Mississippi Delta and Po’ Monkey’s
From June 4, 2007
Today we traveled through the Mississippi Delta, more specifically, Cleveland, Mississippi, as well as the surrounding cities and communities. It was very interesting to look at the stratification in this area and also see how amazingly different it was moving from one side of the tracks to the next. The area is heavily farmed and many of their major crops include corn, cotton, and catfish. I had very little expectations in regard to the status of blacks in this area. I did not think that they would have been allowed to develop their own community to the level that they apparently had in Mound Bayou. As we drove through Mound Bayou, the oldest municipality for share-cropping blacks, it was very inspirational but also disappointing. They seemed to be well-ahead of their time in terms of social progress for blacks and the advancement of minority status in society. At the same time, it was disappointing to look at the dramatically underdeveloped town that was once one of the most advanced places of its kind. To think that this community may have come falling down at the hands of scheming blacks and conspiracy angers me greatly. In some respects, this community was a shining example of what blacks should have been trying to do all over the south. At a time when whites did not want blacks around and fought integration with their last breath, perhaps, more communities like Mound Bayou would have saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of blacks.
Skipping ahead, Po’ Monkey’s was a high point in the trip. I am a huge music fan and witnessing live blues music in a jook joint is definitely an experience that I have always wanted and will definitely never forget. Early in the afternoon when we went to visit the historic site, I was very skeptical as to how all of us, in addition to the rest of the people visiting, were going to be able to make it into such a dilapidated building. I thought to myself about the public safety issues of cramming a bunch of people into a shack-like building and jumping and dancing to good music! To my pleasant surprise, things were great while inside Po’ Monkey’s. I felt like it was important for our group to immerse ourselves in the musical aspect of the Mississippi Delta. As noted in the article on jook joints, for sharecropping blacks, this was all that they had to themselves as a community. The blacks in this day utilized their tiny sharecropping shacks in more ways than many people would have ever thought possible and they worked hard to have that time for their own enjoyment. The blues music of the Delta was a result of the struggle that blacks felt every day of their lives while working out in the fields under harsh circumstances. Being able to experience that music firsthand made our visit to the Delta that much more authentic.