Early in the morning of May 15, 1970, members of the Jackson, Mississippi police and the Mississippi Highway and Safety Patrol—all white—opened fire on unarmed students at the historically-Black Jackson State College. Two young people were killed and at least twelve wounded. Though the shooting took place just a little over a week after the Kent State University shootings, they have been largely forgotten.
In this talk, Professor Nancy Bristow will explore the role of white supremacy in the shootings, the unjust aftermath, and the nation’s historical amnesia, as well as the linkages between this history and our ongoing crisis of police brutality against Black citizens. She will conclude with a discussion of the vital role played by education in helping forge a new path into the future. BIOGRAPHY: Dr. Nancy K. Bristow is a Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Puget Sound, where she also serves on the leadership team of the Race and Pedagogy Institute. She is the author of three books, including Making Men Moral: Social Engineering and the Great War (NYU Press, 1996), American Pandemic: The Lost Worlds of the 1918 Influenza Epidemic (Oxford University Press, 2012) and Steeped in the Blood of Racism: Black Power, Law and Order, and the 1970 Shootings at Jackson State College (Oxford University Press, 2020). Bristow has served on the Editorial Board of the Journal of American History, and has offered historical commentary to news outlets ranging from the New York Times and The Nation to PBS and NPR.
Sunday, February 19 at 7pm
$20 General Admission
$18 VCA Members
Youth (18-) are FREE
Masks are optional.
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