International Blues Scholars Registration Opens

Delta State University is proud to announce the creation of the International Blues Scholars Program, a global online certificate program that is part of the International Delta Blues Project housed in the Delta Center for Culture and Learning. This multi-disciplinary approach to the study of the Blues includes not only in-depth examination of the musical form, but also a scholarly lens on its influence in art, literature, history, and economic development.

Registration for the program is currently open and will last until April 15. Tuition assistance is available for qualifying students.

The International Blues Scholars Program is an online academic certificate program available to students all over the world. Students may register for up to 12 hours of graduate or undergraduate level courses. Those completing all 12 hours will receive a Certificate of Completion from Delta State University.

Courses offered this summer include Sociology of the Blues, taught by acclaimed Blues scholar Scott Barretta who was recently awarded the Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts for Mississippi Heritage, and Psychology of Hip Hop and the Blues, lead by Delta State professor Temika Simmons, a recent recipient of the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning's Award for Excellence in Diversity. Additional courses are History of Rock n Roll, Blues Literature, and Modern American History: History of the 20th Century South.

Delta Center hosts reunion

The Delta Center at Delta State recently hosted a reunion for the Williamson family of Sunflower County.

The Delta Center for Culture and Learning at Delta State University recently provided a heritage tour for the Williamson family reunion. The 10 Williamsons grew up on the Sunflower Plantation in Sunflower County, the children of Audra and Ollice. Since the death of their parents in 1981 and 1982, they have gathered each summer in a central location to honor the memory of their parents.

This year they decided to host the reunion in Cleveland so they could visit the old home place. The tour, led by Lee Aylward of The Delta Center, included visits to Dockery Farms, the birthplace of Delta Blues and Po Monkey’s Lounge, one of the last remaining rural juke joints. They also visited old cemeteries to teach the younger ones about their heritage. The family also enjoyed Sunday morning worship at the church they grew up attending.

In addition to visiting these heritage sites, the Williamsons dined in local restaurants and stayed at hotels in Cleveland. These activities yielded economic infusion into the Cleveland community.

“Family reunions and town homecomings are a salient feature of Mississippi Delta culture,” said Dr. Rolando Herts, director of The Delta Center. “During the 20th Century, thousands of people – black and white – moved out the Delta to Northern cities like Chicago and Detroit, seeking economic opportunity, a more tolerant racial climate, and better quality of life overall. The groups of families and community members that moved still consider the Delta home, and they return here at least once a year.

“These reunions and homecomings are an important part of cultural heritage tourism activity in our Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area. They bring visitor expenditure – shopping, dining out, lodging – which is beneficial to our economy, and they promote our Heritage Area as a family friendly, educational destination.”

The Williamson reunion attracted family members from seven states. There are 108 immediate descendants, 99 still living as well as 22 grandchildren, 34 great-grandchildren, and two great-great grandchildren, with one on the way.

The mission of The Delta Center is to promote greater understanding of Mississippi Delta culture and history and its significance to the world through education, partnerships and community engagement. The Delta Center serves as the management entity of the MDNHA and is the home of the NEH’s “Most Southern Place on Earth” workshop and the International Delta Blues Project. For more information, visit http://www.deltastate.edu/academics/delta-center-for-culture-and-learning/.

The Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area is a partnership between the people of the Mississippi Delta and the National Park Service. The MDNHA was designated by U.S. Congress in 2009 and is governed by a board of directors representing agencies and organizations defined in the congressional legislation. More information about the MDNHA, including the complete approved management plan, is available athttp://www.msdeltaheritage.com.

Delta Center Welcomes Swedish Blues Fans

Photo: Swedish Blues fans at Po' Monkey's Lounge in Merigold. Photo by Lee Aylward.

The Delta Center for Culture and Learning at Delta State University recently provided an introduction to the Delta’s heritage to a group of 30 Swedish Blues Enthusiasts.  Individuals came from all over Sweden and included some Swedish speaking Americans as well.  The tour began in Memphis and ended in New Orleans.  Stops in the Delta included the Delta Blues Museum, Ground Zero and Red’s Lounge in Clarksdale, Po’ Monkey’s Lounge in Merigold, The Delta Center at DSU, Dockery Farms, the Senator’s Place in Cleveland, the B.B. King Museum, and Robert Johnson’s burial site.  Many of the tour participants were Blues musicians, and all were very well-read, enthusiastic students of the Mississippi Delta.  This was the third Delta tour by the Swedish travel company Travel Arena Falun, based in Falun, Sweden, and they expect to return to the Delta regularly.  

Delta Center for Culture and Learning assists film crew from South Africa

Dr. Luther Brown, Director of the Delta Center for Culture and Learning at Delta State University, recently worked with a film crew from South Africa on a television documentary featuring South African music star Juanita duPlessis, “the darling of Afrikaans Pop.”  The documentary will include stops throughout the southeastern United States.  In the Delta, the program focused on the Blues, with stops at Dockery Farms, Po’ Monkey’s Lounge, and the Delta Blues Museum, among others.  The show features Brown describing the Delta’s heritage to duPlessis, and includes live performances by the All Night Long Blues Band (Sean “Bad” Apple, Martin “Big Boy” Grant, and Dixie Street), and Terry “Harmonica” Bean.  Roger Stolle, of Clarksdale’s Cat Head Delta Blues and Folk Art, also appears.  The documentary will eventually be broadcast in Afrikaans, with English subtitles.  Its Afrikaans title is “Country Hart met Juanita.”  

Juanita duPlessis’s official biography includes this information about the star:  “Juanita du Plessis is a South African singer, born in Windhoek, Namibia. She became known for her big hit“Ska-Rumba” and since then has followed it with constant hits.  Her singing career began in 1998 with her debut album "Juanita". That year she won numerous CMA (Country Music Association in Namibia) awards, including as best singer, best songwriter and the Association’s Award for outstanding achievement. Juanita writes all of her own material, if not covering existing songs. In 2010, she received the award for most popular South African artist. Out of the eleven CD’s and 5 DVD’s she has released, she received two platinum, 6 double platinum, five triple platinum, two 4x platinum and one 5x platinum awards, a total of 44 platinum awards. Due to her achievement she is known affectionately as ‘Die Platinum Princess.’”

Delta Center assists in music video production

Manu Lanvin in Kossman’s 1972 LeMans convertible at historic Dockery Farms, known around the world as the birthplace of the Blues.

The Delta Center for Culture and Learning at Delta State University recently helped French Blues singer Manu Lanvin film a music video for his latest release "Sur la route sixty one" ( On Highway 61).  Manu (who goes by his first name) and his producer/photographer, Alexandre Villeret, spent over a week filming in the Delta.  Highlights of their visit included an evening of live Blues at historic Po’ Monkey’s Lounge, during which Manu performed with Mississippi’s own Terry “Harmonica” Bean.  Bean has recently toured in France, and also been featured in the French Blues Magazine called “Blues” as well as in Living Blues Magazine.   Kossman’s automotive, in Cleveland, provided access to their 1972 LeMans convertible, which appears in the music video.