NEH Most Southern Place on Earth Partners

SPECIAL THANKS TO THE PARTNERS THAT HELP MAKE NEH MOST SOUTHERN PLACE ON EARTH WORKSHOP For K-12 EDUCATORS POSSIBLE!

 
 

Daily Schedule, Resources, and Assignments

 

Daily Itinerary

Click the Schedule to download the PDF version.

 

Daily Workshop Assignments

Each day of our workshop will have a central theme, and for each theme, we have chosen a short text, a single song, and a food item.

We think of these three things as being “icons” for the day. Icons in this sense are devices that summarize complex patterns and relationships and stick in our minds. We can use them to help us remember complicated issues more easily, and we hope that they remind us of our experiences in the Delta whenever we run across them elsewhere.

Hopefully, the meanings of the icons we’ve chosen will become clear during the workshop, but our desire is that once they do become clear, you will think of certain issues and events every time you hear a particular song or taste a certain food.

Monday - THE RIVER, CREATOR AND DESTROYER OF THE DELTA

Richard Wright’s Down by the Riverside

William Faulkner’s Old Man

Song:  “When the Levee Breaks” by Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe McCoy

Food:  Fried Catfish

Additional Resources

Tuesday - Immigrant Stories

A ruling by the US Supreme Court in the case of Gong Lum vs. Rice, 1927:  http://supreme.justia.com/us/275/78/case.html

Song:  “Sail Away” by Randy Newman, sung by Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee

Food:  Delta Chinese

Additional Resources

Wednesday - The Blues: American Root Music and the Culture that Produced It

The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes

Song:  “Crossroads Blues” by Robert Johnson

Food:  Hot Tamales

Additional Resources

Friday: The Civil Rights Movement

The Voter Registration form Fannie Lou Hamer had to fill out

Song:  “Green Onions” by Booker T. and the MG’s

Food:  Soul Food

Additional Resources

Saturday: The Delta in Diaspora

Letters back and forth from the South to the North:  http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5332

Song:  “Sweet Home Chicago” by Robert Johnson

Food:  Fried Chicken and Pound Cake

Additional Resources

Presenters and Their Backgrounds

Rolando Herts

Dr. Herts is the director of The Delta Center and executive director of the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area, a Congressionally designated partnership with the National Park Service. As a 2016 Executive Academy Fellow with the Delta Regional Authority’s Delta Leadership Institute, he was awarded an executive education certificate from the Authentic Leadership for the 21st Century Program at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Dr. Herts is a university-community engagement scholar who is committed to stimulating diverse, equitable, and inclusive cultural heritage development activity in the Mississippi Delta and throughout the United States. His community engagement and partnership development expertise has strengthened university collaborations with the National Park Service, the Alliance of National Heritage Areas, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Humanities Alliance, Mississippi Delta Blues Festival Brazil, and various regional and community-based organizations. He serves on the Delta Regional Authority’s Delta Leadership Network Regional Advisory Council, the Alliance of National Heritage Areas governing board, and the Advisory Committee for the Center for the Center of Southern Culture at University of Mississippi. He also has served on the Mississippi Historical Society Board of Directors, the Mississippi Blues Commission (statutory member), and the Mississippi Commission for Volunteer Services (gubernatorial appointment).

Previously, Dr. Herts served as Associate Director with the Office of University-Community Partnerships at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. As a Leadership Newark Fellow, he received the Berkowitz Distinguished Service Award for his commitment to the Greater Newark community. He also is an alumnus of the Teach For America Mississippi Delta corps and the Engagement Scholarship Consortium's Emerging Engagement Scholar Program.

Dr. Herts holds a Ph.D. in planning and public policy from Rutgers Graduate School-New Brunswick. He also holds a M.A. in Social Science from The University of Chicago and a B.A. in English from Morehouse College. A product of the Great Migration, he grew up in the Chicagoland area and in the Arkansas-Mississippi Delta region. His interest areas include university-community engagement and partnership development, community-based tourism planning, place branding/marketing, and regional development.

Edgar E. Smith

Edgar E. Smith, Ph.D., was born in Hollandale, Mississippi. At age twelve, his family moved to Vicksburg, Mississippi, where he was graduated from Bowman High School in 1951. His post secondary education includes a B.S. degree (1955) from Tougaloo College, Tougaloo, Mississippi; and M.S. (1957) and Ph.D. degrees in Biochemistry (1959) from Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana.

      Dr. Smith has held the following professional positions during the development of his career: Research Assistant and Teaching Assistant, Department of Biochemistry, Purdue University; Research Fellow in Surgery (Biochemistry), Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Research Associate in Surgery (Biochemistry), Harvard Medical School; Associate Professor of Surgery (Biochemistry), Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts; Associate Professor of Biochemistry, Boston University School of Medicine; Associate Dean of Minority Student Affairs, Boston University School of Medicine; Associate Professor of Biochemistry , University ofMassachusetts School of Medicine, Worcester, Massachusetts; Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, University ofMassachusetts School of Medicine; Provost, University of Massachusetts School of Medicine; Professor Emeritus, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Massachusetts School of Medicine; Vice President for Academic Affairs. University of Massachusetts System (3 Campuses); Interim President, Tougaloo College (January 1, 1995 - August 31, 1995); Program Director, Statewide Area Health Education Centers Program, and Professor of Family Medicine, University of Mississippi Medical Center. Currently, he is retired and serves as Senior Advisor to Tougaloo College President Beverly W. Hogan.

