Literacy Shapers is an initiative that recognizes professional writers, artists, and other influencers who use their platforms to send meaningful messages while making a difference in Mississippi. To read poetry, short stories, essays, and articles by or about leaders from the Magnolia State, see the Literacy Shapers blog.
Reshonda Perryman,
Visual Artist
Fayette, MS
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“Everyone has insecurities. Every place has its flaws. But in my art, I have full control over my narrative as a Mississippian. No one gets that privilege but me.”
Lana Brown,
Poet & Educator,
Natchez, MS
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"I’m from long thick vines that carried me across a deep, dark creek and muscadines that stung my lips and made weary tree limbs hang."
Dr. Randrika Henderson,
Writer & Educator
Canton, MS
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"My HBCU experience [at Jackson State University in Jackson, MS] taught me that our heritage is rooted in surviving adversities; making the impossible, possible; and building upon the foundation established by our ancestors."
Jone Primm,
Community Activist
Owner of Marshall's Music and Bookstore
Jackson, MS
Minneapolis, Minnesota Native
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“I come from a long line of people concerned with the plight of our [Black] people. My roots are in Utica, Mississippi, where my great-grandmother founded a church school and burial ground after having been enslaved.”
Dr. J. Janice Coleman,
Quilter, Writer, & Educator
Mound Bayou, MS
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“I think I started sewing quilts in the womb since quilting was just a part of everyday life in my world, and fabric scraps were so plentiful. It’s something I’ve always enjoyed, which turned into a lifelong passion.”
LaWanda Dickens,
Writer & Educator
Brookhaven, MS
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"My grandfather survived the Great Depression; racism during some of the most traumatizing eras; a world war; and other blistering life circumstances. He was educated at Fisk, Tuskegee Institute, Alcorn State University, and Tennessee State University. He was a science teacher, school administrator, and farmer. He inherited nearly 80 acres land and purchased 30, some of which he plowed with a tractor that he made himself. He hustled -- hard. My family is still reaping."
“Whenever my environment had failed to support or nourish me, I had clutched at books...”
― Richard Wright, Black Boy