Greetings

We are pleased to share with you news from teacher fellows and key learning opportunities for teachers and students. (See prior newsletters.)

National History Day in Mississippi

Don't miss the National History Day competition in Mississippi on March 21 at USM in Hattiesburg. It is a unique and powerful opportunity to engage your students in the study and sharing of local history.

Find ideas for projects here. Or volunteer to judge the local history awards.

Contact Julian Hipkins III for more info.

Teacher Fellowship

History Comes Alive

Teacher Fellow Allison Barnette shared this testimony about the impact of teaching about the Civil Rights Movement:

Fannie Lou Hamer

One of my 8th grade students, Eli, told me about his trip to the Mississippi University for Women campus with his dad.

On the campus tour, there was a sign that said Freedom Summer. He told his dad, "Oh, that was in 1964." His dad did not believe him and looked it up on his Smartphone.

"How did you know that?" his father asked. "I listen in social studies class. We learned all about that," Eli responded.

At the end of the tour, the audience was invited to comment. Eli's dad pressed him to speak.

Eli told them he was amazed that Fannie Lou Hamer accomplished so much without even a middle school education.

Barnette and Eli's dad were proud of Eli for sharing his knowledge of Mississippi history.

From the Hill Country to Jackson

In January, Mississippi Teacher Fellowship Project Director Julian Hipkins III traveled to Ashland, Meridian, and Jackson to meet with teachers, administrators, and partners about Teaching for Change's statewide effort to promote teaching about the Civil Rights Movement and labor history in Mississippi. Read more.

Teacher Fellowship Openings

Apply by
March 15

Mississippi middle and high public school teachers are invited to apply for the Mississippi teacher fellowship program with a focus on the Civil Rights Movement and labor history. Read more.

Classroom Resources

Selma: The Bridge to the Ballot

Teaching Tolerance has produced a 40 minute film called Selma: The Bridge to the Ballot that is FREE for teachers. Teachers and high school students are front and center in this short documentary. The film uses an effective combination of historic film footage, interviews, photos, and dramatic drawings (like a graphic novel) of selected scenes. For middle and high school.

Also, see the Teaching for Change lessons and resources in Teaching About Selma.

Counter Histories

The Counter Histories website, created by the Southern Foodways Alliance, has a series of films on the sit-in movement. The films connect the protests and demonstrations of today and yesterday, equipping viewers to ask questions about the role of civil disobedience in the face of systemic racism and injustice.

The website focuses on the towns of Jackson, MS, Rock Hill, SC, Durham, NC, Nashville, TN, and Cambridge, MD.

Learning Opportunities

	Teaching Mississippi's Complex History The Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) will host it's first week-long teacher workshop on teaching Mississippi history through primary source documents and artifacts from June 22 - 26. Participants will attend sessions and spend time in the state archives library researching and identifying primary source documents to be used in classroom lessons created by attendees. Deadline for applications April 15, 2015. For more information or to request an application packet contact MDAH education staff.
	Summer Youth Institute The Summer Youth Institute (SYI) teaches high school sophomores and juniors about civil rights, advocacy, critical thinking and relationship building. SYI hosts approximately 30 young Mississippi citizens each year. They learn to exercise their voices and leadership potential and to embrace a commitment to social change. They become community advocates, inspiring their schools and hometowns. The deadline is Monday, March 2. Apply here. Here is a recruitment video to share with students.
	National Endowment for the Humanities summer institutes The National Endowment for the Humanities sponsors summer institutes for teachers on a wide range of U.S. history topics. Teachers participate in an in-depth study of the topic with scholars and peers. They also receive a stipend for the week.


Veterans of Mississippi Civil Rights Movement The 10th Anniversary Conference will take place at Tougaloo College from March 18-21, 2015. Register here.	National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) Apply to present by March 1, 2015 November 13-15, 2015 New Orleans

Background Reading

Judge Carlton W. Reeves' Eloquent Speech on Race and Mississippi

Here's a powerful speech by U.S. District Judge Carlton W. Reeves. He read it to three young white men before sentencing them for the death of a 48-year-old black man named James Craig Anderson in a parking lot in Jackson, Miss. in 2011. He addresses the history of lynching, his vision for Mississippi, and questions of justice. Read more.

In Memory


Anne Moody Anne Moody, author of Coming of Age in Mississippi, died on Feb. 5, 2015 at the age of 74. As seen in this historic photo from May 28, 1963, Moody took part in a sit-in at Woolworth's in downtown Jackson. A mob attacked her, Joan Trumpauer, Tougaloo professor John Salter Jr., and others.	Jesse Harris Longtime civil rights activist and Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party organizer Jesse Harris died of natural causes at the age of 75 on Jan. 28, 2015. Harris was a board member of the Veterans of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement.

Contact

For More Information

We welcome Civil Rights Movement teaching stories and photos from Mississippi teachers to feature in this monthly e-newsletter.

To learn more, submit stories, or share comments, write to project director Julian Hipkins III.

This monthly e-newsletter is produced by

Teaching for Change with funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.