Reflecting Mississippi

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.

What kind of vision does it take to build a school when the world is determined to see you fail? In this episode of Reflecting Mississippi, we uncover the remarkable story of William Henry Holtzclaw, an educator whose courage and determination transformed Black education in Mississippi. Joined by Dan Fuller, former Humanities Chair at the Hinds Community College Utica Campus, and Jeanne Green, curator of the Utica Institute Museum, the conversation explores how Holtzclaw's mentorship under Booker T. Washington inspired him to found Utica Normal School in the face of Jim Crow, racial violence, and relentless opposition. Discover how one man's belief in the power of education created a lasting institution that continues to serve students today, and why Holtzclaw's story remains one of Mississippi's most inspiring.

Brother Rogers, Tim Kyle, and Tommeia Jackson reflect on the occasion of America250 and the impact of the state’s legacy grant program. Kyle, the mayor of Kosciusko, will discuss his town’s efforts to highlight its rich history, while Jackson will describe how the historical records of the Delta Burial Corporation offer a unique lens on the history of the region’s Black community.

In this episode of Reflecting Mississippi, we explore the story behind Mississippi: Conflict & Change—a groundbreaking textbook that didn’t just teach history, it challenged how Mississippi’s history was told. First published in 1974, the book offered a fuller, more honest look at the state’s past, centering the experiences of African Americans, Native Americans, women, and working people—voices often left out of traditional narratives.The conversation examines how the book became controversial, rejected by the state, and ultimately the subject of a landmark legal battle over what students should learn. What emerged was more than a textbook debate—it was a struggle over truth, identity, and who gets to shape the story of Mississippi.