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Landscape Architecture students design monument plans for county |
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Sunday, 07 September 2008 |
 Kelly Daniels/SDN Mississippi State University landscape architecture student Michael Miller, left, explains to civil rights enthusiast Dorothy Bishop, seated, and Starkville residents John and Jeanne Marszalek, center and right, the concept behind his design for placement of memorials in front of the Oktibbeha County Courthouse on Main Street. By KELLY DANIELS
Starkville Daily News
If Dorothy Bishop has learned one thing from her civil rights heroes of the 1960s, it was tenacity, she says.
After weeks on chaining herself to the courthouse in protest, Bishop is getting closer to seeing her dream of a civil rights monument as part of Starkville’s public space.
Though she has repeatedly asked the Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors to fund a monument commemorating local civil rights workers of the 1960’s, she was given many reasons why there were no immediate answers.
Some supervisors said that they were waiting on a place to put the monuments, while others worried aloud over what the taxpayers would think.
Tired of being “treated like a paper doll,” Bishop demonstrated every morning in front of the courthouse, sometimes lying on a bed, and sometimes with signs that read, “U no good.”
She recently received good news, but from an unlikely source.
Dr. Pete Melby, professor of landscape architecture at Mississippi State University, who read about Bishop’s situation in local newspapers, decided along with her that it was about time the civil rights movement was commemorated with a monument as an integral part of Oktibbeha County’s history.
“We saw that her situation was very difficult,” said Melby. “Her consistency has paid off.”
Melby decided to get his students to work on designing an exterior plan for all the county’s memorials.
Students in Melby’s Design 1 class broke up into groups of two or three, coming up with nine different plans for all the monuments in Oktibbeha County.
“They were very passionate about this project,” said Melby. “This was their first project for the semester.”
His students displayed their work Friday in front of the Oktibbeha County Courthouse on Main Street for Bishop and for the public to see.
“This is really good work for Design 1 students,” said Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture Robert Brzuszek , observing the plans.
District 2 Supervisor Orlando Trainer, who attempted to get the entire board to make a decision on the monument, attended the exhibition.
“It’s going to be hard to figure out which one to use,” said Trainer.
Bishop rolled in her wheelchair to each design, studying every detailed plan, though some were displayed on the top level of the courthouse steps.
“I love all these,” she said. Bishop is looking forward to deciding with her friends which one is their favorite.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 08 September 2008 )
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