Mississippi

How Art, History And Social Justice Came Together At Mississippi’s Tougaloo College

Published

2 years ago

February 21, 2023

How Art, History And Social Justice Came Together At Mississippi’s Tougaloo College

Charles White, Chain Gang, 1959. Pencil, graphite and white chalk, 18 x 24 in. Present of Harry … [+] Belafonte, 1976.002.

There could also be no extra unlikely a spot to discover a premiere assortment of European and American fashionable artwork than at Tougaloo Faculty, a personal, coeducational, traditionally black four-year liberal arts establishment with fewer than 1,000 college students on the northern fringe of Jackson, MS. How, then, did works by Pablo Picasso, Francis Picabia, George Grosz, Robert Motherwell and Betty Parsons discover their method there?

That’s owed to the varsity’s founding in 1869 by the abolitionist-led American Missionary Affiliation. From Day 1, Tougaloo Faculty has made the struggle for equality central to its mission. An interracial abolitionist Christian group began in Albany, NY in 1846, the AMA believed training held the important thing to first liberating the enslaved in America, then offering them civil rights.

As Mississippi more and more turned a crucible nationally in that battle for civil rights, an thought was hatched to make use of fashionable artwork as a software for progress. In 1963, a variety of artists, critics and curators from New York labored with Ronald Schnell, a professor of artwork at Tougaloo, to construct the primary assortment of Trendy artwork in Mississippi. The gathering’s founders sought “an interracial oasis wherein the positive arts are the main focus and magnet.”

The New York Artwork Committee for Tougaloo Faculty labored rapidly to determine an artwork assortment with the purpose of bridging racial divisions by way of the show of the positive arts. In these early years, the Committee, organized by New York artwork critic and historian Dore Ashton, targeted on the works of European modernists and American summary artists with ties to the New York Faculty. Not lengthy after, artworks from main African American artists have been added together with Romare Bearden, David Driskell, Elizabeth Catlett, Alma Thomas, Charles White and Hale Woodruff.

As different establishments in Mississippi primarily collected regional and educational artwork, Tougaloo’s early acquisitions afforded many college students and guests their first publicity to the trendy kinds of Europe and New York. This rang very true for Black patrons, who, on account of Mississippi’s staunch segregationist insurance policies, have been excluded from many public establishments, however welcomed inside Tougaloo’s built-in neighborhood.

A Gentle within the Darkness

(Unique Caption) James Meredith who suffered wounds from a sniper 6/6 holds a strolling convention … [+] with Dr. Martin Luther King right here 6/25. King joined the Freedom Marchers shortly earlier than reaching Tougaloo Faculty.

Bettmann Archive

The work of the American Missionary Affiliation created a whole bunch of anti-slavery church buildings and faculties educating Black college students throughout America within the years main as much as the Civil Conflict. After the struggle, it redoubled efforts to bolster the variety of faculties and faculties established for freed slaves and their descendants. Greater than 500 have been based all through the South together with Tougaloo Faculty, Fisk College, Hampton Institute and Howard College. The AMA was extra prolific in constructing academic infrastructure for Black residents of America than the federal authorities.

The group remained steadfast in its help of training for Black college students because the racial progress of Reconstruction gave solution to the segregationist regression of Jim Crow and it will definitely petered out in 20^th century. The die was forged at Tougaloo Faculty, nonetheless.

The Faculty reached the last word demonstration of its social dedication through the turbulent years of the Nineteen Sixties. Throughout that interval, Tougaloo Faculty was on the forefront of the Civil Rights Motion in Mississippi, serving as a secure haven for individuals who fought for freedom, equality, justice. The college turned a sanctuary inside hostile territory rife with racial violence – 14-year-old Emmett Until was murdered in Mississippi by a white mob in 1955, a riot broke out when James Meredith tried to combine the College of Mississippi in 1962, civil rights activist Medgar Evers was ambushed and murdered at his house in Jackson in 1963 – from which methods have been devised and applied to finish segregation and enhance race relations.

Tougaloo Faculty opened its doorways to the Freedom Riders and different Civil Rights employees and leaders. Conferences, marches, and demonstrations occurred on campus and college students and school participated in sit-ins. The positive artwork assortment was an necessary pillar of those efforts.

Artwork and Activism

David C. Driskell (American, 1931–2020), ‘Swing Low, Candy Chariot,’ 1972. Acrylic on canvas … [+] Tougaloo Faculty Artwork Collections, Tougaloo, Mississippi. Bought by Tougaloo Faculty with help from the Nationwide Endowment for the Arts, 1973.084 .

