Two one-week workshops for seventy-two school teachers on the history and culture of the Mississippi Delta, with music as a focus.

The Most Southern Place on Earth: Music, History, and Culture of the Mississippi Delta was presented with NEH support in June and July of 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2013, and 2014. The Most Southern Place on Earth addresses all four of the goals of the Landmarks program. It informs participants of the important role that the Mississippi Delta has played in American history, a role that is very often ignored or overlooked. Since the Delta is a place of “mean poverty and garish opulence” (according to Will Campbell), intellectual exploration of its heritage requires building a community of civility. Our approach is highly experiential and tells heritage stories at the places where they happened.

Two one-week workshops for 72 school teachers on the history and culture of the Mississippi Delta, with music as a focus.

This 2019 Landmarks workshop will inform participants of the important role that the Mississippi Delta has played in American history. Designated a National Heritage Area by U.S. Congress and a National Treasure of the National Trust for Historic Places, the Mississippi Delta is recognized as “the land where the blues was born, where the Civil Rights movement took root, and where increasingly mechanized farming sparked the Great Migration,” making it the “’cradle of American culture’ for its role in shaping our nation’s character” (National Trust, 2012). Our approach is highly experiential and tells these nationally significant heritage stories at the places where they happened.

We propose two six-day workshops that will introduce participants to major heritage themes in the Mississippi Delta, a place with a history that is simultaneously unique and quintessentially American. Participants will learn how the Place of the Delta has affected its culture, specifically in regard to its settlement and ethnic composition, its music and art, its civil rights struggles, its foodways, its literature, and its contributions to American popular culture. The workshop will be highly experiential, giving participants the opportunity to learn how to use Place to both learn about culture and facilitate learning by their own students.

Two one-week Landmarks workshops for eighty school teachers on the Mississippi Delta's rich history, diverse peoples, and impact on the American imagination.

"The Most Southern Place on Earth: Music, History, and Culture of the Mississippi Delta" consists of two one-week NEH Landmarks of American History and Culture Workshops held during summer 2012 for eighty school teachers on the Mississippi Delta region, its rich history, its diverse peoples, and its impact on the American imagination. Project director Luther Brown leads the first day's seminar on Delta history and the Mississippi River, including the documentaries LaLee's Kin: The Legacy of Cotton and Fatal Flood alongside a visit to the site of the levee break in the Great Flood of 1927. During day two, historian Charles Reagan Wilson (University of Mississippi) explores the area's ethnic and religious diversity, including its early Chinese, Russian Jewish, Lebanese, and Italian communities. Music scholar David Evans (University of Memphis) guides the third day on "The Blues: American Roots Music and the Culture that Produced It," featuring a visit to Dockery Farms, the plantation viewed as the birthplace of the Blues. On day four, Delta State faculty member Henry Outlaw presents the Civil Rights movement in Mississippi, with the Emmett Till story as a case study in "oppression, revolution, and reconciliation." Participants travel on day five to the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, where they also visit other historical landmarks and cultural institutions (including music-related sites). On day six, geographer John Strait (Sam Houston State University) talks about the diaspora of Delta residents to the cities of the North. Readings include The Most Southern Place on Earth: The Mississippi Delta and the Roots of Regional Identity (James Cobb), Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 (John M. Barry), and Getting Away With Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case (Chris Crowe), among other works.

Two one-week Landmarks workshops for eighty school teachers on the history and culture of the Mississippi Delta, with music as a focus.

Two one-week Landmarks workshops for eighty school teachers on the history and culture of the Mississippi Delta, with music as a focus. These six-day workshops focus on the history and culture of the Mississippi Delta, described by historian James Cobb as "the most Southern place on earth." Project director Luther Brown leads the first day's seminar on Delta history and the Mississippi River, including the documentaries LaLee's Kin: The Legacy of Cotton and Fatal Flood alongside a visit to the site of the levee break in the Great Flood of 1927. During day two, historian Charles Reagan Wilson (University of Mississippi) explores the area's ethnic and religious diversity, including its early Chinese, Russian Jewish, Lebanese, and Italian communities. With music scholar David Evans (University of Memphis) serving as lead scholar, the third day unfolds around the theme, "The Blues: American Roots Music and the Culture That Produced It." Participants visit Dockery Farms, the plantation known as the birthplace of the Blues, and consider how life in the Delta influenced the music of early Blues musicians like Charley Patton and Robert Johnson. On day four, Delta State faculty member Henry Outlaw presents the Civil Rights movement in Mississippi, with the Emmett Till story as a case study in oppression, revolution, and reconciliation. Participants travel on day five to the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, the site of Martin Luther King's assassination; they also visit other historical landmarks, cultural institutions, and music-related sites. On day six, geographer John Strait (Sam Houston State University) lectures on the migration of Delta residents to the cities of the North. Readings include, among other works: James Cobb, The Most Southern Place on Earth: The Mississippi Delta and the Roots of Regional Identity; John M. Barry, Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927; and Chris Crowe, Getting Away With Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case.

Two one-week institutes for seventy-two school teachers on the history and culture of the Mississippi Delta, with music as a focus.

The Most Southern Place on Earth: Music, History, and Culture of the Mississippi Delta was presented as a Landmarks in American History workshop with NEH support in June and July of 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. This 2018 institute will inform participants of the important role that the Mississippi Delta has played in American history, a role that is very often ignored or overlooked. Since the Delta is a place of “mean poverty and garnish opulence” (according to Will Campbell), intellectual exploration of its heritage requires building a community of civility. Our approach is highly experiential and tells heritage stories at the places where they happened.