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Symposium Information

Find out more about this years Sweat Equity Symposium and Cotton Pickers’ Ball. Tickets to the Cotton Pickers' Ball are available for purchase.

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Watch for yourself the work that is taking place to recognize the historical significance of the Mississippi Delta!

KHAFRE INC

is not for profit 501c3 organization that was officially incorporated in September of 2009, by the Mississippi Secretary of State. The purpose of the organization is to provide educational, lifestyle and cultural programs, build monuments and memorials to honor, celebrate, and recognize the rich and complex history of the Mississippi Delta and to positively impact the quality of life of those living in the Delta, especially the disproportionately poor African American community. Understanding that this organization desires to create great change that is far beyond the reach of one organization, we endeavor to be a networking hub that works with and connects non-profit organizations, educational institutions, legislators, and individuals of consciousness for the purpose of establishing a social movement that fundamentally transforms the Delta and ushers in a renaissance and renewal of the human spirit. To assist us in realizing success in this bold journey, we put forth our roadmap for the next five years, starting with the board approved vision and mission of the organization.

KHAFRE, Inc was established to be the epicenter of a social movement that will cause a powerful, positive and profound shift in the very trajectory of the African American experience in the Mississippi Delta; a shift that will necessarily reverberate throughout the state of Mississippi, the United States of America and beyond. As a result of the monumental programs, activities, initiatives and efforts of this social-justice and purpose driven force, individuals of ALL races, ethnicities, and social statuses will embrace the dignity endowed to them by their Creator, understand their worth and embrace the value of their lives to their families and communities, dream the powerful dreams that come from an empowered and true understanding of their ancestry and heritage, and cast off the plantation mentality, as a result of fallowing the fields of their minds and planting the seeds of hope in their souls. KHAFRE exists to transform lives, build communities of equality and operate as a hub of hope – one that seeks out, connects and strengthens individuals, organizations and groups of consciousness inside and outside of the Mississippi Delta.

MISSION & ORGANIZATIONAL GOALS

To realize its’ critically important and intentionally bold vision, KHAFRE Inc. will build monuments and memorials, offer programs and workshops around education, health, and history, provide resources to the formal and informal educators in the Delta, engage in community outreach and connection, and operate as a repository and distributor of information on the history, beauty, and talent of and within the Mississippi Delta, all for the overarching purpose of improving the quality of life of her sons and daughters.

1) BUILD MONUMENTS AND MEMORIALS

2) OFFER PROGRAMS AND WORKSHOPS AROUND EDUCATION, HEALTH, AND HISTORY

3) PROVIDE RESOURCES TO THE FORMAL AND INFORMAL EDUCATORS IN THE DELTA

4) ENGAGE IN COMMUNITY OUTREACH AND CONNECTION

5) OPERATE AS A REPOSITORY AND DISTRIBUTOR OF INFORMATION ABOUT THE DELTA

STAFF:

C.Sade Turnipseed, MS/MBA/PhD. Founder/Executive Director

Linda Rule, BA-Project, Special Projects Director

Clarice Norton, Youth Empowerment Coordinator

BOARD OF DIRECTORS:

Bobby Rush, Honorary Chair

B.B. King, Honorary Chair (past)

Maya Angelou, Honorary Chair (past)

Karen Wilson, PhD

Valerie Simpson, PhD

ADVISORY BOARD:

Christopher W. Shults, PhD, Board Member (past)

Joseph M. Stevenson, PhD, Board Member (past)

Dr. Carroll West, MTSU Historic Preservation, Professor

Dr. Tommy Bynum, MTSU History, Professor

Mary Francis Shepard, Queen of Jook

Cheryl Taylor, Executive Director, Delta History Museum

Sylvester Hoover, Delta Heritage Specialist

Arthur Marble, Mayor of Indianola (former)

Robert Terrell, Cultural Arts Activist

Rev. Charles Thomas, Educator

Sherry Nelson, General Manager, WABG-TV

Helen Sims, Pinetop Perkins & the Civil Rights Museum

Valerie Simpson, Ph.D., Treasurer

Catherine Gardner, MA., Secretary

STEERING COMMITTEE:

Dr. Elaine Baker, Chair, Mound Bayou Revitalization

Rev. Darryl Johnson, Mayor Mound Bayou

Cheryl Line, Manager of Tourism, Bolivar County

Linda Stout Coleman, Parents 4 Public Schools

Ms. Bonita A. Conwell, President, SRBWI Women in Agriculture

Mr. William Crockett, Superintendent, Mound Bayou Public Schools

Rev. Larry Haywood, Mound Bayou Area Ministers

Mr. Pedro Woods, Owner, Peter’s Pottery

Mr. Sampson Williams, Civic Representative, Little Mound Bayou

Ms. Lynette Criss, President, American Legion Auxiliary

Ms. Jarvis Malone, Student, J. F. Kennedy Memorial HS

Sis Donella Hartman, St. Gabriel Mercy Center

Mr. Louis Sanders, Mound Bayou Area Farmers

Mr. Melvin Gant, Chairman, Mound Bayou Planning and Zoning Commission

Mr. Earl L. Carmicle, Civic Representative

Mr. Henry Perkins, Mayor, Winstonville, MS

Mrs. Willena S. White, Civic Representative

PROFESSIONAL RESOURCES:

