Bill Text: MS SC559 | 2017 | Regular Session | Enrolled
Bill Title: Recognize Dr. William R. (Bill) Ferris as recipient of the 2017 Governor's Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 10-3)
Status: (Passed) 2017-02-14 - Enrolled Bill Signed [SC559 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2017-SC559-Enrolled.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2017 Regular Session
To: Rules
By: Senator(s) Horhn, Barnett, Browning, Carmichael, Dearing, Frazier, Hopson, Jackson (11th), Jackson (32nd), Jolly, Norwood, Simmons (12th), Simmons (13th)
Senate Concurrent Resolution 559
(As Adopted by Senate and House)
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION EXTENDING THE RECOGNITION OF THE MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE TO DR. WILLIAM R. (BILL) FERRIS AS RECIPIENT OF THE 2017 GOVERNOR'S ARTS AWARD FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT.
WHEREAS, the Governor's Arts Awards Program has announced its 2017 recipients, which includes William R. (Bill) Ferris for Lifetime Achievement; and
WHEREAS, William R. Ferris has long been the preeminent scholar and documenter of Mississippi's rich culture, music and folklore. Born in Vicksburg in 1942, Dr. Ferris has been documenting the lives of Mississippians, often African-Americans, for more than 50 years. He is the younger brother of the late Senator Grey Ferris; and
WHEREAS, after receiving a Masters and Ph.D. in Folklore from the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Ferris taught English at Jackson State University and American and African-American Studies at Yale University. During this period, he cofounded the
Center for Southern Folklore in Memphis with Judy Peiser. The documentary films he produced in Mississippi during this period, such as "Mississippi Delta Blues and Ray Lum: Mule Trader," are considered seminal works in the field of Southern culture and folklore. He has produced 15 films and has appeared in numerous documentaries and television programs as an expert on Southern culture, art and music; and
WHEREAS, in 1979, William Ferris began a long career at the University of Mississippi, where he served as the founding director of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture. Dr. Ferris and Charles Reagan Wilson co-edited The Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. The Center for the Study of Southern Culture received a Governor's
Arts Award in 1991; and
WHEREAS, in 1997, President Bill Clinton nominated William Ferris to serve as the Chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities, a post he held until 2001. In 2002, Dr. Ferris began a stay at the University of North Carolina where he still teaches at the Center for the Study of the American South as the Joel R. Williamson Eminent Professor of History; and
WHEREAS, Ferris is the author of ten books, including Give My Poor Heart Ease: Voices of the Mississippi Blues; You Live and Learn. Then You Die and Forget it All; Ray Lum's Tales of Horses, Mules and Men and his latest, The South in Color: A Visual Journey; and
WHEREAS, Dr. Ferris is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Charles Frankel Prize in the Humanities and France's Chevalier and Officer in the Order of Arts and Letters. The Blues Hall of Fame recognized his book Blues from the Delta as one of the "Classics of Blues Literature"; and
WHEREAS, it is with great pride that we pay tribute and express appreciation for the contributions of a Mississippi civic and cultural leader who has made Mississippi a better place and exemplifies the literary, artistic and cultural traditions of our great state:
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING THEREIN, That we do hereby extend the recognition of the Mississippi Legislature to Dr. William R. (Bill) Ferris as recipient of the 2017 Governor's Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement, and extend our congratulations on this auspicious occasion.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That this resolution be presented to Bill Ferris as part of the Governor's Arts Awards presentation on Thursday, February 16, 2017, and made available to the Capitol Press Corps.
