StoryCorps

The Mississippi Story

Posted by Yazmín in Jackson, Mississippi on April 16, 2011.

Community Partners: Mississippi Museum of Art

The Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson, Mississippi is one of 10 museums and libraries awarded with the 2010 National Medal for Museum and Library Services. StoryCorps Facilitator John White and I made the trip south to provide the museum with one part of their reward: three Door-to-Door recording days.

We had a great time wandering inside the museum during our lunch hour, lucky to enjoy its many exhibits, like The Orient Expressed and Breach of Peace: Portraits of the 1961 Freedom Riders. But while walking the halls of The Mississippi Story, an ongoing exhibit, we got a surprise: Hanging on the wall was the portrait of one of our own participants, called “Tee.”

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Griots gone wild in the Delta

Posted by Brianna in Clarksdale, Mississippi on October 29, 2007.

John, Brianna, Michelle, Steven

Facilitator John White (far left) has got the blues, knowing he and fellow facilitator Michelle Swinehart (second from right) will transition off the tour in just a few days. The Mississippi leg of our journey was almost over. Before that however, we spent a little time jukin’ at Clubland 2000, Ground Zero Blues Club and generally taking in all of the sights, sounds and stories of Clarksdale, Mississippi.

Ground Zero in the Delta

Posted by John in Clarksdale, Mississippi on October 19, 2007.

Jukin’ with co-facilitator Brianna Hyneman at Ground Zero, the blues joint owned by actor and Delta native Morgan Freeman.

Where the Blues is born

Posted by webmaster@storycorps.net in Clarksdale, Mississippi on October 12, 2007.

Even the kids learn to play the blues at the Delta Blues Musuem.

A StoryCorps star

Posted by Brianna in Vicksburg, Mississippi on October 3, 2007.

Community Partners: Vicksburg Senior Center

A Vicksburg native and co-director of the city’s only African American history and culture museum, The Jacqueline House, community partner liaison Yolande Robbins single-handedly planned five full days of interviews for the Griot D2D team’s visit.

THANK YOU MS. YOLANDE!!!

A little southern hospitality

Posted by Steven in Vicksburg, Mississippi on September 27, 2007.

Community Partners: Vicksburg Senior Center

Griot Door-to-Door’s first stop in Ole’ Miss was Vicksburg. The Confederate flag greets you as you enter this historic Civil War city. With generous help from Ms. Yolande Robbins (center), founder of The Jacqueline House, we fearlessly forged ahead – collecting many stories and histories from this slowly evolving town.

Going to Graceland

Posted by Michelle in Holly Springs, Mississippi on September 26, 2007.

After preparing the Booth in Holly Springs, we splurged for a tour of Graceland in nearby Memphis. StoryCorps facilitators John White and Michelle Swinehart stand alongside their fearless leader, Griot’s Senior Coordinator Jennifer Carr. Snapped before the launch of the tour stop, this picture exhibits our extreme excitement.

Walking through Graceland, we experienced many moments of inspiration along the way…

Big night in Little Rock

Posted by Michelle in Holly Springs, Mississippi on September 25, 2007.

By September 24th, the GriotBooth team completed our road trip from Oakland, CA to Holly Springs, MS with a quick detour in Little Rock, AK. By chance, we happened on a beautiful southern sunset and celebration for the 50th anniversary of the Little Rock Nine.

Goodnight and Goodbye

Posted by webmaster@storycorps.net in Jackson, Mississippi on February 5, 2007.

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Nick and Alex finished up their time in Jackson at a bon-fire weenie roast hosted by one of their most dedicated participants, Jody Gore. There was music, s’mores and 20ft bamboo poles for roasting the weenies. Later they visited the home of two participants, Lucky and Debi Osborne, and they were each given bullets shot by Confederate Soldiers during the Civil War. That last night, plus the 930 Blues Club, fried pickles, copious amounts of catfish, and lots of great interviews will provide the facilitators with wonderful memories of their time in Mississippi.

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Participant Doreene McCoy, featured in an earlier blog with her sister, Evelyn Palmour, stops by to wish the facilitators fare well.