This fascinating story of an unlikely intersection between artwork, historical past and social justice comes collectively in a brand new exhibition, “Artwork and Activism at Tougaloo Faculty,” on view on the Oklahoma Metropolis Museum of Artwork from February 18 by way of Could 14, 2023. The present examines the delivery and improvement of this distinctive assortment, which continues to develop, by way of the show of roughly 35 artworks, most prominently David Driskell’s Swing Low, Candy Chariot (1972) acrylic on canvas portray measuring 50-inches tall by 36-inches large.

Vivid, heated-up, oranges, reds and yellows middle Swing Low, Candy Chariot. The type of warmth and solar solely a Southerner may know. Driskell was born in Georgia, rising up in North Carolina. He is aware of how that solar bakes pores and skin and the bottom. Inside a sliver of the portray’s uppermost portion, a pair of figures stroll. The person in entrance strides, confidently, large steps. The follower, much less certain, maybe barely crouched to keep away from discover. Driskell was a Black man, the figures presumably are as nicely.

The place are they going? Exhausting to say, particularly, towards freedom, broadly, little question. Maybe to Tougaloo Faculty.

What trials have they endured? Ugly, nearly definitely.

Do the palms reaching up from the portray’s backside attain out in help, or are they on the lookout for it?

The portray is Odyssey, historical past, hopeful, despairing, empowering and totally fashionable in its telling of age-old, common human aspirations and hardships. If an image is price a thousand phrases, this portray is price 100 thousand. This is likely one of the biggest work in American artwork historical past. Take pleasure in it. Stand in its presence till the magnificence has infused you as totally because the Southern solar on a summer season’s day.

Thank Tougaloo Faculty for this portray and far, rather more.

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Mississippi

Arizona State eyes first win against an SEC opponent vs. Mississippi State

Published

5 hours ago

September 5, 2024

Press Room

Arizona State eyes first win against an SEC opponent vs. Mississippi State

Mississippi State at Arizona State, Saturday, 10:30 p.m. ET (ESPN)

BetMGM College Football Odds: Arizona State by 6 1/2.

Series record: First meeting.

WHAT’S AT STAKE?

Arizona State and Mississippi State both had dominant wins in the season-opening weekend and now have a tougher challenge when they face each other on Saturday night. The Sun Devils are trying to build off an impressive 48-7 win over Wyoming and prove they might be a factor in the Big 12 race. Arizona State has never beaten an SEC opponent. Mississippi State plays its second game under new coach Jeff Lebby. The Bulldogs beat Eastern Kentucky 56-7 in their season opener..

KEY MATCHUP

Mississippi State QB Blake Shapen vs. the Arizona State defense. The Sun Devils scored a touchdown on the second play of their opener when Zyrus Fiaseu picked off a pass and returned it to the end zone. It was one of two interceptions on the day for Arizona State. Shapen had a great debut against Eastern Kentucky but will face a much tougher defense on Saturday.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Mississippi State: Shapen had a terrific first game with the Bulldogs, throwing for 247 yards and three touchdowns while also running for 44 yards and a TD against Eastern Kentucky. The 6-foot-1 senior played the previous three college seasons at Baylor with mixed success. Shapen has thrown a TD pass in 12 consecutive games dating to this time at Baylor in 2022.

Arizona State: RB Cam Skattebo led a balanced rushing attack against Wyoming, gaining 49 yards and scoring a touchdown. Skattebo was a do-it-all player for Arizona State last year, spending time at quarterback, running back and receiver. The Sun Devils might not need him to be as versatile this season, but he’s still a threat from just about anywhere on the field.

FACTS & FIGURES

Mississippi State had six different players score touchdowns against Eastern Kentucky. … The Bulldogs’ 93.7 passing grade in the opener was the second-best mark in all of the FBS, trailing only Purdue, according to Pro Football Focus. … Mississippi State’s Kevin Coleman Jr. returned five punts for 117 yards last week. … Arizona State was credited with just two missed tackles on defense in the opener, tied for the third-lowest tally among FBS schools. … Skattebo is 270 rushing yards away from reaching 3,000 in his career. He is 342 all-purpose yards away from reaching 4,000 and 202 receiving yards away from reaching 1,000.

___

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Mississippi

How Mississippi State football is preparing for Arizona State weather, late kickoff

Published

12 hours ago

September 5, 2024

Press Room

How Mississippi State football is preparing for Arizona State weather, late kickoff

STARKVILLE — Mississippi State football is preparing to play a team that, at least through one game, looks vastly improved from last season.

Coach Jeff Lebby admitted on Monday, and Bulldog players have noticed it too after Arizona State (1-0) thumped Wyoming 48-7 in its opener.

