![\"payne.jpg\"](\"http:\/\/ezing.me\/transfer\/wp-content\/uploads\/stories\/payne.jpg\" "\\"payne.jpg\\"")
<\/p>\nOXFORD, Miss. – Despite an impressive collection of \n\u00a0\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \nOn Sept. 1, Payne begins a yearlong fellowship with The \n“I’m a little scared, but in a good way,” Payne said with a \nPayne expects to have plenty of chances to interact with \n“We try to cast a wide net,” said Kent Mullikin, NHC vice \nPayne, the first NHC fellow from UM, was chosen based on \n“It was the most significant biracial initiative in the \nPayne plans to publish the book “Shattering White \n“There’s a great deal of interest in the kind of study \nPayne expects her colleagues at the NHC to scrutinize her \n“They’ll find gaps in what I need to explain,” she said. “I \n“To be chosen for a National Humanities Center Fellowship \n“Elizabeth Payne is the first member of our university’s \nAlso, the Mississippi Historical Society recently awarded \n“Receiving that award was very affirming for me, and I was \nAt a stage in her career when many peers are looking to \n“I’ve wanted to be an NHC Fellow for a long time; I \nFor more information about the UM Department of History, \n
\naccolades and awards amassed over a 40-year career in
\nacademia, Elizabeth Payne thinks about what she’ll be doing
\nthis fall and gets excited like a first-grader anticipating
\nthe first day of school.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n
\nNational Humanities Center in Chapel Hill, N.C. The
\nUniversity of Mississippi history professor is one of only
\n28 scholars to be selected from a pool of more than 400
\napplicants worldwide, which makes the fellowship an
\nunquestioned achievement. But she’s even more thrilled
\nabout interacting with the other scholars.
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\nchuckle. “These scholars are assembled from across the
\nspectrum of the humanities: literature, history, classics,
\nphilosophy and religion. They’re from different ages,
\ncountries and backgrounds. And we’re expected to socialize
\ntogether, to eat together, to share ideas and research.
\nIt’s a dream come true for me.”
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\nscholars from American universities such as Princeton,
\nYale, Duke, UCLA, Northwestern and NYU. She’ll also swap
\nideas with fellows from the University of Warwick in the
\nUnited Kingdom, the Federal University of Bahia in Brazil
\nand the State University of Music and Performing Arts in
\nGermany.
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\npresident and deputy director. “The rationale for an
\ninstitution like this is to maximize the possibility of our
\nfellows discovering unexpected areas of mutual interest.
\nIt’s really the imagination and intelligence of the people
\nwe bring together that makes for an interesting community
\nof learning.”
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\nher research on the Southern Tenant Farmers Union, a
\nlittle-known biracial organization formed to protect the
\ninterests of white and black tenant farmers and
\nsharecroppers during the Great Depression. Even though
\nPresident Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Agricultural Adjustment
\nAct was meant to spread wealth among tenant farmers and
\nsharecroppers at the local level, landowners pocketed an
\nunfair share of the government funds. United by common
\ninterests, black and white farmers came together to form
\nthe STFU, Payne said.
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\ncotton South,” said Payne, who represented the Methodist
\nYouth Fellowship as a lobbyist for the Civil Rights Bill
\nduring the 1960s. “Many who know of the STFU consider it a
\nprecursor to the civil rights movement. I’d like to shed
\nlight on this overlooked chapter of Southern history.”
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\nSolidarity: A History of The Southern Tenant Farmer’s
\nUnion” after her NHC fellowship. Mullikin said her research
\nshould attract interest beyond just her peers at the NHC.
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\nshe’s doing at both UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke, where a lot
\nof people are interested in Southern history and civil
\nrights history,” he said. “It’s a very important topic and
\nthis particular story hasn’t been told.”
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\nwork, which she hopes will help give her book mainstream
\nappeal beyond the academic community.
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\nwant to produce a work of general interest that’s not
\nlimited to historians. The other fellows will help me write
\nin a more accessible way.”
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\nis a signal honor and reflects the significance of Dr.
\nPayne’s research,” said Glenn Hopkins, dean of the UM
\nCollege of Liberal Arts. “She is most deserving of this
\nimportant award.”
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\nfaculty to be offered a fellowship by the National
\nHumanities Center,” added Joseph Ward, chair of the
\nDepartment of History. “It is significant recognition of
\nthe high regard her professional peers have for her
\nresearch into the Southern Tenant Farmers Union.”
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\nthe 2008 Elbert Hilliard Oral History Prize to Payne and
\nfive of her graduate students. Payne and her students
\nproduced “Makin’ Do,” an oral history project featuring
\nwomen who grew up in northern Mississippi during World War
\nII.
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\nhappy to have the light shown on north Mississippi,” she
\nsaid. “And I was happy for my students because they were
\nrecognized for the award as well.”
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\nslow down, Payne shows no signs of doing so.
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\nthought, however, that there was no chance because I’ve
\nspent much of my career in administration,” Payne said. “I
\nwant to keep doing new things. I don’t want to sit down and
\nlet the grass grow around me.”
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\ncall 662-915-7148 or go to
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\nhttp:\/\/www.olemiss.edu\/depts\/history<\/a>.
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n