The Mississippi Delta

Dr. Celestin Wafo Soh

Dr. Kaye Sly

Dr. Thomas Kersen

Dr. Preselfannie McDaniels

Mississippi Delta Unit Topic and Questions

Using the Mississippi Delta of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, examine three books on the Mississippi Delta that were written in the last five years.

What recommendations did the writers make that might transform the Delta?

What role, if any, has globalization played in the material poverty of the Delta?

Suggested Texts

Austin, Sharon Wright. (2006). The Transformation of Plantation Politics: Black Politics, Concentrated Poverty, and Social Capital in the Mississippi Delta (Suny Series in African American Studies).

Rogers, Kim Lacy. (2006). Life and Death in the Delta: African American Narratives of Violence, Resilience, and Social Change (Palgrave Studies in Oral History).

Woodruff, Elizabeth. (2003). American Congo: The African American Freedom Struggle in the Delta.

Eight-Day Outline of Classes

Day 1 (Thomas)Define Diaspora. Introduce the Mississippi Delta

geography, people, culture, facts, etc. Display YouTube clips and photos.Assign readings from suggested texts.See Day 1 Assignment.

Eight-Day Outline of Classes

Day 2 (Kaye)Introduce politics and race in Mississippi

Delta.Discuss state and non-state sanctioned

terror.Display Sovereignty Commission Online

example and other clips.See Day 2 Assignment.

Eight-Day Outline of Classes

Day 3 (Kaye) Share Sovereignty Commission Online student

findings. Present guest speaker. Day 4 (Celestin) Define globalization (refer to definition in

Accidental Guerilla, p. 8). Discuss the effects of globalization on the

economy of the Mississippi Delta. Display MPR audio clip.

Eight-Day Outline of Classes

Day 5 (Preselfannie) Introduce classroom activities for the Austin

text excerpts. Day 6 (Thomas) Introduce classroom activities for the Rogers

text excerpts. Day 7 (Celestin) Introduce classroom activities for the Woodruff

text excerpts.

Eight-Day Outline of Classes

Day 8 (Preselfannie)Have students do a “Pair-Share-Group-

Share” activity in order to do a quick overview of each student’s paper.

Unit Assessments

Day 1 Research Assignment The instructor will direct students to Wikipedia

(resources links), YouTube.com, and Google.com to do broad search on the Mississippi Delta and return to the next class ready to discuss positive and negative perceptions of the region.

Day 2 Research Assignment The instructor will direct students to Sovereignty

Commission Online to do a specific search on selected persons, places, or organizations and review attached files and return to the next class ready to discuss their findings.

Unit Assessments

Days 5-7 Reading Assignment The instructor will direct students to read specific excerpts from

the 3 selected texts and return to class ready to discuss pertinent issues of the Mississippi Delta found in the readings. For instance, focus on personal narratives in the Rogers text, education and politics in the Austin text, and/or Diaspora comparatives and economics in the Woodruff text.

Day 8 Composition Assignment Based on classroom activities, readings, speakers, resources,

discussions, and their own critical thinking, the students will compose a 3-5 page essay addressing the 2 overall unit questions. The student should provide a research-based argument that is documented in APA or MLA (instructor’s preference). Use JSU standard English rubric to score.

Day 1: The African Diaspora in the United States

History of migration and oppressionIntimately tied to southern plantation

economySharecroppingGreat MigrationReturn Migration

The Mississippi Delta

The “Last South” – James Cobb and the “South’s South”– Richard Ford. See Willie Morris. (1992). “My Delta. And Yours?” A.G. Cosby, M.W. Brackin, T.D. Mason, & E.R. McCulloch (Eds), A

Social and Economic Portrait of the Mississippi Delta. Mississippi State University: Social Science Research Center, and Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station. Pg. 3.

“The cultural definition popularized by writer David Cohn is that the Delta begins in the lobby of the Peabody Hotel in Memphis and ends at Catfish Row in Vicksburg.” Bruce Reid, Clarion-Ledger, December 19, 1999. See also David

Cohn, God Shakes Creation (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1935), 14.

Saturday night juke joint outside of Clarksdale, Mississippi Delta, 1939

The Banality of Racism

Defining the Delta Region

Political Delta Council

18 Mississippi counties Delta Regional Authority

Covers eight states and 240 counties or parishes

Cultural and Historical Land use

Cotton Soybeans

Prior Research Cosby et al. 1992; Doolittle and Davis 1996; Kersen

2002

Delta Regional Authority

DRA covers eight states and 240 counties or parishes. AL, 20 counties AR, 42 counties IL, 16 counties KY, 21 counties LA, 46 parishes MS, 45 counties MO, 29counties TN, 21 counties

Refer to: <http://www.dra.gov/dra_coverage_map.html>.

