The Mississippi Humanities Council has awarded a $15,000 grant to the Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation (TRHT) Campus Center at Millsaps College to support a new series of digital and public programs. Funding will be used to develop a podcast and series of community conversations to be held in the Midtown, Belhaven and Fondren neighborhoods.

The podcast and conversations will focus on the following, as outlined in the TRHT grant application: “(1) the barriers to accepting the truth of systemic racism, as a feature of our history as well as our contemporary moment, and how to overcome these barriers; (2) the inequities of our healthcare system, including how these inequities inhibit the efforts of so many Americans to heal themselves and those they love; and (3) the disillusionment that so often arises as we attempt to combat the virus of racism, create meaningful change in our communities, and develop connections from our common humanity.”

Under the working title of “We Have So Much to Talk About: Conversations on Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation,” the podcast will target the three subject areas and will be set up as a conversation between a member of one of the three communities and a member of the Millsaps community (open to students, faculty, staff and alumni). The podcasts are slated to be recorded during the spring of 2022.

“Like our neighbors, we at Millsaps have persevered in the face of so many challenges over the last year and a half,” said Dr. Michael Pickard, assistant professor of English and E.B. Stewart Family Professor in Language and Literature and a member of the TRHT leadership team. “We also share with them the common cause of recovery. For that reason, we see these programs as a chance to grow stronger together. By talking about the inequities that persist in our communities, we can identify ways to bridge the divisions between us and reaffirm our human ties. We are grateful to the Mississippi Humanities Council for supporting this work.”

The community conversations are scheduled to be held in the fall of 2022. Free and open to the public, these conversations will be held at public venues in Midtown, Belhaven and Fondren.

“We are happy to support Millsaps in doing this important work,” said Dr. Stuart Rockoff, executive director of the Mississippi Humanities Council. “After the physical disconnection brought on by the pandemic, this initiative will help foster a greater sense of connection between the college and its community.”

An overview of the history and work of the Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation Campus Center at Millsaps is available here.