Memorialization Gathering 2026 — Lafayette Community Remembrance Project

September 25-27, 2026
Holly Springs, Mississippi

The Memorialization Gathering is an annual convening that brings together people and organizations who are engaged in community-driven memorialization efforts. Now in its third year, the gathering creates space for practitioners to learn from one another, build relationships, and share practical approaches to honoring histories of racial violence, enslavement, displacement, resistance, and community memory.

Hosted by the Lafayette Community Remembrance Project, the gathering is designed for individuals and organizations who are actively involved in memorialization work or are exploring how to begin. Through workshops, site visits, conversations, and cultural experiences, participants will engage with real-world examples of how communities are uncovering histories, building relationships with descendants, and creating meaningful opportunities for remembrance, healing, and education. The 2026 and 2027 gatherings are supported by the Borealis Philanthropy Racial Equity to Accelerate Change Fund.

This year's theme, "Descendants: What We Inherit," explores the many ways people and communities carry history forward. The theme invites participants to consider inheritance in its broadest sense. It includes direct descendants of victims of racial violence, communities shaped by these histories, descendants of enslavers, and all those who live with the ongoing impacts of the past. Together, participants will explore how memory, place, family stories, and community experiences influence the ways we understand and engage history that still impact our lives today. At its heart, the theme asks a simple but powerful question: What do we inherit, and what responsibility do we have to those who come after us?

This year's gathering will take place in Holly Springs, Mississippi, a community with a rich history and a growing network of memorialization, preservation, and storytelling efforts. Participants will have opportunities to learn from local projects and visit sites that demonstrate how communities are preserving history and connecting the past to the present. The gathering will be hosted at Rust College, one of the nation's oldest Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Rust College's long history of education, leadership, and community engagement makes it a meaningful home for conversations about memory, justice, and legacy.

Join Us

Evening programs throughout the weekend, including film screenings, music, art exhibits, and select public conversations, are free and open to the public. We encourage community members, students, educators, and anyone interested in memorialization and local history to attend these events. Whether you are documenting local history, honoring victims of racial violence, preserving historic sites, working with descendants, or exploring how your community can begin this work, the Memorialization Gathering offers an opportunity to learn, connect, and build alongside others committed to remembrance and justice.

Participation in the Saturday workshops and learning labs is limited and requires an application. These sessions are designed for individuals and organizations that are actively engaged in community-driven memorialization work or are preparing to launch memorialization efforts in their communities. To support the development of a Community-Led Memorialization Toolkit, participation will be limited to create an intimate learning environment where practitioners can build relationships, share experiences, provide feedback, and contribute lessons and best practices that can help guide memorialization efforts in communities across the country.

Register Today

Please Register by September 11

To help us plan for meals and ensure we have an accurate food count, we encourage everyone to register by Friday, September 11. Registration will remain open after September 11, and on-site registration will be available during the gathering. However, meals cannot be guaranteed for those who register after the September 11 deadline.

Public Programming Schedule Overview

Friday, September 25, 2026

1pm-1:45pm The History and Legacy of Rust College

Begin the afternoon with an introduction to the history and legacy of Rust College. This opening conversation will provide context for the places, people, and stories participants will encounter throughout Rust Day and explore the college's enduring role in Holly Springs and beyond.

2pm-3pm Rust College Campus Tour

Explore the Rust College campus through the stories of the people connected to its buildings and spaces. This guided tour will highlight significant campus landmarks, their namesakes, and the histories they carry, inviting participants to consider how place can preserve and tell the story of an institution.

3:15pm-4:45pm Preserving Rust - Panel Discussion

Learn about current efforts to document, preserve, and share Rust College's history. This panel and presentation will highlight ongoing digital and physical preservation work while exploring what it takes to protect the stories, spaces, and legacy of a historic institution for future generations.

6:30pm-8:00pm Film Screening & Discussion

The Work of Remembering (director: Castel V. Sweet & Antonio Tarrell) - When a Mississippi community uncovers a history of racial terror long buried from public memory, residents and descendants come together to recover lost stories, return to the places where violence occurred, and confront what it means to carry the responsibility of remembering.

