Harvard Law School learns Delta heritage

Harvard University School of Law recently visited the Delta Center for Culture and Learning at Delta State University.

The Delta Center for Culture and Learning at Delta State University recently provided an introduction of the Delta’s cultural heritage to a group of law students from Harvard University School of Law.

For the past five years, the Delta Center has worked with the program to make sure the participants have an understanding of the Delta’s history and culture. Lee Aylward from the Delta Center led the tour.

The students were in the Clarksdale area as part of a long-term internship program shared by Harvard and Mississippi State University.

University of Maryland explores the Delta’s Jewish Heritage

Students from the University of Maryland listened to Charles McLaurin discuss his experiences during Freedom Summer in 1964.

The Delta Center for Culture and Learning at Delta State University recently provided an introduction of the Delta’s cultural heritage to a group of students from the University of Maryland.

The group was particularly interested in the Delta’s Jewish heritage and contacted the Delta Center through the Institute for Southern Jewish Life in Jackson. Following the introduction to the Delta, the group listened to Charles McLaurin about his experiences during Freedom Summer. McLaurin worked to register African American voters throughout the Delta in the summer of 1964.

The group will spend a week in the Delta, conducting service projects at Mississippians Engaged in Greener Agriculture.

For more information on the Delta Center for Culture and Learning, call 662-846-4311.

Delta Center welcomes Mississippi State and Ole Miss students

The Delta Center recently provided Mississippi State University and University of Mississippi students an introduction of the Delta's cultural heritage.

The Delta Center for Culture and Learning at Delta State University recently provided an introduction of the Delta’s cultural heritage to a combined class from Mississippi State University and the University of Mississippi.

This is the second year a combined service-learning class has visited the Delta.

The class was designed by Dr. Cade Smith from Mississippi State and accompanied by Dr. Albert Nylander, former dean of Graduate and Continuing Studies at Delta State and now director of the McLean Institute for Partnerships and Community Engagement at University of Mississippi.

Brie Bajus, AmeriCorps VISTA worker at Mississippi State University, provided logistic support for the class, and the Delta Center’s Lee Aylward led the tour.

For information about the National Heritage Area, contact the center at 662-846-4311.

Reading program presented with history and culture

Dr. Henry Outlaw presenting at the Como library.

Former Chair of the Department of Biological and Physical Sciences Dr. Henry Outlaw recently presented a lecture on the murder of Emmett Till as part of the Como Reads program at the Emily J. Pointer Public Library in Como, Miss. Outlaw has also been involved with the Delta Center for Culture and Learning.

The book selection for the discussion was Glory Be by Cleveland native Augusta Scattergood. The main theme of the book is “civil rights in smalltown Mississippi, circa 1964.”  Emmett Till’s murder in Sunflower County in late August of 1955 is often described as one of the events that stimulated the modern Civil Rights Movement.

For more information on the reading program or the Delta Center, please call 662-846-4311.

Delta Center offers summer workshops for teachers in American History and culture

Dr. Luther Brown, director of the Delta Center for Culture and Learning, with Dr. Julia Nguyen, a program officer at the National Endowment for the Humanities in Washington D.C. Nguyen is originally from Natchez.

For the fifth year, Delta State University has received major funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities Landmarks in American History and Culture program. Funding will allow the Delta Center for Culture and Learning to offer two week-long workshops focusing on the Delta’s rich cultural heritage in June and July of 2014. Each workshop will serve 40 K-12 teachers who will come from Mississippi and all over the U.S.

Dr. Luther Brown, director of the Delta Center for Culture and Learning said, “The last time we did this we had over 400 applications, with participants coming from 47 states. This is a very exciting workshop and we hope to draw applicants from all of Mississippi and the rest of the country.”

Classroom teachers and librarians in public, private, parochial and charter schools, as well as home-schooling parents are eligible to participate. They will receive a stipend to assist with expenses and gather with leading humanities scholars and Delta State staff to develop powerful lesson plans relating to the Delta’s heritage and the heritage of their own home regions.

The workshops are titled “The Most Southern Place on Earth: Music, History and Culture in the Mississippi Delta.” Participants will travel throughout the Delta as they visit sites where significant events occurred. They will discuss and learn about issues involving civil rights and political leadership, immigrants’ experiences in the Delta, the Blues, the great migration, agriculture, and the Mississippi River, among other things. They will sample Delta foods, visit local museums and listen to the Blues. Field trips will roam as far as Greenville, Greenwood, Clarksdale and Memphis, with stops in between.

