Commemorating the Legacy of Civil Rights Pioneer Clyde Kennard

The Center for Black Studies recently launched the Clyde Kennard Lecture, an event honoring Clyde Kennard, the first African American to attempt enrollment at segregated Mississippi Southern College in the 1950s (this institution, later becoming The University of Southern Mississippi, was integrated in 1965). 

In honor of its namesake, the lecture commemorates Clyde Kennard’s experience as an unsung civil rights activist, who sparked progressive changes in the movement for racial integration of higher education throughout Mississippi and the nation at large.

MAKING A CONTRIBUTION

We ask that you consider making gifts to contribute to the costs associated with organizing the Clyde Kennard lecture. All funds will be used to cover expenses related to this event.

Although gifts of any amount are greatly appreciated, we kindly ask you to consider making a minimum contribution of $19.55, which acknowledges the year (1955) Kennard made his first enrollment attempt. This historic event had a rippling effect leading to changes on campus and within the local community in the waning days of segregation. We ask that all other donations include 55 in the funding amount. (For example: $19.55, $55.00, $100.55, $255.00, $555.55, 955.00, etc.)

In supporting the Clyde Kennard Lecture, you join others in honoring his unfulfilled mission of obtaining a quality education and in promoting his inspiring belief that “The end product of an education is a greater and more useful participation in the art of living in a civilized society.” Clyde Kennard’s contribution to the life of this university is immeasurable considering the diversity of students, faculty and staff at The University Southern Mississippi today as reflective also of the local community.

To learn more about his life and legacy, view this short documentary film: The Measure of Progress: The Clyde Kennard Story.

2023 Clyde Kennard Lecture planning committee with Dr. Eddie Holloway and our inaugural guest speaker, Dr. Jarvis R. Givens, professor of education and of African & African American Studies, Harvard University.