[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 140 (Tuesday, September 10, 2024)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E882]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              HONORING THE MISSISSIPPI HUMANITIES COUNCIL

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                        HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 10, 2024

  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the 
Mississippi Humanities Council. The organization has gone beyond the 
call of duty to ensure Mississippians' stories are told and their lives 
are enriched through civil conversations about their history and 
culture.
  The Mississippi Committee for the Humanities was founded in March of 
1972 with a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, which 
was working to create and support a new system of state humanities 
councils that could carry out and fund grassroots public humanities 
programs. Porter Fortune, Chancellor of the University of Mississippi, 
was the founding chairman of the organization, which later changed its 
name to the Mississippi Humanities Council. The Council's commitment to 
supporting grassroots public humanities programs has been unwavering 
since its inception.
  Founded amidst the turmoil of federally imposed integration, the MS 
Humanities Council played a crucial role in helping to bring about 
social change in Mississippi. It organized and supported interracial 
meetings and funded grants to communities for discussions on 
desegregation and other important issues. More important than the 
funding was the Council's ability to offer state-level legitimacy for 
such discussions and to serve as an impartial broker among differing 
points of view. The Council's commitment to fairness and impartiality 
was unwavering as it worked to bring the insights of humanities 
scholars to the critical contemporary issues the state faced.
  In 2013, Dr. Stuart Rockoff became the third executive director of 
the MS Humanities Council. Under Dr. Rockoff's leadership, the MS 
Humanities Council expanded its council programming, launching new 
initiatives like ``Ideas on Tap'' and prison education and increasing 
its grant-making throughout the state. During the COVID-19 pandemic, 
the Council distributed over $1 million in federal aid in support of 
cultural institutions in Mississippi. The MS Humanities Council also 
has a prison education and MS Freedom Trail program.
  The Mississippi Freedom Trail was created to commemorate the people 
and places in the state that played a pivotal role in the American 
Civil Rights Movement. Under the leadership of Visit Mississippi, the 
first Freedom Trail markers were unveiled in 2011 in conjunction with 
the 50th anniversary reunion of the Freedom Riders. In June 2024, the 
MS Humanities Council unveiled five new markers to the Mississippi 
Freedom Trail. In celebration of the 60th anniversary of Freedom 
Summer, each marker unveiled is connected to the pivotal work of 
Mississippi's Freedom Summer Project. MS Humanities Council unveiled 
the first Freedom Trail marker outside the state on August 20th in 
Atlantic City, New Jersey. This marker honored the Mississippi Freedom 
Democratic Party and its efforts in the 1964 Democratic Convention. 
This ongoing effort honors Mississippi's profound role in the Civil 
Rights Movement and underscores its national significance. Dr. Rockoff 
and his staff, John Spann, Carol Anderson, Kam Hoskins, Carla Faulkner, 
Sandra Johnson, and Katie Molpus have worked tirelessly to ensure 
Mississippians' stories are told.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing The 
Mississippi Humanities Council for their service in the field of Public 
History.

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