Evidence of Our Existence (producer: Antonio Tarrell & Castel V. Sweet) - In Holly Springs, Mississippi, community interpreters use historic spaces, material culture, and living traditions to reclaim the stories, skills, and contributions of enslaved Africans, preserving the evidence of their existence for generations to come.

Saturday, September 26, 2026

6pm-7:30pm Art Exhibit and Reception

Curated by Dale DeBerry, this exhibition explores themes of memory, inheritance, identity, and belonging through art. The exhibit complements this year's gathering by examining how art can honor the past, preserve cultural memory, and inspire conversations about what we carry forward into the future.

Sunday, September 27, 2026

12:00pm-3:00pm Closing Brunch: Land, Legacy & Stewardship at Foxfire Ranch

Gather with the Hollowell family for a closing brunch at Foxfire Ranch and learn how they are reclaiming legacy through land stewardship. This conversation will explore how caring for the land can preserve history, strengthen community, and create lasting connections between past, present, and future generations.

Practitioner Programming Schedule Overview

Friday, September 25, 2026

5pm-6pm Practitioner Welcome & Dinner

Begin the weekend by connecting with fellow memorialization practitioners over dinner. This informal gathering offers space to meet one another, share more about the communities and work that brought us together, and set the stage for a weekend of learning, reflection, and exchange.

Saturday, September 26, 2026

8:30am-9:30am Opening Plenary

10am-11:30am Site Visits

Elizabeth & Hugh Craft House (Behind the Big House) - Visit the home of the nationally recognized Behind the Big House program, where interpreters center the lives, labor, and culture of enslaved Africans through the spaces where they lived and worked. Explore how this groundbreaking initiative has transformed the interpretation of slavery and inspired community-led memorialization efforts across the country.

Ida B. Wells in Marshall County Tour - Explore sites connected to the life and legacy of Ida B. Wells-Barnett in Marshall County and learn how her experiences in Mississippi shaped her lifelong fight for truth, justice, and anti-lynching activism. This tour highlights the local history that influenced one of America's most influential journalists and civil rights leaders.

Isaac Chapel Rosenwald School - Visit one of the few surviving Rosenwald Schools in Mississippi, built in 1922 through the combined efforts of the Rosenwald Fund and the local Black community to provide educational opportunities during the Jim Crow era. Learn about the school's preservation, its significance in African American educational history, and the community's ongoing efforts to protect this important landmark.

12pm-1:30pm Lunch Plenary: Reimagining Memorialization Through the Arts

Join Salaam Green and Nell Gottlieb of the Wallace Center for Arts and Reconciliation for a conversation on how the arts can expand the possibilities of memorialization. Through examples from their work, they'll explore how storytelling, performance, visual art, and community engagement can help communities honor the past while building connection and reconciliation in the present.

1:45pm-3:45pm Workshop Sessions

Genealogy for Community-Led Memorialization (facilitated by Rkhty Amen & Deborah David) - Discover how genealogy can strengthen memorialization efforts by helping communities identify descendants, uncover family histories, and deepen connections to local history. Participants will learn practical approaches to genealogical research, explore available resources, and discuss how family history can inform truth-telling, remembrance, and community engagement.

Place, Space, and Memorialization (facilitated by Patricia Rangel, Southway) - Place can be a powerful part of how communities remember and tell their stories. This workshop will explore how communities can use historic sites, landscapes, buildings, and other shared spaces as part of memorialization efforts, with practical approaches for connecting history to place and creating meaningful experiences that help people engage with the past.

Researching History & Navigating Difficult Conversations (facilitated by Beverly Bevel) - Uncovering difficult histories is only one part of memorialization work. This workshop will explore approaches to researching local history and engaging community members in honest conversations about what that research reveals, including how to navigate disagreement, resistance, and different understandings of the past while creating space for dialogue and connection.

4pm-5pm Closing Plenary

Sunday, September 27, 2026

9:00am-11:00am Practitioner Reflection + Toolkit Lab

Practitioners will come together to reflect on what they learned throughout the weekend and help shape the Community-Led Memorialization Toolkit. Through small-group conversations and hands-on activities, participants will identify lessons, challenges, tools, and resources that can help communities begin, strengthen, and sustain their own memorialization efforts.

COST: Registration and attendance for convening plenaries, sessions, and the reception are free of charge. Attendees will be responsible for their own travel and lodging.

Register Today