SouthTalks: Sparkling Epiphanies: Giving Voice to Hidden History in Plain Sight

Overview

If you ask most people what they know about the history of Oxford and Lafayette County, their answers may not go far beyond Faulkner, Ole Miss, and the Square. The history of the area is so much more than that. The transient nature and development of our university town tend to obscure history even when it is in plain sight. Public historian Rhondalyn Peairs shows how storytelling provides an entry point for residents and visitors alike to connect with the past.

Rhondalyn Peairs is a public historian and founder of Historich, an educational services and tourism company headquartered in Oxford. As a fifth-generation Mississippian, her passion for the complex history of Mississippi started early and runs deep. The central focus of her public history work is to expand the stories told by and about Mississippi and its citizens. Through her work as a certified social studies educator, documentarian, and cultural entrepreneur, she has brought the untold stories of North Mississippi to a variety of audiences. Peairs earned her BA in history from Tougaloo College and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Southern Studies from the University of Mississippi. She is affiliated with the University of Mississippi as a member of the University of Mississippi Slavery Research group and as a circulation manager at the Grisham Law Library.

This SouthTalk is hosted in conjunction with the Lafayette County and Oxford Public Library’s community collaborations for programming that aligns with the Smithsonian’s Spark! Places of Innovation exhibit. Spark!, a traveling exhibit, shares stories of innovation throughout the United States, showing how fresh thinking and new solutions to challenges have forged the identities of these places and of the nation. Communities are invited to expand the exhibit by incorporating innovations from their local community. The Spark! exhibit opens at the Lafayette County and Oxford Public Library on October 10 and closes on November 21.