Jackson Free Press

As a Lanier High School graduate, I am proud (and aware) of the importance of my school's heritage as one of the most historic black public schools in the area—and know well how important support of the arts is to students such as myself. My life was changed because of experiences I received there in projects outside the regular curriculum—work that was funded by grants from local arts organizations such as the Jackson Arts Alliance (now called the Jackson Arts Council).

As a student at Lanier, I became aware of the school's rich history, like the student walk-out during the Civil Rights Movement and the large number of alumni that are successful. I also met civil rights activist Dr. Robert P. Moses there. I was never a math whiz, but Dr. Moses and his Algebra Project made the subject easy and showed us how to apply math to everyday life.

Then I was elated to learn that poet Jolivette Anderson and teacher Anne Johnson had created an artistic off-spin to the Algebra Project. The My Mississippi Eyes Migration Project is a literature counterpart to the Algebra Project. Its goal is to study the migration of African-American people from the South to the North after the Civil War ended and Jim Crow segregation began.

In past years, the participants retraced the trail of millions of African-American people who fled in search of work and prosperity. Before I became a member, groups traveled through the Mississippi Delta to Chicago and New York. The students were exposed to people who housed migrants, they visited museums, and they toured college campuses. Our group was always especially grateful to the Arts Alliance (Council), for we received much of our funding from them. Once I became a member of the project, we experienced our first budget cut, and we began to host fund-raisers to replace the funds we'd lost.

The organization met every other day for an entire class period. We did in-depth research about African-American history, usually the parts omitted from history books. Mrs. Johnson, our teacher/adviser, always encouraged us to think critically, ask questions and express ourselves through art.

"She never allowed us to make comments about subjects unless we had done our research. I later realized that through research, we gained a better understanding about vague information that we learned throughout school," says Daphne McDowell, former My Mississippi Eyes participant.

The project was very influential in my life. I learned history that my regular history classes never taught me. I learned how to express myself through art. And as we did research and uncovered information, Mrs. Johnson challenged us to apply the information to our everyday lives.

As a group, we decided that we wanted to be more involved in the political process of our school, community, country and world. We joined forces with the Student Government Association and began to organize voter-registration drives. We were able to travel to South Carolina to participate in a forum held by the Center of Community Change during the presidential primary season. We also traveled to New Orleans in conjunction with another youth group.

Everything about the project was fulfilling. We learned, we traveled, and we helped our community. We worked hard to uncover the truth about our ancestors and our heritage. We obtained critical reading, writing and thinking skills that we will be able to use forever.

At the close of my junior year, we realized that the Arts Alliance (Council) wasn't receiving as much funding as before. We were saddened as seniors to see such a bleak future for the project. We even looked into establishing the project as a nonprofit organization.

The Arts Alliance (Council) was pivotal in our high school careers. It gave us networking skills (it's how I met Donna Ladd). Looking back, I see how much I gained. Looking forward, I see how much the students are going to miss.

Some may think that funding for the arts isn't important. I must disagree. Had it not been for the Arts Alliance (Council) grants, we would have missed out on great opportunities. I was outraged when I found out that the city cut another $30,000 from the Arts Council this fiscal year. It's hard to sit back and watch projects like My Mississippi Eyes dwindle away, knowing the difference it made it my life. For once, I would love to see this city come together to support the nurturing of our kids. Without full funding of the Arts Council, which gives grants to so many small-but-significant projects throughout the community, we lose the opportunity for young people to venture into areas beyond academics and sports.

Those who criticize young people's performance contradict themselves by allowing such vital programs to be cut from communities and schools. These are the programs that allow an escape from reality for some, and a safe haven for others. These are the programs that nurture the minds of young people in a way that will never happen in a classroom. These are the programs that produce great artists and writers. These are the programs that make a difference in the lives of young people almost 100 percent of the time.

We are killing ourselves if we allow arts funding to be taken away.

JFP intern Melishia Grayson was the student body president of Lanier High School and is now a freshman studying journalism at Jackson State. She will sit on a panel about the importance of arts to Jackson's economic development Tuesday, June 13, at St. Andrew's Cathedral downtown. All are welcome.

