Kimberly Hardy had recently been promoted from adjunct to core faculty in Antioch University’s EdD program when she heard about a new initiative called Antioch Works for Democracy, a multi-month campaign of education and action to build a more just and inclusive democracy. Her interest was piqued by the Fund for Democratic Initiatives, which would give grants of up to $2500 to community projects around the country. Suddenly, she had just one month to apply for one of these grants. “I started working [as core faculty] May 1, and the application for this grant was due on May 31,” Hardy says. “So I’ve been with Antioch Works for Democracy since my inception, and it makes me even more hopeful about our mission and our commitment to social justice.”
Originally, the idea behind the grant application was to help create a program where elementary and middle school students would engage with the idea of democracy and the importance of voting while creating artwork and poetry. She called it “Working for Democracy in the Deep South.” The proposal was accepted, and soon Hardy was organizing the work with a school near where she lives in Jackson, Mississippi. But as student interest grew during the 2024 national election, enthusiasm for the project led to it growing in scope and impact. Now, the students and teachers involved want to make sure that last fall’s work is only the beginning.
Hardy began going to Thomas A. Cardoza Middle School on a near-weekly basis, and she developed a close working relationship with Myron McGowan, the school’s art teacher. Soon the project evolved from having a contest element to being a multi-dimensional curriculum with a closing assembly and celebration. “The kids were still really excited to showcase the art they produced around the importance of voting,” Hardy said. “So what became of this was that we began to work with an art class, a group of twenty-one eighth graders, and we began to really dive a bit deeper into this history of democracy, this fight for democracy, and voting rights in the south.”
McGowan, the art teacher, used Hardy’s presence and expertise to share his own family’s history around civil rights and voting with the students. His father was a civil rights activist in the 1960s, and the project gave McGowan a chance to share more of his story with his students. Students got to learn more about their connections with history, even as they explored their own questions, frustrations, and creativity as they related to civic engagement and the upcoming election.
Other connections emerged during the project. In October, David Goodman came to talk at Antioch about how his brother, Andrew Goodman, was one of the three civil rights workers killed in Mississippi during the 1964 Freedom Summer, along with James Chaney and Michael Schwerner. Goodman himself is an Antioch alum, and he has spent much of his life leading the Andrew Goodman Foundation and promoting democracy. When Hardy brought this story back to her students in Jackson, they looked up where Chaney, Schwarner, and Goodman had been killed, and found that it was only an hour’s drive away. They were all surprised that they had not heard this piece of local history before.
Like many other public school students across the country, middle schoolers in Jackson are profoundly affected by the political backlash and legislation around teaching civil rights history and discussing race. However, with a population of predominantly Black Americans residing in Jackson, many students were left with little representation to look towards in formal classroom spaces. The space Hardy and McGowan created allowed students to explore the history they had never previously been exposed to.
“Students began to ask a lot more questions about the past,” Hardy says. “For example, their understanding of what Mississippi was like in the 1960s.” In one discussion, students asked about the use of the Confederate flag and how it was used as one of the symbols within the Citizens’ Council, a prominent political party of white supremacists that was active during the civil rights movement of the 1960s. In another, they learned about the formation of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, which was established to challenge the Mississippi Democratic Party, which at the time opposed the Civil Rights movement and only allowed white Americans to participate.
Hardy described how these lessons from the past helped to frame contemporary political events of today and have helped in remaining hopeful following the election results. “The kids began to understand that this fight for democracy has been ongoing,” says Hardy. “But one of the cool things is also that if [activists in the 1960s] have been fighting, then this election doesn’t end the fight. One election doesn’t end democracy. We have to keep participating. It’s been so cool to hear them say, ‘I’m going to vote one day.’”
While the students are not yet of age to vote, they continue to demonstrate a passion and excitement for further learning and participation in activism and the greater process of civic engagement. In recent months, Hardy and McGowan have organized a number of field trips, and guest speakers are continuing this dialogue between historical and present lived experiences. Students have gone to visit the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum as well as the Margaret Alexander Walker Center, an archive and museum dedicated to maintaining records and educating the public on civil rights issues.
This work hasn’t stopped with visits to museums. In November of 2024, Christina Thomas of the Margaret Alexander Walker Center came to the classroom to meet students. With her, she brought applications from college students in the 1960s applying to be Freedom Summer volunteers. That same month, Jan Hillegas, a former Freedom Summer volunteer, also came to visit students. And in December 2024, students once again took to the stage to showcase and present their artwork to the whole Jackson community. For Hardy, the project brought out the best of her local and Antioch University communities. She especially received support from not just McGowan but also former principal of Thomas A. Cardoza Middle School Bradley Blake, the school’s current principal Bruce Sloan, and school counselor Joice Greer.
The opportunities to visit museums, look at primary source documents, meet with those involved in the Civil Rights Movement, and continue to create art provided a sense of community, hope, and resilience, regardless of national election results. Hardy shared how the day after the election was particularly difficult for students, especially following their excitement about voting and civic engagement. She, McGowan, and all 21 students sat in a circle, held hands, and sang “This Little Light of Mine” as a means of community building and coping. “That’s what Fanny Lou Hamer would have done,” says Hardy, calling back to the famous Civil Rights activist. “The kids really leaned into it, which is definitely helping them understand we’re all part of a long legacy. We’re not just fighting in this moment.”
