USM Celebrating Women’s History Month in March

Thu, 03/03/2022 - 11:32am | By: Ivonne Kawas

In celebration of Women's History Month, the Committee on Services and Resources for Women (CSRW) at The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) is sponsoring and co-sponsoring events and activities that commemorate the role of women in history, culture and society on the Hattiesburg campus, including a hybrid format.

As designated by the National Women’s History Alliance, the yearly theme for Women's History Month is "Providing Healing, Promoting Hope.” The announcement states that, it is “both a tribute to the ceaseless work of caregivers and frontline workers during this ongoing pandemic and also a recognition of the thousands of ways that women of all cultures have provided both healing and hope throughout history, in our community.”

Dr. Candice Salyers, chair of CSRW and professor of dance, says “USM's programming honors the contributions of women artists, healers, historians, activists, and entrepreneurs to the health and wellbeing of society. This month offers us an opportunity to come together across disciplines to acknowledge and reflect upon issues of importance in the lives of women.”

Women's History Month events will happen throughout March, kicking off on Thursday, March 3 from 12:15–1:00 p.m. at the Liberal Arts Building, Room 101 with a panel discussion titled, “Women Healers Through the Ages: Medieval Midwives to Mississippi Nurses” by Dr. Courtney Luckhardt, Associate Professor of Medieval History, Dr. Deanne Stephens, Professor of History and Mrs. Jamie Stanfield, Health Librarian, who will be exploring women's health and healing through the ages. This event is co-sponsored by the History Women’s Caucus and the Center for the Study of the Gulf South.

On Friday, March 4 from 10–11:00 a.m. in a virtual presentation via Zoom, Dr. Aisha Johnson, Assistant Professor and Program Director of Archives and Records Management at North Carolina Central University, will give a lecture titled, "Relentless Advocacy as Purpose." An in-person viewing of the presentation is scheduled in Cook Library’s Meeting Room, LIB 209A.

Dr. Johnson is the author of "The African American Struggle for Library Equality: The Untold Story of the Julius Rosenwald Fund Library Program," which unveils the almost forgotten philanthropic efforts of Julius Rosenwald, former president of Sears, Roebuck, Co. and an elite business man. Rosenwald simply desired to improve, “the well-being of mankind” through access to education.

On Tuesday, March 8 from 5:30–6:30 p.m. at Gonzales Auditorium, Liberal Arts Building 108, a Louisiana native currently living in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Southwest Virginia, E. Gabrielle Walker, will give her 2021-22 Baird Fellowship Lecture titled, “When We Were Freshmen’: Judson College and the Rise of the New Baptist Woman.”

Walker, who is studying post-Reconstruction Southern women, is working on a dissertation titled, “'If These Walls Could Speak': Judson College and the New Baptist Woman, 1890-1930." It explores the ways in which Progressive Era ideology made a lasting impact on Southern Baptist white women attending a Southern Baptist college. Collegiate experiences led to their questioning traditional Southern Baptist thought patterns and expansively interpreting religion to fit a modern, scientific worldview.

Women's History Month programming events continue as follows:

• March 21: Peggy Jean Connor Grant Presentations featuring the research of Nicole Caulfield, Ava Ferguson, and Dr. Hsiaopei Lee, from 12–1 p.m., Center for Faculty Development, International Building, Room 319.
• March 29: Historian and Author Carol Lipscomb presents, "The Lady Makes Boots: Enid Justin and the Nocona Boot Company," from 1–2 p.m., Liberal Arts Building, Room 204
• March 30: Women’s History Month Dance Concert, from 12:30–1:00 p.m., Theatre and Dance Building, outdoor stage. 

Established in 1984, the CSRW, an interdisciplinary group of USM-affiliated individuals interested in women's issues on campus and in the local and global community, has coordinated Women’s History Month activities at the University through the presentation of public cultural events and conferences with renowned guest speakers; creating a women’s and gender studies library; and providing funding for research by faculty and students related to gender and women.

Visit the USM Calendar to see this year’s Women’s History Month scheduled events.