Shopping Opportunities

Rollin’ On The River Tour with Quapaw Canoe Company (optional) / Clarksdale, MS

9 AM - 3 PM

Arrive a little early to the Mississippi Delta and experience the mythical Mississippi River with John Ruskey and the Quapaw Canoe Company. Canoeing on "that lawless stream,” as Mark Twain described it, is a unique experience. You can learn more about John Ruskey, Quapaw Canoe Company, and canoeing the Mississippi in the short documentary film “River Made: Deep into The Gut of America.”

WELCOME GATHERING / REGISTRATION
CAPPS ARCHIVE & MUSEUM
4-7 PM

We will have campus parking passes for you. Feel free to park anywhere at Delta State that is an open spot.

Download a DSU campus map here.

Capps Archives is building #44 on the map.
Ewing Hall, the location for Tuesday’s meeting is building #34.

Join us at the Charles W. Capps, Jr. Archives and Museum on the campus of Delta State University to say hello to old colleagues and meet new ones. The facility serves the region as a repository for historical, political, social, and geographic documents and artifacts of importance to the region. The three-story structure houses a gallery on the first floor, archives and research area on the second, and classrooms and the Mississippi Delta Chinese Museum on the third. 

We’ll have light hors d’oeuvres and music. Come and go as you need. Dress is casual.

BB King Museum
400 2nd St, Indianola, MS 38751

The B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center tells the story of King’s life, his career, and stories of the Delta—its history and music, social mores and race relations, literature and legends, adversities and successes. You’ll find it in B.B.’s hometown of Indianola, which sits squarely in the middle of the Mississippi Delta, the land that gave birth to American music.

Theodore Roosevelt National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center
5068 Hwy 61 North
Rolling Fork, MS  39159

The story of President Theodore Roosevelt’s Delta bear hunt that served as the inspiration for the teddy bear will highlight the displays at a U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service visitor center off U.S. 61 North in the Onward community near Rolling Fork. Also shared are stories about the geography and wildlife of the south Delta. This center is brand new. Ours will be one of the first official visits to the space. 

 Driving Directions:

From Rolling Fork: Hwy 16 & Hwy 61 Intersection, travel 15 miles south on Hwy 61

From Redwood: Hwy 3, travel 18 miles north on Highway 61

From Vicksburg: travel 27 miles north on Highway 61 

Professional Development Session and Lunch
Catfish Row Museum
913 Washington St., Vicksburg, Mississippi 39180

Upon arrival in Vicksburg we will have our first professional development meeting, which will be focused on inclusive storytelling.

The discussion will be facilitated by MDNHA/National Park Service liaison Keena Graham. Graham is the Superintendent of the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument in Jackson, MS.

Vicksburg National Military Park
3201 Clay St, Vicksburg, MS 39183

Vicksburg National Military Park preserves and commemorates the site of the American Civil War Battle of Vicksburg, waged from March 29 to July 4, 1863. The park also commemorates the greater Vicksburg Campaign which led up to the battle. Reconstructed forts and trenches evoke memories of the 47-day siege that ended in the surrender of the city. Victory here and at Port Hudson, farther south in Louisiana, gave the Union control of the Mississippi River.

Rolling Fork Visitors center & Museum
352 Walnut St, Rolling Fork, MS 39159

The newly renovated Rolling Fork Visitors Center and Museum includes displays sharing the story of Teddy Roosevelt and his bear hunt that lead to the creation of the ‘Teddy Bear”, artifacts from area Native American mounds, and music by blues great Muddy Waters, who was born in Rolling Fork and still has family there. Just down the road is Mont Helena. Built atop a ceremonial Native American mound, this 1896 home overlooks the surrounding Delta fields like a queen. Helen Johnstone Harris and the Reverend George Carrol Harris were the first owners of the house. 

Dinner at Catfish Cabin 575 US-61, Boyle, MS 38730

First opening in the 1970’s, Catfish Cabin has known many names and many owners, from Catfish Kitchen to Katfish Korral. Since 2005, Catfish Cabin has been under the ownership of Tara Herrin, who proudly serves a variety of southern and Mississippi Delta staples. Music will be provided by “Prince of the Delta Blues,” Keith Johnson. In the video to the left, Johnson performs for the 2018 NEH Most Southern Place on Earth conference.

ANHA Business Meeting & Lunch Ewing Hall / Delta state university

During this period, we will gather to complete necessary ANHA business needs. This meeting will be held in Ewing Hall at the Jacob Conference Center next to the offices of the Delta Center for Culture and Learning, the MDNHA’s management entity. Coffee, water and treats will be served. Lunch will be provided. While there, be sure to check out The Delta Center’s Cast of Blues exhibit, a life cast collection of blues musicians created by artist Sharon McConnell-Dickerson.

