political moments. Together, they examine the historical context of the speech, its reflection of Mississippi’s political culture, and what it reveals about public debate, persuasion, and leadership in the state. The conversation also considers how stories like this endure in public memory and what they teach us about Mississippi’s social character, contradictions, and civic life.