The Delta

Arkansas: Chicot, Crittenden, Desha, Lee, Phillips, and St. Francis

Louisiana: East Carroll, Madison, and Tensas

Mississippi: Bolivar, Carroll, Coahoma, DeSoto, Holmes, Humphreys, Issaquena, Leflore, Panola, Quitman, Sharkey, Sunflower, Tallahatchie, Tate, Tunica, Warren, Washington, and Yazoo (Cosby et al. 1992; Doolittle and Davis 1996; Kersen 2002).

Cotton on the Porch, 1939

Girl in the Cotton Fields, 1939

Number of Acres, Cotton

Questions

How has the Delta population changed from 1990 to 2000?

If the Delta population has changed what are the factors that have influenced that change?Births, Deaths, and Migration

What are some of the “push-pull” factors for Delta Migration? Income, Education, Labor

Delta Population Change, 1990 to 2000

White Black

Percent Change

Loss0.1 - 910 - 1920 - 2930 +

Cumulative Births, 1990 to 2000

Number

< 100100 - 499500 - 9991000 - 39994000 - 999910000+

White Black

Cumulative Deaths, 1990 to 2000

Number< 100100 - 499500 - 9991000 - 39994000 - 9999

White Black

Net Migration, 1990 to 2000

Delta-Wide Arkansas: -7,110 W; -5,351

B. Louisiana: 451 W; 1,541 B. Mississippi: 22,982 W; -

3,412 B. State Level

Arkansas: 145,117 W; 6,037 B.

Louisiana: 132,892 W; 168,655 B.

Mississippi: 87,657 W; 24,173 B.

Whites Blacks

Key: Grey=out-migration. White= in-migration.

Income in the Delta

Per Capita Income AR Delta surpassed MS Delta in 2000 ($17,642 and $17,454

respectively). LA Delta consistently lower than other state Delta regions.

Household Income Between 1980 and 2000, the MS Delta has the highest household

income while LA Delta continued to have the lowest. Influencing factor: Based on 2000 Census data, MS Delta has the highest

average persons per household (2.8 compared to 2.7 for LA, and 2.6 for AR).

Average Annual Wages AR Delta has highest average annual wages; LA the lowest.

Overall Findings Increases in AR, LA, and MS from 1980 to 2000, except for LA Delta

between 1980 and 1990 in per capita income, household income, and average annual wages.

In comparison, at the state level, MS has ranked the lowest on all three income measures.

Educational Attainment: Percent of Persons Age 25 or Older

1990 2000Pct

Change 1990 2000Pct

Change AR Delta 52.7 63.7 11.0 8.9 10.8 1.9LA Delta 53.5 61.5 8.0 10.4 12.7 2.3MS Delta 52.9 63.5 10.6 11.5 13.0 1.5Arkansas 66.3 75.3 9.0 13.3 16.7 3.4Louisiana 68.3 74.8 6.5 16.1 18.7 2.6Mississippi 64.3 72.9 8.6 14.7 16.9 2.2USA 75.2 80.4 5.2 20.3 24.4 4.1

High School Grad BA or Higher

Day 2: State and Non-state Sponsored Terrorism in Mississippi

What is terrorism? (Ask for student definitions). Incorporate their responses using the definition below for the purpose of the discussion to follow.

Terrorism- The unlawful use or threatened us of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons. (The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed.

“Terror” continued…

Use the current “War on Terror” to illustrate various components of the definition (e.g.. Al Qaeda’s attack on the World Trade Center in 2001).

Discussion of Significant National Events that spurred unrest in Mississippi

1954 Supreme Court Decision Brown v. Board of Education in which the Court held that racial segregated public schools were unconstitutional

The 1964 Civil Rights ActsThe 1965 Voting Rights Act

Terrorism in Mississippi

Non-state supported Terrorism: The Ku Klux Klan, originally founded under the disguise of being charitable organization in 1865 began a campaign of violence in 1870, was dismantled in 1871 by law and reformed in 1915. It will probably be obvious to students how this group meets the definition for terrorism, but this point can be illustrated by discussing the group’s objectives and notable activities in the state of Mississippi (e.g., murders of civil rights workers, burning of crosses, bombing of buildings). May want to show a clip from the documentary, Eyes on the Prize.

Terrorism in Mississippi Cont.

State Supported Terrorism: The Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission (1956-77); White Citizen’s Council (founded in Indianola, MS in 1954) or Citizens’ Councils of America.

