SMA’s Virtual Table Talks are one-hour informal discussions to promote the sharing of knowledge between archivists working in Mississippi galleries, libraries, archives, and museums. Each talk will feature a speaker who will share their experience and knowledge on a given topic. For more information on this series, or if you are interested in presenting, please contact Carrie P. Mastley at cmastley@library.msstate.edu.

Next Talk: “Healing Historical Harm,” presented by Sharon Leslie Morgan of Our Black Ancestry, July 21 at 12:00 noon

“America the Beautiful” has a legacy of historical harm. Our foundation was built upon the genocide of Native Americans and the enslavement of Africans. How do we overcome that history and empower our future as a society that truly embraces the ideals of the Declaration of Independence? Sharon Leslie Morgan, a native of Chicago, is a writer and genealogist. She is a descendant of ancestors in Noxubee County, Mississippi. She is the co-author, with Thomas DeWolf, of Gather at the Table: The Healing Journey of a Daughter of Slavery and a Son of the Slave Trade (Beacon Press, 2012) and Finding Your Family Tree: A Beginner’s Guide to Researching Your Genealogy (Wellfleet Press, 2023). She lives in Macon, Mississippi, where she is writing a book about her ancestral heritage.

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Recorded Talks:

• “We have no leaders, we are all leaders!”: Collecting and Celebrating the 1969 Black Student Sit-In at Delta State College – Carrie Freshour, Ted Fisher, Arlene Sanders, Sykina Butts, Tyler Wells, Michelle Johansen, and Emily Jones (July 31, 2020)
• Community Collaboration: The Margaret Walker Center and the Scott-Ford House, Inc. – Angela D. Stewart and Dr. Alferdteen Harrison (September 25, 2020)
• My Artifact Needs an Agent: How to Celebrate and be a Good Steward of Popular History – Baldwin Chiu, Larissa Lam, and Emily Jones (November 20, 2020)
• “The Burial Ground is Common Ground”: Researching and Presenting The Eighth of May Emancipation Celebration in Columbus, MS – Mona Vance-Ali and Chuck Yarborough (February 26, 2021) – due to technical difficulties, Part 2 with Chuck Yarborough had to be recorded separately
• Against All Odds: Telling the Stories of the First Black Legislators in Mississippi – DeeDee Baldwin, Karen Burch, and Bianca Ford (May 21, 2021)
• Mississippi University for Women’s LGBT+ Oral History Collection: From Student Project to Growing Collection – Nichole Bonaventure-Larson, Joshua Herrick, Victoria Jones, and Bridget Pieschel (June 25, 2021)
• Podcasting and Archival Outreach: A How-To From SAA-UA’s Student Chapter – Laura Daly, Aria Skyler, and Curtis Forte (October 28, 2021)
• Intersectional DEI – Michelle Ganz (December 3, 2021)
• Introducing High School Students to Mississippi’s First Black Legislators – DeeDee Baldwin (October 28, 2022)
• The Legacy of the Phillis Wheatley Poetry Festival – Angela Stewart (June 30, 2023)