Press - Mt. Zion Memorial Fund

Blues Tourism and the Erasure of African American History

In this article for Public History Weekly, Mt. Zion Memorial Fund Executive Director T. DeWayne Moore explains how white fragility inhibits the responsible practice of public history in Mississippi blues tourism. Once touted as a force for racial reconciliation, the Mississippi Blues Commission abandoned its original goals under Republican Governor Haley Barbour, excluded African Americans from the decision-making process, and embraced more exclusive public history practices, which promote the erasure of African American history and obscure any connection to contemporary injustice.

A faded blues trail marker

EVANS’ WORK FOR MEMORIAL FUND EXAMINES HISTORY OF COLUMBUS, STATE

In this article on the Mississippi University for Women (MUW) website, Adam Minichino details the work of alumnus and Mt. Zion Memorial Fund Vice President Shannon Evans, whose latest work tells the story of white supremacist violence and turmoil that plagued the political career of Robert Gleed, an African American politician from Lowndes County who served as state senator and Columbus alderman during Reconstruction.

Shannon Evans conducting research in the Lowndes County courthouse in 2022

Travelling Down the Delta Blues Highway Podcast with AudioChic Erin Scott

If you want to help save and preserve graves of Blues artists, the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund is the organization to work with. Erin Scott had the privilege of speaking with MZMF Executive Director DeWayne Moore. Take a listen to current and upcoming projects.

PVAMU receives NEH, TSLAC grants aimed at redressing nation’s legacy of slavery, segregation

Prairie View A&M University is set to receive a boost that will make more historical documents available to researchers, students and the public. A team consisting of University Archivist Phyllis Earles, Special Collections Librarian Lisa Stafford and History Professor DeWayne Moore, Ph.D., has been awarded two highly competitive grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Texas State Library and Archives Commission.