Points of Discussion…

Points of Discussion

Legal organization formed by the Mississippi legislature, included 12 appointed and legislatively elected members, Governor, Lt. Governor, Speaker of the House, and Attorney General

Objectives: Protect the sovereignty of the State of Mississippi, and her sister states from federal encroachment

Points of Discussion Cont.

Activities included secret surveillance of individuals who might be involved in civil rights or other activities not deemed supportive of the segregationist culture, subjecting such individuals to economic and social intimidation, harassment of those seeking to vote and or integrate federally or state supported racially segregated programs (e.g., schools)

Dr. T.R.M. Howard’s Interview

YouTube - T_ R_ M_ Howard.htm

Example of data obtained by MSSC

Go to site to show example of information obtained by the MSSC using current interim JSU President McLemore

Blurring of the Lines

The overlap of state and non state supported terrorism

1. Some members belonged to both organizations

2. Organization provided information that was used to perpetrate physical violence against African Americans and other civil rights supporters

3. Citizens’ Council received funding from MSSC

Day 2 Assignment

Go to the MSSC website. Type in the name of a Mississippi Civil Rights activist or someone you know who was involved in the civil rights movement in the 60s to see what you will find. You may choose someone fro the list below:

Margaret Block, Vernon Dahmer, Birdia Keglar, Robert Keglar, James Eddie Kegler, Edwin King, Willie Blue, Adeline Hamlet, Grafton Gray, Lucy Boyd, Amzie Moore, Victoria Gray, Margaret Walker Alexander, Medgar Evers, Charles Evers, Theodore Roosevelt Mason Howard

Day 3 Continuance of Segment

1. Results of students’ searches. Hopefully someone will have looked up the name of Birdia Keglar which will lead to the next discussion

2. Brief discussion of segment, “Dying to Vote in Mississippi (excerpts from Susan Klopfer’s (2005) “Where Rebels Roost, Mississippi Civil Rights Revisited”.

3. Guest Speaker-compare/contrast the past to the present in the Mississippi Delta (politics, economics, housing, education, etc.)

Day 4 Impact of Globalization on the Economy of the Mississippi Delta

Arguably, globalization has played an important role in the material poverty of Delta population.

Kilcullen (2009) defines globalization as “a technology–enabled process of improved communications and transportation that enables the freer movement of goods, people, money, technology, ideas, and cultures across and within international borders.”

Mississippi Delta Economy

A Brief History The Mississippi Delta is an alluvial plain which

according to the writer Paul Cohen “begins in the lobby of the Peabody Hotel in Memphis and ends on Catfish Row in Vicksburg.”

Social Challenges The Delta region is notorious for both

individual and institutional acts of racism which has impacted its economic progress.

Mississippi Delta Economy

Economic Challenges The Delta’s racial legacy, the political

disenfranchisement of African Americans and racial segregation are considered by many as contributing factors to poverty in the Delta.

Housing Challenges In this region, African Americans are less likely

to own a home than whites. Only 53% of African American householders in the Lower Mississippi Delta are homeowners. (Issues of manufactured homes in the Delta)

Day 5: James C. Cobb’s The Most Southern Place on Earth (1994)

The most famous historiographical text on the Mississippi Delta

Poverty and Creativity in the Mississippi Delta

(or) Day 5: The Transformation of Plantation Politics, Sharon Austin (2006)

Compare data tables selected in Chapters 2 and 4.

Chapter 2: “Delta Plantation Economy”Chapter 4: “Transformation of the Delta’s

Economy?”Tables on income, education, political

positions, etc. will be compared and discussed.

Day 6: Life and Death in the DeltaKim Lucy Rogers (2006)

“This book is about the life stories of African American community activists in the Mississippi Delta from 1930s through the 1990s.” pg. 2

Based on Delta Oral History Project Dickinson College of Pennsylvania and Tougaloo

College Ninety-five interviews

Major themes center on improved race relations on the one hand, and loss of tight-knit African American communities on the other.

Day 7: American Congo, Elizabeth Woodruff (2003)

Students will utilize selected book review to discuss issues presented in the text.

The text compares the Mississippi Delta to conditions found in the Congo.

Jeffries, Hasan Kwame, 1973- . (2004). American Congo: The African American Freedom Struggle in the Delta (Review). Journal of Social History 38.2 (Winter 2004): pp. 534-536.

Day 8: Pair-Share-Group-Share

Students will bring unit papers to class in order to share their results.

Students will share in pairs for 5 minutes.Students will share in groups of 4 for 10

minutes.Students will select one paper to share in

full class from each group of 4 for remainder of 50-miunute period.