NHA Grants Support Mississippi’s Cultural Heritage

Grantees at the MHNHA Community Grants Program Award Ceremony, held March 19, 2019. Executive Director Mary Cates William of the Mississippi Hills Heritage Area Alliance, which manages MHNHA, stands at center.

MHNHA Photo

Hernando, MS (April 22, 2019) – Mississippi Hills National Heritage Area (MHNHA) awarded $180,000 to partners through its 2019 Community Grants Program. These grants will fund 21 projects preserving and celebrating the rich heritage of northern Mississippi.

A number of projects will focus on historic preservation and interpretation, such as:

• Repairing the historic Jacinto Courthouse cupola
• Documenting local involvement in the Civil Rights movement through an oral history project
• Creating new exhibits at Mississippi’s Final Stands Interpretive Center to tell the story of soldiers on the home front during the Civil War
• Planning a revitalization effort for the Mississippi Industrial College historic district

A grant will support a new lecture series at Rust College (Holly Springs, MS), one of the oldest historically black colleges in the country

MHNHA Photo

Other initiatives will highlight the region’s musical, art and literary heritage, including:

• Installing a mural of famed author William Faulkner in Ripley, where he lived as a child
• Organizing a festival inspired by Faulkner’s life and legacy
• Supporting several festivals celebrating Hill Country music and blues
• Compiling a directory of local heritage craft makers as part of an effort to keep traditional craft making skills vibrant

Several grants will support educational efforts, such as:

• Hosting a symposium at the University of Mississippi Museum to look at landscape in art and literature
• Establishing a new lecture series at Rust College to look at historical and contemporary social justice and civil rights issues in a teaching and learning environment
• Expanding nature education outreach programs to reach local schools

Other projects will support heritage tourism, an important sector of the local economy.

Each of these projects supports the mission of MHNHA to preserve, enhance, interpret, and promote the culture and heritage of the region.

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