Symposium Focusing on Reconstruction Era in Holly Springs Opens Friday

Events features panel discussions and graveside ceremony

OXFORD, Miss. – University of Mississippi faculty have partnered with several statewide organizations to present “Voices of Reconstruction,” a two-day event kicking off Friday (Nov. 1) and centering on the Reconstruction Era in Holly Springs.

A full schedule of events is listed below:

Friday (Nov. 1)

Panel Discussion: “Ecology and Reconstruction: Race and Land Use in Mississippi” – 4-6 p.m.; Yellow Fever Martyrs Church Museum, Holly Springs. A discussion among academic experts, including Owen Hyman, instructional assistant professor of African American studies; and Rhondalyn Peairs, graduate student in Southern studies

Saturday (Nov 2)

Ancestor Veneration Ceremony – 10-11:30 a.m.; Hillcrest Cemetery, Holly Springs. A gathering at the gravesite of Hiram Revels, one of the first African Americans to serve in the U.S. Congress.

Ida B. Wells-Barnet and Sherwood Bonner in Conversation – 2-4 p.m.; Holly Springs Depot. A conversation on the lives of civil rights pioneer Ida B. Wells-Barnett and writer Sherwood Bonner, an 18th-century feminist born into a family of plantation owners.

This event features UM professors Kathryn McKee, director of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture and author of “Reading Reconstruction: Sherwood Bonner and the Literature of the Post-Civil War South,” and Shennette Garrett-Scott, associate professor of history and African American studies.

For more information about the event, contact Jodi Skipper at jskippe1@olemiss.edu.