Ed Dwight Monument Developer/Designer

Eric Davis, Architect

Jerry Redmond, Principal, Redmond Designs

Jaribu Hill, Legal Consultant

Dr. Stephanie Toothman, Associate Director, Cultural Resources, National Park Service

Kaiser Brown, Certified Public Accountant—Banks, Finley, White & Company

Kenneth H. P’Pool, Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer for Mississippi and Director of the Historic Preservation Division of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History

Pam Chatmon, WABG-TV

Clifton Taulbert, Historian

Cissy Anklan, Interpretive Center/Museum Consultant

Freida L. Wheaton, JD

Catherine Gardner, Washington County Conv. Center

GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS:

Bennie Thompson, MS Congressman District 2

Danny Davis, IL Congressman

Mound Bayou, Board of Alderman

Trina George, Director Rural Development, Mississippi

Derrick Simmons, Mississippi State Senator

Linda Coleman, MS State Representative, Bolivar County

Robert Jackson, Mississippi State Senator

David Jordan, Mississippi State Senator

Willie Simmons, Mississippi State Senator

Preston Billings, Supervisor Bolivar County District 3

Larry L. King, District 5

James McBride, District 4

Donny Whitten, District 2

Eddie Andrew Williams III, District I

Will Hooker, Bolivar County Administrator

Kathleen Jenkins, NPS, Natchez

Mike Madell, NPS, Vicksburg

BEHIND THE MONUMENT

Sade Turnipseed | The Creator

Sade Turnipseed is a public historian (educator) and community outreach (Public Relations) specialist. She is also the long-time host and producer of Delta Renaissance the number one rated (locally generated) talk show in the Mississippi Delta, which airs during primetime on the NBC affiliate network. As Founder of Khafre, Inc, and da’ House of Khafre, Turnipseed initiated: the Cotton Pickers of America Monument, Sharecroppers Interpretive Center, and Cotton Kingdom Historical Trail; the Sweat Equity Investment in the Cotton Kingdom Symposium and Cotton Pickers Ball; and the Healthy U Gourmet Academy for Youth in the Mississippi Delta. Prior to coming to the Delta Turnipseed was the visionary force at the helm of numerous cultural arts programs, throughout S.F Bay Area, including Khafre Cultural Community Center and Sade’s Court in downtown Oakland. Turnipseed also served as Programming Director for Peralta Colleges Television; and as community outreach associate for KQED-TV, in San Francisco.

Professor Turnipseed currently teaches American and World History at Jackson State University; and has taught previously at Mississippi Valley State University, University of District of Columbia, and California State University, Northridge. She is the founding Director of Education and Community Outreach for the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center, in Indianola, MS; and, the Cultural Arts Director for the Mississippi Action for Community Education, (MACE—producers of the MS Delta Blues and Heritage Festival). Turnipseed’s true passion is her work with young people. As demonstrated in every endeavor, Turnipseed makes it known that “if it does not involve the children, it does not involve me.” As demonstrated in the founding of Healthy U, The Harmonica Parade, and the Young Publisher’s Network (YPN) established in 2006. In essence, the philosophical approach and teaching strategy applied to my classes is one that emanates from an ancient African dictate to historical understanding and cultural appreciation. It begins with an understanding of self. You cannot fully function in society, nor appreciate the significance of lessons from the past, if you have no understanding of your own history.

READ SADE’S FULL BIO HERE →

Ed Dwight | The Sculptor

I am honored to be considered for the designing and building of this historically important project for the Mississippi Delta. I have a wealth of experience in the design and development of such projects and hope to bring my creative skills and background to bear to provide a full visual expression of the African American involvement in the historical landscape of the Delta.

It is with great excitement that I approach the design of this memorial to those Black Slaves, Freedmen, & Sharecroppers, whose years of toil & labor, picked the cotton, farmed the land, built & enriched America, for nothing in return. This memorial will also be dedicated to the Black heroes & heroines that fought valiantly and died to bring justice & Civil Rights to the Mississippi Delta, and to all America.

Historically, my first art series was entitled “Black Frontier Spirit in the American West,” where I depicted the Buffalo Soldiers, Black Pioneers, Frontiersmen, Trappers, & Cowboys in every environment possible. The series was composed of some 50 images of the Black contribution to the opening of the West, including the eighteen Black Medal of Honor recipients. Since this initial effort, I have created 108 monuments, memorials, & public art installations.

Other major commissions include the South Carolina African American History Memorial, Two Underground Railroad Memorial, Several Dr. King Memorials, the John hope Franklin Memorial, dedicated the 1921 Tulsa Riots, and most recently the official Inaugural Scene: The “Inauguration of Hope,” honoring the historic inaugural of President Obama, his family & Chief Justice John Roberts.

My overall theme is to include in visual, graphic, and textual form, a rigorous history of the African American “Cotton Picking” and farm labor experience in the Mississippi Delta. This will include A monumental central theme, as well as a “History Walk” through the slave experience from arrival in America through the intense struggle & dark days of hopeless despair of the slave consciousness, to the limited freedom accorded by Emancipation, to the hope of the Movement initiated by the Black visionaries that gave so much for the ultimate freedom of all. It is critical that the objective memorial is to instill a sense of what I call “History & Hope.” Using the experience of History to define a new sense of Hope.

-ED DWIGHT

VIEW ED DWIGHT’S WORK HERE →

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