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  • ‘Food Power Politics’ Documents The Role Of Food During The Mississippi Civil Rights Movement

    Food Power Politics: The Food Story of The Mississippi Civil Rights Movement by Dr. Bobby J. Smith II is an upcoming book that is the first within University of North Carolina Press’s Black Food Justice series. 

    In Food Power Politics, Dr. Bobby J. Smith II uncovers a captivating narrative that delves into the depths of American civil rights history, shedding light on the significant role of food within it. Through meticulous research, interviews, and oral histories, Smith presents a fresh perspective on the Mississippi civil rights movement, demonstrating how activists expanded the boundaries of civil rights to encompass the profound influence of food in sociopolitical and economic contexts.

    Historically, white economic and political figures employed food as a weapon against Black sharecropping communities in the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta. However, in a remarkable display of resilience and collaboration, members of these communities joined forces with activists to transform food into a tool of resistance. Today, Black youth in the Delta are at the forefront of a food justice movement, bravely confronting the enduring inequalities that continue to shape their lives.

    Smith’s interdisciplinary approach draws from critical food studies, Black studies, history, sociology, and southern studies, skillfully establishing vital connections between past civil rights activism and the ongoing pursuit of food justice within Black communities. Through this insightful exploration, the author unveils the transformative potential of power struggles surrounding food, empowering these communities to envision a future where Black individuals possess full autonomy and the capacity to imagine, design, create, and sustain a self-sufficient local food system.

    ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Dr. Bobby J. Smith II is an interdisciplinary sociologist and teaches African American studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Food Power Politics is his first book.

    Food Power Politics will be released August 29th, 2023. Visit the UNC Press for more information. 

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  • Ida B. Wells, Prominent Journalist And Civil Rights Activist, Is Honored With A Barbie Doll

    Mattel’s Barbie recently commemorated Black journalist and Civil Rights Leader Ida B. Wells as the latest addition to its Inspiring Women series, which highlights trailblazing women role models throughout history. Previously honored women include Maya Angeleou, Florence Nightingale, Eleanor Roosevelt, Rosa Parks, Billie Jean King and Ella Fitzgerald.

    In 1862, Wells was born into slavery in Holly Springs, Mississippi. Throughout her remarkable life, Wells fought all forms of discrimination and violence through her work as a key journalist, shedding light on the severe injustices against Black people in the South.  She also led an anti-lynching movement, traveling both within the country and abroad to expose the horrors of lynching. Though extremely risky, her determination to fight against injustice was unrelenting. Later, she became a co-founder of the NAACP. 

    Mattel revealed the inspiring Ida B. Wells Barbie on Instagram. “#Barbie is proud to honor the incredible Ida B. Wells as the newest role model in our Inspiring Women series, dedicated to spotlighting heroes who paved the way for generations of girls to dream big and make a difference,” reads the caption. “When kids learn about heroes like Ida B. Wells, they don’t just imagine a better future – they know they have the power to make it come true. Available at major retailers by January 17th.”

    The doll seeks to re-imagine the moment when Wells became editor in chief of her own newspaper and launched her anti-lynching work. 

    Michelle Duster, author and great-great granddaughter of Wells, has been completely moved by the positive response to the doll, which she helped to conceptualize. “We were hoping that the doll would be well-received, but we never expected this level of excitement,” said Duster. 

    The Barbie is flying off shelves in cities like Chicago, and Mattel has limited the quantity to three per customer when purchasing online. 

    “It’s so interesting how the doll might be used by people. Mattel created the series in order to inspire young girls to be all they can be and learn about historical figures, but from what I’m seeing on social media, a lot of adults are going, ‘I want to put this doll on my shelf, or next to my computer, for motivation,’”Duster said.

  • Home of civil rights icon Evers named as a national monument

    FILE – In this Aug. 9, 1955 file photo, Medgar Evers, state secretary for the NAACP poses for a photo in Jackson, Miss. The historic home of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers is now a national monument, the U.S. interior secretary and members of Mississippi’s congressional delegation announced Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020. The designation for the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home was required by a law President Donald Trump signed in March 2019. (AP Photo/File)

    JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The historic home of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers is now a national monument, the U.S. interior secretary and members of Mississippi’s congressional delegation announced Thursday.

    The designation for the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home was required by a law President Donald Trump signed in March 2019.

