 |
|
Journalists from the University of Mississippi outside the Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale.
Photo by Scott Coopwood
|
Twenty journalists from the University of Mississippi spent a day in the Delta on January 5. The group included students, faculty, and distinguished visitors. It was lead by Dr. Will Norton, dean of the Meek School of Journalism and New Media at the University of Mississippi, and also included Michael Farrell, production manager of Nebraska Educational Television; Patrick Farrell, video journalist for The New York Times; Bill Rose, a native of Shelby, and contributing editor of The Oxford Enterprise, a Coopwood Publication; and Joe Starita, associate professor in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
The tour was organized by Cleveland resident and publisher Scott Coopwood, who is an advisor to the Ole Miss School of Journalism. Dr. Luther Brown, of the Delta State Delta Center for Culture and Learning conducted the tour.
Bill Rose explained the reason for the visit: “We were in the Delta on our first trip in what we are calling The Delta Project. It’s a course conceived by Dean Will Norton and patterned after a concept he was very successful with at the University of Nebraska, which Dr. Norton turned into one of the great journalism schools in the country.” Rose also added, “The class is designed to give students the skills to probe deeply into a focused topic while also providing some serious ‘in the field’ reporting opportunities off the campus. This is the first class of this nature at Ole Miss. We began the class on Jan. 4 and the tour came on our second day of this new class. This winter and spring we will be reporting on the survival strategies in several small Delta farm towns, especially along Highway 3 and Highway 49. We’ll be in the Marks, Lambert, Sledge, Tutwiler, Sumner and Clarksdale areas looking at how towns are coming up with ways to stop the long-term deterioration and survival in an area burdened by entrenched poverty.”
The Delta Project will return to the Delta during the Ole Miss Spring Break, in March, for a full week of intensive reporting. The class will eventually publish an in-depth report in a print magazine, produce a documentary, and post their reports on several web sites. The focus of the Delta tour was the rich cultural heritage of the Mississippi Delta. Highlights included a stop at Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale, where co-owner and gubernatorial candidate Bill Luckett welcomed the group and talked about the importance of education in the Delta. The group had lunch at The Senator’s Place restaurant in Cleveland, followed by a tour of the B. B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center in Indianola. Stops were also made at the grave of Bluesman Robert Johnson, the ruined Bryant Store in Money where Emmett Till sparked the civil rights movement, and at Dockery Farms, the birthplace of the blues. The day ended with dinner in Merigold at Crawdads restaurant, followed by a night of rocking Blues provided by Terry “Big T” Williams and The Family at Po’ Monkey’s Lounge where the Ole Miss crowd mingled with another student group visiting the Delta from the University of Vermont. The Vermont group of fifteen was on a Blues tour of the region.
For more information about groups visiting the Delta or about the Delta State Delta Center for Culture and Learning, contact the Center at 662-846-4311.
