The Brunswick Picnic and the Independent Order of Pole Bearers
The modern concept of life insurance did not come to the South until after the Civil War, and when it did come, the early Southern …
Black History
R. L. Boyce, Lightnin Malcolm & Cedric Burnside Live at Oxford Blues Festival
The Grove on the campus of the University of Mississippi is a beautiful setting for any event, and it makes an awesome setting for the …
On the Trail of Lum Guffin, Bartlett’s Elusive Bluesman
I grew up in Bartlett, and went to Bartlett High School. A lot of my friends lived in the Black community along Old Brownsville Road, …
Remembering Phelix High School and the Town of Sunset
Segregation of the races was the law in most of the Southern United States from around 1890 on, but as the Progressive era dawned in …
A Solution Becomes A Problem in Harvard Yard
For reasons lost to history, at some point, there was a little wide place in the road north of Marion, Arkansas called Harvard. It wasn’t …
The Walls Come Tumbling Down in Jericho (Arkansas)
South of Turrell, Arkansas along Highway 77 are a string of small rural towns and communities before the county seat town of Marion. The largest …
The Hurt Family Celebrating The 4th of July With Fife and Drum
As I have discussed before in this blog, Black fife and drum music is an endangered form of pre-blues that probably played a role in …
Live Blues at Clarksdale’s Ground Zero
Although Clarksdale’s Ground Zero Blues Club is not nearly the blues club it once was, booking a lot more rock and country these days, it …
From Savage to Minter City
On the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, I decided to continue my exploration of small towns and backroads in the Mississippi Delta. My first stop …
The Death of Nelson Street
About halfway between Jackson’s Farish Street and Memphis’ Beale Street was Greenville’s Nelson Street, the Main Street of the Black Mississippi Delta. Lined with professional …