Dr. Wilma Mosley Clopton’s “Preserving the Legacy” multi- media exhibit has received raved reviews.
The exhibit that opened June 6th and closes Saturday, June 30th, incorporates three of Clopton’s documentary films and historical photographs. Featured films include: “Inspite of It All,” “Through My Brother’s Eyes” and “The Ride for Freedom”.
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“It’s important that we not only document our history, but create platforms to share it with others,” says Clopton. “That’s what this exhibit is about, sharing the history and story of some of Mississippi’s trailblazers.”
The films highlight history makers such as Dr. Ollye Shirley. “Inspite of It All” tells the story of how Shirley transformed her early life experiences into action that brought the Electric Company and Seasame Street to the Children’s Television Network in Mississippi and 12 other states in the southwest region and her role in transforming Jackson Public School System.
In “Through My Brother’s Eyes” activist and community leader Charles Evers gives a first hand glimpse into the life of his brother and slain Civil Rights leader Medgar Evers; while “A Ride for Freedom” shares how a few brave Mississippians decided to join the Freedom Riders in a pursuit to end Jim Crow travel laws.
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“This is an awesome exhibit that’s giving everyone who comes an idea of some of the things that have happened and the people that have lead the way,” said Sunny Fridge, associate professor in the department of mass communications at Jackson State. “ I saw the film “Inspite of it All” earlier this year and it was just so enlightening to learn that Dr. Ollye Shirley had done so much to preserve the legacy. Also it wonderful to see Dr. Clopton as one of our few female film producer and it encourages dialogue.”
“Black children and whites don’t know what we’ve done and we’ve done a lot and suffered a lot and we deserve credit for this,” Shirley shared. “This should be in our history books, we should be doing lessons on these people and the kinds of things that they have done. But there are a lot of others who should be included as well. I think it’s very important that we know as a culture and as a people that we know we’ve done a lot.”
Although the exhibit will be ending soon, Clopton has more plans for the Preserving the Legacy exhibit.
“We definitely want to take this exhibit to other cities,” Clopton said. “Also, we want to get the information from the films into our classrooms. It’s just too valuable not to continue to share.”
“Preserving the Legacy” is sponsored by the Mississippi Humanities Council, Greater Jackson Arts Council, City of Jackson, Koinonia, Divinely Designed Events, 4Wall Entertainment, Melvin “Housecat” Hendrex, The Jackson Advocate, The Mississippi Link, Jackson Medical Mall, Faliva and Charles Roberts, Sterling Plumpp, Joe Davis and Fred Keys.
The exhibit is free and open to the public. Special hours to view the films have yet to be set, but the exhibit is open Monday-Friday from 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and Sunday, noon –5p.m.
“This is the first exhibit of its kind for the Greater Jackson Arts Council and we are excited to be hosting it,” said Tammy Golden, special events manager for the Council. “To show Dr. Clopton’s documentary films along with graphic art is a real privilege for us. Dr. Clopton has an important story to tell with this exhibit. It’s a chance for a unique visual experience, and a style of exhibit that we have not done before.”
