Holtzclaw Institute @ Hinds-Utica

January was a whirlwind of historic tours, conversations, and learning. We kicked our semester off with a campus historical tour for all the academic faculty on campus. Most folks knew pieces of the story of our founding, but it had been a while since we brought everyone together to share it all. We were also able to share some of our more recent discoveries, including a visit to the original Utica Institute train stop on the old Little J railroad line, which ran from Jackson to Utica. More recently, we were able to take a group of students to the screening of Tell Them We Are Rising, a new film about the HBCU experience coming out on PBS in a few weeks. Students were able to watch the film and meet with the director for a Q&A, along with a panel on the impact of HBCUs like Utica in Mississippi.

The acting chairman for the National Endowment for the Humanities, Jon Peede, will be visiting Hinds Community College’s Utica Campus for a celebration of the legacy of founder William H. Holtzclaw.

The program is at 9 a.m. Friday Dec. 8 in the Walter Washington amphitheater on the Utica Campus.

The celebration will focus on Holtzclaw’s contributions to African American education. The historic Utica Jubilee Singers will present several selections, and there will also be presentations of research projects and an overview of humanities activities at the Utica Campus.

Peede, who grew up in Brandon and now lives in Virginia, is expected to make brief remarks.

Program Overview:

9:00        Welcome
Performance by the Jubilee Singers
Overview of Grant activities
Student research presentations
Faculty research presentations

9:45        Reception in future Holtzclaw Museum space

10:10     Campus tour for guests on Hinds bus

Continue reading “Celebrating the Holtzclaw Legacy: Acting National Endowment for Humanities chairman to visit Utica Campus” →

Join us on Wednesday, October 25th for our annual Holtzclaw Lecture, featuring photojournalist and journalism professor Alysia Burton Steele. Steele, a journalism professor at the University of Mississippi, will be discussing her oral history project and book, Delta Jewels: In Search of My Grandmother’s Wisdom. Hear the story behind the making of the book featuring stories from African American elder women, who share poignant highlights of their lives during the Jim Crow-era Mississippi.  The talk begins at 1pm in the Amphitheater on the Utica Campus.

We kicked off our first Holtzclaw Summer Teacher’s Institute this week by bringing together educators from around the country (and world!) for a week of discussion centered around our shared reading list. In July, the participants will visit the campus for a week of face-to-face study culminating in the creation of a teaching unit the participants will be able to use in their own contexts.

Continue reading “Inaugural Summer Institute Kicks Off” →

As part of an ongoing National Endowment for the Humanities grant at Hinds Community College-Utica, “The Black Man’s Burden: William H. Holtzclaw and the Mississippi HBCU Connection,” the Humanities Department at Hinds CC-Utica is pleased to announce the third public talk in the Holtzclaw Lecture Series. The Holtzclaw Lecture Series is designed to bring nationally recognized scholars and experts on African American education in the South for public lectures in a variety of venues around the state.

Bobby G. Cooper will be delivering a talk entitled “Performing Jubilee: The History & Legacy of the Utica Jubilee Singers” on Tuesday, April 11^th at 6 pm. The lecture will take place in the Auditorium of the Bobby G. Cooper Fine Arts Center on the Hinds-Utica campus.

Continue reading “Announcing the “Performing Jubilee” Public Lecture” →