MSU faculty member to discuss 'absence myth'
Contact: Leah Barbour
Photo by: Russ Houston
STARKVILLE, Miss.--As a prestigious exhibit continues at Mississippi State University, Shirley Hanshaw, MSU associate professor of English and a veteran teacher of African American literature, will examine the "myth of black absence" this week as part of a series of featured speakers.
The Thursday [April 23] public program, "'Myth of Absence': An Exhibition of African American Culture through Historical Documents, Photographs and Art in The Kinsey Collection," will begin at 2 p.m. in the John Grisham Room of Mitchell Memorial Library.
Also on display in the Grisham Room is "African American Treasures" from The Kinsey Collection, an exhibit of African American manuscripts, art and ephemera representing 400 years of achievements and accomplishments.
The private collection, featured at Walt Disney World's Epcot Center in Florida and the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., has been viewed by more than four million people. Owners Bernard and Shirley Kinsey use it as a visual tool to dispel what they term the "myth of black absence" and demonstrate how blacks have played important, though largely ignored, roles in shaping the nation. Learn more about the collection at www.thekinseycollection.com.
Hanshaw, a University of Mississippi English doctoral graduate, has taught African American literature at MSU since 2005. She previously held faculty positions at University of Mississippi, Alcorn State University and University of Southern Mississippi.
Also, she wrote "Conversations with Yusef Komunyakaa," published by University Press of Mississippi in 2010, as well as numerous articles and several book chapters.
For more information about Hanshaw's Thursday presentation, visit http://lib.msstate.edu/kinsey.
In addition to MSU Libraries and African American Studies, the collection is made possible by Visit Mississippi, Greater Starkville Development Partnership, Mississippi Humanities Council and National Endowment for the Humanities.
Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in the exhibit do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities or the Mississippi Humanities Council.
MSU, Mississippi's flagship research university, is online at www.msstate.edu, meridian.msstate.edu, facebook.com/msstate, instagram.com/msstate, pinterest.com/msstate and twitter.com/msstate.