      Dr. Smith was a Purdue University National Foundation Fellow in 1958, and a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow at the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine, Washington D.C., 1977-78.  He has served as a consultant to a number of national organizations, including the National Institutes of Health, the Association of American Medical Colleges, the National Science Foundation, the American Association of Colleges, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

      He is the recipient of a number of awards, includinghonorary degrees from the Morehouse School of Medicine, which he helped found, the University of Massachusetts, Tougaloo College, and Morehouse College.  Dr. Smith’s research was in the areas of cancer biochemistry and sickle cell anemia, the results of which have been published in several professional journals.  He enjoys playing tennis and listening to the blues. He is a member of the Mississippi Blues Commission and theBoard of Directors of the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center. Currently, he serves as a co-instructor of a course on the blues at Tougaloo College.  He has been married to the former Inez Oree' Wiley for the past 55 years and they are the proud parents of four sons.

John Byron Strait

Dr. John B. Strait is an Assistant Professor of Geography at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas who specializes in urban and social-cultural geography.  His main research and teaching interests lie at the intersections of racial and ethnic identity, labor market dynamics and the spatial realization of socioeconomic disadvantage.  He also has strong interests and teaching expertise in the geographies of music and religion and has broad interests in two geographic regions; the U.S. South and Latin America and the Caribbean.  He is presently researching the spatial dynamics of hip hop culture and rap music.   He is also currently engaged in an investigation of neighborhood-level factors that influence disparities in infant mortality among racial and ethnic groups.  Dr. Strait has directed or been involved with a number of teaching workshops or institutes that focus on developing educational curricula that incorporate the aforementioned topics and interests.

Lee Aylward

Lee Aylward is a transplant from the hills of Mississippi to the Delta. Education and learning were instilled in her early, and she tried almost all of the universities in Mississippi and the University of Alabama in order to further that education. Reading has always been paramount to her. It is this love of reading that prompted her to get both undergraduate and graduate degrees in Library Science, and she went on to get certification in Reading. Since graduating from college, she has been a mother, administrator of a U.S. Army education center, a public librarian, a school librarian, reading teacher, real estate agent, and finally an associate in the Delta Center for Culture and Learning where she coordinated community outreach and education.

Charles McLaurin

Charles R. McLaurin, was born in Jackson, Mississippi where he received his early education in the Jackson Public Schools and attended Jackson State and Mississippi Valley State Universities, studying Political Science and Black History.

In 1961, McLaurin attended a mass meeting at the Masonic Temple in Jackson to see and hear a speech by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  Inspired by Dr. King, the next day McLaurin joined the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee or SNCC, and took part in Boycotts, sit-ins, picket demonstrations and voters registration drives in Jackson, Mississippi.  Early in 1962, McLaurin, was recruited to participate in an intensive training program preparing for a massive voter registration campaign in the Mississippi Delta.  McLaurin and two other SNCC organizers [Landy McNair and Charlie Cobb] came to Ruleville, in Sunflower County to mobilize black leadership, hold meetings on voter registration and to get persons 21 years and older to the court house in Indianola in an attempt to become registered voters.  After the first organized bus trip to Indianola, McLaurin met Fannie Lou Hamer, who had a beautiful singing voice, and was very out spoken.  These were the attributes that caught the attention of the national Civil Rights leadership.

In 1963, McLaurin served as campaign manager for Fannie Lou Hamer in her bid for Congress from the second congressional district.  In 1964 McLaurin was a MFDP [Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party] Delegate from the Delta to the National Democratic Party Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey.  McLaurin also directed the 1964 COFO [Congress of Federated Organizations] Freedom Summer Project in Sunflower County.  During the Freedom Summer Project, McLaurin and Mrs. Hamer became close friends and worked together until her death in 1977 on many social and political projects in Mississippi.

McLaurin was arrested and jailed more than thirty (30) times for his voter registration and for refusing to obey Jim Crow segregation laws in Mississippi.

After more than 20 years on the front of the Civil Rights movement.  McLaurin now makes his home in Indianola, currently employed as Assistant Public Works Director for the City of Indianola.  He is married and he and his wife Virginia have 3 sons and 2 grands.

Charles Reagan Wilson

Dr. Charles Reagan Wilson is a retired professor from the University of Mississippi.  He received his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees from the University of El Paso and his PhD from the University of Texas.  During his academic experience, he was the Kelly Gene Cook Sr. Chair of History, Professor of Southern Studies, and the Director of the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi.  He is the author or editor of twelve books and many articles dealing with the religion of the South.  He has presented at conferences around the world on the same subject.

