American Historical Association Grant - Final Report

The Mt. Zion Memorial Fund FOR

BLUES, MUSIC, AND JUSTICE

22 County Road 422 Water Valley, MS 38965

Final Report

American Historical Association – SHARP GRANT

Goals

The primary goals of our project were 1) to build a new website for the organization to drive more substantive community engagement, 2) create a WebAtlas of African American Cultural Heritage Resources in Lowndes, Carroll, and Bolivar Counties, and 3) erect several memorials in African American cemeteries to better facilitate their long-term maintenance in the future.

In the first six months, we 1) redesigned our new Wordpress website and curated numerous digital exhibitions about our previous efforts to prevent the erasure of African American cemeteries through participatory memorialization. We also 2) purchased a one-year non-profit license to ArcGIS Online, developed several surveys in ArcGIS Survey 123 to gather data about African American cemeteries, and used ArcGIS Experience Builder to display the data in a publicly accessible WebAtlas. 3) We worked collaboratively with the congregation at Shiloh MB Church in Ashland to design and install the headstone of Nathan Beauregard in the adjacent cemetery the culmination of over five years of community-engaged research by a host of blues enthusiasts, filmmaker Augusta Palmer, and blues artist Joe Beard, who knew and learned from Beauregard.

In the final six months, we 1) published numerous blog posts/digital exhibitions on our new website detailing our research methods and community engagement process to maximize the transparency of our work. We also 2) spent several weeks at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History digitizing microfiche death certificates from 1912-1945 and transcribing the names of cemeteries in our target counties. We 3) collected data about over 400 cemeteries and added it to our WebAtlas. We 4) brought in a specialist in GIS spatial analysis, revised our input surveys, and redesigned our WebAtlas experience. And, in June, we 5) dedicated two memorials in endangered African American cemeteries one for 1920s recording artist Jim Jackson in Hernando, MS and the other at St. James MB Church Cemetery in Avalon, MS.

This grant from the American Historical Association has made a monumental impact on the historic preservation of African American cemeteries in Mississippi. It has also proven transformative for the MZMF, allowing us to complete our participatory memorialization projects, which serve as our primary method of historic preservation, and providing the foundations for our WebAtlas project that we plan to expand through grant funding to every county in the state.

Website

First, we had established our reputation since 1989 by working with the descendants of blues artists and African American church communities to install 25 memorials in Mississippi and Memphis, Tennessee, and we had promoted our research and historic preservation initiatives on our Blogger website, https://mtzionmemorialfund.blogspot.com/

Since beginning this project, we worked with two web designers, TM Garret and Samavia Afzal, to design our new website in Wordpress - https://mtzionmemorialfund.com/ - and create a WebAtlas of African American Cultural Heritage Resources in Lowndes, Carroll, and Bolivar Counties in ArcGIS.

The redesign and curation of digital exhibitions in Wordpress was no small undertaking, and I am not sure if we understood the amount of time and resources required for such an undertaking in the beginning, but we are now acutely aware of what it takes to get this done. I cannot stress enough how grateful we are to have received your support for this project, and I am proud to explain in detail what we managed to put together over the past six months.

1. We curated new pages for each of the 25 memorials we had previously installed since 1989, and we designed a digital exhibition showcasing our memorials pages on the website. You can view the main exhibition page at this LINK and you can click on photos of each memorial to navigate on and read the memorial narratives for each project.

2. We designed a new page on our main menu to encourage stakeholders to get involved in our project - https://mtzionmemorialfund.com/get-involved/

a. This page contains links to several other pages that encourage stakeholders to participate in our work in one of several ways.

b. County Affiliates Program - To discover more information about resources in other counties and map them as well, we established the County Af�iliates Program. Building upon our existing practice of supporting local volunteers in their research efforts, we intend to expand our online platform for volunteers and supporters to share their research and stories with the larger community -

https://mtzionmemorialfund.com/become-a-county-representative/

c. Online Support Portal - By answering a few questions in this online portal, potential collaborators can help us �igure out the best way to assist them moving forward. We might offer technical assistance or put them in contact with someone who can provide assistance. We hope to establish a community of support for preservationists and activists. Dialogue and discussion remain effective tools for successful collaboration.

