Mississippi Moments Podcast

MSMO Holiday Classic from 2015: MSM 463 Kris Gianakos of Meridian comes from a large Greek family. In this episode, he discusses his favorite way to prepare leg of lamb. Lamb is a staple of Greek cooking. For his family, it was a dish usually served during the holidays. He also describes avgolemono soup, a traditional Greek chicken soup and explains why it always reminds him of home. PODCAST EXTRA...

Many Mississippi families raised hogs for food and would cure the meat in a small shed called a smoke house. In this episode, Natchez native Charles Wright explains how neighbors would help each other out during hog-killing time. Among the many pork products, Wright's family would make with the meat from their hogs, was hogshead cheese. Hogshead Cheese is a cold cut meat product that originated in...

Ellen McCarley grew up near Port Gibson, the youngest of twelve cousins living on Drake Hill. In this episode, she recalls her idyllic childhood and the games they played to pass the time. Before automobile ownership became common, Mississippians would travel to neighboring towns by train. McCarley remembers riding the train to Vicksburg to go Christmas shopping with her mother. Every Christmas Ev...

After Japan attacked the US Navy Base at Pearl Harbor in December of 1941, thousands of American teenagers volunteered to go and fight. In this episode, humorist Jerry Clower of Liberty, Mississippi, explains how growing up on a farm prepared him for life in the Navy. Raised in the rural South, Clower's perceptions of race were limited to Black or White. He recalls an incident in basic training th...

As family and friends gather this week for Thanksgiving, we revisit the 2010 interview of freelance food and travel writer, Julian Brunt, who views cooking as his form of creative expression. In this episode, he explains why he is so passionate about preparing meals for his circle of friends. As the wife of an army officer, Julian Brunt's mother hosted dinner parties for the other officer's famili...

Dorothy Wilkins Fraley was born on a farm in the Fairview Community outside of Brooksville in 1918. She was in her 82nd year of life when she sat down to record her oral history in October of 2000 as part of the Noxubee County Oral History Project. This episode is a continuation of one we did in September of this year (MSM 587) about her memories of growing up on the family farm. As the holiday se...

Dr. Joe Berryman spent his life and career involved with high school, college and professional bands as a musician, composer, instructor, and conductor, as well as, a product representative and developer for several musical instrument manufacturers. After moving to Mississippi, he served as the band director at Itta Bena High School before coming to USM where he became coordinator of the band staf...

Troy H. Middleton was born on a farm in Copiah County, Mississippi in 1890 and lived there until he was fourteen years old when he left to attend Mississippi A&M College preparatory department. A&M was a land grant college, therefore it had military training in which the students were required to participate. Middleton rose through the ranks until his senior year when he was promoted to Cadet Lieu...

John Gouras left the island of Patmos to come to America with his father in 1921. In this episode, taken from an interview conducted in 1974, Gouras shares some memories of his life and career spent as a Jackson restaurateur.  He remembers selling his father's homemade candy to local businesses in Lake Charles, Louisiana as a teenager and how he and his partner purchased their first eatery, the Pe...

Growing up on his father's plantation near Clarksdale, Marshall Bouldin, III, dreamed of being a commercial illustrator like his hero, Norman Rockwell. Encouraged by his mother to pursue his love of art, he left Clarksdale in 1939 to attend the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and there began a career that would gain him notoriety around the nation, even as it brought him home again. In this...

     African-American soldiers returned home to the Jim Crow South after WWII, determined to press for an end to black voter suppression and "separate but equal" segregation laws. In this episode we examine the military career and civil rights activism of Taylor Howard of Gulfport.      Howard was drafted into the all-black, 92nd Infantry Division in 1942. He recalls the racial tensions they encou...

Dorothy Fraley of Macon grew up in the rural community of Fairview, outside of Brooksville.  In this episode, she shares some of her memories of that time, like how they used to ride a mule and buggy to the store every morning to catch the school bus, and the telephone "party" line they shared with their neighbors. Born in 1918, the year of the great flu pandemic, Fraley blames the large number of...

