Systemic Shifts
Systemic Shifts explores how policies, institutions, and long-standing structures impact everyday life in Mississippi communities. This category examines change — both gradual and transformative — across education, healthcare, economics, justice, and civic life, highlighting how systems evolve and how communities are affected.
With a focus on insight, accountability, and progress, Systemic Shifts connects local experiences to broader societal patterns, helping readers understand not just what is happening, but why it matters.
Freedom and Food: Why Juneteenth Cookouts Are More Than Just a Celebration
Juneteenth cookouts are about more than food. Families across Mississippi use meals, traditions and storytelling to celebrate freedom and preserve history.
From Galveston to Mississippi: Tracing the Real Story of June 19, 1865
More than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, with news that slavery had ended. This look at Juneteenth explores how freedom unfolded across the South, including Mississippi, and why the story remains relevant today.
Teaching Juneteenth: Mississippi Students Still Learning a History Schools Often Leave Out
Many Mississippi students say they do not learn about Juneteenth in school, leaving parents and educators to fill in the gaps. One Mendenhall High student now crowned 2026 Miss Juneteenth is helping lead that conversation.
Who Started Juneteenth?
Juneteenth began in 1865 in Galveston, Texas, when freedom was finally announced to enslaved people. It grew into a celebration carried by Black families, churches, and communities long before becoming a federal holiday.