Agenda 06-18-19 Item 8-a - Minutes

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6 Chair Rich presented this item: 1 2 BACKGROUND: William (Bill) R. Ferris is the Joel R. Williamson Eminent Professor of History 3 Emeritus at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Professor Ferris is also a former 4 chairperson of the National Endowment for the Humanities (1997-2001), and has written or 5 edited ten books and created 15 documentary films. His work has included co-editing the 6 Encyclopedia of Southern Culture (1989), which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. 7 8 Professor Ferris’ books include: Give My Poor Heart Ease: Voices of the Mississippi Blues 9 (2009) which was translated into French as Les Voix du Mississippi (2013); The Storied South: 10 Voices of Writers and Artists, and The South in Color: A Visual Journal (2016). Professor Ferris 11 also curated “I Am a Man”: Civil Rights Photographs in the American South – 1960-1970, which 12 opened in the Pavillon Populaire in Montpellier, France in October, 2018. 13 14 Professor Ferris’ most recent publication, Voices of Mississippi, is a 2018 box set published by 15 Dust to Digital containing three CDs of his recordings of blues, gospel and stories, a DVD of his 16 documentary films, and a book. In 2019, Voices of Mississippi received two Grammy Awards for 17 Best Liner Notes and Best Historical Album. 18 19 Professor Ferris’ honors include the Charles Frankel Prize in the Humanities, the American 20 Library Association's Dartmouth Medal, the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Award, and 21 the W.C. Handy Blues Award. In 1991, Rolling Stone magazine named him among the Top Ten 22 Professors in the United States. He is a Fellow of the American Folklore Society, and received 23 the B. L. C. Wailes Award, given to a Mississippian who has achieved national recognition in 24 the field of history by the Mississippi Historical Society. In 2017, Ferris received the Mississippi 25 Governor’s Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement. 26 27 Professor Ferris also co-founded the Center for Southern Folklore in Memphis, Tennessee, 28 serving as its director from 1972 to 1984, and was the founding director of the Center for the 29 Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi. 30 31 The William R. Ferris Collection is located in the Southern Folklife Collection of the Wilson 32 Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 33 34 Chair Rich read the proclamation: 35 36 ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS 37 PROCLAMATION RECOGNIZING 38 PROFESSOR WILLIAM (BILL) R. FERRIS 39 40 WHEREAS, William (Bill) R. Ferris is the Joel R. Williamson Eminent Professor of History 41 Emeritus at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and 42 43 WHEREAS, Professor Ferris is a former chairman of the National Endowment for the 44 Humanities (1997-2001), and has written or edited ten books and created 15 documentary 45 films; and 46 47 WHEREAS, his work has included co-editing the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture (1989), 48 which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize; and 49 50