The Mississippi Writers Trail is a series of historical markers which celebrate the literary, social, historical, and cultural contributions of Mississippi's most acclaimed and influential writers. An advisory committee of state cultural agencies oversees the process of installing historical markers in places of significance to an author's life. To emphasize the literary focus of the trail, the markers are cast in the shape of an open book and display information about the author's life with the goal of educating the public about the legacy of Mississippi writers.
The Mississippi Writers Trail debuted on the State Capitol grounds in Jackson, Mississippi at the 2018 Mississippi Book Festival with an unveiling of two marker prototypes honoring Eudora Welty and Jesmyn Ward, connecting the past and present contributions of Mississippi authors. [1] [2] The program runs as an unfunded mandate which means these literary markers are produced and installed as funding becomes available. [3]
Initial support from a Statehood Grant through the National Endowment for the Humanities was key for installing the first phase of markers for the Trail. [4] The Writers Trail has received additional support from the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area, [5] the Mississippi Gulf Coast National Heritage Area, and the City of Clarksdale, Mississippi [6] to install markers for authors located within the service area of each organization.
The Mississippi Writers Trail Advisory Committee, composed of many state cultural institutions, selects several scholars who identify potential authors for inclusion in the Writers Trail and to draft the text for each marker. Final locations are determined in consultation with local communities; authors or their surviving families are consulted for the market text as well. [7]
Writer | Marker Location | City | Marker Photo | Date of Installation |
---|---|---|---|---|
Margaret Walker Alexander | Margaret Walker Center, Jackson State University | Jackson, MS | July 8, 2019 | |
William Faulkner | Rowan Oak, Faulkner Home and Museum | Oxford, MS | October 10, 2019 | |
Shelby Foote | E.E. Bass Cultural Arts Center | Greenville, MS | October 18, 2019 | |
Walker Percy | E.E. Bass Cultural Arts Center | Greenville, MS | October 18, 2019 | |
Elizabeth Spencer | Merrill Museum | Carrollton, MS | October 5, 2019 | |
Ida B. Wells | Rust College | Holly Springs, MS | November 7, 2019 | |
Eudora Welty | Eudora Welty House and Garden | Jackson, MS | September 10, 2018 | |
Tennessee Williams | Cutrer Mansion | Clarksdale, MS | October 17, 2019 | |
Richard Wright | George W. Armstrong Library | Natchez, MS | July 23, 2020 | |
Anne Moody | Louis Gaulden and Riquita Jackson Family Memorial Park | Centreville, MS | May 26, 2021 | |
Dorothy Shawhan | Wright Gallery of Kethley Hall, Delta State University | Cleveland, MS | July 23, 2021 | |
Richard Ford | Carnegie Public Library | Clarksdale, MS | September 2, 2021 | |
Willie Morris | Yazoo Triangle Center | Yazoo City, MS | June 4, 2022 | |
Stark Young | Emily J Pointer Public Library | Como, MS | November 12, 2022 |
Eudora Alice Welty was an American short story writer, novelist and photographer who wrote about the American South. Her novel The Optimist's Daughter won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973. Welty received numerous awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Order of the South. She was the first living author to have her works published by the Library of America. Her house in Jackson, Mississippi has been designated as a National Historic Landmark and is open to the public as a house museum.
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965, dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities. The NEH is housed at 400 7th St SW, Washington, D.C. From 1979 to 2014, NEH was at 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C., in the Nancy Hanks Center at the Old Post Office.
The National Humanities Medal is an American award that annually recognizes several individuals, groups, or institutions for work that has "deepened the nation's understanding of the humanities, broadened our citizens' engagement with the humanities, or helped preserve and expand Americans' access to important resources in the humanities."
The President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH) is an advisory committee to the President of the United States on cultural issues. It works directly with the White House and the three primary cultural agencies: the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), as well as other federal partners and the private sector, to advance wide-ranging policy objectives in the arts and humanities. These include considerations for how the arts and humanities sectors can positively impact community well-being, economic development, public health, education, civic engagement, and climate change across the United States.
