Opening the Closed Society

the the newsletter of the Center for the study of southern Culture • summer 2012 the university of mississippi Opening the Closed Society University Commemorates the 50 Years of Integration In September and October the universi- oir on the Oxford riot from his perspec- ty will commemorate the 50th anniver- tive in the military. sary of James Meredith’s entrance into Numerous campus programs in the university with a series of programs September and October will exam- titled Opening the Closed Society: 50 ine the law, race, the media, and high- Years of Integration at the University er education, some with emphasis on of Mississippi. Many events will come University of Mississippi events and together on Sunday, September 30, and some addressing broader issues. U.S. Monday, October 1, the anniversary Attorney General Eric Holder will dates of armed resistance to Meredith’s speak to the Sally McDonnell Barksdale admission to the university and the Honors College in a public event first day he attended classes. Events on on Thursday, September 27. In early September 30 and October 1 will in- September the Isom Center will host clude a walk across campus, a service U.S. marshals, there will be a public a talk by journalist and activist Imani led by religious leaders, major public walk with numerous alumni, students, Cheers on the role of minority women addresses, music, and the showing of friends, and faculty to express solidar- in the media. There are special exhibi- a new documentary on the events sur- ity with the goals of equality and op- tions developed by Special Collections rounding Meredith’s admission. portunity in education. The walk will in the J.D. Williams Library and by the On Sunday evening, September include music from the University of art department in Meek Hall. 30, a number of religious groups will Mississippi Gospel Choir on the steps The Center for the Study of Southern lead a service entitled “Praise, Prayer, of the Lyceum, and it will end at the Culture will contribute to the commem- Progress: Celebrating 50 Years of Gertrude Ford Center for a major ad- oration through a series of Brown Bag Integration” at the Gertrude Ford dress by Harry Belafonte, a musician talks and other programs. A September Center for the Performing Arts, and a and activist very involved in civil rights 19 lecture by Jackson State’s Robby Walk of Reconciliation will bring to- activities in Mississippi. Luckett will address Margaret Walker gether numerous groups to the steps of Other events on October 1 include a Alexander’s role in civil rights work, the Lyceum to commemorate the an- dedication by the Black Student Union, and on September 26 a talk by Faulkner niversary. Later that evening the Ford a conversation with John Doar, the as- scholar Robert Hamblin, a 1962 student Center will show a new documentary sistant attorney general for civil rights at the University of Mississippi, will dis- film, produced by Matthew Graves of who represented the U.S. government cuss his memories of campus events. On Media and Documentary Projects, on by accompanying James Meredith in October 3 Ellen Meacham will discuss the events of fall 1962. his admission to the university, and a her study of Robert Kennedy’s work in On Monday, October 1, to note that presentation at the Overby Center by James Meredith walked alone or with Henry Gallagher, author of a new mem- continued on page 19 the D IRECTOR ’ S C OLUMN Published Quarterly by It is hard to quote the most musical phrase about summer and the South, The Center for the Study of Southern Culture “Summertime and the livin’ is easy,” without starting a long Southern Studies discussion. The University of Mississippi The 1930s Gershwin song from Porgy and Bess, the Dubose Heyward/George Gershwin Telephone: 662-915-5993 opera, raises numerous issues about race, regional identity, gender and parenting, the- Fax: 662-915-5814 E-mail: [email protected] ology, irony, labor, fish, and cotton. We might consider whether we are thinking about www.southernstudies.olemiss.edu the song on stage or a version by Louis Armstrong or Miles Davis or Sam Cooke or Ella www.facebook.com/SouthernStudies Fitzgerald or someone else, and I expect that social media will soon be bringing me other versions. Aside from the music itself, the phrase encourages thinking about the various IN THIS ISSUE meanings of summer and likely the definitions of “livin’” and “easy.” Summer 2012 It should be no secret that college professors have bad habits. One is that, at least 1 Opening the Closed Society: University among ourselves, we tend to talk about our summers in terms of finished projects— Commemorates the 50 Years of Integration 2 Director’s Column how many pages or articles or chapters or documentaries or book projects finished, 3 Living Blues News how many reviews of manuscripts, books, tenure