James Meredith

Posted by webmaster@storycorps.net in Jackson, Mississippi on January 28, 2007.

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We noticed several themes that reoccurred in many of our interviews in Jackson, MS. One of these themes was racial segregation and integration. Many participants who came into the booth relayed their personal experiences of the Civil Rights era, whether they were activists or students affected by desegregation. One of the participants was James Meredith, the man who integrated the University of Mississippi (‘Ole Miss). Meredith initiated The March against Fear that started in Memphis, Tennessee, and finished in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1966. This march is also known as “The James Meredith March.” Mr. Meredith is pictured above with his interview partner and fellow ‘Ole Miss graduate, Leannna Range Owens.

Mr. Meredith’s grandaughter, waiting outside the recording booth, listened in.

Chicken!

Posted by webmaster@storycorps.net in Jackson, Mississippi on January 24, 2007.

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Having come to StoryCorps to interview his mother, Mr. Keyes Hayes invited us to have lunch at the Chick-fil-A he owns and operates. Standing here in front of an advertisement in the restautant are Alex Wright, Nick Pumilia, and Keyes Hayes.

The Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life

Posted by webmaster@storycorps.net in Jackson, Mississippi on January 23, 2007.

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Three interviews were conducted thanks to the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life. Participants talked about many things, including growing up in Mississippi, their childhood understanding of the Holocaust taking place in Europe, and whether or not they felt and/or were treated differently because of their religion. Pictured above are Beatrice Gotthelf, a life-long resident of Jackson, MS, and Stuart Rockoff, a historian with the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life.

On faith

Posted by webmaster@storycorps.net in Jackson, Mississippi on January 21, 2007.

Pictured above are Melvin Jones, right, and his friend Ross Olivier. Mr. Olivier is a Methodist pastor from South Africa, and was an active participant in the anti-Apartheid movement there. In the StoryCorps MobileBooth, Mr. Olivier described his spiritual awakening and the difficult transformation South Africa has undergone. He now lives in Jackson, Mississippi, and is the senior pastor at Galloway United Methodist Church, in downtown Jackson.

A pair of lovely ladies

Posted by webmaster@storycorps.net in Jackson, Mississippi on January 15, 2007.

Alex and the ladies
Ms. Doreene McCoy, age 83, brought her sister, Ms. Evelyn I. Palmour, 84, into the booth on Sunday the 14th, so the two could “visit with each other.” Ms. Palmour, who lives in Oklahoma, is in Jackson, Mississippi for the month of January. The two covered topics such as catching jumbo-sized catfish and the importance of giving three compliments a day. They ended the interview by debating “environmentally friendly” cremation vs. “old-fashioned” burial. Alex and Nick look foward to spending more time with them at their family weenie-roast.

Mr. James Powell

Posted by webmaster@storycorps.net in Jackson, Mississippi on January 14, 2007.

Before he left us to our own devices, Terry Scott, our Moblie coordinator, introduced us to his friend Jocelyn Luckett and her uncle, James Powell. Last night James graciously welcomed the two of us into his home, showing us his collection of African American art, taking us through the history of his legendary Afro – Centric home (featured in Home and Garden magazine) and feeding us great West-African-inspired southern food. Over dinner, James and Alex were suprised to find out they had a few friends in common. Alex is orignally from South Carolina, and James has spent time in St. Helena, South Carolina, doing research on Gullah culture in the area. Some of his good friends from there, Emery and Emma Campbell, have known Alex since she was a little girl.

Into the South

Posted by webmaster@storycorps.net in Jackson, Mississippi on .

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StoryCorps MobileBooth East has arrived in Jackson, Mississippi.
Facilitators Alexandria Wright and Nick Pumilia have been exploring the city, and the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum, featured here in the background.

Houses, trailers, tents

Posted by webmaster@storycorps.net in Gulfport, Mississippi on December 9, 2005.

Even though so many of their neighborhoods look like this street in Biloxi, MS, most of the Mississipians we talk to are clear on one point: they will rebuild. But aside from waiting on endless lines to get the right paperwork and endless telephone calls to their insurance companies, one of the major challenges is figuring out where to live in the meantime.