Books:

  • Flashes of a Southern Spirit: Meanings of the Spirit in the South (Athens: University of Georgia Press, May 2011)

  • Southern Missions: The Religion of the American South in Global Perspective (Waco, Tex: Baylor University Press, 2006)

  • Editor in chief, The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, vols. 1-24 (Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 2004-2013)

  • Judgment and Grace in Dixie: Southern Faiths from Faulkner to Elvis (Athens, Ga.: University of Georgia Press, 1995, 2nd ed. 2007)

  • Baptized in Blood: The Religion of the Lost Cause, 1865-1920 (Athens, Ga.: University of Georgia Press, 1980, 2nd ed. 2009)

  • Coeditor with William Ferris, Encyclopedia of Southern Culture (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1989)

  • Coeditor with Mark Silk, Religion and Public life in the South (Walnut Creek, Calif.: AltaMira Press, 2005)

  • Editor, with Douglass Sullivan-Gonzales, The South and the Caribbean (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2000)

  • Editor, with Randall Miller and Harry Stout, Religion and the American Civil War (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998)

  • Editor, The New Regionalism (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1997)

  • Editor, Religion in the South (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1985)

  • Series Editor, Cultural Perspectives on the American South, 1985-1991

Cathy Wong

Cathy Wong, a life-long Deltan, was born & raised in Hollandale & Arcola, MS. She graduated from Deer Creek School and MSU with a degree in Landscape Architecture. After college, she returned to the Delta, married and had 3 children & now has 3 grandchildren.  Cathy and her husband, Raymond, operated the oldest Chinese Restaurant in Mississippi and finally closed the doors in 2007, ending an era of “family style Cantonese cuisine”. Cathy is very involved with the community, having been a member of different civic clubs, been on the board of many charitable organizations and her main focus now is the Greenville Chinese Cemetery Association, which has been in existence since 1928. Under her leadership, since 2000, land has been donated to the cemetery association and a perpetual fund is being generated for the constant upkeep of the 4 properties that belong to the association. Besides the cemetery, she is the Director of the Greenville Inn & Suites, a boutique hotel that once was the historic Levee Board building in downtown Greenville.

Reggie Barnes

Reggie Barnes, originally from Greenville, MS, was one of the first African-Americans to integrate the Greenville, MS, schools.  After high school he was one of the first African-Americans to attend Delta State University.  He went on to serve his alma mater as Dean of Students until he took the position of principal at Cleveland High School, Cleveland, MS.  From this position he was elected superintendent of the Tallahatchie County, MS, schools.  While in Tallahatchie County, he was involved with the making of the critically acclaimed documentary LaLee’s Kin. After his stint there, he became the Superintendent of Schools in Bolivar County, MS.  Upon his retirement, he started his own consulting group the Excellent Group LLC which he operates today. Mr. Barnes is a speaker in much demand and he speaks to groups today all over the United States about his experiences in education and the Mississippi Delta.

Keith Johnson “Prince of the Delta Blues”​ 

Keith Johnson is a 28-year-old MBA graduate of Delta State University. As an undergraduate Keith received a BA/degree in Entertainment Industry Studies with a concentration in Audio Engineering in December 2016. 

Keith is also an accomplished blues musician, songwriter and winner of the 2016, 2018, and 2019 local International Blues Challenge Competition. He has amassed a songwriting catalogue of twenty-six original songs of which eleven has appeared on his debut “Come to Mississippi” CD that he recorded at the B.B. King Recording Studio in Itta Bena, Mississippi. 

Keith is in the process of carrying on and upholding a family legacy in the entertainment industry as he is the great nephew of blues icon, Muddy Waters. 

Keith currently works as a HR Business Partner at Harlow’s Casino Resort & Spa, a property of Churchill Downs Incorporated. 

Brinda Willis

Dr. Brinda Willis graduated from Mississippi State University receiving a (BA) degree in Social Work (Medical concentration) and a (M.Ed.) degree in Guidance Counseling (Vocational Rehabilitation concentration). Her Ph.D. is in Theology from New Foundation Seminary in Terry, Mississippi. She has worked in hospitals, counseling centers, and insurance companies practicing social work, providing rehabilitation counseling and utilization services in Chicago, Milwaukee, Atlanta, and Jackson, Mississippi. At present Dr. Willis is an independent arts/entertainment consultant, public speaker/educator with the Mississippi Humanities Council, and a freelance writer for the Jackson Advocate Newspaper. She resides in Richland, Mississippi.

