January 15, 2013: SPOHP in the Delta, Mississippi Project Report for Year Five
On January 15, SPOHP students and staff presented a panel at 6 p.m. at Gainesville’s Civic Media Center to discuss their experiences from SPOHP’s fifth annual Mississippi Freedom Project research trip.
- Watch “An Organizing Workshop with Lawrence Guyot,” legendary community organizer and Director of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party in 1964, available on YouTube!
In September 2012, SPOHP sent a team of students and program staff to the Mississippi Delta, where the student researchers conducted oral history interviews for SPOHP’s Mississippi Freedom Project, an archive of oral histories taken with labor rights leaders and veterans of the civil rights movement. During the January panel, trip participants shared their reflections and experiences in photos and presentations. The purpose of this event was to bring SPOHP’s experiences in the Delta back to the Gainesville community, and encourage discussion about the current state of civil and labor rights issues in the South.
Panelists Jessica Taylor, Joanna Joseph, Justin Dunnuvant and Diana Dombrowski reflected on how their time in the Delta provided them with a better working understanding of social movements in American history and discussed the value of hands-on research experience they gained during the trip. The panel also featured selections from an organizing workshop held with Lawrence Guyot, a prolific SNCC organizer directed the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party in 1964.
Sponsors
The research trip was co-sponsored by Mr. William De Grove, The Samuel Proctor Oral History Program, University of Florida Office of the Vice President for Research, Sunflower County Civil Rights Organization, Sam Block Civil Rights Organization, and Patricia Stephens Due and John Due Freedom Foundation.