Here is a great New York Times article about Alysia Burton Steele and her Delta Jewels book. The Delta Center and the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area are proud to be working with this talented author and photographer. Delta Jewels is a compelling book about Mississippi Delta church mothers.
The Delta Center donates harmonicas to the Delta Arts Alliance to support musical classes.
The Delta Center for Culture and Learning at Delta State University recently donated over 40 “Learn to Play Harmonicas” to the Delta Arts Alliance (DAA) for music classes.
As music and art are cut from school curricula, the DAA seeks to find ways to bring the arts to schools around the Delta, and with the donation of these musical instruments, the Delta Center is helping them reach that goal.
The donation continues the working relationship between the Delta Center and the Delta Arts Alliance. In the past, the Delta Center has provided interns from the Robertson Scholars program at Duke University and the University of North Carolina to help with summer programs at the DAA.
Both entities hope that this donation will enable students from across the Delta to experience our musical heritage. Lee Aylward and Heather Miller of the Delta Center presented the packets to Rori Herbison, executive director of the DAA.
The Delta Center is the manager of the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area, a partnership with the National Park Service.
Heather Miller (left) and Lee Aylward of the Delta Center for Culture and Learning, visit Sister Donald Mary Lynch of St. Gabriel's Mercy Center in Mound Bayou with a donation of bedding.
The Delta Center for Culture and Learning invites participants from its residential workshops to donate the bedding they used in dorm rooms to the St. Gabriel Mercy Center in Mound Bayou.
Over the years, participants in the National Endowment for the Humanities workshops have donated many sets of sheets, pillows and blankets. Another delivery to St. Gabriel’s was made following the end of the July workshop.
“When introducing the Delta to participants in our National Endowment for the Humanities workshops, we always introduce them to the unique history of Mound Bayou, and in so doing, to the Saint Gabriel Mercy Center,” said Alyward. “At the end of the workshop participants want to give back to the Delta, and this is a way for them to not only help others, but to leave a little of themselves here.”
The Delta Center, housed at Delta State, welcomed 40 K-12 teachers in July to its week-long workshop “The Most Southern Place on Earth: Music, History and Culture of the Mississippi Delta.”
The teachers came from 25 states and explored the blues, civil rights heritage, religious and culinary heritage, the flood of 1927 and the Great Migration. Participants made stops in Ruleville, Cleveland, Greenville, Clarksdale and Memphis — visiting museums, churches, historic sites, and listened to presentations.
Learn more about the Delta Center’s rich history at http://www.blueshighway.org. Visit http://www.neh.gov/ to read about the National Endowment for the Humanities.
L to R: Heather Miller and Lee Aylward of the Delta Center, Dr. Henry Outlaw, formerly of the Delta Center, and Dr. Charles McAdams, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Delta State.
The Mississippi Heritage Trust recently awarded Dr. Luther Brown, Director of the Delta State Delta Center for Culture and Learning and the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area the “Heritage Award for Distinguished Service.”
“I’m deeply honored to receive this award in recognition of the establishment of the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area. Many people and numerous entities have worked hard to make this Heritage Area possible, and some have worked for over a decade to see this happen,” said Brown.
This recognition is in honor of all of these individuals and groups who have partnered to promote the Delta’s heritage, and I thank them for their continued enthusiasm and hard work.”
The Delta Center is the manager of the Heritage Area. The award was presented in Tupelo during the Mississippi Heritage Trust’s annual meeting. Dr. Brown could not attend in person, so Lee Aylward of the Delta Center accepted the award on his behalf.
“It is very fitting that Dr. Brown has been recognized by the Mississippi Heritage Trust at its bi-annual meeting with an award for Distinguished Service. From its inception fourteen years ago, the Delta Center through his leadership has introduced hundreds in this country and abroad to the importance of the Mississippi Delta to our country and to the rest of the world, and it is through his efforts that the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area is being established,” said Aylward.
His work will remain as a standard for others to continue this important work.”
From left to right, the scholars (with their University and home Country or State) are: Tierney Maray (Duke, Australia), Andrew Tan-Delli Cicchi (Duke, New Zealand), Oluwasanmi (Sanmi) Oyenuga (Duke, Nigeria), Sebastian Baquerizo (Duke, Ecuador), Jacob Oliffe (UNC, Australia), Griffin Unger (UNC, US - Pennsylvania), Virginia Hamilton (UNC, US - Georgia), Jaclyn Lee (UNC, US - California), Charlotte McKay (UNC, New Zealand)
The Delta Center for Culture and Learning has welcomed another set of interns from Duke and the University of North Carolina.
These Robertson Scholars all receive full tuition for all four years of their education and are required to enroll in classes at both universities. During the summer between their freshman and sophomore years, they participate in service projects in Atlanta, New Orleans, New York City or the Mississippi Delta.
Subsequent summers are spent anywhere in the world. Scholars typically stay in the Delta for about two months. The Delta Center acts as the home base for those scholars serving in the Delta and presents weekend trips to heritage sites in and around the Delta.
The first trip of the summer was to Memphis, where the scholars were introduced to Graceland, the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, the National Civil Rights Museum and Beale Street. The Delta Center’s Lee Aylward led the tour.
For more information on the Delta Center for Culture and Learning, please call 662-846-4311.
Rachel, from France stopped in to see us today. She is making her way through the Delta and ending up in New Orleans. She hopes to return next year with a friend!
David, from Italy, came to see us today. He was here last year playing his music, and he said that he couldn't be in the Delta without coming by for a visit with us. He played last night at Red's in Clarksdale and will play tonight at the Bluesberry Cafe in Clarksdale, then he will head on to the Big Easy! We love visitors who return to the Delta!!
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.
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.
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.