Previous Comments

ID

72576

Comment

Melishia, what a powerful article! there are so many points outlined here that it is hard to choose just one that makes an impact on you. "Those who criticize young people's performance contradict themselves by allowing such vital programs to be cut from communities and schools." "We are killing ourselves if we allow arts funding to be taken away." Can you give any more informatino about the panel discussion taking place next week?

Author

c a webb

Date

2006-06-07T18:33:14-06:00

ID

72577

Comment

Your writing here speaks volumes on compassion, education & future building. I wish I could be there but will be out of town. I will be watching the blog for discussion.

Author

Izzy

Date

2006-06-10T14:26:05-06:00

ID

72578

Comment

Funny you should write this. I went to MMA today and I hate to write this, but it was literally a joke. SOme exhibits of Japanese prints, a few vases, and only a few paintings. Looked around for a children's museum and didn't see one. If its there, it was just not in plain view or I'm blind. We went through the museum in less than 30 minutes and that was stopping and looking at everything. Its sad. This is supposed to be the pinnacle of art in Mississippi and it was a huge disappointment. I was a member until this year and I've been a member of NOMA (New Orleans) for 4 years now. The nice thing about NOMA is their permenant collection is really nice. You'd think that if we had better items in MMA's permanent collection they would be on display more. Yes, I'm aware of the Georgia O'Keefe exhibit, but I am talking about the normal stuff on display. Granted, NOMA has a huge budget but Mobile is smaller than Jackson and their museum is much nicer than ours and has alot more to offer. What would've been nice would've been after Katrina to attempt to show some of the treasures of NOMA: 3 Faberge eggs, 2 pieces of Rodin sculpture, 4 Monet's, 4 Degas, 5 Picassos, a Rembrandt, Sissley's, Gaughins, etc. It would've been a chance for Jackson to show things that normally are not seen here or cost alot for a special exhibit when NOMA was probably desperate for any form of income. I never understood why we didn't try to become a satellite of NOMA and show in our museum the items in their permenant collection by masters that are not on display. I guess I don't think progressive enough.

Author

Kingfish

Date

2006-06-12T00:11:37-06:00

ID

72579

Comment

Jimmy, I sadly agree with you on the MMA. I haven't been impressed by the place over the last decade or so. I remember going as a teen and seeing far more extensive exhibits and now it seems unusually empty. I mean some galleries have larger collections on exhibit by pretty capable artists.

Author

kaust

Date

2006-06-12T10:15:42-06:00

ID

72580

Comment

Frank Melton has confirmed attendance at 5:30.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2006-06-13T14:36:21-06:00

ID

72581

Comment

I should also share that the mayor is expected to attend in his street gear, so to speak. He is "going out" (on a raid) at 5 p.m., and plans to come to the forum as is, so to speak. Remember, should the news splash this bit all over the news, you heard it first here. Then again, he may not show. But I just saw him, and he assured me that he is going to.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2006-06-13T14:55:29-06:00

ID

72582

Comment

The mayor's appearance at the forum was thankfully pretty brief. He seemed to think that the meeting was being hosted by Malcolm White (I guess that's who he recognized on stage). Guess he hasn't meet the Arts Council people yet. Melishia did a very good job speaking to her experience as a student. I wish that the forum could have actually moved the discussion about how we should be supporting the arts forward a bit. It seemed mostly focused on making the case for support of the arts - I think most of the folks there were "true believers" - it might be good for a later forum that would tackle how you put the support into action.

Author

ironsides

Date

2006-06-14T10:27:55-06:00

ID

72583

Comment

Ironsides, we're going to turn this into a series of forums. You can't hit everything in one night, but hopefully the energy will inspire everyone to continue. I missed the mayor's visit. And, yes, he knows people on the Arts Council—myself included. I reminded him yesterday to go to the event. But details such as the difference between the Arts Council and the Arts Commission aren't really his priority. BTW, he broke state law when he wore his gun into the church.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2006-06-14T14:07:28-06:00