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Delta Blues Symposium IX:
Defining the Delta
Film Series, March 24-27:
Monday, 24 March
7:30 PM - Film: Journey to Little Rock: The Untold Journey of Minnijean Brown Trickey
(Museum 182)
Tuesday, 25 March
7:30 PM - Film: Freedom on My Mind: The Black Freedom Struggle in Mississippi
(Museum 182)
Wednesday, 26 March
7:30 - Film: At the River I Stand: The '68 Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike
(Museum 182)
Thursday, 27 March
1:30-3:00 PM - Arkansas Blues Panel, moderated by JoBeth Briton, University of Arkansas at Little Rock (Museum 157).
Lee Anthony
Willie Cobbs
Thomas Houston Jones
4:00-5:00 PM - Play: Graceland, a one-act play by Ellen Byron. Presented by the ASU Theatre, directed by Molly Simpson, Arkansas State University (The Black Box Experimental Theatre, Fowler Center)
7:30-9:00 PM - Delta Blues Concert, featuring CeDell Davis; opening act: Rob Nasatir and Dean Masullo (The Drama Theatre, Fowler Center). Emceed by Richard Burns. Presented in association with the Lecture-Concert Series.
Friday, 28 March
8-10:15 AM - Concurrent Sessions
1. Delta Literature and Blues Literature, moderated by Michael Spikes (Museum 182)
"Egypt and Faulkner's Colonized Delta" - Taylor Hagood (University of Mississippi)
"The Masked Narrative: Masking Political Agendas in Southern Literature" - P. Cameron Klein (Arkansas State University)
(15-minute intermission)
"Defining American Tragedy: The Ghosts of the Delta" - Wayne Narey (Arkansas State University)
"Representing the Delta in the Blues Novel: The Example of J. J. Phillips' Mojo Hand" - Andrew J. Scheiber (University of St. Thomas)
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2. The Blues, moderated by Michael Nash (Museum 157)
"Jinx All Around My Bed: How Blues Songs Signify on the Primal Lynching Scene" - Adam Gussow (University of Mississippi)
"'Old, New, Borrowed & Blue': Saffire and the Tradition of Uppity Women's Blues" - Maria Johnson (Southern Illinois University)
(15-minute intermission)
"The Distinctive Delta Sound: The Blues Guitarist's Tool Kit" - Mary E. "Lane" Wilkins (University of Memphis)
"De-fining (de-limiting) the Delta: A Medieval 'Bluesman'" - Anthony Nicastro (Williams College)
10:30-12:00 PM - Panel: What Is the Delta? A Heritage Studies Perspective, moderated by Clyde Milner, director of Heritage Studies Ph.D. Program (Museum 157)
David Evans (University of Memphis)
Jeannie Whayne (University of Arkansas)
Tom Williams, Arkansas State University
1:30-3:00 PM - Concurrent Sessions
1. Delta Institutions and Organizations, moderated by Brady Banta (Museum 182)
"Their Voices, Their Faces: Expressions and Perceptions of the Southern Tenant Farmer's Union" - Thom Copeland (Cossatot Community College)
"The Lower Mississippi Delta Development Commission: Catalyst for Delta Definition and Development" - Clarence Wright (Arkansas State University)
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2. Collaborating to Document a Blues Community: Serendipity, Methodology, Result, and Rewards - Roger Wood (Houston Community College) and James Fraher (Chicago, Illinois) (Museum 157). Introduced by Tom Williams
3:15-4:15 PM - Concurrent sessions
1. Readings from Tributary (Museum 157)
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2. Film: The Black Experience in the Arkansas Delta - Mary Jackson Pitts and Nicole Smith (Arkansas State University) (Museum 182). Introduced by June Taylor
4:30-5:30 PM - Featured Lecture: "Memory and Sense of Place in the Delta," - William R. Ferris (University of North Carolina). Introduced by Les Wyatt, President of ASU (Museum 157). Presented in association with the Heritage Studies Ph.D. Program and the Office of the President
8:00-9:00 PM - Fiction Reading: Beverly Lowry (George Mason University). Introduced by Susan Allen, Vice-Chancellor for Research and Academic Affairs of ASU (The Grand Hall, Fowler Center)
Saturday, 29 March
8-10:15 AM - Concurrent Sessions
1. People in the Delta, moderated by Carol O'Connor (Museum 157)
"Holt Collier: His Life, His Roosevelt Hunts, and the Origin of the Teddy Bear" - Minor Ferris Buchanan (Jackson, Mississippi)
"'I Was the Delivery Boy. I Went to Memphis and Took Everybody's Order': Traveling the 'Jewish' Road in the Mississippi and Arkansas Delta" - Marcie Cohen Ferris (George Washington University
(15-minute intermission)
"Italian Immigrants in the Delta Between 1880 and 1914: Their Story Between Folklore and History" - Francesca Muccini (Arkansas State University).