Bill Abel

Singer and guitar player Bill Abel from the Clarksdale Mississippi area is a torch bearer of the gritty unorthodoxed modern day juke joint sound that originates from the Mississippi Delta. Born and raised in the small delta town of Belzoni, Bill learned his blues first hand from the musicians he played with which are a who's who list of delta legends that include Paul “Wine Jones”, Cadillac John Nolden, T Model Ford, Honey Boy Edwards and many others. He defies most blues categories with a hard driving electrified country blues, a sound that is rarely heard today. His guitar playing has been featured on award winning blues projects with artist such as Hubert Sumlin, Big George Brock, T Model Ford and a host of others which include the Broke and Hungry and Cathead records roster. A Mainstay on the Delta scene for 30 years, Bill has played on more than 25 records including his most recent recordings Rich Poor Man ,To That Land Where I’m Bound and Goin Over The Hill . In 2015 he also released The Celestial Train CD. “Celestial Train” is one of the purest offerings of hill country blues since R.L. Burnside, Fred McDowell, and Junior Kimbrough passed.” Scott Zuppardo – No Depression. “Some are simply blessed with an extra-deep gutbucket. Count the wooly Bill Abel among those fortunate bluesmen. His ferocious brand of guitar-stomp is as untamed and authoritative a statement of native Mississippiness as is that of the region's hardcore elders with who he's rumbled. Abel is right there with T-Model Ford and the late, great Paul 'Wine' Jones, his influential houserocking neighbor. The groove is still omnipotent: an intensely rhythmic tangle of plunging downbeats and nasty deep end that brutalizes amplifiers.” Dennis Rozanski – Bluesrag. Bill has toured Europe 12 times playing festivals such as Norway’s Notodden Festival, Sweden’s Amal Festival, Wales, England, Belgium, Italy, and also as one of the headliners for Switzerland's Blues Rules festival. Across the USA performances have included Beale Street Music festival, King Biscuit Festival and many others as well as playing clubs and art centers all across the U.S. Awards include: Blues Musician of the Year 2006 by The Mississippi Delta Blues Society of Indianola , Finalist in the 2012 International Blues Competition,and Nominated for Independent Music Award in 2012 for best cover song.

Wheeler Parker

Wheeler Parker Jr. is the first child born to Hallie and Wheeler Parker in 1939 in Slaughter Mississippi. In 1947 the Parker family relocated to Summit with the hope of providing better living conditions and a better education for their children.

Wheeler returned to Mississippi with his grandfather, Moses Wright during the summer 1955. Travelling with him was his 14 year old cousin Emmett Till. The events of that week changed his life forever. The incident at the store in Money; the night of terror when Emmett was taken from the home and murdered, and his return to Chicago alone and in constant fear for his own life, still causes him to tremble and weep. He always believed he would see Emmett again, not being able to accept that the horrific corpse returned to Chicago was Emmett, and he was able to cope by believing he was not dead. Wheeler is a survivor of this event that sparked the civil rights movement. He travels across the country speaking at Schools and Universities, telling his story of that night of terror and his survival. He challenges young people to be the catalyst for change and make a difference.

Wheeler returned to Summit and completed his education in the Summit school system and graduated from ACHS in 1958. He enjoyed playing the drums in the marching band and playing percussion in the orchestra, basketball and football, and was a member of the track team. He attended Molar Barber College and graduated in 1959. A Graduate of the School of Modern Photography, he has attended Moraine Valley Community College, C. H. Mason Theological Bible School, Global University, and the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. He also served two years in the US Army as a Medical Specialists.

Elder Wheeler Parker Jr. accepted his call to the ministry in 1977, ordained a Minister in 1978; he served as an Associate Minister, was appointed Assistant Pastor in 1992, and appointed Pastor of Argo Temple December 5th, 1993. For his outstanding contribution to the youth in the community, the Summit Park District dedicated its basketball court to him in 1992. Also honored as Citizen of the Year, by the Summit Chamber of Commerce in 1992, for his work in organizing the Summit Community Task Force, an Inter- Faith nonprofit community based organization; where he served as Chairman of the Board of Directors for ten years.

Married for forty-eight years to Dr. Marvel McCain Parker, they have enjoyed traveling world- wide to places such as Africa, Egypt, Israel, Italy, France, England, Switzerland, Germany, Central America and the Caribbean. They provide support to Calvary Temple School and Church in Belize City, Belize.

“Learning to Lean, Learning to Lean, Learning to Lean on Jesus, Finding more power than I ever dreamed, learning to Lean on Jesus.”

Keith Beauchamp

Award-Winning filmmaker Keith A. Beauchamp is writer/producer of the 2022 critically acclaimed feature film “Till,” co-produced by Frederick Zollo, Whoopi Goldberg and Barbara Broccoli.

Keith attended Southern University in Baton Rouge, La., where he studied criminal justice with the intention of becoming a civil-rights attorney. As a young boy in Baton Rouge, Keith had his share of run-ins with racism but it wasn’t until an incident where he was assaulted by an undercover police officer after dancing with a white classmate at a party that he felt compelled to fight racism and move to New York. It was there he could pursue his dream of becoming a filmmaker. And through this feat, he would attempt to remedy some of the past and present injustices that plague communities abroad.

In the fall of 1997, Beauchamp relocated from Baton Rouge to New York. He quickly found work at Big Baby Films, a company founded by childhood friends that focused on music video production. Keith honed his behind-the-camera skills during the day and spent his evenings doing research and reaching out to anyone who might have information on the Emmett Till case, a story told to Keith when he was just 10 years old. It was at this young age that Keith saw the issue of Jet magazine that contained a picture of Emmett Till’s dead body and was told the story behind Till’s murder in 1955.

