Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage

Voices of Our People, Reflections of Our Past

Since 1971, the Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage has collected and preserved the stories of Mississippians from all walks of life.
In sharing their memories, the over four thousand and counting contributors to our
collection have given the Center and all of Mississippi, a precious gift that remains
long after they pass on. Our collection has proven an invaluable resource for researchers,
journalists, teachers, students, documentarians, and museums.

In 1999, the Center became the repository for the Mississippi Oral History Project: “a ground-breaking initiative, funded by the Mississippi State Legislature, to document
the collective memory of Mississippi’s culture, heritage, and institutions.”

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Featured Stories

“Voices of Our People: World War II” podcast set for October release

HATTIESBURG, MISSISSIPPI (Sept. 23, 2024)—The Center for Oral History & Cultural Heritage
at the University of Southern Mississippi announces the release of Voices of Our People:
World War II, a longform podcast that tells the story of the greatest military conflict
of the 20th century through the voices of Mississippians who lived through it.

The first episode, which focuses on the Pearl Harbor attack and U.S. entry into World
War II, will be released on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. A new episode will be released
each subsequent Monday through Dec. 2—five days before the 83rd anniversary of the
Pearl Harbor attack.

In telling the story of World War II through the first-person voices of Mississippians,
the Center for Oral History & Cultural Heritage mined hundreds of oral histories conducted
with World War II veterans from Mississippi during the last half-century-plus. All
three branches of the military are represented, and the stories come from each major
World War II theater—from Europe to the Pacific to Africa and beyond. Voices of Our
People: World War II also tells the stories of various Mississippians who experienced
the war from the Magnolia State’s homefront.

In addition to telling the war’s story through the voices of Mississippians, Voices
of Our People: World War II features narration from various military historians at
the Dale Center for the Study of War and Society at the University of Southern Mississippi.
Scholars Dr. Douglas Bristol, Dr. Kevin Greene, Dr. Heather Stur, Dr. Kenneth Swope,
and Dr. Andrew Weist each help explain the war’s military campaigns, strategies and
outcomes. They also explain the various ways that the war changed America’s homefront. 

“By combining stories from our extensive oral history collection with insights from
Mississippi’s leading scholars, the perspectives of those who study history and those
who lived it, provide the listener with a more complete understanding of how world
events impact our state,” Ross Walton, digital production and preservation specialist
at the Center for Oral History & Cultural Heritage, said. “Dozens of oral histories
from our veterans collection provide a gripping narrative through every aspect of
life during wartime, while top instructors from the Dale Center for the Study of War
and Society take us into the war room and onto the battlefield.”

Voices of Our People: World War II is 10 episodes long. It can be accessed at the
Center for Oral History & Cultural Heritage website at: COHCH.org. 

“Voices of Our People: World War II provides concrete evidence that we are all better
when we work together,” Dr. Kevin Greene, director of the Center for Oral History
& Cultural Heritage, said. “This collaborative effort between the Center for Oral
History and Cultural Heritage and the Dale Center for the Study of War & Society,
with support from the Mississippi Humanities Council, is a perfect example of how
the Humanities can bring scholars across fields in close connection with podcast production
teams to generate something truly remarkable and new. Through these efforts, fascinating
pieces from the COHCH’s oral history collection on WWII have been brought to life
by some of the country’s leading military and war and society historians. The result
is a project dedicated to remembering and honoring Mississippians who sacrificed so
much during such an uneasy age.”

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