    The Interior Department said in a news release Thursday that Tougaloo College conveyed ownership of the home to the National Park Service in June. The modest ranch-style house in Jackson is currently closed to the public, but the park service will make plans to open it to visitors in the coming months.

    Medgar Evers was the Mississippi NAACP leader when he was assassinated outside the home in June 1963 while his wife, Myrlie, and their three children were inside.

    Democratic U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, the only Black member of Mississippi’s current congressional delegation, worked 16 years to make the Evers home a national monument.

    “The designation of his home is an everlasting tribute to his legacy,” Thompson said in a statement. “Mr. Evers was an inspiration to all Americans by dedicating his life to others and fighting against racism and discrimination.”

    Medgar Evers was a World War II veteran who fought in Europe and returned to his native Mississippi, where he again faced harsh segregation. As the first field secretary of the Mississippi NAACP beginning in 1954, he led voter registration drives and boycotts to push for racial equality. He also investigated lynchings, beatings and other violence that Black residents suffered at the hands of white segregationists.

    Myrlie Evers was national chairwoman of the NAACP from 1995 to 1998. After living in Mississippi in recent years, she has moved back to California, where she raised her three children after their father’s death.

    “Medgar Evers was a true American hero who fought the Nazis at Normandy and fought racism with his wife Myrlie on the home front,” Interior Secretary David L. Bernhardt said. “The life works of these great Americans helped shape our nation in making the United States a more perfect union, and for that, we should all be grateful.”

    In 1993, the Evers family donated the home to Tougaloo, a historically Black college that was a hub of civil rights activism. The three-bedroom home stood vacant for years after the family moved away in the 1960s, and it was restored in the mid-1990s. It is now filled with midcentury furniture, and one of the bedrooms has had a display about the family’s history. A bullet hole has remained visible in a kitchen wall.

    White supremacist Byron De La Beckwith was put on trial twice in the 1960s in the killing of Evers, but all-white juries deadlocked. The case was reopened in the early 1990s after new witnesses came forward, and in 1994 an integrated jury convicted Beckwith of murder and sentenced him to life in prison. Beckwith died in 2001.

    The National Park Service named the Evers home a national historic landmark in 2016. In the joint statement with Thompson on Thursday, Republican U.S. Sens. Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith also praised the national monument status for the home.

    “The Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home serves as a permanent reminder of the legacy of the Evers family, whose contributions advanced the cause of justice in our nation,” Wicker said.

    Hyde-Smith said: “This new national site will also stand in recognition of the overall pursuit of equality and justice in Mississippi and our nation.”

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    Follow Emily Wagster Pettus on Twitter: https://twitter.com/EWagsterPettus .

  • The First Feature Biopic About Rosa Parks To Begin Production In 2019

    Rosa Parks

    A full-length feature film about Civil Rights activist Rosa Parks may be hitting theaters for the first time. Titled Rosa, the biopic will be produced by Winter State Entertainment, and filming will begin in 2019.

    Written by Charlie Kessler and Hamid Torabpour, the film aims to explore the first 24-hours following the famous arrest of Parks on December 1, 1955. Deadline reports that the project will also recognize Parks’ involvement with the Civil Rights movement as an activist and advocate prior to being wrongfully arrested.

    In the past, a few projects have explored the courageous life and legacy of Rosa Parks. In 2001, the Oscar nominated documentary Mighty Times: The Legacy of Rosa Parks was released. The following year, Parks collaborated on bringing The Rosa Parks Story to television, starring Angela Bassett. Most recently, TV One’s Behind The Movement premiered earlier this year, which is a fast-paced retelling of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. However, Rosa is the first biopic about the activist that is scheduled for a theatrical release.

    Jeanne Theoharis, author of the NAACP Award-winning book “The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks,” will serve as a consulting producer on the film. “While most Americans have heard of Rosa Parks, the details of what happened that on the night she was arrested, and her lifetime of political courage and activism, are largely unknown,” Theoharis told Deadline in a statement.  “The real story of Rosa Parks is far different, and even more inspiring and relevant for our times than the tale most children learn in school.”

    Elaine Steele, who co-founded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development with Rosa Parks back in 1987, said in a statement to Deadline: “We are excited about the upcoming movie and are honored that Winter State and the team of filmmakers plan to contribute to The Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development. We are confident that the filmmakers of Rosa will bring quality and their commitment to accuracy to this important historical event.”A percentage of the proceeds made from Rosa will be donated to the Institute.