In 1999, Keith founded Till Freedom Come Productions, a company devoted to socially significant projects that can both teach and entertain. He has devoted the past 26 years of his life telling the story of Emmett Till and has traveled extensively between New York, Chicago and Mississippi to investigate the historic murder. Through his journey, he tracked and spoke with witnesses who had never before spoken about the case, befriended the boy’s mother Mamie Till Mobley who took Keith under her wing, worked with such influential figures as Muhammad Ali and Rev. Al Sharpton, all while persistently lobbying both the State of Mississippi and the federal government to reopen the Emmett Till murder investigation.

On May 10, 2004, the U.S.Department of Justice re-opened this 50-year-old murder case citing Keith’s documentary “The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till” as both a major factor in their decision and the starting point for their investigation. In May 2005, Emmett’s body was exhumed, and in 2006 the FBI turned over their evidence to the appropriate district attorney in Mississippi. Sadly, in February 2007, a Mississippi grand jury decided to not indict the remaining suspects in the case.

That same year, Keith began his collaboration with the FBI’s New Civil Rights “Cold Case” Initiative, producing documentaries on other unsolved civil rights murders in hopes of helping federal agents with their investigations that could lead to bringing remaining perpetrators to justice.

Keith is a frequent lecturer at colleges and universities around the country. He has been featured on “60 Minutes,” ABC World News Tonight “Person of the Week,” Court TV, MSNBC, “Good Morning America,” CNN, BBC as well as in hundreds of publications around the world including The New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Associated Press, the Chicago Sun Times and the Jackson Free Press. Keith’s past works include TV One’s “Murder in Black and White” hosted by Rev. Al Sharpton and “Wanted Justice: Johnnie Mae Chappell’” or the History Channel and “BET’s Exceptional Black Women.”

Justin Krueger

Dr. Krueger is an Assistant Professor of Social Studies Education at Delta State University.

In 2021 he was awarded the Woody Guthrie Fellowship through the BMI Foundation for his proposed comparative study on the lives and works of two of the U.S.’ greatest songsters: Woody Guthrie and Mance Lipscomb.

Most recently, he contributed two articles to ¡Arriba!: The Heroic Life of Roberto Clemente (2022) from the Society of American Baseball Research (SABR): “The Response to Clemente’s Death”, and “Remembrance and Iconography of Clemente in Public Spaces.” His research has previously been featured in The History Teacher, Multicultural Perspectives, the Journal of Educational Controversy, and the SABR Bio Project.

His current research focuses on the intersections of historical memory and public pedagogy, and the role of teaching and learning outside of traditional spaces of education. His dissertation, titled: Museum Educators' Conceptualizations: Teaching Social Studies Through Art addressed how museum educators use a variety of works of art and pedagogical practices to engage students in necessary conversations.

Previously, Dr. Krueger worked as a public-school teacher in Texas for 14 years. During that time, he was awarded the 2014 National History Day Behring Teacher of the Year for the state of Texas.

Dr. Krueger earned a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus on social studies education from The University of Texas at Austin. He also holds an M.Ed. in educational leadership from Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas and a B.A. in history from Texas Lutheran University in Seguin, Texas. He is an active member of the Society for American Baseball Research.

Enrolling for DSU Graduate Credit

Receiving Graduate Credit Hours for your participation in The Most Southern Place on Earth, Music, Culture and History of the Mississippi Delta

The cost to receive 6 credit hours is $70.02. Here is what you need to do to take advantage of this:

Enroll in the DSU Graduate Program as a non-degree student.  Do this by filling in the form available here (the second page just needs a check mark at the “Non-Degree box.” If you are in the June workshop, check “Summer I” and for the July workshop, check “Summer II.”) Graduate Enrollment Form.

You will enroll by completing the Graduate Enrollment Form when you arrive for the workshop.

You will submit the Graduate School application together with these things (so bring them with you):

  • A check for $70.02 made out to Delta State University.

  • One of the following proofs of undergraduate education:

    • a copy of your transcript

    • a copy of your four-year diploma

    • a copy of your teaching certificate

You will enroll by completing the Graduate Enrollment Form when you arrive for the workshop. The form must be completed and payment via check or money order must be made on the Monday of your workshop. This is your only opportunity to enroll for credit, so please be prepared on Monday and reach out in advance if you have questions. Lee will make sure you are on the register for RRS 592: Special Topics in Rural and Regional Studies: Cultural Heritage of the Mississippi Delta.  You will be able to receive an official transcript for your own use at any time following the workshop.   You must be accepted to the NEH Landmarks workshop to enroll in this class and receive credit.  Do not apply for the credit hours until you have been accepted into the workshop.

Meeting Places

The Jacob Center is located on the first floor of Ewing Hall

The Jacob Center is located on the first floor of Ewing Hall

The entrance to the Jacob Center is immediately in front of you after you enter the front of the building.

The entrance to the Jacob Center is immediately in front of you after you enter the front of the building.

The Cast of Blues exhibit, located outside the offices of the Delta Center for Culture and Learning

The Cast of Blues exhibit, located outside the offices of the Delta Center for Culture and Learning

Our Meeting Spaces

We will meet in the Jacob Center in Ewing Hall. It is across the hall from the offices of the Delta Center for Culture and Learning. Please reference our “How to Find Us” guide to locate the office.  

