Clyde Kennard was the first African American to attempt enrollment at the segregated Mississippi Southern College in the 1950s. This institution later became the University of Southern Mississippi and was integrated in 1965.

In honor of its namesake, this lecture commemorates Kennard’s experience as an unsung civil rights activist who sparked progressive changes in the movement for racial integration of higher education throughout Mississippi and the nation. 

For the second annual Kennard lecture, USM will host Professor Matthew F. Delmont, the Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Professor of History at Dartmouth College. A Guggenheim Fellow and expert on African American history and the history of civil rights, Delmont is the author of five books. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, the Washington Post, NPR and several academic journals. 

The title of Delmont's talk at USM is, "Half American: The Epic Story of African Americans Fighting WWII at Home and Abroad."

• Reception with scholar to be held in the Thad Cochran Center, Room 216 (starts at 5 p.m.)
• Lecture to be held in the Joe Paul Theater (starts at 6 p.m.)

Organized and co-sponsored by the USM Center for Black Studies, this event is free and open to the public.