Participants can earn five graduate semester hours upon completion of the workshop.

Workshops will be held the week of June 22 and the week of July 13. Each begins on Sunday evening and runs through the following Saturday afternoon.

The Delta Center for Culture and Learning promotes the understanding of the heritage of the Mississippi Delta. It is the manager of the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area, a partnership between the people of the Delta and the National Park Service. The Center will be assisted during the workshops by faculty from the University of Mississippi, Sam Houston State University, the University of Memphis and other institutions of higher learning. Local Delta citizens will also tell their own stories and experiences.

There are only 17 Landmarks in American History and Culture topics offered during 2014. Their topics range from The American Skyscraper, to The Cold War Home Front in Southern California, to Crossroads of Conflict: Contested Visions of Freedom and the Missouri-Kansas Border Wars, with several workshops focusing on the Civil Rights Movement. A complete list can be found at http://www.neh.gov/projects/landmarks-school.html.

For more information about the Landmarks in American History and Culture workshops, visit the center’s website at http://deltacenterforcultureandlearning.com/neh-workshop/ or contact the DSU Delta Center for Culture and Learning at 662-846-4311.

Caption:  Dr. Luther Brown, director of the Delta Center for Culture and Learning, with Dr. Julia Nguyen, a program officer at the National Endowment for the Humanities in Washington D.C. Nguyen is originally from Natchez.

Delta Center and MDA promote the Delta

Participants in the recent Mississippi Development Authority tour of the Delta, outside Po' Monkey's Lounge in Merigold.

The Delta Center for Culture and Learning recently worked with the Mississippi Development Authority (MDA) to help businesses better understand the Delta’s rich cultural heritage.  MDA provided several days of touring for site locators, people who represent industries looking for locations to build manufacturing plants.  The Delta Center helped excite these agents about the Delta by reviewing the Delta’s history and the roles that the Delta’s people have played in the American story.

Luther Brown, director of the Delta Center, and Malcolm White, director of Tourism for the State, accompanied the visitors throughout the region.  MDA officials also gave the group information about incentives for businesses, permitting and licensing requirements, and other aspects of doing business in Mississippi.

The Delta Center is the manager of the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area, a partnership with the National Park Service that promotes the heritage of the Mississippi Delta.

Photo: Participants in the recent Mississippi Development Authority tour of the Delta, outside Po’ Monkey’s Lounge in Merigold.

Delta Center introduces Dollar General to heritage

Dollar General administrators in front of Po' Monkey's Lounge in Merigold, MS. Photo by Lee Aylward.

The Delta Center for Culture and Learning recently introduced the administration of Dollar General’s Indianola Distribution Center to the rich cultural heritage of the Mississippi Delta.  The group spent their Saturday learning about the Blues, Civil Rights history, and other things Delta, ranging from where the Southern crosses the Dogto the works of Dr. T. R. M. Howard to historic Po’ Monkey’s Lounge.  The Indianola Distribution Center is one of the largest buildings in the Delta, with 850,000 square feet of warehouse and office space and a staff of 500.  Keenan Davis, the Sr. Human Resources Manager, asked the Delta Center to help his administrators better understand the region they serve by exploring its heritage.  The Delta Center is the manager of the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area, a partnership with the National Park Service.

Delta Center for Culture and Learning presents at Winterville Mounds

Dr. Luther Brown, Director of the Delta Center for Culture and Learning, gives a presentation at Winterville Mounds.

Dr. Luther Brown, Director of the Delta Center for Culture and Learning, recently gave a presentation at Winterville Mounds as part of their monthly seminar series.  Dr. Brown described the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area, which promises to better promote and protect the Delta’s heritage.  National Heritage Areas are links between geographic regions and the National Park Service.  They strive to inform residents about their own cultural heritage and increase the number of people who visit the region to learn about its heritage.  For more information about the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area, contact the Delta Center at 662-846-4311.  
 
Luther Brown
Delta Center for Culture and Learning, and
The Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area
Box 3152 Delta State University
Cleveland, MS 38733
662-846-4312
www.deltacenterforcultureandlearning.com
www.blueshighway.org 
www.msdeltaheritage.com  
www.birthplaceoftheblues.org 
www.facebook.com/MDNHA

Delta Center Discusses Civil Rights Movement

Delta State’s Delta Center for Culture and Learning recently organized a panel discussion on the murder of Emmett Till as part of a July workshop sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).

