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ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br /> PROCLAMATION RECOGNIZING <br /> PROFESSOR WILLIAM ( BILL ) R . FERRIS <br /> WHEREAS , William ( Bill ) R . Ferris is the Joel R . Williamson Eminent Professor of <br /> History Emeritus at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ; and <br /> WHEREAS , Professor Ferris is a former chairman of the National Endowment for the <br /> Humanities ( 1997 - 2001 ) , and has written or edited ten books and created 15 <br /> documentary films ; and <br /> WHEREAS , his work has included co - editing the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture <br /> ( 1989 ) , which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize ; and <br /> WHEREAS , Professor Ferris ' books include Give My Poor Heart Ease : Voices of the <br /> Mississippi Blues ( 2009 ) which was translated into French as Les Voix du Mississippi <br /> ( 2013 ) ; The Storied South : Voices of Writers and Artists , and The South in Color : A <br /> Visual Journal ( 2016 ) ; and <br /> WHEREAS , Professor Ferris ' most recent publication , Voices of Mississippi received <br /> two Grammy Awards in 2019 for Best Liner Notes and Best Historical Album ; and <br /> WHEREAS , Professor Ferris has been recognized with numerous honors , including the <br /> Charles Frankel Prize in the Humanities , the American Library Association ' s Dartmouth <br /> Medal , the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Award , the W . C . Handy Blues Award , <br /> the B . L . C . Wailes Award , which is given to a Mississippian who has achieved national <br /> recognition in the field of history by the Mississippi Historical Society , and the 2017 <br /> Mississippi Governor ' s Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement ; and <br /> WHEREAS , the William R . Ferris Collection is located in the Southern Folklife <br /> Collection of the Wilson Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ; <br /> NOW THEREFORE we , the Orange County Board of Commissioners , do hereby <br /> recognize Professor William ( Bill ) R . Ferris for his contributions to the local and <br /> worldwide arts and history community . <br /> This the 21St day of May 2019 . <br /> 9 7qd <br /> �P o � I <br /> 17 `sue c y_ � 2 Penny Rich , Chair <br /> Orange County Board of Commissioners <br />