The B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center welcomes Dr. Leslie McLemore and Dr. Michelle Deardorff of the Fannie Lou Hamer National Institute on Citizenship and Democracy at Jackson State University on Friday, February 25 at 12 p.m. Dr. McLemore and Dr. Deardorff will present their discussion, “Fannie Lou Hamer and American Democracy.”
Dr. Michelle Deardorff is a professor of Political Science at Jackson State University. Since earning her Ph.D. from Miami University in 1993, Dr. Deardorff’s teaching and research have focused on the constitutional protections surrounding gender, race, and religion. Along with research on departmental and classroom assessment, she is currently examining the implementation of Supreme Court decisions surrounding affirmative action in higher education. Prior to her relocation to Jackson State in 2003, Dr. Deardorff was the Griswold Distinguished Professor of Political Science, the chair of the Department of Political Science, and Acting Dean of Arts and Sciences at Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois.
As a teacher, researcher and lecturer, Dr. Leslie McLemore is an authority on the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and was vice-chair of its original delegation to the 1964 Democratic Convention in Atlantic City. He currently serves as president of the City Council of Jackson, Mississippi. McLemore earned his Ph.D. degree from the University of Massachusetts, an M.A. a degree from Atlanta University and a B.A. from Rust College, and is an authority on the Southern civil rights movement and social movements in Africa. He has been a post-doctoral fellow at the W.E.B. DuBois Institute for African American Research at Harvard University and the Institute for Southern History at Johns Hopkins University. Most recently, he completed serving as Interim President of Jackson State University.
High Noon Brown Bag Luncheons are held at the B.B. King Museum on the last Friday of every month at 12 p.m. Bring your lunch. Beverages are available for purchase. No advance reservation required.