Learning and education are integral parts of the Alluvial Collective’s mission. What better way to educate ourselves than via a good read? With that in mind, we launched a monthly book giveaway recommending books that inspire us to discuss and reflect.
In September, we will give away a copy of Called to Reconciliation: How the Church Can Model Justice, Diversity and Inclusion by Jonathan C. Augustine.
Called to Reconciliation argues that the church’s work in reconciliation can serve as a model for society at large and that secular diversity and inclusion practices can benefit the church. It offers a prophetic call to pastors, church leaders, and students to recover reconciliation as the heart of the church’s message to a divided world. It’s a great read for faith leaders or community activists to add to their library!
This Month’s Giveaway Features Two Books Honoring Emmett Till
August Book Giveaway
Learning and education are integral parts of the Alluvial Collective’s mission. What better way to educate ourselves than via a good read? With that in mind, we launched a monthly book giveaway recommending books that inspire us to discuss and reflect.
In August, we will give away copies of Death of Innocence: The Story of the Hate Crime That Changed America and A Few Days Full of Trouble: Revelations on the Journey to Justice for My Cousin and Best Friend, Emmett Till.
About the Books: Death of Innocence: The Story of the Hate Crime That Changed America is a memoir by Mamie Till-Mobley, Emmett Till’s mother, detailing the story of her life, her son’s tragic death, and the dawn of the civil rights movement.
A Few Days Full of Trouble: Revelations on the Journey to Justice for My Cousin and Best Friend, Emmett Till details recollections from Emmett Till’s cousin, Reverend Wheeler Parker Jr., including critical insights into the recent investigation and powerful lessons for racial reckoning, both then and now.
For the first time ever, the Alluvial Collective convenes a panel of experts from the U.S. and Germany for a transatlantic discussion on race and racial discourse. As Mississippi and Germany both have pasts that benefit from continued reflection and discussion, this panel highlights the power of narrative when delving into history in order to build a more united future.
About our Panelists
Dr. Daphne Chamberlain is an associate professor of history at Tougaloo College. Dr. Jennifer Stollman is an Academic and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Accessibility (DEIA) consultant. Omar Akahare is a filmmaker, human rights activist, and runs Juleica training courses and seminars with Free Social Years Volunteers in Germany and EU. Eleonora Roldán Mendívil is a political scientist and educator. She has taught at several universities in Germany and Austria on intersectionality, racism, and colonial history.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this webinar series are those of the presenters and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of The Alluvial Collective. It is our goal to create spaces for a range of perspectives on the challenging issues facing our world today.
This Month’s Book Examines Boundaries Preventing Racial Progress in America
July Book Giveaway
Learning and education are integral parts of the Alluvial Collective’s mission. What better way to educate ourselves than via a good read? With that in mind, we launched a monthly book giveaway recommending books that inspire us to discuss and reflect.
In July, we will give away a copy of American Whitelash: A Changing Nation and the Cost of Progress written by Wesley Lowery.
About the Book: American Whitelash confronts the sickness at the heart of American society: the cyclical pattern of violence that has marred every moment of racial progress in this country, and whose bloodshed began anew following Obama’s 2008 election.
This Month’s Book Details the Experience of Being Gay in Mississippi
Learning and education are integral parts of the Alluvial Collective’s mission. What better way to educate ourselves than via a good read? With that in mind, we launched a monthly book giveaway recommending books that inspire us to discuss and reflect.
In June, we will give away a copy of Diary of a Misfit written by Casey Parks.
Diary of a Misfit is the story of Casey Parks’ life-changing journey to unravel the mystery of Roy Hudgins, the small-town country singer from her grandmother’s youth, all the while confronting ghosts of her own.
This Month’s Book Centers Faith & Race
Learning and education are integral parts of the Alluvial Collective’s mission. What better way to educate ourselves than via a good read? With that in mind, we launched a monthly book giveaway recommending books that inspire us to discuss and reflect.
In May, we will give away a copy of Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America written by Michael O. Emerson and Christian Smith.
Combining history, narrative, and data from nation-wide surveys, involving 2,000 people, and 200 face-to-face interviews, Divided by Faith shines a harsh light on the realities of racism in America and how evangelicalism may be doing more harm than good in ending the nation’s oldest dilemma.
Reflecting on SYI’19
Written by Amara Johnson, SYI’19 Mentor
In 2019, I returned to Millsaps College, not as a student, but as a mentor for the Summer Youth Institute. I was a fresh graduate–not even a month had passed since I walked across the stage–and my return to campus felt like coming home.
I arrived at the mentorship training, held two days before the students came to campus, to check in and meet the other mentors (there were nine of us in total). We sat in a circle, and instead of the lecture I was expecting, we had a conversation.
