The Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area recently forged the \u201cDelta Jewels Oral History Partnership\u201d with Alysia Burton Steele, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism professor at the University of Mississippi. Steele is the author of “Delta Jewels: In Search of My Grandmother\u2019s Wisdom,” a book of oral histories and portraits of over 50 African American church mothers from the Mississippi Delta, including civil rights icon Myrlie Evers-Williams. The book has received national media coverage, including The New York Times, NBC, National Public Radio, USA Today, Chicago Sun-Times, Southern Living, Essence and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.<\/p>\n
The partnership will provide opportunities for MDNHA and The Delta Center for Culture and Learning at Delta State University to present oral history programs and workshops with regional, statewide and national organizations. The partnership is designed to make oral history education and awareness accessible to diverse communities, as well as to promote Mississippi Delta culture and history on a broader scale.<\/p>\n
Mississippi Valley State University in Itta Bena, Miss. will be the first organization to host an oral history program under this new partnership.<\/p>\n
\u201cMississippi Valley State University is honored to host the inaugural program for the Delta Jewels Oral History Partnership,\u201d said La Shon Brooks, Chief of Staff at MVSU. \u201cProviding a space where these culturally enriching oral histories will be shared with our students, faculty, staff and community members aligns with the public education mission of our institution.\u201d<\/p>\n
MVSU\u2019s oral history program is part of the Zelma T. Howard Lecture Series sponsored by the university\u2019s Department of English. The presentation will take place at the William W. Sutton Administration Building, Auditorium 103, on Oct. 29 at 10 a.m. The event is free and open to the public.<\/p>\n
The MDNHA and The Delta Center partnered with Steele earlier this year to host a series of Delta Jewels community gatherings aimed at promoting cultural heritage and oral history awareness. The events took place in several Delta communities including Clarksdale, Charleston, Indianola, Yazoo City, Ruleville and Mound Bayou. The Mound Bayou gathering was hosted in conjunction with the city\u2019s 128th anniversary celebration in July.<\/p>\n
The gatherings attracted over 500 guests from throughout the Mississippi Delta region and the nation. Steele and the Delta Jewels also presented sessions at Delta State University\u2019s Winning the Race conference. Continued demand for these presentations led to the creation of the Delta Jewels Oral History Partnership.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis new partnership will help the MDNHA to fulfill various aspects of its management plan approved by the National Park Service, including oral history education, promoting Delta culture and history, and telling Delta stories,\u201d said Dr. Rolando Herts, director of the MDNHA and The Delta Center. \u201cThe partnership also serves as a vehicle for the MDNHA to offer expanded Delta Jewels programming in the Mississippi Delta and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI am excited about this partnership, and I believe we will reach diverse groups of people,\u201d said Steele. \u201cThese presentations and the book\u2019s contents transcend race, age, class, gender and geography. I have received messages from readers in Italy, France, New Zealand and Australia. I believe everyone can relate to having a special elder in their lives and I want to inspire people \u2013 all people \u2013 to record their family history.\u201d<\/p>\n
To learn more about hosting a Delta Jewels oral history program or workshop, contact Herts at rherts@deltastate.edu, or call The Delta Center at 662-846-4311.<\/p>\n
The MDNHA is a partnership between the people of the Mississippi Delta and the National Park Service. The area was designated by U.S. Congress in 2009 and is governed by a board of directors representing agencies and organizations defined in the congressional legislation. More information about the MDNHA, including the complete approved management plan, is available at www.msdeltaheritage.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n The mission of The Delta Center is to promote greater understanding of Mississippi Delta culture and history and its significance to the world through education, partnerships and community engagement. The Delta Center serves as the management entity of the MDNHA and is the home of the International Delta Blues Project. For more information, visit https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/academics\/delta-center-for-culture-and-learning\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area recently forged the \u201cDelta Jewels Oral History Partnership\u201d with Alysia Burton Steele, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism professor at the University of Mississippi. Steele is the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":144,"featured_media":67983,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,296],"tags":[1415,412,928],"class_list":["post-67982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-delta-center","category-facultystaff","tag-delta-center","tag-delta-center-for-culture-and-learning","tag-mdnha"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/144"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67982"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67982\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67985,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67982\/revisions\/67985"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}