The discussion was held in Tallahatchie County at the new Sumner Grill Restaurant, right across the street from the Sumner Courthouse where Roy Bryant and J. W. Milam were tried for Till’s murder in 1955.

Caption L to R: Henry Outlaw and Lee Aylward of the Delta Center, Wheeler Parker, Emmett Till’s cousin and witness to his kidnapping, Dale Killinger, FBI agent in charge of the Till investigation, Lent Rice, retired FBI, Bruce Smith, son of Robert Bruce Smith, special prosecutor in the Till murder trial, Luther Brown of the Delta Center, and Jim Powers, Chair of the Mississippi ACLU and former President of the DSU student body.

The focus of the NEH workshops is on the history and culture of the Mississippi Delta. Each day, participants are guided through documentaries, information, experiences and tours of historical landmarks and cultural institutions.

Delta State alumni (’61), Chair Emeritus of the Department of Physical Sciences and Professor Emeritus of Chemistry Henry Outlaw leads the topic of the civil rights movement in Mississippi. The Emmett Till story is used as a case study for discussing oppression, revolution and reconciliation.

The Delta Center for Culture and Learning works throughout the region to serve as a “Center of Excellence” at Delta State. It is an interdisciplinary program that is focused on the humanities and environmental sciences related to the Delta.

The NEH is among the nation’s largest funders of humanities programs. It promotes excellence in humanities and delivers historical lessons to Americans in an effort to serve and strengthen the nation.

Delta Center for Culture and Learning Participates in NEH Workshop

Photo: Bill Abel

The Delta Center for Culture and Learning at Delta State recently hosted a workshop called “The Most Southern Place on Earth:  Music, History and Culture of the Mississippi Delta” workshop.  The workshop is held twice a year by the Center, with major funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) program known as Landmarks in American History and Culture.  Each workshop admits forty teachers from anywhere in the U.S.  The session lasts for six days, and examines the Delta’s heritage in the Blues, religion, Civil Rights, foodways, and other important manners.  

Tim Shaw, a top-notch instrument maker and elementary art teacher, was able to reunite with bluesman Bill Abel while attending.

Shaw first met Abel when they did a workshop together last summer. Shaw had been making cigar box guitars for a year when he learned of Abel’s cigar box show at the Mary C. O’Keefe Cultural Center in Ocean Springs. Shaw’s wife got her husband and his friends permission to be in Abel’s show through the cultural center.

“I spent two days with him down there at the cultural center. We immediately hit it off,” Shaw said. “I called my wife after the first day and I said, ‘I have met my Jesus.’”

The two have been in touch since, but Shaw’s being at Abel’s performance during the NEH workshop was a complete surprise.

“I didn’t tell him I was coming,” Shaw said. “Yesterday when he was unloading his stuff I came here early to help, and I said, ‘Remember me?’ And he just couldn’t believe I was here.”

Photo: Tim Shaw

After Abel’s show on Wednesday night, Shaw demonstrated his skills on Abel’s cigar box guitar. Shaw said that while he has always been interested in music, he only became a musician in his early 30’s.

“I worked with two guys who were surprised that I didn’t play anything because I knew so much about music,” Shaw said. “They set out on a mission to teach me to play. One of them played the drums, the other one played guitar. They decided they were going to teach me the bass so we could have a band.”

From playing instruments, Shaw became interested in making them. During his quest to make a solid-body electric guitar, he encountered a news clip about a man who made cigar box guitars on the coast. Shaw visited the artist’s gallery in Bay St. Louis with some friends the following Sunday and ended up buying one of the artist’s cigar box guitars.

“I took it home and took it apart and looked at it and thought, ‘Huh, this is interesting. I think I can do this,’” Shaw said. “And so my endeavor to make solid body electric guitars took a left turn to cigar box guitars.”

Shaw, whose projects are usually commissioned, says that the six-day workshop has left him inspired.

“I’m really excited about this workshop. I’ve already designed three new guitars,” Shaw said. “I can’t wait to go home and make them. They’re going to be blues themed.”

For more information, contact the Delta Center at 662-846-4311 or Luther Brown at lbrown@deltastate.edu