NEMCC to host Voices & Votes Smithsonian exhibition

Northeast will be the only north Mississippi stop for the exhibit

by Michael H. Miller

BOONEVILLE, Miss. -- (06/08/2022) — Northeast Mississippi Community College will play a vital role in informing the public about the United States and Mississippi voting rights and history in the latter portion of June through August.

Northeast will serve as one of six sites for Voices and Votes: Democracy in American exhibit in the Anderson Hall Art Gallery from June 28 through August 16.

Gallery hours are 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday.

"We are very happy for this opportunity to serve as one of the host locations for Voices and Votes," said Northeasts history instructor and project coordinator Dr. Will Bowlin. "This six-week display will help educate our campus and the surrounding community on issues pertaining to democratic engagement from both historical and modern perspectives,."

By hosting the traveling event, Northeast becomes the only stop in north Mississippi for the exhibit that focuses on American democracy, as the other five stops are located in south Mississippi.

Programming that coincides with the event will be announced at later dates.

Civic and student groups are invited to schedule a visit.

Voices and Votes: Democracy in America is part of the Museum on Main Street portion of the Smithsonian Institution.

In conjunction with the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, state humanities councils such as the Mississippi Humanities Council and cultural organizations, the Museum on Main Street exhibition started at the Library of Hattiesburg, Petal and Forrest County in Hattiesburg on March 26 through May 17 before moving to Hinds Community College in Utica on May 17 through June 28.

Northeast will serve as the third stop on the Voices and Votes: Democracy in America exhibition when the Booneville-based college opens its doors from June 28 through August 16.

Voices and Votes: Democracy in America returns to south Mississippi on August 16 through September 22 as it heads to Pascagoula High School and Performing Arts Center in Pascagoula and finishes up on the Mississippi River from September 22 through November 15 at Copiah-Lincoln Community College in Natches and the Catfish Row Museum in Vicksburg on November 15 through January 8, 2023.

Voices and Votes helps bring to life democracy in America, starting with the founding of the country and the American Revolution to suffrage, civil rights and casting ballots. The exhibit looks at who has historically been able to vote, whose voices are heard during and after the process, the responsibilities of individual American citizens and how people can encourage more participation in the democratic process of voting.

However, Voices and Votes: Democracy in America is more than a broad look at the election process in America. It offers a springboard for discussions throughout the communities that the exhibit visits and often demands action, reaction, vision and revision through the education process. Voices and Votes: Democracy in America brings together people of different communities through the history of revolution, suffrages, civil rights, casting ballots and the election process to be part of the ever-changing story of democracy in America.

As part of the Museum on Main Street's exhibition, Voices and Votes: Democracy in American and all the Museum on Main Street events focus on broad topics of national history and give host museums the opportunity, with support from state humanities councils and guidance from the state scholars, to create their own educational programs, cultural activities, and exhibitions that center on their local heritage. Exhibition support materials and "how-to" training workshops are provided to venues hosting the shows.

Since 2001, the Mississippi Humanities Council has toured nine Museum on Main Street exhibits, including "Produce for Victory" (WWII America on the Home Front), "Key Ingredients" (America by Food), "Between Fences" (Boundaries, Borders and Bridges in America), "New Harmonies - Celebrating American Roots Music," "Journey Stories" (Immigration, Migration and Settlement in America), "The Way We Worked," "Hometown Teams," "Water/Ways," and "Crossroads: Change in Rural America."

Corinth's Northeast Regional Library and the Crossroads Museum at the historic depot hosted "Hometown Teams" when it came to the northeast Mississippi region during the latter portions of 2016.

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