JACKSON, MS — This Independence Day weekend, Mississippi², a community-rooted nonprofit founded by award-winning filmmaker, artist and visionary storyteller Talamieka Brice, invites you to From Douglass to Duck Hill—a powerful afternoon of collective memory, truth-telling and cultural healing—on Saturday, July 5, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at Fondren Presbyterian Church in Jackson, Mississippi.
This intergenerational gathering invites community members to reflect on the meaning of freedom through the lens of our nation’s unfinished reckoning with racial terror. Held just one day after the Fourth of July, the program draws inspiration from Frederick Douglass’ timeless speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” and ties his prophetic words to the enduring legacy of racial violence—most notably the 1937 lynching of Roosevelt “Red” Townes and Robert “Bootjack” McDaniels in Duck Hill, Mississippi.
The program will feature:
• Virtual keynote reflections from renowned thinkers Dr. Eddie Glaude, Wright Thompson, and Robert P. Jones on the role of historical truth in collective healing.
• Dramatic readings of Douglass’s 1852 speech, a searing reminder of the paradox of American liberty.
• Film excerpts from Bootjack & Red, which chronicles the story of the Duck Hill lynchings and modern efforts to honor their memory through markers, soil collections and community remembrance.
• A racial healing ritual, including a soil ceremony to honor lives lost to lynching and racial violence across Mississippi and beyond.
• Live musical performances by acclaimed Mississippi vocalists Laurie Walker Hall and Azia Cimone, grounding the gathering in spirit, resilience and ancestral power.
From Douglass to Duck Hill is more than a program—it’s part of a growing movement to confront hard truths, reclaim erased histories, and build a more just Mississippi. Together, we honor the ancestors, uplift Black resilience and invite all to join the sacred work of healing.
Admission is free and open to the public. Reserve Tickets on Eventbrite .
