In partnership with The Moise A. Khayrallah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies at North Carolina State University, Delta State university is hosting the traveling exhibit “The Lebanese in America: An exhibition exploring 150 years of history.”
The exhibit will remain on display until April 16.
The detailed exhibit explores the history and memories of Mississippi’s Lebanese American community. It comprises eight narrative HopUp displays with photographs, graphics and QR Codes linked to supplementary materials and an e-reader. The panels describe the history, conditions and impact of Lebanese immigration nationally, offering a framework in which to consider the substantial Lebanese immigration to the Mississippi Delta and beyond between the 1880s and the end of World War I.
“This Delta is shaped daily by the people who invest in it,” said Emily Jones, university archivist. “The communities, celebrations, historic places and even place names tell of the colorful cultures who have immigrated to the Mississippi Delta and left their mark on our landscape. The exhibit prepared by the Moise A. Khayrallah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies and the Center for the Study of Southern Culture is a beautiful representation of the Lebanese families who have contributed to the richness of our regional heritage. The more we explore the threads that have woven together to create our current communities, I believe we will grow to appreciate each other more and more.”
Seeded in 2010 and formalized in 2014, the Moise A. Khayrallah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies is dedicated to research about Lebanese immigrants in the U.S. and throughout the world, and to preserving and sharing that knowledge with the scholarly community and general public. The center examines the historical and contemporary Lebanese Diaspora in all of its dimensions — social, political, economic and cultural — through such activities as a biennial conference, physical and digital archives and publications.
Project partners for the exhibit include the Khayrallah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies, the Center for the Study of Southern Culture, Delta State’s QEP program, the Charles W. Capps, Jr. Archives and Museum, Delta State Diversity Committee, and the University Special Programs Committee at Delta State.
All DSU students, faculty and staff are encouraged to attend the exhibit opening. The event is free and open to the public. For those unable to view the exhibit at Delta State, it will be traveling to the Museum of the Mississippi Delta in Greenwood in April.
For more information, contact the Jones at ejones@deltastate.edu or Keith Fulcher at kfulcher@deltastate.edu.