https://mtzionmemorialfund.com/online-support-portal/

d. Tell Us Your Story – We developed this survey in ArcGIS Survey 123 to allow stakeholders and collaborators in the community to contribute to the Blues Communities Project & Research Study from the comfort of their own homes

https://mtzionmemorialfund.com/tellusyourstory/

3. Research Blog – We also established our new research blog to document our work on this grant project and share our discoveries and progress with stakeholders.

https://mtzionmemorialfund.com/blog/blogmain/

4. We designed another new page on our main menu to encourage stakeholders to get involved in our WebAtlas - https://mtzionmemorialfund.com/webatlas/

a. This page contains links to several other pages about our WebAtlas.

b. What is the Blues Communities Project? – This page sits inside the “Blues Atlas” dropdown, and it explains the project to our stakeholders -

https://mtzionmemorialfund.com/what-is-the-blues-communities-project/

c. WebAtlas 1.1 – This is the link to the revised WebAtlas experience, and it contains the exact locations and other information about cemeteries in Bolivar, Carroll, Washington, and Lowndes counties.

https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/37bbbcb103554d05bd921ecf2c3d0d0b

d. WebAtlas Data Entry Survey – This survey is offered to our field researchers so that they can input data into the WebAtlas. https://mtzionmemorialfund.com/webatlasdata-entry-survey/

WEBATLAS

We worked with GIS specialist Michael Garet Madison to redesign our WebAtlas, which now contains an estimated 400 burial grounds across a four-county area.

Shannon Evans worked with librarians in Bolivar, Carroll, Washington, and Lowndes County to uncover additional African American cemeteries. A librarian in Carroll County shared a list of 110 abandoned, neglected, and overlooked burial sites that was created by a genealogist in 2005. I am slowly accumulating the GPS coordinates and accessibility of these sites in order to add them over the next week to WebAtlas. She also acquired the burial records of an African American funeral home in Lowndes County, which has been in continuous operation since 1900. The funeral home records contain the name of over 500 people from 1900-1999. The information is currently being sorted and compared to existing information and cemetery listings to determine the locations and accessibility of now abandoned or destroyed/desecrated burial sites.

Below is a rack card we designed for distribution that shows people how to add data to the WebAtlas.

THE RESEARCH BLOG

CoreyCrowder’sblogpostsaboutorganizationalactivitiesprovidestakeholder’saglimpseinside the inner workings of the organization during the grant period. As part of our grant from the AHA, we hoped to enhance the transparency of our work through regular blogging.

March 25 – “Ful�illing the Mission”

https://mtzionmemorialfund.com/2023/03/fulfilling-the-mission/

May 13 – “Building Connections”

https://mtzionmemorialfund.com/2023/05/buildingconnections/

June 24 – “Closing the Grant”

https://mtzionmemorialfund.com/2023/06/closing-the-aha-grant/

Abdul Ajibola composed a blog post about his work digitizing death certificates at MDAH, which demonstrates the significant potential of future similar efforts in the future to discover the names of lost or eradicated African American burial grounds. We have not located a great many of the cemeteries discovered in his research, but his work proved invaluable to our efforts on this project.

https://mtzionmemorialfund.com/2022/11/weekatmdah/

Shannon Evans composed a series of blog posts about her field and archival research, which caused quite a stir among the contemporary white elites in Columbus. In fact, Shannon was dis-invited from an opportunity to speak at the local historical society following the publication of two blog posts about African Americans buried in Sand�ield Cemetery, the historic African American cemetery in Columbus. On January 29, 2023, her post “Robert Gleed: Black Power and White Violence in Lowndes County,” examined the white supremacist violence and turmoil that plagued the political career of Robert Gleed, an African American politician from Lowndes County who served as Senator and Columbus Alderman during Reconstruction.

https://mtzionmemorialfund.com/2023/01/robert-gleed-black-power-white-violence-in-lowndescounty/

Shannon’s next post, “William Isaac Mitchell: Resource Hoarding and Respectability in Columbus,” examined the struggle for education for African Americans after the Civil War in Lowndes County, and she highlighted the politics of respectability embraced by William Isaac Mitchell, an African American educator and community leader who served as principal of Union Academy from 1878 until his death in 1916.

