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Accepting Applications for 2026-2027 Scholarships Until April 1st
Applications are open for 2026-2027 Scholarships. Awards ranging from approximately $500 to $1,000 will be available to students attending or planning to attend college, universities, and other post-secondary institutions. The applications are open to applicants nationwide and will be accepted until April 1.
Three new scholarships are available in 2026-2027: The Victor Quann Jackson Scholarship, The Annie Smothers Scholarship, and the Marjorie Barnes-Williams Scholarship.
Click here for Scholarship guidelines, and click here to complete the scholarship application.
Heritage Center News
Migration Heritage Foundation
PO Box 247
Durant MS 39063
www.mhtr.us
FALL 2025
From the Director: 2025 in Review
From the Director: 2025 in Review
We sincerely appreciate the past contributions of our donors and hope all of our readers will support us in the future. This publication provides a recap of the activities in which the Migration Heritage Foundation (MHF) has participated throughout the year. It also reminds you to share your blessing on December 2, which is Giving Tuesday. Tax-deductible donations for 2025 can be made to qualifying non-profit organizations through December 31.
Sylvia Gist
2025 Scholarships Awarded
MHF received 25 applications for scholarships in 2025 and made awards in June and July to about half of the applicants. Photos of awardees and the amounts they received are shown below. I join these young people in thanking all who donated.
Carlton Brownfield
- Orland Park, IL
- Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville; Nursing
- $1000 William & Hermie Campbell Memorial Award
Arianna Buchanan
- Tchula, MS
- Hinds Community College, Raymond, MS
- Radiologic Technology
- $500 Maurice Wade Memorial Scholarship
Aaron R. Davis, Jr.
- Lexington, MS
- Jackson State University, Jackson, MS
- Civil Engineering
- $1000 Chalmers Archer, Jr. Memorial Scholarship
Harvey Ellington.
- Lexington, MS
- Jackson State University, Jackson, MS
- Secondary Education/ History Teacher
- $500 Migration Heritage Foundation Award
Zakarius Granderson
- Tchula, MS
- Holmes Community College, Goodman, MS
- $500 John & Annie P. Clark Memorial Scholarship
Kyla Horton
- Canton MS
- Holmes Community College, Goodman, MS—
- Nursing
- $650 Migration Heritage Foundation Award
Robert Keys
- West, MS
- Holmes Community College,
- Goodman, MS
- Major/Career Goal: Automotive Technician
- $1,000 Chalmers Archer, Jr. Memorial Scholarship
Keyanna McFarland
- Kansas City, MO
- Metropolitan Community College, Kansas City, MO
- Undecided Major
- $1500 Reedy Family Memorial Scholarship
Kyla Patterson
- Durant, MS
- University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS
- Forensic Science
- $1200 Chalmers Archer, Jr., Memorial Scholarship
Malachi Williams
- Lexington, MS
- Holmes Community College, Goodman, MS
- Industrial Technology
- $1000 Chalmers Archer, Jr. Memorial Scholarship
Aiden Wakefield
- Buford, GA
- Triton College, River Grove, IL
- Business Management/Sports Broadcasting
- $1000 Migration Heritage Foundation Funds
Kasey J. Potee
- Lexington, MS
- University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS
- Psychology
- $1000 Geneva Nelson Memorial Scholarship
Dr. Sylvia Gist (left) and Dr. Stuart Rockoff, Director of the Mississippi Humanities Council, pose in front of the marker after its installation (top photo). The bottom photo shows the rear of the marker.
Beatrice Alexander v Holmes County Board of Education Marker
Unveiled June 17
MHF partnered with the Mississippi Humanities Council, Holmes County officials, and Visit Mississippi to install the Beatrice Alexander v Holmes County Board of Education historic marker on the campus of S. V. Marshall School (formerly Tchula Attendance Center {TAC}) that posthumously recognized Beatrice Alexander, the TAC student for whom the Supreme Court case decided in 1969 was named.
As a ninth-grade student at TAC when the NAACP filed the suit in 1965, Beatrice withstood the pressures that came with being named the primary plaintiff, as her name was first on the list of 377 student plaintiffs, alphabetized. The case gained national notoriety when the High Court ruled in 1969 that all public school districts must end the delay that had existed since their Brown v Board of Education ruling in 1954 and integrate schools immediately.
While Beatrice passed away years earlier, her children and a host of her relatives were present and participated in the June 17, 2025 unveiling.
National Federation of Colored Farmers (NFCF) Marker Unveiled Near Tchula on October 25
Thanks to a generous donation, we installed a historic marker on October 25 that recognizes the National Federation of Colored Farmers (NFCF).
Placed on the grounds of Mt. Zion Church near Tchula, this permanent figure (photo right) recognizes Black farmers in the Hills and Delta sections of Holmes County for the roles they played helping members of their race throughout the nation become self-sufficient farm owners during the 1920s and 1930s.
The NFCF was organized at Mt. Zion Church in Holmes County in 1929. The bold actions of descendants of these pioneer black landowners paved ushered the Civil Rights movement that surfaced in the county during the 1960s and ultimately paved the path to the Alexander v Holmes Supreme Court Decision in 1969.
Among attendees at the NFCF (Colored Farmers) Marker unveiling October 25, 2025, were (pictured l/r): Mt. Zion Church Pastor Rev. Melvin Russell, Mileston Farm Cooperative Director Calvin Head, Author and Researcher Diane Feldman, Retired Tougaloo College/Jackson State University Professor Dr. Charles Holmes, Migration Heritage Foundation Director Dr. Sylvia Reedy Gist, Holmes County District 4 Supervisor Leroy Johnson, and Mississippi State Representative Bryant Clark.
Book About Holmes County Recently Published
Diane Feldman’s book, Borrowed Land, Stolen Labor, and the Holy Spirit: The Struggle for Power and Equality in Holmes County, Mississippi, was published in July 2025. It is a local history that chronicles how white Americans forcibly took land in Holmes County from Native Americans and used the free labor of enslaved African Americans to develop it for the enslavers’ economic, political, and social benefits.
Feldman discusses how religious beliefs among Black Holmes Countians fueled determinations that founded the Holiness-Pentecostal Church of God in Christ (COGIC) denomination and set a path to the Holmes County Civil Rights Movement.
A “must-read!” Get your copy today from Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Borrowed-Land-Stolen-Labor-Spirit/dp/1496857461 or the University Press of Mississippi at https://www.upress.state.ms.us/content/search?search_in%5B%5D=all&SearchText=feldman.
Family Roots Literature Available: The documents below are available from the Foundation. The Cemetery Guides are available in both electronic and printed formats. The book is available only in printed form. The Guides contain a list of names, dates of birth, and dates of death as shown on each tombstone in the cemetery.
Show in the comments section of the order form whether you want an electronic or printed copy of the Guides. Also, show the email address to which the electronic copy should be sent or the physical address to which the printed copy should be mailed. While there is no charge for these documents, a minimum shipping and handling fee is requested. Feel free to donate an additional amount to the Foundation when you place your order.
Thurmond Cemetery Guide, Updated 2024, Compiled by Sylvia Gist, Edwin Gist, and Jacqueline Saffold.
Wade Cemetery Guide, Updated 2025, Compiled by Sylvia Gist
Mis-Educating Blacks in a Southern Rural Community: The Case of Holmes County, Mississippi, 2023, by Sylvia Reedy Gist
Scan the QR Code or CLICK HERE to place an order.
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