Please bring comfortable walking shoes.  We will also be out in the field, so if you are allergic to mosquitoes, bugs, etc., you might want to bring some repellant.  Please be prepared.

We will treat the bus as our classroom too.  The bus is a coach bus, with CD and DVD capability.  We will either be talking, discussing, or watching films and listening to music appropriate to our discussion whenever we move across the Delta by bus.  Please treat our bus rides as you would classroom time.  Please do not fall asleep or talk on your cell phone.

Attire is casual; please dress comfortably for the workshop.  The average temperature in June/July is 88/92 degrees with an average rainfall of 4 inches.  Of course the temperature can go higher, and the humidity is always high.  Ewing Hall is air conditioned, so you might consider bringing a sweater, light jacket, or wear layers.  Please wear your name badge with the name side displayed during class sessions.

Although our days tend to be long, we do not expect strenuous exercise.  Most walks will be brief and there are NO hills in the Delta.  

Accessibility

 

The DSU campus is relatively accessible to all people.  Buildings have elevators, but do not have automatically opening doors.  We will use a coach bus as our traveling classroom, and will get on and off the bus at least once, maybe several times, on most days.  This requires climbing a short set of stairs and navigating the narrow bus aisle.  We never walk very far on any given day, but some museums do require standing for fairly long intervals as well as walking from exhibit to exhibit.  Buildings and the bus are air conditioned (as long as it works!).  We will have water and a bathroom on the bus.

Where to Eat

RESTAURANTS IN CLEVELAND

Cleveland is a small town.  All Cleveland restaurants are within a mile or so of one another, except those in neighboring towns like Merigold, which is about five miles away.  Because Cleveland is a small town, it is unusual for large groups to drop in any single restaurant. Please call ahead if you are going with a large party.

 

On-Campus dining

Burger Studio, Java City Coffee Shop, Freshen’s Smoothies, Chick-Fil-a, and Montage Deli are all located in the Student Union in the heart of campus.  We also have an Aramark operated cafeteria (all-you-can-eat buffet, breakfast $5, Lunch $6, and Dinner $7 (all plus tax).

 

Buffets:

The Senator’s Place – South 61 almost to Boyle on the right side of the highway, country cooking, all you can eat.  Lunch every day and Friday nights.

Country Platter – South 61 big bright blue building on the left- country cooking, plate lunches.  Lunch every day.

Catfish Cabin - South 61 in Boyle, on the right side of the highway. Country cooking Lunch and nights.

 

Specialty Restaurants:

Lost Pizza - specialty pizzas- north Highway 61 past Baxter on the left

Papa Roc’s - west on Highway 8 about a mile from campus.  Lunch every day, Dinner Thurs and Fri.  Primarily Italian.

Crave - a Delta bistro- Highway 61 South, just past Kossman’s Auto dealership – salads, soups, sandwiches

A La Carte – South Court St. right before the railroad track downtown – sandwiches, salads, pasta.  Lunch only.

The Warehouse - North Sharpe St. cross Highway 8 at the stoplight by the State Bank and taupe colored office building- sandwiches, pasta, and salads.  Full bar.

Backdraft - Cotton Row, downtown Cleveland next door to the Wishing Well- steaks, fish, American cuisine, dinner only.  Full bar.

The Airport Grocery - North 61 just past the motels on the right- plate lunch, salads, sandwiches.  Full bar.

Desert Inn - North 61.  Dinner menu only.

Crawdad’s- Merigold, MS.  7 miles north on Hwy 61.  Dinner menu only.  Full bar.

Crustacean’s Crawfish - 724 South on Highway 61. Crawfish, Shrimp, dinner (662) 843-9343

Pickled Okra - Main Street.  Dinner only.

Pig Pen- South Hwy 61. On the left- Barbeque.

Fat Baby’s Catfish - Highway 61 north, across from Lost Dog Pizza, catfish, chicken, etc., Seven days a week, Lunch and dinner

Hey Joe’s - student friendly café and bar- at the north end of the railroad tracks on Highway 8 in town

Cristina’s - sandwiches- inside Heidi’s Shop on Sharpe St. (Main St.) east side

Mississippi Grounds Coffee Shop - Barista coffee, breakfast, sandwiches and soup, Court St., across from the Courthouse.  Not open Sunday.

Starving Musician Bakery - 323 Cotton Row. Open Wed- Sat.

Guadalajara - North 61 take a right just past the Walmart

La Cabana - North 61 on the right before you get to the Walmart

México Grill- Next to Kroger on Hwy 61

No Way Jose' - Mexican menu located off Highway 8 West in the Western Plaza Shopping Center

The usual fast food:

McDonald’s - South 61 on the right

Wendy’s - North 61 on the left

Taco Bell - North 61 on the right

Backyard Burgers - North 61 on the left

Burger King - intersection of Highways 61 and 8

Sonic - Highway 8 West

Subway - South 61 on the left

Lenny’s - North 61 on the left

Pizza Hut - North 61 on the right

Kentucky Fried Chicken - South 61 on the left

Popeye’s - North 61 on the left

Huddle House - North 61 next to Walmart

Captain D’s - North 61 just past Walmart

Little China – South Hwy. 61 next to Vowell’s Super Market

 

Stipend and Financial Issues

NEH Summer Scholars will each receive a stipend of $1300 if they participate in every day of the workshop. The amount will be reduced appropriately for any missed days (this is required by NEH). The stipend will be sent to Scholars after the end of the workshop.