"The Mysteries of Robert Johnson" - Douglas Robillard and Patricia Robillard (University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff)
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2. Research and Methodological Approaches to Integrating the African American Experiences in the Delta into Regional and National Contexts, moderated by William H. Wiggins Jr. (Museum 182)
"Using Focus Groups and Individual Interviews to Develop Strategies to Help African American Small-Scale Operators in the Mississippi Delta Succeed in Agribusiness" - Valerie Grim (Indiana University)
"The Economic Status of Blacks in the Rural South: Continuous Struggles of African Americans in the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta in the Post-Civil Rights Era" - Byron Thomas (Indiana University)
(15-minute intermission)
"Environmental and Health Factors Affecting the Social Welfare Status of African Americans in the Delta: Considerations for Public and Social Politics" - Keon Gilbert (Indiana University)
"Understanding Experiences of Some African American Families in the Yazoo Mississippi Delta Through Interaction: How Aspects of Ethnographical Approaches Can Provide Invaluable Meaning to the Interpretation of Family and Community in Some Black Communities" - Claudia Drieling (Indiana University)
Commentator: Frederick McElroy (Indiana University)
8:30-10:45 AM - Concurrent Workshops (limited to pre-selected participants)
1. Fiction Workshop: Beverly Lowry (George Mason University)
(pre-registration required--click here for more information)
2. Poetry Workshop: Dick Lourie (University of Massachusetts)
(pre-registration required--click here for more information)
10:30-12:00 PM - Panel: What Is the Delta? An Environmental Science Perspective, moderated by Jerry Farris, director of Environmental Sciences Ph.D. Program (Museum 157)
Charlie Cooper, United States Department of Agriculture
Jack Grabaugh, University of Memphis
Billy Justus, United States Geological Survey
1:30-3:45 PM - Concurrent Sessions
1. Delta and Other Musics, moderated by Gregory Hansen (Museum 157)
"Jim Dickinson: A Creator of the Memphis Scene" - Jim Baird (University of North Texas)
"Growing Up Too Fast: Sexual Imagery in Children's Songs" - Alan Brown (University of West Alabama)
"Fried Fish, Sloppy Kisses, Gin, and the Sax: How Archetypal Arkansas Musician Louis Jordan Defined Every Aspect of the Expanding Universe" - Rebecca Baney Lewis (Clarkridge, Arkansas)
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2. Delta Blues and Delta Poetry, moderated by Victoria Spaniol (Museum 182)
Poetry Reading - Jeffrey Clapp (Dutchess Community College)
"From Homer to Howlin' Wolf: A Poet Looks at the Blues" - Dick Lourie (University of Massachusetts)
"Writing the Delta" - Gordon Osing (University of Memphis)
3:15-4:45 PM - Featured Presentation: Journey to Little Rock, Minnijean Brown Trickey (Little Rock, Arkansas), introduced by Calvin Smith, Distinguished Professor of Heritage Studies, ASU (Museum 182)
8:00-9:00 PM - Delta Composers, presented by the Department of Music (Riceland Hall, Fowler Center)
"Disappearing Delta," an exhibit of photographs by Curtis Duncan, will be in the Arkansas State University Museum from 3 March to 6 April.