Staff Sergeant Undaryl Allen of the Mississippi Army National Guard was deployed to Iraq in fall of 2004. In this episode, he shares his memories of that time in this interview conducted in May of 2006. Although trained as a mechanic, Allen's first month was spent as a gunner on escort duty. He explains how his faith and his family helped him handle the stress of going out on patrol. As an army me...

The Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 provided funding for the training of local police officers. In this episode, Tyler Fletcher explains how that funding led the University of Southern Mississippi to develop a curriculum in Law Enforcement. Fletcher retired from the U.S. Army as Chief of Criminal Investigations in 1972. He recalls his decision to accept a teaching position at So...

Last week, Mississippians remembered Hurricane Katrina on the thirteenth anniversary of the massive storm's slow march up the length of our state. Considered the most destructive natural disaster in our nation's history, it sparked a series of recovery efforts that would be measured in days, weeks, months and years. Thousands of lives would be interrupted, many drastically so. Some for only a brie...

Hattiesburg native Richard Burger graduated with a degree in mathematics in 1965. In this episode, he recalls returning to Mississippi to work at NASA's test facility (later renamed the Stennis Space Center) as a computer programmer. Because he was working for General Electric under government contract, Burger's story was rather unusual for that time, as opportunities for African-American in Missi...

"The Center for Gifted Studies was established in 1979 and dedicated as The Frances A. Karnes Center for Gifted Studies in 1999, its central purpose to further the education of gifted students and those with leadership abilities through teaching, research, and service. Emphasis is also placed on these areas for those interested in the gifted: teachers, parents, administrators, psychologists, couns...

To celebrate the recent opening of The Midtowner - Robert St. John's tribute to the classic American diner - we are re-posting this episode from last summer, in which St. John shares his knowledge of a favorite topic: the history of Hattiesburg restaurants. Lunch counters and cafeterias have long provided time-strapped Americans with fast, affordable food. In this episode, restaurateur and author,...

David Baker loved Tupelo. Aside from time spent serving his country during WWII and a year in New York, Baker lived his entire 93 years in his hometown as a tireless promoter of the Arts and Humanities. In this episode, he looks back at the people and events that shaped his life with a keen and engaging wit. Baker's father opened a furniture store in downtown Tupelo in the 1920s.  He recalls how t...

The University of Southern Mississippi was still the Mississippi State Teachers College when Bernard Reed Green graduated in May of 1934.  In this episode, he recalls his decision to come back that fall as the Freshman Football Coach.  According to Green, his coaching style differed from that of Coach Pooley Hubert, the man who hired him, and how that difference had a positive impact on the team's...

Helen Rayne grew up living in her grandfather's antebellum home in Natchez during the Great Depression. In this episode, she remembers the genteel lifestyle and how they entertained themselves without a lot of money. She also describes the dedication of her teachers and how much they were respected by everyone in the community. During her lifetime, Rayne witnessed many changes, both in her hometow...

Leatha Jackson learned how to cook ribs and steaks by working in her aunt's restaurant in Bogalusa. In this episode, she looks back with pride on her fifty-year career as a professional short-order cook. For years, Jackson dreamed of opening a restaurant in her home near Columbia, Mississippi. She discusses the humble beginnings of Leatha's Barbeque and why looks can be deceiving. By the time Leat...

Lemuel A. Wilson Junior's parents were the owners of a weekly newspaper in Richton, Mississippi. In this episode, he shares his memories of working at the Richton Dispatch after school in the 1920s and how the paper served their community.  He also recalls how their family's newspaper survived the Great Depression by running foreclosure notices and accepting food as payment for subscriptions. Afte...

Charles Dunagin began his career in Journalism in 1957 as a reporter for the Jackson State Times. In this episode, he remembers covering the story of the first African-American to attempt to enroll at Ole' Miss, five years before James Meredith. In 1963, Dunagin became the managing editor of the McComb Enterprise-Journal . He shares his memories of the newspaper's publisher, Oliver Emmerich, who h...

Hodding Carter was the outspoken publisher of the Delta Democrat–Times during the Civil Rights Movement.  In this episode, Betty Carter remembers the firestorm of threatening phone calls her husband's editorials generated. Hodding and Betty Carter moved to Greenville, Mississippi in 1936 and started their own newspaper. Betty Carter discusses the importance of a Free Press and an educated public t...