FLORENCE – The University of North Alabama Department of History, the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library and the Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area announce the arrival of the Emmett Till Traveling Exhibit, an exhibit developed by the Delta State University Archives & Museum and funded through the Mississippi Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
The exhibit will be held at the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library, Aug. 17 – Sept. 18. Additionally, the public library is sponsoring a lecture series about Emmett Till and the Civil Rights Movement.
Composed of newspaper headlines, articles, personal correspondences, family photographs, oral histories and other primary source materials, the exhibit takes visitors back to the Mississippi of 1955 during the trial. Panels are arranged thematically and allow visitors to examine the information regarding the case. It was important to the creators of the exhibit not to include any present-day voice or opinions in the exhibit but to allow visitors to draw their own conclusions and learn in their own way from the events which lead up to and immediately followed the case.
‘So All the World Can See’: Emmett Till and the Long Black Freedom Struggle
Monday, August 24, 6:00
Dr. Ansley Quiros, UNA Assistant Professor of History
The Music of a Movement
Sunday, August 30, 2:00
Kevin Hall, UNA Adjunct Instructor of History
Suffering That Speaks: Emmett Till and the Moral Significance of Public Memory
Thursday, September 10, 6:00
Dr. Matthew Fitzsimmons, UNA Associate Professor of Philosophy
The Effects of Media Exposure on the Emmett Till Murder Case
Sunday, September 13, 2:00
Dr. Jim Martin, UNA Professor of Communications; Scott Morris, Director of UNA Student Publications and former Times Daily editor; Dr. Beth Garfrerick, UNA Assistant Professor of Communications; Cathy Wood, Media Coordinator for the Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area; Rebecca Walker, News Manager at AL.com
Foot Soldiers for the Movement
Tuesday, September 15, 1:00
Gloria Washington Lewis Randall, Carolyn Walker Williams, and Charles Avery, Jr.
This exhibit would not have been possible without the work of Dr. Henry Outlaw to collect oral history recordings and the donation of materials from Gerald Chatham, Robert Smith, Frank R. Chamblin and Wheeler Parker. Exhibition and content design developed by Emily Erwin Jones and Laura Fleeman Walker. The views expressed herein do no necessarily represent those of the Mississippi Humanities council or the National Endowment for the Humanities.
media release/university of north alabama /Dr. Carolyn Barske,Dept. of History