The stipend is intended to help defray expenses for travel, housing, meals, books, and incidentals. It may or may not cover all of your costs.

The funds will probably not cover all expenses of participation. Costs can be reduced substantially if participants carpool from major airports in Memphis or Jackson. Enterprise rentals has an office in Cleveland, making drop off easy. Stores like Kroger’s and Wal-Mart, and many restaurants are within walking distance of most major hotels in Cleveland, but you might want to check with the hotel when making reservations.

On-campus housing is also an option, but our dormitories are somewhat Spartan (but cheap). Further information about dorm rooms will be made available in 2023. On-campus dining is also an option. We use Aramark as the food service, and meals are cheap, abundant, and tasty. We also have an on-campus coffee shop, a Chick-Fil-a, and a burger/pizza place, all located in the Student Union

Costs can be reduced even more with roommates.

Now for the bad news: your stipend is taxable income. Of course your expenses may be business expenses since they are incurred in support of your better teaching, but that’s something you need to discuss with your tax preparer. Save your receipts and keep a journal or log!

Contact Information

Prior to the workshop, please direct questions to Lee Aylward at aylwardl@retiree.deltastate.edu or 662-721-7591.

During the workshop, you will be able to reach us through our office 662-846-4311 or through our cell phones (those numbers will be given out at the beginning of the workshop.) We will also ask those of you who want to to give the staff your own cell numbers. This may be important should you be separated from the group in a museum or at a remote site.

We appreciate hearing from past participants and can be reached at:

The Delta Center for Culture and Learning
Delta State University
DSU Box 3152
Cleveland, MS 38733

Or Email:

Rolando Herts  |  rherts@deltastate.edu

Lee Aylward  |  aylwardl@retiree.deltastate.edu

How to Get Here

Please begin to explore travel options as soon as your acceptance is confirmed. Cleveland, MS, does not have its own airport, but is served by a small regional airport in Greenville, MS, with limited flights arriving daily. It is further served by large airports in Jackson, MS, and Memphis, TN. Each is equidistant from Cleveland, around 100 miles. There are rental-car agencies located at all airports. However, Cleveland only has Enterprise Car Rentals, and they charge a very high rate to turn in from Memphis or Jackson.

Remember to allow sufficient travel time to and from the airport. It takes at least two hours to drive from either Memphis or Jackson to Cleveland, MS, and about 45 minutes from Greenville.

The airports include:

Memphis International Airport (MEM), Memphis, Tennessee
Jackson-Evers International Airport, (JAC), Jackson, Mississippi
Greenville Municipal Airport (GLH), Greenville, Mississippi

We recommend that you make plans to leave on the SUNDAY following the workshop. We will finish on Saturday by 4pm. Do Not miss the final event, which will wrap up the whole workshop in a way that you will find most interesting. Those who have stayed over night for a little R&R, debriefing with other Scholars, and enjoying live music and a beer have always said they really enjoyed the extra night. By the time you make your arrangements, places like the Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale should have their planned acts on their web site calendar so you will know what acts to expect.

Bus and Train Stations:

Delta Bus Lines LLC, 662-846-5112 (Cleveland office) or 901 523 2155 (Memphis office) Delta Bus Lines have buses coming in from the south at 7:45 a.m. and 11:35 a.m. and from the north at 3:40 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. These buses connect with Greyhound Bus Lines.

Amtrak stops in Marks, MS, and Greenwood, MS. Marks is 35 miles due northeast of Cleveland, and Greenwood is 45 miles southeast of Cleveland.

Cleveland is located 100 miles south of Memphis and can be reached by car from Highway 61 directly or Interstate 55 to State Highway 8 west.

Should you fly into Greenville, you will take State Highway 1 south (turn left as exiting airport) to the intersection of State Highway 82, take a left (east) and travel to Highway 61 North (about 5 miles), and follow the signs to Cleveland.

Pre-Workshop Reading & Assignments

Please Engage with least one selection from each of the Public Facing media sections (Six Selections total) and two of the books included below prior to the workshop.

Public Media

THE BLUES: AMERICAN ROOT MUSIC AND THE CULTURE THAT PRODUCED IT

THE STORY OF EMMETT TILL

THE DELTA IN DIASPORA

Book Readings

Please read at least two of the following books prior to the workshop

Foster, B Brian. 2020. I Don’t Like the Blues: Race, Place & The Backbeat of Black Life. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press.

Woods, Clyde. 1998. Development Arrested: The Blues and Plantation Power in the Mississippi Delta. London: Verso.

Blain, Keisha. 2021. Until I am Free: Fannie Lou Hamer’s Enduring Message to America. Boston: Beacon Press.

Barry, John M.  1988.  Rising Tide:  The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America.  New York:  Touchstone.

Daniel, Pete.  1997.  Deep’n As It Come:  The 1927 Mississippi River Flood.  Oxford University Press.

