STARKVILLE – The Starkville-Oktibbeha County Public Library has booked a free showing and panel discussion Monday about the history of school integration for Black History Month.
The documentary is “Mississippi Turning: The Pivotal Role of School Desegregation in a Southern Town” by Walt Geisen. Produced when Giesen was a sophomore at Starkville High School, it went on to place eighth nationally in Washington, D.C.’s National History Day film competition.
The event has been organized by the Oktibbeha County Unity Park Committee, whose member Rex Buffington will join Geisen, Ward 7 Alderman Henry Vaughn and local education Bob Fuller for the panel discussion afterward.
It is open to the public and starts at 6 p.m., when it will begin with refreshments and fellowship. The movie showing will begin at roughly 6:30 p.m., moving on to the panel discussion once the 10-minute documentary has finished.
“We are proud of Walt and want to share his documentary in a format where we can process the information and use it not only to learn about our shared history, but to talk about its importance in shaping us into the community we are today,” Buffington said in a Friday press release. “The desegregation of our schools just over 50 years ago was truly pivotal to all that has happened since then, and it reminds us that we are capable of making big changes.”
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