What’s the Delta? Webster defines the delta as land located at the mouth of a river. Well, that’s not where I live. Science calls this place an alluvial plain. No, that ain’t it either. My Delta is much more. The Delta is home. From Memphis to Vicksburg. It’s a land of music and farming. Shaped and molded from the Mississippi River. A people fattened by the greasy and artery stopping food we love so much. A land full of contradictions, where mansions stand next to shacks. The Civil War marked us, and so did the Civil Rights Movement. Cash and B.B. were born here. Two Kings, Martin and Elvis, died here. Blues, Country and Rock stand with Rap and Gospel as how we speak. Life has always been a gamble in the Delta and, in turn, the Delta has embraced gambling. Casinos, hotels and golf courses cozy up to cotton fields and juke joints. Take a trip down Highway One or Sixty One and it’s like traveling through history and time. Both Heaven and Hell in the rear view mirror. Salvation just out front. Marks, Helena, Clarksdale, Elaine, Friars Point, and Marianna. Places steeped in history, forgotten and remembered. Race has both divided and united us. Our shared wish to be somewhere else. Our shared dream to make this place better. Our shared history of hardship and triumph. Fighting nature and ourselves, sometimes at the same time. That’s us. It’s the blood in our veins. It’s the sweat on our brow. The Delta is like the dark gumbo mud that gets in between your toes and under your nails. You just can’t get it out. You try and try. Finally you just give up and live with the mud. That’s my Delta.
King Biscuit Blues Festival at the DCC Cherry Street Pavilion. Blues come to life every year in this legendary festival.
Museums like the Delta Cultural Center of Helena and the Museum of the Mississippi Delta at Greenwood honor this special place.
National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis. A place of Remembrance.
Life is a gamble in the Delta. Casinos are now up and down the river.
The Delta goes on and on. Thats My Delta.
