Tayari's Blog: Me and My Daddy See the Sights of the Delta

Posted by TayariJones on January 26, 2007 05:58 PM
Filed under Travels & Rambles

I'm blogging from Itta Bena, Mississippi where I will address the Mississippi Philological Association. I had a few hours before giving the keynote, so my father and I went on a quick tour of the surrounding areas. Here's a quick recap.

Our first stop was the storefront where Emmet Till was said to have whistled at a white woman, leading to his brutal murder. (That's the photo here on the right.) As you can see, the place is falling apart now. There's a rumour that the owners of the property are seeking to sell it for a cool million bucks. While I am all in favor of turning the spot into a shrine or a place of remembrance, I REFUSE to help make that family into millionaires.

The next stop, a mere 10 minutes away, was the grave of Robert Johnson, the great blues musician. The marker was decorated with whiskey bottles, beer cans, and a harmonica-- fitting tributes. There are two other church yards that also claim to house Robert Johnson's remains, but this one is on a major thoroughfare.

After that, we went to Tallahatchie Flats, a vacation destination about an stone's throw from Johnson's grave. The idea is that fans of Johnson can rent out an old shack and live like a sharecropping blues man. ($50 a night. You have to check out the website.)

I can't imagine that they had to hire historians to find the meager housing. Afterall, there are many Mississipians living in such houses, for real.. not just for play-play. For kicks, here is a quote from the website:

Could Robert Johnson have actually died in one of them(the rental shacks)? His grave, in the cemetery at Little Zion Church is less than a mileaway and current knowledge is that he succumbed in one of the small houses nearby.

Our final destination was Ruleville, Mississippi-- the home of the late great Fannie Lou Hamer. (There will be a HUGE celebration on March 1-March 3.) I was struck by the lack of splendor at her grave site. She has a nice enough headstone, but there was no monument that would give anyone a true understanding of her significance to women's history, to African American history, to AMERICAN history.

Well, my reading is in about an hour. I need to breathe. Here's the photo album of our trip!

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There are 1 comments on "Me and My Daddy See the Sights of the Delta". If you'd like to leave a comment, click here to jump down to the comments entry form.

Comment #1, by minaj [TypeKey Profile Page]

I am very pleased that Fannie Lou Hamer is being honored - certainly no one is more deserving. I have a great fear that many of the women at the heart of the civil rights movement are being forgotten. Recently I was talking with some well educated Black folks about this problem and the only names of women in the movement that they could remember were the wives of the well-known leaders - Mrs. King, Mrs. Abernathy, etc. I hope that we can give our young people an understanding of that incredible time that goes deeper than "Martin Luther King had a dream." Fannie Lou Hamer, Ella Baker, and so many others whose names we may never know deserve better.

January 26, 2007 07:52 PM

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