Mississippi

Hattiesburg to celebrate Freedom Summer through film and photo

Published

2 years ago

July 31, 2024

Hattiesburg to celebrate Freedom Summer through film and photo

Hattiesburg was once the largest Freedom Summer site in MS with over 3,000 volunteers.

Hattiesburg is getting ready to celebrate Freedom Summer (again). Once a cradle of the civil rights movement with figures like Clyde Kennard and sisters Joyce and Dorie Ladner, Hattiesburg will celebrate the 60th anniversary of Freedom Summer this year, commemorating the summer of 1964 when college students came to Mississippi for mass registration of Black voters.

The Hattiesburg Public Library will be hosting a film screening of two Mississippi civil rights-era documentaries on Aug. 8 from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. thanks to Scott Varnado, a Hattiesburg local and PhD student in film studies at UCLA. The library will also open a special photography exhibition, “Freedom Summer at 60: Mississippi as a Catalyst for Change,” curated in association with Special Collections at the University of Southern Mississippi and the Harvey Richards Media Archive on the same day as the film screening.

Varnado said the films are a “chronicle of the early part of organizing Freedom Summer, and just really essential viewing for anyone that has an interest in Freedom Summer, Mississippi history and civil rights history.”

The two films, “We’ll Never Turn Back” from 1963 and “Dream Deferred” from 1964, are around 30 minutes each and tell the story of voter registration in Mississippi. The filmmaker, Harvey Richards, a social activist and union organizer from rural Oregan, traveled to the Mississippi Delta in 1963 to seek out voting rights activist Amzie Moore. Together, the two men filmed the documentaries in secret and at great risk, working against local segregationists who would have tried to stop or even kill them.

Long lost novel discovered in MS: The other Margaret Walker novel: Unfinished book surfaces at long last for publication

Varnado said Richards was remarkable for his work depicting “the lower rungs of society in an attempt to show images and communities and social issues that were absent from mainstream media.”

Richards’ son and curator of the Harvey Richards Media Archive will give a brief video introduction before the screening.

Why isn’t Juneteenth a state holiday? Juneteenth means more than celebrations in Jackson. It’s a time of reflection, commemoration

The photo exhibit will display a collection of black and white photographs of voter registration efforts in and around Hattiesburg by New York photographer Herbert Randall, who, like Richards, traveled to Mississippi to document Freedom Summer in 1964. Randall’s photographs will be presented alongside color photographs from Richards of Black southerners across Mississippi taken in the same time period.

“Hattiesburg was an important center for that civil rights activity,” Casey Varnado, Hattiesburg attorney and father of Scott Varnado, said. “We had more Freedom Summer volunteer workers in Hattiesburg than any other location in the state.”

The largest Freedom Summer site in Mississippi, Hattiesburg was once home to more than 90 out-of-state volunteers and more than 3,000 local volunteers.

Celebrating the Ladner Sisters: Hattiesburg civil rights icon at Freedom Trail marker unveiling: ‘Act in spite of your fear’

Adam Singletary, director of The Hattiesburg Public Library, said the photography exhibit and film screening complement one another by offering a full portrait of Freedom Summer with both specific Hattiesburg content and coverage of the state at large.

“The films are also unique in that they are not widely known,” Singletary said, adding, “The fact that we can get the license to show them is exciting for the city and for our patrons because they may not otherwise have a chance to watch them.”

Source link

Click to comment

Mississippi

Thompson defeats Turnage to highlight U.S. House primaries in Mississippi – SuperTalk Mississippi

Published

3 hours ago

March 11, 2026

Press Room

Thompson defeats Turnage to highlight U.S. House primaries in Mississippi – SuperTalk Mississippi

Political newcomer and Capitol Hill attorney Evan Turnage proved no match for longtime U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, who defeated him and one other challenger to earn the Democratic nomination for Mississippi’s 2nd Congressional District on Tuesday.

Some politicos thought Turnage – who went to Yale and later worked for some of Thompson’s Democratic colleagues, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) – wouldn’t necessarily win but could make waves as one of the more viable candidates to challenge Thompson in recent years. However, that wasn’t the case as Thompson garnered approximately 85% of the vote when the race was called.

Democrat Evan Turnage, who is challenging Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., in the March primary, poses for a portrait in Jackson, Miss., Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Sophie Bates, File)

Thompson, 78, is seeking an 18th term. The civil rights leader who chaired the Jan. 6 Committee was first elected in 1993 and serves as a ranking member on the House Homeland Security Committee. He will face either Ron Eller or Kevin Wilson on the Republican side, a race yet to be called as of late Tuesday night, and independent Bennie Foster in November’s general.

All of Mississippi’s U.S. House seats are up for grabs this year.

In the 1st Congressional District, Republican Rep. Trent Kelly ran unopposed, while civil rights attorney and University of Mississippi School of Law professor Cliff Johnson beat former state lawmaker Kelvin Buck in the Democratic primary. Libertarian challenger Johnny Baucom awaits Kelly and Johnson in the general.

In the 3rd Congressional District, both Republican Rep. Michael Guest and Democrat Michael Chiaradio ran unopposed. They will meet Libertarian Erik Kiehle in the general.