After completing business necessities, guests will have the afternoon free to explore sites like downtown Cleveland, Dockery Farms, and the Fannie Lou Hamer Memorial Garden in Ruleville.

Happy Hour/Reception GRAMMY Museum Mississippi
800 W Sunflower Rd, Cleveland, MS 38732 6:00 PM

The 28,000 sq.ft. GRAMMY Museum Mississippi is the first GRAMMY museum outside of Los Angeles. It is  dedicated to exploring the past, present and  future of music, and the cultural context from which it emerges, while casting a focused spotlight on the deep musical roots of Mississippi. The Museum features a dynamic combination of public events, educational programming, engaging multimedia presentations, and interactive permanent and traveling exhibits.

Guests will gather here for an evening of live music, food, and drink. While we are here, we encourage you to take time to explore the museum’s exhibits.

Delta Jewel tour
Mound Bayou, Mississippi

Located along US Highway 61 in the central Mississippi Delta, Mound Bayou was at one time the nation’s largest and most self-sufficient African American town. When President Theodore Roosevelt visited the town in 1902, he proclaimed it “the Jewel of the Delta.” Mound Bayou was founded in 1887 by cousins Isaiah T. Montgomery, Joshua P. T. Montgomery, and Benjamin T. Green, all of whom were once enslaved at the Davis Bend Plantation in Warren County. Mound Bayou is home to various key African American heritage landmarks including the Taborian Hospital, one of only two hospitals for African Americans in Mississippi during the early 20th century.Other points of interest include the Delta Health Center Museum (supported by the MDNHA) and world famous Peter’s Pottery.

Civil Rights Heritage Tour of Clarksdale w/ blues lunch

About twenty years ago, Clarksdale began to reinvent itself around its deep historical connection to the blues. Today, the town has built a substantial tourist economy upon that connection and has become a destination point for travelers from around the world. In addition, an increasing number of artists, musicians, creatives, and social entrepreneurs are moving to the area and claiming it as home. 

Emmett Till Interpretive Center 
120 N Court St, Sumner, MS 38957

Established in 2006, the Emmett Till Memorial Commission, made up of a multi-racial group of citizens, realized that in order to properly remember and honor Emmett Till they needed to first break the silence and acknowledge institutional injustices surrounding the Till murder trial. In 2007, the Commission offered a formal apology and delivered the apology to the Till Family in a public ceremony in front of the Sumner Courthouse. Now the Emmett Till Interpretive Center exists to tell the story of the Emmett Till tragedy and point a way towards racial healing. The Center is leading the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Park Campaign.

Emmett Till Intrepid Center
235 Thomas St, Glendora, MS 38928

The Emmett Till Historic Intrepid Center is a community-driven museum with exhibits about Till’s life and death and the Civil Rights Movement in Glendora. The center is housed in the gin from which Till’s killers took the fan and wire used to weigh down Till’s body before throwing it into the Tallahatchie River.

Dinner at Mississippi Valley State University
R.W. Harrison HPER Complex
Itta Bena, MS

We complete our day with a Delta appreciation dinner at Mississippi Valley State University, home of the B.B. King Day Symposium and other MDNHA-supported projects. Established in 1950, it is one of six historically black colleges and universities in Mississippi.

Professional Development Session
Tutwiler Community Education Center
301 Hancock St, Tutwiler, MS 38963

We will have our second professional development meeting at the Tutwiler Community Center, home of the Tutwiler Quilters. This sessions will continue our conversation about inclusive storytelling and community-based tourism development with a special focus on Civil Rights heritage in the Mississippi Delta. This event will be facilitated by Dr. Déanda Johnson, National Park Service Civil Rights Historian for the Southeast Region.

Site visit to Emmett Till marker

To conclude our week, those wanting to visit the recently erected Emmett Till marker - the bulletproof version because of consistent violence towards previous markers - will caravan to the remote site along the banks of the Tallahatchie River. We will travel there using cars.

This will be the official end of the ANHA Spring Meeting, although there are several exciting events occurring in the region over the weekend for those who choose to stay a little longer.

Anyone wishing to stay in the Mississippi Delta through the weekend will find ample opportunity to revisit sites from the week, explore others from the MDNHA Top 40 Places to Visit in the Mississippi Delta website, or experience two of the Mississippi Delta’s renowned cultural festivals: Juke Joint Festival in Clarksdale and Crosstie Arts & Jazz Festival in Cleveland.

Crosstie Arts & Jazz Festival is a celebration of arts, culture, and music in the Cleveland, MS that has been growing for over 50 years.

On its 19th year Juke Joint Festival in Clarksdale, MS is “half blues festival, half small-town fair and all about the Delta.”