Jackson Free Press

Mississippi State University Libraries is hosting the E.O. and Betty Templeton Genealogy and History Fair, a virtual event featuring guest speakers specializing in African American genealogy and Southern photography, on Saturday, June 5, from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Professional certified genealogist Elyse Hill and historian Frances O. Robb will lead sessions during the event, and MSU Libraries faculty will host workshops on genealogy topics. The event will also include door prize giveaways.

Hill is a professional genealogy researcher for Legacy Tree Genealogists, which specializes in African American and Southern states research. She is a graduate of the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research, Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh and the Midwest African American Genealogy Institute.

Robb is the author of “Shot in Alabama: A History of Photography, 1839-1941” and is writing a book about A.C. Oxford, a Mississippi native who fought in the Civil War with Gen. Joseph Wheeler and became Birmingham’s first resident photographer in the 1870s. Robb holds graduate degrees from the University of North Carolina and Yale University.

The virtual event is free and open to the public, but participants must register for each session they wish to attend. To register, visit https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/genfair.

For more information on MSU Libraries, visit library.msstate.edu.

JSU Designated as 2019-2020 Fulbright HBCU Institutional Leader

The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs recently designated Jackson State University as a 2019-2020 Fulbright Historically Black College and University Institutional Leader, marking the second consecutive year the university has received the designation.

JSU was among 20 historically black colleges and universities to receive the distinction. Throughout 2019 and 2020, JSU hosted two Fulbright foreign language teaching assistants and several visiting lecturers.

ECA established the HBCU Institutional Leader designation in 2019 to acknowledge collaborations between the Fulbright Program and the country’s HBCUs, a release from JSU says. The initiative is part of the U.S. Department of State’s efforts to build diversity and inclusion within the Fulbright Program and all of the Bureau’s international exchange programs.

The Fulbright Program has previously collaborated with diversity-related associations and organizations such as the White House Initiative on HBCUs, the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, the National Clearinghouse on Disability and Exchange, the American Association of Community Colleges and Diversity Abroad.

On June 3, the Fulbright Program will host the Fulbright HBCU Symposium to highlight the role HBCU students, faculty and administrators play representing higher education. The symposium will offer workshops to assist HBCUs with using Fulbright to strengthen campus internalization, global engagement efforts and building global networks. The symposium is open to all HBCU faculty, staff, and stakeholders.

Dineo Brinson, an academic exchange specialist with the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, will moderate the session. Speakers will include Ruth Simmons, president of Prairie View A&M University and a Fulbright alumna, and Leach Creque, professor of English, Director of the Honors Program and Fulbright Program Adviser and Scholar Liaison at Morehouse College. To register for the event, visit https://iie-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_qXtx2qHISI6rb8UmVEz9cw.

For more information on the Fulbright Program, visit http://eca.state.gov/fulbright.

USM and Alpha Phi Alpha Present Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Virtual Scholarship Awards

The Mu Gamma Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and its undergraduate counterpart at the University of Southern Mississippi recently hosted the 15th annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Virtual Scholarship Awards & Program. At the event, ten students from across the Pine Belt received $500 Book Scholarship Awards from MGL.

The Book Scholarship Award is part of the fraternity’s “Go to High School - Go to College” education initiative, which MGL originally established in 1922 to support the academic success and career goals of young African American males. High School academic counselors recommend award recipients to the local fraternity chapter.

Academic Book Scholarship recipients for 2021 include Ron Dickerson, Blake Johnson and Walton Thompson of Hattiesburg High School; Kelston Seymour of Oak Grove High School; Xavier Sandifer of Forrest County Agricultural High School; Samaritan Montgomery of North Forrest High School; Jaymar Jackson II of Laurel High School; Kaleb Henry of Wayne County High School; Leigh Smith of East Marion High School; and Omarion Carson of Petal High School.

For more information about Alpha Phi Alpha’s “Go to High School - Go to College” academic book scholarship, email [email protected].