One at a time, we discussed our expectations for the week, and reviewed guideposts for supporting the students once they arrived. By the end of our training, I felt like I was part of a team, and was excited about the days ahead.
Amara (far right, back row) poses with the other SYI mentors at the Fannie Lou Hamer Memorial Garden.
Once the students arrived, I quickly realized just how much community and conversation centered everything we did. Each day, after breakfast, we’d meet in a circle to check in, review the day, and give space for both students and mentors to share their thoughts. We repeated the same practice at the end of the day, just before the students turned in for the night. The discussion circle, and the time and space it signified, became more and more important as the program went on.
Over the course of the program, we guided students through team-building exercises, visited museums, and toured across the state visiting historical sites in Neshoba County and the Mississippi Delta. At every point we practiced our ability to hold space for open dialogue, vulnerability, and trust.
SYI showed me that discussions really are where lessons are learned—especially when talking about Mississippi’s history. Visiting some historical sites, such as the place in Philadelphia, MS, where the Freedom Summer murders occurred, definitely inspired feelings of outrage and sadness that needed to be discussed.
The discussion circles, and the guideposts, helped that happen. Helped students (and mentors) really acknowledge their feelings in a way that didn’t prevent them from seeing how the lessons from the past can be used to build a better future. SYI taught me that while Mississippi’s history is difficult, and painful at times, we should not avoid engaging with it. I also learned that leaders, and mentors come in all forms.
As a self-declared introvert, I understood all too well the fear that comes with raising questions or starting conversations. Being a mentor not only helped me push past those hesitations, but also helped me show students how to feel comfortable sharing their opinions and see the importance and value of using their voice.
At the end of the program, after each student presented their community plan and left campus, we met in a circle, just like on the first day. This time, we were in the Academic Complex (the “A.C.” for my fellow Millsapians), in the lecture hall, where I had spent many days as a student. We had a conversation — about the past ten days, about what we learned, and where we’d go from here.
I felt sad knowing that another chapter in my life was closing, but hopeful at the same time. I had already learned so much. And anyway, it was only the second week in June. It was only my first month post-graduation. The summer, and my life as an adult, were just beginning.
Click here to learn more about Summer Youth Institute.
This Month’s Book Unpacks America’s Gender Pain Gap
Learning and education are integral parts of the Alluvial Collective’s mission. What better way to educate ourselves than via a good read? With that in mind, we launched a monthly book giveaway recommending books that inspire us to discuss and reflect.
This month’s book is The Pain Gap by Anushay Hossain.
The Pain Gap is an in-depth examination of the women’s health crisis in America. Interweaving research, first-hand accounts, and Hossain’s own experience as a woman navigating the healthcare system, The Pain Gap serves as a call to action for everyone to use their experience to bring about the healthcare revolution women need.
This Month’s Book Reveals the True Legal System of Jim Crow
Learning and education are integral parts of the Alluvial Collective’s mission. What better way to educate ourselves than via a good read? With that in mind, we launched a monthly book giveaway recommending books that inspire us to discuss and reflect.
This month’s book is “By Hands Now Known: Jim Crow’s Legal Executioners” by Margaret A. Burnham.
In By Hands Now Known, Margaret A. Burnham, director of Northeastern University’s Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project, challenges our understanding of the Jim Crow era by exploring the relationship between formal law and background legal norms in a series of harrowing cases from 1920 to 1960.
From rendition, the legal process by which states make claims to other states for the return of their citizens, to battles over state and federal jurisdiction and the outsize role of local sheriffs in enforcing racial hierarchy, Burnham maps the criminal legal system in the mid-twentieth century South and traces the unremitting line from slavery to the legal structures of this period and through to today.
Drawing on an extensive database, collected over more than a decade and exceeding 1,000 cases of racial violence, she reveals the true legal system of Jim Crow, and captures the memories of those whose stories have not yet been heard.
This Month’s Book Challenges the National Narrative With 400 Years of Untold History
Learning and education are integral parts of the Alluvial Collective’s mission. What better way to educate ourselves than via a good read? With that in mind, we launched a monthly book giveaway recommending books that inspire us to discuss and reflect.
This month’s book is “An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States” by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz.
In “An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States”, Dunbar-Ortiz challenges the founding myth of the United States and shows how policy against the Indigenous peoples was designed to take their properties and land. And as Dunbar-Ortiz reveals, this policy was praised in popular culture, through writers like James Fenimore Cooper and Walt Whitman, and in the highest offices of government and the military.
Spanning more than four hundred years, this classic bottom-up peoples’ history radically reframes U.S. history and breaks the silences that have haunted our national narrative.
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