Mississippi Archives Names New Civil Rights Research Fellows

The Mississippi Department of Archives and History announced its two newest research fellows, both focusing on the Civil Rights Movement. The program aims to support early-career scholars and promote public and academic understanding of civil rights history.

Christina J. Thomas has been named the inaugural Robert “Bob” Moses Civil Rights Research Fellow. The fellowship honors the late civil rights activist and aims to highlight the human rights struggle in Mississippi. Thomas is working on a project titled “Digitizing Freedom Summer,” which involves creating an interactive map to document the stories of volunteers from the 1964 effort to register Black voters. The project will include biographical details, primary sources, and links to digital collections about the volunteers and local supporters.

Thomas is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of South Carolina’s Center for Civil Rights History and Research. She also works as a community archivist for the Freedom Information Service Library and teaches civil rights history at a Mississippi correctional facility. Her academic background includes a bachelor’s degree from Messiah University, a master’s from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and both a master’s and doctorate from Johns Hopkins University.

Another fellow, Zachary Clary, the Religion in Mississippi History Research Fellow, will examine how religion and morality influenced African Americans’ perceptions of violence and subjugation during the civil rights era. Clary, a doctoral candidate at Vanderbilt University, said the archival materials in Jackson will aid his dissertation on martyrdom and sacrifice in the movement.

The fellowships are funded by a $2.5 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc., through its Religion and Cultural Institutions Initiative. Both scholars will conduct their research over the summer, spending at least two weeks in residence at MDAH archives. They will receive a $5,000 stipend for travel and accommodations and are required to submit a report and present their findings to an audience of scholars and supporters at the end of their fellowship.

Source: Original Article