Contact: Sammy McDavid
Photo by: Russ Houston
STARKVILLE, Miss.--"Fixing the Ballot: The Voting Rights Act at 50 and the Status of Democracy" will be the theme of a national organization's 2015 conference taking place Thursday-Saturday [March 26-28] at Mississippi State.
The National Association for Ethnic Studies is the oldest organization of its type in the United States. Founded in 1972, it provides an interdisciplinary forum for scholars and activists concerned with the national and international dimensions of ethnicity.
Ravi Perry, NAES vice president, is an assistant professor in the university's political science and public administration department, the event's campus sponsor.
Perry said the 43rd annual gathering will be "both a celebration of the enduring legacy of those struggling for democratic participation and a critical acknowledgement of work that remains to be accomplished."
Derrick Johnson, president of the NAACP's Mississippi conference, will serve as keynote speaker and be honored for his work to increase African American voter participation and related activities. For biographical information, visit www.naacpms.org/state-president.
During an evening reception Friday [the 27th], the association will honor professor K.C. Morrison, head of MSU's political science and public administration department, with its Charles C. Irby Distinguished Service Award. Information on Morrison is found at www.pspa.msstate.edu/about/faculty/staff.php?id=mkm301.
Perry said other honors being presented during the conference include:
--A Disturber of the Peace Award, to families of James Earl Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, the three civil rights workers murdered 50 years ago while working to register more Mississippi African Americans to vote; and
--For work and achievements during the 1960s and beyond, David J. Dennis Sr., co-director of the Council on Federated Organizations and state director of the Congress of Racial Equality, photographers Doris Derby and Matt Heron, whose images documented the movement, and Derrick Johnson.
Complete details on the conference package may be accessed at www.ethnicstudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Program-Booklet4.pdf. Perry may be contacted directly 662-325-7852 or rkp81@msstate.edu.
Information on MSU's political science and public administration department is found at www.pspa.msstate.edu.
MSU, Mississippi's flagship research institution, is online at www.msstate.edu.