Lectures, Lore and Lessons: Mississippi at the Bicentennial

News item published on: 2017-08-18 10:27:22

University Libraries’ Special Collections at The University of Southern Mississippi is concluding its celebration of Mississippi’s Bicentennial with three lectures during the fall semester. The series, Lectures, Lore and Lessons: Mississippi at the Bicentennial, continues with Mississippi’s military history in October and will conclude in November with a panel discussion about desegregation.

Stars, Bars and FDR: Media and Moments at Camp Shelby
October 24 at 6 p.m.
Hattiesburg Public Library
Presented by Dr. Willie R. Tubbs

Dr. Willie R. Tubbs will discuss Camp Shelby during World War II as seen through The Reveille, the base’s newspaper. In this talk, Stars, Bars and FDR: Media and Moments at Camp Shelby, Tubbs will explore the rich insight the newspaper provides into life on the base during the war. Encounters with the nation's political elite, top brass, celebrities, and famed fighting units awaited the many thousands of soldiers who passed through Shelby on their way to or from the war.

However, among all the positives, The Reveille reminds us that deprivation, illicit activities, and racial tension also factored into the story of Shelby in the early 1940s. The base newspaper allows us to relive everything from Franklin Roosevelt's visit to the arrival of Japanese American fighting men to Shelby officers' crackdown on soldiers visiting the long list of off-limits bars and businesses in Hattiesburg.

Tubbs is an assistant professor of communication at the University of West Florida. He holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Louisiana College, a master's degree in interactive media from Quinnipiac University, and a doctorate in mass communication from The University of Southern Mississippi. His dissertation, Forward Myth, focused on domestic military base newspapers from 1941-1981. 

Massive Resistance in Mississippi, a Panel Discussion
November 16, 6 p.m. Cook Library Art Gallery
Presented by:
Dr. Stephanie Rolph, Professor of History, Millsaps College
Jennifer Brannock, University Libraries’ Curator of Rare Books and Mississippi, Southern Miss
Olivia Moore, doctoral student in the Department of History, Southern Miss
Dr. Rebecca Tuuri, Assistant Professor of History, Southern Miss.

This panel will discuss the ways in which segregationists fought to silence the voices of civil rights activists in Mississippi. The speakers will look at organized groups, less formal resistance and the archival collections that document the backlash activists faced in the state.

Lectures, Lore and Lessons: Mississippi at the Bicentennial aims to present a multifaceted view of Mississippi’s first 200 years. To achieve its goals of bringing history to life, Special Collections has partnered with numerous individuals and entities at the University and in the Hattiesburg community. Partners include Camp Shelby’s Armed Forces Museum, the Hattiesburg Public Library, and the University department of History.

For additional information, contact Jennifer Brannock at Jennifer.Brannock@usm.edu or 601.266.4347. 

This official bicentennial project was made possible by a grant from the Mississippi Humanities Council, through support from the Mississippi Development Authority.