Cobb, James.  1992.  The Most Southern Place on Earth:  the Mississippi Delta and the Roots of Regional Identity.  New York:  Oxford University Press.

Ferris, William.  2009.  Give My Poor Heart Ease.  the University of North Carolina Press.  NOTE- this book comes with a CD of original field recordings and a DVD of documentary films, at least one of which we will watch during the workshop.  It’s a valuable teaching resource.

Willis, John C.  2000.  Forgotten Time:  The Yazoo-Mississippi Delta after the Civil War.  Virginia:  The University of Virginia Press.

Saikku, Mikko.  2005.  This Delta, This Land.  University of Georgia Press.

Crowe, Chris.  2003.  Getting Away With Murder:  The True Story of the Emmett Till Case.  Dial Books.

Curry, Constance.  1995.  Silver Rights.  New York:  Harcourt Brace & Company.

Asch, Chris Myers.  2008.  The Senator and the Sharecropper: The Freedom Struggles of James O. Eastland and Fannie Lou Hamer.  New Press.

Lemann, Nicholas.  1991.  The Promised Land:  An Account of Sharecropping Families in Their Journey from the Mississippi Delta to Chicago.  Pan McMillan.

AND we also RECOMMEND these for anyone who is especially interested in the Mississippi Delta:

Dattel, Gene  •  2009  •  Cotton and Race in the Making of America:  the Human Costs of Economic Power  •  Ivan R. Dee, Publisher.

Faulkner, John  •  1942  •  Dollar Cotton  •  A Hill Street Classics Book.

Ferris, William  •  1978  •  Blues from the Delta  •  New York:  Da Capo Press

Taulbert, Clifton  •  1995  •  When We Were Colored  •  New York:  Penguin Group.

Beito and Beito  •  2009  •  Black Maverick  •  University of Illinois Press

Tyson, Timothy B  •  2017  •  The Blood of Emmett Till  •  Simon and Schuster

Wilkerson, Isabel  •  2011  •  The Warmth of Other Suns  •  Vintage Press.

And if you are really interested in the Delta, why not read ALL of the above books?  They are all excellent and make pretty exciting reading.

Our hope is that the choice you are allowed among the books will result in greater discussion.  At least some of the forty participants will choose each book, meaning that each of you will bring a different background to our meetings.  Please be ready to talk about the books you read.

In the past, NEH has requested that all Summer Scholars either write new, or revise existing lesson plans that they can use in their classrooms and share with others.  This is still a great idea and we hope that at least some of you will do so.

This year, NEH has given you some options.  We still ask that you leave something that you created during the workshop when you depart at the end.  That can be a lesson plan, or it can be some other work, including poetry, journal entries, or creative writing.  You might want to bring some of your existing lesson plans (or poetry or writing) that involve topics relevant to our workshop. Such topics might include “sense of place,” civil rights issues, the Emmett Till case, Blues or other music (both as music and as poetry), the Mississippi River, literature dealing with the Delta, the geography of the Great Migration, or any other topic you think appropriate.  If you bring that kind of outline, you will have something specific to modify with your new experiences during the workshop (many past Scholars have taken many photos during their week in the Delta and used them extensively in the classroom, along with their journal entries describing their experiences and emotions).

Whatever you choose to do, we really believe that writing your thoughts down will help you reflect on your experiences, organize them in creative ways, and help you remember and use them after you leave the Delta.  We also want to post your thoughts on our web site, as we have with all the  lesson plans developed in the past.  Check them out!  There are some really creative approaches and we are proud of all our past NEH Summer Scholars.

Summer Scholar Agreement

The application requires you to sign stating you have read and agree to the following Summer Scholar Agreement.

Agreement

As an NEH Summer Scholar in The Most Southern Place on Earth:  Music, Culture and History in the Mississippi Delta’s National Endowment for the Humanities Landmarks in American History and Culture Workshop for 2023, I agree to the following:

1)      I will complete readings assigned prior to the workshop.

2)      I will attend all scheduled programs.  Should any circumstances arise that prohibit my attendance, I will notify a staff member immediately.

3)      I will stay with the group on any walking tours, field trips, and outside activities.

4)      I will not inconvenience the group by being late and understand that should I do so, I may be left behind.

5)      I will be fully engaged in activities and discussions and will not be distracted by my cell phone, iPod, text messages or other devices unrelated to the workshop while we are in session.

6)      I will ensure that the workshop is a safe place for open discussion and treat everyone respectfully.  I will not blog or make publicly available information about workshop activities, participants or staff without their express approval.

7)  I have read the NEH “Principles of Civility” and I agree to abide by them.

8) I will abide by changes to the program or instructions made by the program staff.

9) I will develop lesson plans or other projects and finish them by the end of the workshop.

NEH regulations require that all lectures, field trips, and outside activities are open ONLY to participants in the program.  No visitors, family members, or other individuals are allowed to participate in any day or evening program activities.  Any participant violating this rule may be immediately dismissed from the program.

10) I will comply with the above “participants only” policy.

 

I hereby acknowledge that I have read and consent to the above terms.