In the 4th Congressional District, Republican Rep. Mike Ezell had over 80% of the vote when his race was called against former Mississippi Department of Marine Resources officer and political staffer Sawyer Walters. State Rep. Jeffrey Hulum easily won the Democratic nomination over Paul Blackman and D. Ryan Grover. Ezell and Hulum will face independent Carl Boyanton in the general.

Arguably the most watched races of the night occurred in the state’s lone U.S. Senate seat in this year’s cycle. Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith had no problem with Ocean Springs doctor Sarah Adlakha, seeing her name bolded around 30 minutes after the polls closed. It wasn’t long after that when Lowndes County District Attorney Scott Colom was announced the winner of the Democratic primary over Priscilla Till and Albert Littell. Independent Ty Pinkins will meet Hyde-Smith and Colom in the general on Nov. 3.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source link

Mississippi

Mississippi First Congressional District Primary 2026: Live Election Results, Buck vs. Johnson

Published

15 hours ago

March 10, 2026

Press Room

Mississippi First Congressional District Primary 2026: Live Election Results, Buck vs. Johnson

Source: Election results are from The Associated Press.

By The New York Times election results team: Michael Andre, Neil Berg, Matthew Bloch, Lily Boyce, Irineo Cabreros, Nico Chilla, Nate Cohn, Annie Daniel, Saurabh Datar, Andrew Fischer, Martín González Gómez, Jasmine C. Lee, Alex Lemonides, Zach Levitt, Ilana Marcus, Alicia Parlapiano, Dan Simmons-Ritchie, Caroline Soler, Charlie Smart, Jonah Smith and Christine Zhang.

Additional contributions by Sarah Cahalan, Amanda Cordero, Patrick Hays, Jacob Meschke and Jessica White.

Edited by Wilson Andrews, Lindsey Rogers Cook, William P. Davis, Kenan Davis, Amy Hughes, Ben Koski and Allison McCartney.

Source: Election results are from The Associated Press.

Source link

Mississippi

Mississippi Top Reads for week of March 15, 2026

Published

1 day ago

March 10, 2026

Press Room

Mississippi Top Reads for week of March 15, 2026

Staff Reports
| Special to the Mississippi Clarion Ledger

Sunday, March 15, 2026

1. (tie) “The Irish Goodbye,” Beth Ann Fennelly, Norton; and “Vigil,” George Saunders, Random House

2. “Theo of Golden,” Allen Levi, Atria Books

3. “The Widow,” John Grisham, Doubleday

4. “The Correspondent,” Virginia Evans, Random House

5. “When It’s Darkness on the Delta,” W. Ralph Eubanks, Beacon Press

6. “Eradication,” Jonathan Miles, Doubleday

7. “Neptune’s Fortune,” Julian Sancton, Random House

8. “The Dean,” Sparky Reardon, The Nautilus Publishing Company

9. “Kin,” Tayari Jones, Random House

10. “Brawler,” Lauren Groff, Riverhead

Children and young adults

1. “The Bear and the Hair and the Fair,” Em Lynas, Little Brown

2. “The Hybrid Prince,” Tui T. Sutherland, Scholastic Press

3. “One Mississippi,” Steve Azar,Sarah Frances Hardy (Illustrator), The Nautilus Publishing

4. “If You Make a Call on a Banana Phone,” Gideon Sterer, HarperCollins

5. (tie) “Fancy Nancy: Besties for Eternity,” Jane O’Connor and Robin Preiss Glasser (Illustrator), HarperCollins; and “The Dark is For,” Jane Kohuth, Simon and Schuster

Adult events (Sunday, March 15–Saturday, March 21)

Amy McDowell in conversation with Jodi Skipper for “Whispers in the Pews,” 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Off Square Books, 129 Courthouse Square, Oxford, 662-236-2262

Tayari Jones on Thacker Mountain Radio Hour for “Kin,” 6 p.m. Thursday, Off Square Books, 129 Courthouse Square, Oxford, 662-236-2262

Children’s events (Sunday, March 15–Saturday, March 21)

No Cap Book Club (kids 10-13) will be reading “A Kid’s Book About…,” 6:00 p.m. Tuesday, Square Books Jr., 111 Courthouse Square, Oxford, 662-236-2207

Storytime, “Clifford: Dream Big,” 10:00 a.m. Wednesday, Square Books Jr., 111 Courthouse Square, Oxford, 662-236-2207

Chapter Captains Book Club (kids 6-9) will be reading “Princess in Black: Bathtime Battle,” 6:00 p.m. Thursday, Square Books Jr., 111 Courthouse Square, Oxford, 662-236-2207

Storytime, “What a Small Cat Needs,” 10:00 a.m. Saturday, Square Books Jr., 111 Courthouse Square, Oxford, 662-236-2207

Story Time, “Very Hungry Caterpillar” Day! 10 a.m. Saturday, Lemuria Books, 202 Banner Hall, 4465 I-55 North, Jackson, 601-366-7619

— Sales and/or Events Reported by Lemuria Books (Jackson); Lorelei Books (Vicksburg); Square Books (Oxford).

Source link