FSU Libraries to host Emmett Till Lecture Series featuring Mississippi Delta preservation leaders

Florida State University Libraries will bring two Mississippi Delta preservation leaders to campus Sept. 17 for its annual Emmett Till Lecture Series.

Patrick Weems, executive director of the Emmett Till Interpretive Center, and Gloria Dickerson, executive director of We2gether Creating Change, will discuss efforts to preserve and document sites connected to the 1955 murder of Emmett Till, a pivotal event in the modern Civil Rights Movement.

The lecture, “Let the World See: Preserving Sacred Ground in the Mississippi Delta,” will explore the role of historic sites and archival records in preserving civil rights history and educating future generations.

Weems has helped lead efforts to preserve and interpret sites connected to Till’s life, murder and legacy through historic preservation, educational programming and community partnerships. Dickerson, a longtime civil rights activist, educator and community leader, has worked to engage communities in conversations about race, history and reconciliation.

“As the archival record demonstrates, the history of Emmett Till and what happened to him in the Mississippi Delta has been contested, convoluted and hidden,” said Katie McCormick, associate dean of Special Collections and Archives at FSU Libraries. “It is through research and engagement with history that truth can surface. The work Patrick and Gloria have undertaken to not just preserve history but to meaningfully engage in relationship building, education and dialogue demonstrates the power of communities to confront the past honestly and ensure that future generations understand its significance.”

FSU Libraries is home to the Emmett Till Archives, an open-access research collection established to support academic study of the case. This collection includes regional and national newspapers, government files, oral histories, organizational records, photographs and related scholarly literature documenting the case and its historiography.

The Emmett Till Lecture Series is supported by the Emmett Till Lecture and Archives Fund, established by Davis Houck, Fannie Lou Hamer Professor of Rhetorical Studies at the FSU School of Communication, in collaboration with FSU Libraries Special Collections and Archives.

The event will be held at Florida State in the Broad Auditorium at the Claude Pepper Center. A public reception begins at 5:15 p.m., followed by the presentation at 6 p.m. Online registration is requested for this event.

Selected digital items from the collection can be viewed online, and additional information regarding Special Collections and Archives is available through the FSU Libraries website.