Elizabeth Spencer was an American writer. Spencer's first novel, Fire in the Morning, was published in 1948. She wrote a total of nine novels, seven collections of short stories, a memoir, and a play. Her novella The Light in the Piazza (1960) was adapted for the screen in 1962 and transformed into a Broadway musical of the same name in 2005. She was a five-time recipient of the O. Henry Award for short fiction.
Bruce Milan Cole was a longtime professor of art history at Indiana University, a Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C., a member of the Eisenhower Memorial Commission, and the eighth Chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
William Reynolds Ferris Jr. is an American author and scholar and former chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities. With Judy Peiser he co-founded the Center for Southern Folklore in Memphis, Tennessee; he was the founding director of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi, and is co-editor of The Encyclopedia of Southern Culture.
The Mississippi Blues Trail was created by the Mississippi Blues Commission in 2006 to place interpretive markers at the most notable historical sites related to the birth, growth, and influence of the blues throughout the state of Mississippi. Within the state the trail extends from the Gulf Coast north along several highways to Natchez, Vicksburg, Jackson, Leland, Greenwood, Clarksdale, Tunica, Grenada, Oxford, Columbus, and Meridian. The largest concentration of markers is in the Mississippi Delta, but other regions of the state are also commemorated. Several out-of-state markers have also been erected where blues with Mississippi roots has had significance, such as Chicago.
"A Worn Path" by Eudora Welty is a short story about an elderly African American woman who undertakes a familiar journey on a road in a rural area to acquire medicine for her grandson. She expresses herself, both to her surroundings and in short spurts of spoken monologue, warning away animals and expressing the pain she feels in her weary bones.
The Eudora Welty House & Garden, at 1119 Pinehurst Street in Jackson, Mississippi, was the home of author Eudora Welty for nearly 80 years. It was built by her parents in 1925. Welty and her mother built and tended to the garden located at the side and back of the home over decades. Welty could often be found writing in her bedroom or on the porch, which frequently hosted her peers in writing. The house was first declared a Mississippi Landmark in 2001, added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002, and declared a National Historic Landmark in 2004.
The Missouri Humanities Council, also known as Missouri Humanities (MH), is a 501(c)(3), non-profit organization that was created in 1971 under authorizing legislation from the U.S. Congress to serve as one of the 56 state and territorial humanities councils that are affiliated with the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).
Spark Media is an American independent multimedia and documentary production house based in Washington, D.C., United States.
Hubert Creekmore was an American poet and writer from the small Mississippi town of Water Valley. Creekmore was born into one of the oldest Southern families of the area but he would grow up to embody ideals very different from the conservative Southern principles by which he was raised.
The Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities is an honorary lecture series established in 1972 by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). According to the NEH, the Lecture is "the highest honor the federal government confers for distinguished intellectual achievement in the humanities."
(Tseng) Hao Huang (黄俊豪) is a Hakka Chinese American concert pianist, published scholar, narrator, playwright, composer and the Bessie and Cecil Frankel Endowed Chair in Music at Scripps College.
The Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities is a nonprofit organization dedicated to furthering the education of residents of the state of Louisiana. In its mission, the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities pledges to provide access to and promote an appreciation of the history of Louisiana and its literary and cultural history. It was founded in 1972 as a result of initial funding by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
The literature of Mississippi, United States, includes fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. Mississippi has a literary tradition that arose from a diverse mix of cultures and races. Traditional themes from this genre of literature lean towards the past, conflict and change, and southern history in general; however, in the modern era, work have shifted towards deeply Southern works that do not rely on these traditional themes.
The Mississippi Arts Commission is an independent agency of the Mississippi state government and serves as the state's official grants-making and arts service agency. The Mississippi Arts Commission provides grant funding to both individual artists and organizations across the state. The agency was established by the Mississippi Legislature in 1968. The founding director, who was appointed by Governor John Bell Williams, was Lida Rogers. The current executive director is Malcolm White.
Jon Parrish Peede is an American book editor and literary review publisher, who served as the chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities from 2018 to 2021.
Julia Evans Reed was a Mississippi Delta born author, journalist, columnist, speaker, and socialite. Reed wrote several books on cooking, entertaining, and affluent southern lifestyle and culture.