On Thursday, Nov. 5, journalist and film producer/director Ellen Ann Fentress will screen and discuss her documentary “Eyes on Mississippi” as part of the Ina E. Gordy Honors College Forum Series at Mississippi University for Women.
The event begins at 6 p.m. in Nissan Auditorium on campus and is free and open to the public.
The film chronicles veteran journalist Bill Minor’s coverage of some of the most significant events in Mississippi during the civil rights era, including the rise of citizens’ councils and James Meredith’s enrollment at Ole Miss, at a time when most state newspapers neglected or even actively suppressed coverage.
A Louisiana native, Minor began writing for the Times-Picayune in 1947 and went on to contribute to Newsweek, Time and other national publications. He continued his investigative reporting as owner and publisher of The Capitol Reporter in Jackson and wrote his “Eyes on Mississippi” column for many years. At 93, he still covers state politics in a weekly syndicated column.
Fentress, a freelance journalist who worked for Minor at The Capitol Reporter in the 1970s, completed 40 hours of interviews with him and gathered news footage from 16 archives for the project, which she completed with film editor and co-writer Lida Gibson. The film also features many others discussing Minor’s contributions, including Myrlie Evers, widow of Medger Evers, and former Gov. William Winter.
“This was a story that needed to be captured, a story of a Mississippi hero, really,” said Fentress. “I’m so grateful to have been able to capture Bill’s firsthand account, along with the accounts of the other eyewitnesses to U.S. history in the film.”
For more information, contact the Honors College at 662-241-6850 or email Dr. Kim Whitehead at [email protected].
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