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Arts, Lectures & Entertainment
“HERe,” by Jahni Moore. “Skeebo,” by Michael McBride.
Pryor Art Gallery Hosts
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Virtual Art Exhibit
Columbia State’s Pryor Art Gallery presented its first virtual exhibit, featuring six local and regional African American artists and their work.
The exhibit, “An Artist’s World,” took viewers into the artists’ studios as they presented and discussed their work, styles and techniques, as well as shared their inspirations and life experiences that have influenced their artistic philosophy.
Rusty Summerville, Pryor Art Gallery interim curator, traveled to the studios, documenting his visits and the artists’ stories.
“It was a joy, traveling between Nashville and Atlanta to visit with the African American artists featured in the virtual exhibit,” Summerville said. “Each studio visited was as unique as the featured artist, as different as individual styles, and distinctive as each artist’s use of color, composition and subject matter. The one constant was the hospitality shown by all. In addition to being a wonderful and informative project, it has also been just plain fun.” The featured artists included Michael McBride and Elisheba Israel Mrozik from Nashville; James Spearman from Columbia; Felix Maxwell from Lewisburg; Jahni Moore from Huntsville, Alabama; and Samuel Dunson from Kennesaw, Georgia.
This virtual event was made possible by an Arts Build Communities grant from the Tennessee Arts Commission and support from the Columbia State Foundation.
Series Delivered Via Virtual Format
Columbia State presented its thirty-fourth annual “Celebrating Our American Heritage” lecture series featuring professors from the college’s history department via Zoom.
Zacharie Kinslow, Columbia State alumnus, presented “Live with your Head in the Lion’s Mouth: Elias Polk and 19th Century Race Relations.” Kinslow examined the interesting and controversial life of Elias Polk. Once a slave to James K. Polk, Elias rose from bondage to become a leading black conservative, supporting the southern Democrats who had earlier enslaved him and his people. Kinslow’s research on Elias Polk revealed a pragmatic and complex figure who did what he had to do to survive in postCivil War America while also working actively to secure and perpetuate African American economic independence.
Dr. Anna M. Duch, Columbia State assistant professor of history, presented “All Persons Born or Naturalized are Citizens? The Rights of Women as Citizens in the United States.” The United States has always promoted itself as the keeper of liberty and of civil rights but, until the 20th century, just over 50 percent of its population was disenfranchised and silenced: women. Duch traced the history of women’s rights in the United States, from the letters of Abigail Adams, to the first women to own land in their own names, and the first women to be elected to office — despite not being able to vote themselves — to the continuing struggle after the 19th Amendment to attain true social and legal equality.
Dr. Luke Truxal, Columbia State adjunct instructor of history, and Greg Mewbourn, Columbia State associate professor of history, presented “Endgame 1945: The End of World War II in Europe and Asia.” This lecture was an examination of the closing months of World War II. Truxal discussed the end of the war in Europe, including the death of Adolf Hitler, and ultimate defeat of the Nazi regime. Mewbourn focused on the end of the conflict in the Pacific, including the decision to use atomic weapons against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This presentation also revealed how, as World War II came to a close, the conflict intensified to levels unseen before in warfare, with civilians caught in the middle.
Dr. Barry Gidcomb, Columbia State professor of history, closed the series with “Voices Across Four Centuries: Commemorating the 400th Anniversary of the Voyage of the Mayflower and the Settlement of the Plymouth Colony.” Gidcomb told the story of the Pilgrims and the Plymouth settlement through the personal stories of Mayflower Pilgrims as told by Columbia State faculty colleagues. “Voices Across Four Centuries” was presented in memory of Dr. Bill Andrews, retired Columbia State history professor, who was originally scheduled to lead this program.
Amiee Sadler
Greg Mewbourn
Dr. Anna M. Duch Dr. Luke Truxal Dr. Barry Gidcomb
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