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Home Ben Hooks Institute Programs Uplift the Vote

Uplift the Vote: Everyone Should Have a Voting Story

https://www.memphis.edu/tentcity/movement/index.php

"Uplift the Vote: Everyone Should Have a Voting Story," is a multi-purpose exhibit on the importance of our most basic civil right – the right to vote. Explore through photographs, documents and reflections, how African Americans' demand for the right to vote in Fayette County, Tenn., in 1959 changed the lives of activists, the community and the nation.  The exhibit can be reconfigured to focus solely on the history of the Fayette County movement and Tent City, or it can also be a dual exhibit using the backdrop of history to encourage and educate the voters of today.  Panels featuring information on modern-day, nonpartisan voter registration and voting practices help students and others prepare for their trip to the ballot box in today's world. 

Current Exhibition

Aug. 16 – Nov. 8, 2024
Ned McWherter Library (Rotunda) | University of Memphis

Sept. 17
 National Voter Registration Day

Uplift the Vote Exhihbit opening panel. Ned McWherter Library. Fall 2018About the "Uplift the Vote" Exhibit

Fayette County, Tenn., 1959: The African American community faces Jim Crow laws, intimidation and violence in their efforts to register to vote. The New York Times described the civil rights movement in Fayette County as "the longest sustained civil rights protest in the nation." During that movement, African Americans worked to increase registered voters and demanded fair elections, integration of public facilities and equal access to economic opportunities.

Daphene R. McFerren (Hooks Executive Director) leads a UofM class through the Uplift the Vote ExhibitSponsors

The Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change extends its sincere gratitude for the following sponsors of this exhibit: OMO Energy & Technology, Inc.; the UofM's African and African American History program, Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, Department of History, Department of Political Science, Student Government Association, Department of Theatre & Dance and University of Memphis Libraries. 

Contact

For information on displaying this exhibit, contact the Hooks Institute at 901.678.3974 or email us at bhi@memphis.edu

Attendee views a panel from the Uplift the Vote exhibit at the Ned McWherter library. Fall 2018.Past Exhibitions

Feb. 2024
Fayette County Public Schools, Central Administration Building, 10425 Hwy 76 S. Somerville, TN 38068 | Hosting Organization: Leadership Fayette

Feb. 2023
Fayette County Public Schools, Central Administration Building, 10425 Hwy 76 S. Somerville, TN 38068 | Hosting Organization: Leadership Fayette

Feb. 2022
Fayette County Public Schools, Central Administration Building, 10425 Hwy 76 S. Somerville, TN 38068 | Hosting Organization: Leadership Fayette

Feb. 3 – Mar. 3 , 2020
Fayette County Public Schools, Central Administration Building, 10425 Hwy 76 S. Somerville, TN 38068 | Hosting Organization: Leadership Fayette
 
May 20 – June 27, 2019
Dunbar Carver Museum | 112 Hillcrest Dr., Brownsville, TN
 
Feb. 7 – Mar. 7, 2019
Fayette County Public Schools Central Administration Building, 10425 Hwy 76 S. Somerville, TN 38068 | Hosting Organization: Leadership Fayette
 
Sept. 18 – Nov. 12, 2018
Ned McWherter Library (Rotunda) | University of Memphis

Photo Credit

  • Header photo: Fayette County Civil Rights Activist Marching. Photo ©Art Shay, John and Viola McFerren leading protestors to the Fayette County, Tennessee Courthouse, March 1965.
  • Photo 1: Uplift the Vote Exhibit opening panel. Ned McWherter Library. Fall 2018
  • Photo 2: Daphene R. McFerren (Hooks Executive Director) leads a UofM class through the Uplift the Vote Exhibit.
  • Photo 3: Attendee views a panel from the Uplift the Vote exhibit at the Ned McWherter library. Fall 2018.