DELTA JEWELS

Alysia Burton Steele

By Sha’ Simpson

Arriving in the South, Alysia Burton Steele had every stereotypical reservation imaginable. Building a career in photojournalism in Texas, Georgia and Ohio, Steele landed in Oxford, Mississippi, after being hired as a professional-in-residence at the University of Mississippi in 2012.

“Quite frankly, I was afraid to come down here. My vision of the South was “Mississippi Burning.” After settling in the city of Oxford, Steele and her husband Bobby began to venture out, traveling Mississippi roads. Riding Highway 6 and Interstate 55 for the first time, Steele was surrounded by cotton, one of the economic staples of the Mississippi Delta. Pulling over on the side of the road, Steele meandered through the cotton fields taking photos. Seeing and feeling the soft, white, fibrous substance and reminiscing about its history left her intrigued. Overwhelming questions about her ancestors’ pasts began to flood her mind. “I began to wonder about my grandmother’s life growing up in South Carolina, the struggle, the pain, what she would think of me being in the South.”

More than 20 years after Steele’s grandmother Althenia Burton died of colon cancer, her new found home in the South brought about a swarm of unanswered questions that stung.

“Immediately after graduating, my grandmother moved north to Pennsylvania,” Steele said. “I wondered why, and I realized I couldn’t

pick up the phone and call her, and that hurt me.”

With the painful lack of knowledge and unanswered questions about her grandmother in her heart and mind, Steele embarked on a journey to find peace and comfort.

Far beyond the white thickets of cotton that kept the towns of the Delta alive, lived people who provided the ultimate form of sustenance for the community.

At the beginning of her journey, one of the first places Steele stopped was Mound Bayou, Mississippi. Freed slaves founded the town of roughly 2,000 people in 1887 as an independent African American community. Many significant civil rights leaders and evangelists such as Medgar Evers, Fannie Lou Hamer, Harold Robert Perry and Myrlie Evers-Williams worked within Mound Bayou to create a social refuge amongst a violently segregated Mississippi. However, once those movers and shakers of social equality migrated elsewhere, a powerful group was left behind to carry on.

In the small churches of rural Delta communities lived church mothers. They could be found in the kitchens of fellowship halls feeding congregations, in the pews adjusting their dainty hats, waving fans to stifle the sticky Delta heat and prodding young children to pay attention during Sunday school.

In search of her grandmother’s wisdom, Steele sought out these church mothers in hopes of finding solace.

One of the first people Steele reached out to was the Rev. Andrew Hawkins of Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church in Mound Bayou. Hawkins was instrumental in aiding Steele with several contacts and providing invaluable knowledge about the Delta and its jewels, the church mothers.

“I’ve grown up around these church mothers, and they play a very important role, not only in the church, but also in the community,” Hawkins said. “They are well-respected, dignified, virtuous women that provide a wealth of spiritual knowledge and history.”

After conversations with Hawkins, Steele was eager and ready to not only photograph the contemporaries of her grandmother, but also interview and retell their powerful stories.

“I wanted a group of women who had lived through picking that cotton in the sweltering heat, sipped from the colored-only fountain, lived through the Jim Crow era. I wanted them to share insight and history that would never be found in history books,” said Steele.

Venturing down Delta highways 49, 82 and 278, Steele spent countless hours photographing and listening to the stories of her elders over a span of nine months. Though many were excited to be photographed, Steele had to coerce a handful.

“When Mrs. Steele first contacted me, I was not interested at all,” recounted 75-year-old Herma Mims Floyd of Sumner, Mississippi. “I didn’t want to have nothing to do with no book.”

Despite Mrs. Floyd’s stubborn hesitation, Steele was persistent in her pursuit of Floyd’s story and photograph.

“After a little prodding, I finally gave in and I tell you, it was just the best thing,” said Floyd. “I’m so very proud I decided to do it.”

Not only have the stories and photographs thrilled all 54 of the women featured in the book, they also have touched the lives of their families.

“My sons Tracy and Jerome are just so proud of me, and I am just flattered,” said Floyd. “They are just overjoyed with Mrs. Steele’s work and my cooperation with the book. It’s just such an honor.”

On Steele’s quest to find peace she gained over 50 grandmothers and a host of brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews. Along with familial bonds, Steele heard countless stories of pain, heartache, endurance, happiness and growth.

“All I set out to do was find peace within me, clarity within me and this project just took a life of its own,” said Steele.

Throughout the process Steele has created unbreakable bonds with the jewels and their families.

One of the last interviews featured in the book is an intimate story of Juanita Reid Virdure, the granddaughter of Mrs. Albertine Reid. Mrs. Albertine Reid passed away at the age of 105 before she could be interviewed by Steele. Paying homage to her grandmother, Mrs. Virdure sat down and had an instant connection with Steele.

“Once she asked the first question, there was never a period,” said Virdure. “I feel like we connected as if we were family, and she felt my grandmother through me.”

The stories of these women have helped to bring families closer and to give Steele closure.

“Alysia was able to feel my grandmother through me, which in turn connected her to hers,” said Virdue. Growing up she missed out on asking questions and those same questions have haunted her for years. I think through the stories of the women, she was able to gain some of that back.”

The 192-page hardback book entitled “Delta Jewels: In search of my Grandmother’s Wisdom” was released April 7, 2015.

Steele’s life will never be the same.

“It wasn’t anything in particular the women said. I was simply making peace that I had never interviewed my grandmother. Making peace that I told other women’s stories and brought them to life,” said Steele.

Because of Steele’s honoring the legacy of her grandmother, the stories of these jewels will live forever.

“And that is the ultimate peace.”

The author is a 2014 Meek School graduate.

Mrs. Lillie Roberts, 84, of Coffeeville, was the first black to register to vote in Water Valley, Miss. She passed the test, and said she braved the fear and intimidation and walked inside the courthouse to vote. After she passed the test, her husband opened the truck door for her. She said it was the first time she felt like somebody.

Mrs. Mary Young’s husband was the first black police officer for Drew, Miss., in 1967. Her husband was trying to prevent a shooting and another officer accidentally shot him. He was killed on her birthday in 1972. She’s 93 years old and said she remembers him on every birthday.