While wandering around Biloxi, MS one day, we came upon a merry group of neighbors having a visit on the front porch of a tidy but gutted house. With help from volunteers, they were able to clear out the debris from their house, throwing nearly everything away save a bed frame and a dresser. They feel lucky that the structure remains intact. And though the porch remains suitible for afternoon chats, they are living in a FEMA trailer parked in their driveway.

Most people are living in FEMA trailers, small mobile homes from 13 feet long to 21 feet long (depending on the size of your family). Buddy, the affable security guard at the Prime Outlets mall where the booth is parked has been living with his roommate in an 18 foot trailer which, he says, "is getting smaller everyday." One woman we talked to was living in an 21 foot trailer with her husband and three teenage boys–all of whom are taller than she is.

We visited Tom and his sweet dog inside his FEMA trailer. Tom’s house was at the bottom of a dead end street. He rode the storm out in his house. When it was over, he found that nearly all of his neighbors possesions had wound up in his front yard. On the small table in his trailer are three or four handguns and twice that many watches along with other odds and ends he was able to salvage. He said that after the storm the end of his street was clogged with all sorts of debris, cars, boats–even some bodies.

Some people haven’t been able to get the FEMA trailers so they have resorted to living in tents. For most people, their property is all they have left–even if there is nothing on it. Many are still paying mortgages on houses that no longer exist.

The Isle of Capri

Posted by webmaster@storycorps.net in Gulfport, Mississippi on December 5, 2005.

We’re staying at the Isle of Capri Hotel and Casino in Biloxi, MS, one of the few hotels still standing along highway 90. It’s a odd privilege to be staying right in the middle of one of the hardest hit areas. Closed off to most of the public, we are required to go through a military checkpoint before driving up the empty highway to the Isle of Capri. On our left are battered hotels–the Beau Rivage, the Hard Rock Hotel, Casino Magic–on the right, where there used to be old ante-bellum houses and beachfront homes, are sets of stairs leading to piles of debris. It’s an eerie sight, the daily dose of which has become an important part of how we’re coming to understand this storm and it’s impact.

Above, is a view from Facilitator Nick Yulman’s hotel room. You can see across the highway what little is left of the neighborhood–a community of fisherman, mostly shrimpers, many Vietnamese–that once surrounded these hotels.

Because of off-shore gambling laws, the hotels built their casinos on large barges. The force of the hurricane took three of those barges (as big as hotels themselves) and carried them across the highway. The Isle of Capri’s casino disappeared without a trace. Above, you can see one of those barges being dismantled by wrecking crews.

The Isle of Capri, closed to the general public, is teeming with FEMA and EPA employees as well as builders, electricians, plumbers, and anyone else needed to renovate the damaged hotel in order to re-open later this month. One hotel employee, Rocco Asencio and his wife Terri came to the StoryBooth to talk about their hurricane experience.

Gulfport, MS and Hurricane Katrina

Posted by webmaster@storycorps.net in Gulfport, Mississippi on December 1, 2005.

We weren’t sure what to expect when we pulled into Gulfport, MS. Three months after Hurricane Katrina tore through the Mississippi Gulf Coast, destroying 90 miles of coastline, it was hard to imagine what kind of stop this would be for StoryCorps. Would people be ready to talk about their experiences? And if they were, would they be willing to find the time in their already upside down lives to come share their stories? Fortunately, it seems like there is a real desire among these Mississipians to put on the record exactly what happened here and how it’s changed their lives.

Mississippi Public Broadcasting has made it possible for us to set up in the parking lot of the Prime Outlets mall at the intersection of two major roads. It’s important that we are located in a place that is easy for people to access. Many of the roads are still closed and those that are still open are often without street signs or clogged with traffic. Above, highway 90, the major coastal highway, is completely closed.

While so much has changed on the Gulf, the sunsets are still beautiful. But even bathed in pink light, the bulldozer on the beach and the scattered remnants of a pier are reminders of how much has changed here.

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