Comedy set in Jackson kicks off a season that’s themed “A Literary Party,” with plays that have a literary backdrop (Shakespeare in this case), or are based on books.
Mississippi Culture
African American cowboys and cowgirls ride into the spotlight at annual Jackson Black Rodeo
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The historical role of black cowboys in rural life has drawn renewed interest in recent years in Mississippi, nationally and around the world
Mississippi Culture
“Every Hour”: Claire Holley revisits how she ‘started to really enjoy music’ with new release of hymns
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Jackson native back home with a free public performance in her hometown featuring songs from the recent release, “Every Hour.”
Sports
Life lessons through golf: Mississippi Urban League, First Tee, 100 Black Men join forces
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The children learned how to grip a golf club, how to swing it and, perhaps more importantly, how golf is the only sport in which the players keep score and call penalties on themselves. In golf, integrity is paramount.
Mississippi Culture
A blooming spectacle: New crepe myrtle festival invites the world to visit Natchez
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Organizers hope the Natchez International Crepe Myrtle Festival, June 21-22, will rival the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C., and fall foliage tours in New England.
Mississippi Culture
‘Black Out: Silhouettes Then and Now’: Rare art form on display in Mississippi more than just shadows of the past
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Silhouettes predated photography and explored slavery and other stereotypes. The exhibit from the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery is on display through Aug. 25 at the Mississippi Museum of Art.
Mississippi Culture
Author Mary Miller dives into the Coast with the help of aging cynic and his furry friend
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Her life on Mississippi’s Coast inspired her latest novel, “Biloxi”, its aging protagonist and his canine companion.
Mississippi Culture
Inaugural Mississippi Food and Wine festival a new destination on the culinary map
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Participants say festival, debuting June 13-15 “… is just good for Jackson. It’s nice to have something worth coming here for.”
Mississippi Culture
Steve Martin’s musical ‘Bright Star’ right at home in the South and at New Stage
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Tale of love, forgiveness and redemption anchored in folk/Americana music and runs through June 9.
Mississippi Culture
A hard conversation about racism: How ‘The Blood of Emmett Till’ led high school Northerners on a civil rights journey to the South
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Educators at St. Benedict’s Preparatory School in Newark, New Jersey created a course around the Till book and the civil rights movement. Students and teachers then traveled through the South, including the Mississippi Delta.
Mississippi Culture
‘Pushing Forward’: Mississippi’s youngest Freedom Rider is finally telling his story
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Almost 55 years since accidentally becoming the youngest Freedom Rider, Hezekiah Watkins finds chemistry with an unlikely writer to share what “was a hell of an experience.”
Government
‘We’re getting a double hit’: Mississippi farmers, slammed by weather and tariffs, still say they support president
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Many farmers are having to bear the brunt of the impact of the trade war but back the administration’s effort to get better deals.“We want fair trade? You better believe it. … But it is time to get it done.
Mississippi Culture
Misery and memory in Glendora, Mississippi: How poverty is reshaping the story of Emmett Till’s murder
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Glendora, a small community in the heart of the Mississippi Delta with 18 signs dedicated to the memory of Emmett Till’s murder and home to the Emmett Till Historic Intrepid Center, holds on to a unique version of Till’s story.
Mississippi Culture
Richard Ford wins Library of Congress award: ‘Winning a prize is a great exception to the rule of a writer’s life’
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Ford: ‘On the one hand, I’m lucky still to be writing novels at age 75. Yet, as I am, this selection is a useful encouragement to me.’
Mississippi Culture
Ken Burns’ ‘Country Music’ documentary relies heavily on the stories from Mississippi’s deep music history
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Marty Stuart plays a key role in film that opens on PBS in September — as a guide to Jimmie Rodgers and his music to the Father of Bluegrass Bill Monroe to Johnny Cash.
People
Unita Blackwell, civil rights pillar and first black woman mayor in Mississippi, dies at 86
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Former sharecropper was a tireless civil rights worker who also advised six U.S. presidents.