MSU (1-0) must also factor in the late kickoff that is scheduled Saturday (9:30 p.m. CT, ESPN) at Mountain America Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. Mississippi is hot, but so is Arizona — a different kind of hot, too.

Modifications and remedies are being made, such as the team leaving Starkville on Thursday instead of how it normally would on a Friday for a Saturday game.

“For our guys, just knowing exactly what we are getting into,” Lebby said. “We continue to talk about that through yesterday and this morning and (are) having those conversations to understand what it’s going to look like late in the week. We got to do a great job from a preparation standpoint of how we are hydrating, how we are eating and how we are resting to give us the ability to go on the road on this flight and be able to be at our best Saturday night.”

Just this week, Phoenix broke a record with its 100th straight day of 100-degree temperatures. According to AccuWeather, the high on Saturday in Tempe will be 107 degrees with a low of 86. The temperature should dip to around 91 near kickoff with a humidity of 24%.

“Coach Lebby has already been harping on that,” tight end Justin Ball said. “We’ve already been hydrating and making sure we are getting rest every single day. We leave on Thursday, so we already talked about the plan to make sure we are hydrating the entire plane ride there, making sure when we get there we get acclimated as quickly as you can and just staying together. Making sure we’re focused, make sure we keep the goal first and then execute the game plan.”

MORE: Jeff Lebby says Mississippi State football didn’t put on a good enough show. Here’s how he’s wrong

Mississippi State played well the last time it played in Arizona

The Bulldogs played Arizona in Tucson two seasons ago. They squandered a pedestrian Wildcats team 39-17. Kickoff for that game was at 8 p.m. PST though the temperature was 84 degrees at game time.

Not many players remain on Mississippi State’s roster from that 2022 season. But the ones who are, like linebacker Nic Mitchell, can benefit from the experience and also share it with teammates.

“We know it’s going to be a long flight, so we know we got to be hydrated,” Mitchell said. “It gives people experience that have done it before and they can tell the young guys how it’s going to be in the flight, how you got to hydrate and stuff like that.”

Sam Sklar is the Mississippi State beat reporter for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at ssklar@gannett.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.

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Mississippi

Playing for Mississippi State not an option for Arizona State back Kyson ‘Sipp’ Brown

Published

20 hours ago

September 4, 2024

Press Room

Playing for Mississippi State not an option for Arizona State back Kyson ‘Sipp’ Brown

Sophomore running back Kyson Brown is one of the faster players on the Arizona State football team. But Brown seems to have a little more pep in his step this week. Why? Well, the Sun Devils (1-0) are set to take on Mississippi State (1-0) at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday at Mountain America Stadium.

Sure an SEC opponent is enough to get any athlete fired up. But the 6-foot, 200-pounder hails from Tupelo, Mississippi, which is where he got his nickname, Sipp. Tupelo is 67 miles north of the Mississippi State campus in Starkville that Sipp has visited a handful of times.

“I have family, growing up they were all Mississipp State fans and some Ole Miss fans,” he said. “Some of my family are debating whether they want to cheer for me or not. It’s going to be good. A lot of hometown friends. Got a couple guys I went to high school with there. It’s going to be good seeing those guys and hopefully, we compete at a good level and get the W.”

Brown, a mechanical engineering major, is enrolled in ASU’s Barret honors program, He emerged as one of the team’s most improved players. He saw some time on special teams as a true freshman in 2023 and has set himself up for a bigger role, although the ASU backfield has a lot of depth.

In the last week’s 48-7 win over Wyoming, Brown pitched in with six rushing attempts for 25 yards and two receptions for 73 yards. His 68-yard touchdown reception was the longest play from scrimmage that ASU had on the night.

“It felt amazing just to get back in the end zone again,” Brown said. “You come out of high school, you know I’m used to being in the end zone every game, all the time. That play, I knew — once I made the first guy miss — I knew I wasn’t going to let anybody catch me.”

Brown lived in Mississippi until moving to Lancaster, Texas, outside of Dallas, after his sophomore year of high school. He sat out junior year after the transfer. As a senior he averaged 9.5 yards per carry, finishing with 707 yards and 11 touchdowns on 74 carries while adding 14 receptions for 168 yards and two touchdowns.

Sitting out his junior year hurt his recruiting, but he still had notable offers from Purdue, Missouri and Houston. The balance of his options were lower-profile schools. Mississippi State didn’t offer.

He is happy with the end result. A place on the ASU football roster. In the offseason, he worked on his agility, flexibility and catching the ball, which was evident in his recent scoring play.

“We all have the big-play potential,” he said of his fellow running backs. “I feel my role is to make plays, wherever they put me be able to perform.”

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