Mississippi Delta and Blues
Today was a very long but interesting day filled with information about the Mississippi delta. We woke up nice and early and went to Delta State University where we met with Dr. Luther Brown, a professor there who spoke to us and led us on a bus tour of the region. This tour brought us to various towns and cities and featured several stops of importance. We learned a lot about the history of the delta, along with the importance of agriculture to the area. Dr. Brown was a specialist on blues, so we heard a lot about the lives of some of the pioneers of blues, and made a couple stops to learn more. My favorite stop was in Greenwood, Mississippi, where we saw two very different parts of the town. First we went to a part called Baptist town, which is the African American part of town, is very poor, and is also where blues legend Robert Johnson lived, played, and was murdered. It was really neat to see this small community and really be able to get a feel for the atmosphere surrounding blues when it was at its height. We ate lunch at a small convenience store with a kitchen, where we were able to get some southern fried chicken and fried okra. The food was great, but all this fried food is killing me! We had a guest speaker at lunch who spoke some more about blues, and afterwards we walked around the neighborhood a bit to see where Robert Johnson lived, and tour a house preserved from that time. That house and the community really made it easier to see why blues were so popular because they provided an outlet for people to express their dissatisfaction with the social and economic environments in which they lived. As our tour guide said: “If we were depressed, we sang the blues. If we were happy, we sang the blues.”
After visiting Baptist town, we visited the other part of Greenwood, where the downtown is undergoing a revival. We had a nice break from the bus while seeing some of the Alluvian hotel, which was absolutely beautiful. If I ever return to Greenwood, I will certainly be staying there. We also stopped into the Viking kitchen supplies store, where beautiful (but expensive) supplies are sold, and cooking classes are taught. We tried to convince somebody that our class should get a cooking tutorial, but that didn’t happen. This was followed by hearing Senator David Jordan talk about living in the area during the murder of Emmet Till and the trial in which his killers were acquitted. It was really powerful to hear him tell this story and know that he was a little younger than I am now when it all happened. His speech had even more impact when we got on the bus and drove to Money, Mississippi, where we stopped in front of the store where Emmet got in trouble for whistling at a white woman.
After driving around the delta and learning even more about its history, we stopped at Senators restaurant for an early dinner. The restaurant stayed open just for us, and we were treated to a fried catfish dinner made especially for us by Senator Willie Simmons himself. Dinner was delicious, catfish officially became my favorite southern dish, and we heard a bit more about some of the history of blues our special guest for the day, Dr. Rosen. Dinner was great but we were all ready to get back to the hotel after a long day, and we especially could not wait to go to Po’ Monkey’s to really take in the blues/juke joint experience that we had been hearing about all day.
The whole class pulled up to Po’ Monkey’s around 8pm, ready to hear some good music and have fun. I really couldn’t wait to see what it looked like inside, because it seemed so tiny from the outside. The interior did not disappoint, it was decorated with Christmas lights, a disco ball, and had all sorts of dolls and monkeys hanging from the walls and ceiling. There was a stage for the band to play on, a bunch of tables for people to enjoy the music from, and a pool table off to the side. I know that I had a great time listening to the music, playing pool, and enjoying a beer or two. Mr. Monkey also really added to the experience, as he promenaded around the place with a cigar in once hand, a drink in the other, and wore a variety of fancy and colorful suits throughout the night. I believe he wore five different suits: orangish/brownish, red, blue, white, and dark green. I’m pretty sure that everybody really enjoyed this night, and it has definitely been the highlight of the trip for me.