Author: Christina
-
New Article: “A Black Girl’s Coming of Age in Jim Crow Philadelphia, Pennsylvania”
In the fall of 1949, seventeen-year-old Geraldine Louise Wilson posed for her senior photograph as a midwinter graduate at Philadelphia High School for Girls, known to her as Girls’ High (see figure below). After four years of study at this prestigious institution, this portrait represented a rite of passage for all soon-to-be graduates of class…
-
So 2025…
A small glimpse into 2025—it was a busy, yet rewarding year. So grateful for the journey and look forward to 2026.
-
She Went to Hopkins Too | Jo Ann Ooiman Robinson
“When I entered orientation for the summer project at Oxford, Ohio, I thought that I already knew about Mississippi. I had read up on the shameful school system and the widespread poverty. I’d seen pictures of Thompson’s Tank and Allan’s Army. I knew about Medgar Evers, Herbert Lee and Lewis Allen.”
-
Natchez, MS Project | Report by Annie Pearl Avery
Civil Rights Project | Oral History of Annie Pearl Avery I met Ms. Annie Pearl Avery last summer in an unusual, hilarious way. Mrs. Brenda Travis and I traveled together from Jackson to Indianola for the 60th commemoration of Freedom Summer. While there, Ms. Avery called sharing that she was lost. She traveled from Alabama…
-
FIS Library | David Llorens, Freedom Summer Volunteer
My research focuses on the Black volunteers who came to Mississippi that long, hot summer of 1964. With my work at the FIS Library, I began processing some of the volunteer applications.
-
FIS Library Box 2, Folder ‘Bob Moses’
Two years ago, I met civil rights veteran Jan Hillegas. Since 1965, Hillegas has preserved the history of the Mississippi Movement through the Freedom Information Service (FIS) Library. The FIS Library’s first holdings included materials she rescued from the COFO statewide headquarters in Jackson when the organization dissolved that year.
-
“The Forgotten One”: Wayne Yancey
We are the survivors of Mississippi but I knew one who did not come back Not one of the murdered the three young men, two Jewish and one Black but the fourth who died that summer of 1964 in a car accident that may or may not have been an accident He is the forgotten…
-
Freedom Summer | Volunteer Phil Lapsansky
When I learned that Mr. Phil Lapsansky transitioned, I remembered seeing his application for the Mississippi Summer Project in the F.I.S. Archive. I thought it would be fitting if I began with his.
-
A Year Later: Post-Ph.D. Adventures
I opened this neglected blog space at least once a month. Drafts filled my computer, and I made a mental note every week to update it. I debated archiving this site, yet as I researched and wrote, I wanted to return to this digital space, which began as my digital research notebook. It was a…
-
Research Journal #2: A Conversation w/ Mrs. Elouise Walley
In 1966, Mrs. Elouise Walley began her journey with Friends of Children of Mississippi as a teacher. Little did she know that this journey would span over 30 unforgettable years. Our interview was quite the spectacle.
Diary of a Historian 