files finalized. In early summer our 3 Blues and the Spirit Symposium Report expectations are high, far higher than the cotton in the song. We look forward to 4 Brown Bag Lunch and Lecture Series the opportunities to concentrate on scholarly work, but we can be uncomfortable 4 Gammill Gallery Exhibition Schedule with the idea that the livin’ is easy. The bad part of that habit is the pressure to write 5 2012 Eudora Welty Awards Winners and, if possible, to write a lot. The good part is that there are things we want to say, 5 Darren Grem Joins SST Faculty 6 2012 Southern Foodways Symposium and summer can give the time, if not always enough time, to say them. Speaker Preview Much of what goes on at the Center for the Study of Southern Culture in the sum- 7 Documentary Focuses on Integration of the mer differs relatively little from the fall and spring. So, one could say that while the University of Mississippi parking is easy, other parts of summertime forge ahead on regular schedules. There are 7 Gilder-Jordan Lecture in Southern History regular classes. Colleagues taught Southern Studies 101 and 102 classes this summer. 8 Southern Studies Alumni Are Busy Making Music and More There are special classes, like the workshop on foodways oral histories and the Gilder 10 Oxford Conference for the Book News Lehrman Institute class, in which five faculty and staff members led students in an ex- 10 Rare Exhibition of Estelle Faulkner Paintings amination of “Race and Ethnicity in the Modern South.” There are ambitious forms 11 Two Friends of Center, John Pilkington and of outreach like the English department’s Faulkner & Yoknapatawpha Conference Sue Hart, Pass Away and the Southern Foodways Alliance’s High on the Hog Field Trip to North Carolina. 12 From Beer Joint to Barbecue Temple: Leo & Susie’s Famous Green Top Bar-B-Que, Dora There are one-time events, like Southern Studies happy hours in Oxford, Jackson, Alabama and New Orleans, and the showing and discussion of a film on 1980s rock musicians. 13 SFA Film News Editing takes no summers off. Living Blues and Gravy require year-round work, 13 SFA Oral History Workshop Grows as does the Center’s new website. And this summer, likely for the last summer for 14 Get on the Southern BBQ Trail! the foreseeable future, there is encyclopedia work. Work on The New Encyclopedia 16 School’s Not Out for Summer: Teachers Learn about Race and Ethnicity of Southern Culture continues, and the final volumes are nearing completion, with 17 Small Town South: A Gammill Gallery plans for the 24th and final volume to be out in May 2013. Early congratulations to Exhibition the editors of that extraordinary project, and to the University of North Carolina 18 Mark Your Calendars! Press. And while the publication date for the Mississippi Encyclopedia is farther in the 18 Center Sponsors New Music Series future, we continue efforts to wrap up that project and send it to the University Press 19 Call for Papers: 2013 Faulkner & Yoknapatawpha Conference of Mississippi sometime this year. 20 Southern Studies Alumni in the Media This issue of the Southern Register mentions a number of events coming in the 21 Faulkner’s World: The Photographs of Martin J. fall: the events surrounding the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of James Dain—A Traveling Exhibition Meredith’s admission to the university, the Gilder-Jordan lecture by Grace Hale, the 21 Contributors Southern Foodways Symposium on barbecue, a new concert series, the Brown Bag 22 Reading the South 26 Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters presentations, and Gammill Gallery exhibitions. We look forward to all of them and Awards Nominations Being Accepted to new classes and new and returning students. As I write in late summer, I would 27 13th Annual Faulkner Fringe Program also like summertime, whether to enjoy bad habits or good ones, to last a bit longer. Dedicated to Betty Harrington, John Pilkington, and Dean Faulkner Wells REGISTER STAFF One sad note for Southern Studies this summer is that Zandria Robinson, our col- Editor: James G. Thomas Jr. league and good friend for the last three years, is leaving the University of Mississippi Graphic Designer: Susan Bauer Lee Mailing List Manager: Mary Hartwell Howorth for a position at the University of Memphis.3 The McMullan Assistant Professor of Lithographer: RR Donnelley Magazine Group Southern Studies and Sociology, Zandria taught classes related to the urban South, The University complies with all applicable laws regard- migration, residential segregation, hip-hop, regional identity, and other topics, al- ing affirmative action and equal opportunity in all its activities and programs and does not discriminate against ways combining challenging scholarly inquiry with an extraordinary sense of humor.

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