Mississippi Delta Experience 2021

A group of some 45 of us assembled in Cleveland, Mississippi at the Cotton Hotel recently for the Mississippi Delta Experience 2021. We came from Texas, St. Croix, Arkansas, North Carolina, Georgia, and other places in order to experience the impact that the Delta had on the Civil Rights Movement. Sponsored by the Carl Spain Center on Race Studies and Spiritual Action, and led by its director, Dr. Jerry Taylor, the five day trip was more than we could have imagined. 

Led ably by our tour guide, Lee Alward, we started out at the memorial and burial site for Fannie Lou Hamer, an icon of the Civil Rights Movement and then we worshipped at her church in Ruleville, MS.It was stirring to know that we sat in pews where she attended and oftentimes spoke. 

We had lunch at the iconic Senator's Place in Cleveland where the chief of police spoke to us about the changes that he had brought to policing in the area. 

We had an all too fast tour through the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale and then listened to two speakers from the adjacent cultural center. One of them was an old friend of Dr. Taylor. You name the musician, and she or he will be featured there inside the museum. My favorite was the story of Muddy Waters and how he was recorded on the plantation where he worked by Alan Lomax of The Library of Congress. 

We then stopped in Mound Bayou, an all Black community that began during the Reconstruction periodand is fill with iconic places, events, and people. Then, after dinner, we worshipped with a church in Cleveland, the Lincoln Gardens Church, that has an inspired and inspiring minister. 

Thursday was another memorable day with a couple of hours at the B. B. King Museum in Indianola. It was inspiring to hear more of his story and hear more of the music he created. Next came the infamous courthouse and court room in Sumner where the trial for Emmitt Till's murderers took place when they were found not guilty by an all-white, male jury.

To see where the jury sat, where the lawyers sat, and where Mose Wright stood and pointed to his nephew's abductors will chilling. Then we traveled and toured the Emmett Till Historic Intrepid Center in Glendora.  And then we traversed to the location where the Bryant store once stood. We found it  ironic that the building is for sale at an astronomical price and is covered by vines. Its role in history is entrenched, but its viability as a site is diminished, as it should be. 

We then ventured to the Broad Street Historic Park where Stokley Carmichael first uttered the phrase, "Black Power." Here we paused, sang a couple of hymns, prayed, and discussed the significance of the location. 

On Friday morning, we traveled to the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, noted as the best museum in the country, in second place only to the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington DC. Two surprises took place here. First, we were privileged to meet and talk with Hezekiah Watkins, the youngest Freedom Rider, and second, a young man who is the fourth generation Black farmer in his family. 

In the afternoon, we assembled back at the hotel, and Dr. Waymon Hinson introduced and showed the Black farmer documentary, I'm Just a Layman in Pursuit of Justice: Black Farmers Fight USDA. Much energy was expressed as we discussed the things that were currently happening with Black farmers across America and the shenanigans of the USDA that has led to much land loss. 

We wrapped up the Delta tour with an amazing worship experience at the Jackson Central Church of Christ. This location was the site of numerous gatherings of Freedom Riders in the 1960s and the site where Medgar Evers last spoke publicly prior to his murder the following evening. It was another inspirational service as the preachers were powerful and prophetic.

It is virtually impossible to capture the experiences of this tour. To walk where they walked, to worship where they worshipped, to stand where they stood was amazing. These five days will live on in our hearts for months and years to come. Perhaps we will even be changed in deep and meaningful ways, especially those of us who live in white America.