https://mtzionmemorialfund.com/2023/01/william-i-mitchel-reconstruction-era-missionaryschools/

Dr. Moore’s blog post, “Kansas City Jim Jackson,” combines newly discovered primary sources and photographs to not only explain the historical signi�icance of Jim Jackson in the history of the blues, but also introduce stakeholders to the MZMF’s effort to mark his grave in the racially segregated Hernando Memorial Park Cemetery in Hernando, MS.

https://mtzionmemorialfund.com/2023/03/kansas-city-jim-jackson/

MEMORIALS

THE HEADSTONE OF NATHAN BEAUREGARD

On January 8, 2023, we erected a memorial to Nathan Beauregard at Shiloh MB Church in Ashland, MS in collaboration with filmmaker Augusta Palmer, blues artist Joe Beard, several members of the Beauregard’s extended family, and the congregation at Shiloh MB Church.

These memorialization projects are extremely difficult to organize successfully, and they often take much longer than we had anticipated due to the ethical and

inclusive processes that we adhere to over the course of the project. Indeed, we require collaboration with family members, church members, musicians, and local stakeholders, as well as conduct an exhaustive amount of research prior to the dedication of the memorials. The Nathan Beauregard project, for example, took almost 3 years to conduct the necessary research and get in contact with every stakeholder that we needed to get involved in the project. You can read more about this long process on my personal websitehttps://tdewaynemoore.com/snowball/searchingfor-nathan-beauregard/

We have also curated a digital exhibition on our memorials page –https://mtzionmemorialfund.com/project/nathanbeauregard/

THE HEADSTONE OF JIM JACKSON

On June 3, 2023, the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund dedicated the headstone of Jim Jackson in Hernando Memorial Park Cemetery in Hernando, MS. We worked with the Second Baptist Church of Hernando, the mayor of Hernando, the Desoto County Board of Supervisors, and the DeSoto County Museum (press release in attachment)

Though we have not yet curated a digital exhibition on our memorial page, you can read more about the event on our research blog - https://mtzionmemorialfund.com/2023/06/closing-the-aha-grant/

Dr. Brian Mitchell of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum with MZMF Executive Director Dr. DeWayne Moore at Hernando Memorial Cemetery on June 3, 2023. Photo courtesy of Shannon Evans

THE HISTORIC MARKER FOR ST. JAMES MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH CEMETERY

On June 4, 2023, the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund commissioned Columbus Marble Works to fabricate and install a large, granite historic marker at the St. James MB Church Cemetery in Avalon, MS.

In collaboration with the Mississippi John Hurt Blues Foundation, the MZMF welcomed a group of blues enthusiasts and scholars to the dedication of the historical marker.

PERFORMANCE AND PROGRESS

We accomplished all our goals for this project.

CHANGES AND PROBLEMS

We had two major problems.

1)KechiaPattonBrownwashospitalizedassoonaswelearnedabouttheaward.Shealsolearned thatshewaspregnantatthesametime.Shenevermanagedtoreturntotheproject,evenaftergiving birthtoahealthybabyboyinOctober.

2)WebdesignerandaudiovisualspecialistTMGarretexperiencedaverytragicincidentregarding his girlfriend and her son. Though we gave him several chances to work with us, he also never returnedtotheproject Forexample,werequestedthathefilmtheJimJacksondedicationonJune3, andheagreed.ButhecancelledonthemorningofJune3.

Despite these setbacks, we more than completed all the work on the project. While we relied on our existing team members for the bulk of the work, we also recruited additional support from our network. These changes are reflected in the final budget report.

Tavon Pugh, a descendant of blues artist Eugene Powell and family historian who maintains deep roots in the Mississippi Delta, agreed to assist us with our WebAtlas in Bolivar and Carroll Counties.

Emily Hilliard, a former student of mine at the University of Mississippi, who majored in History and currently works as a nurse in Lafayette County, has many connections to African American church communities in northern Mississippi, and she has agreed to assist in the organization and planning of the memorial projects in Benton County and DeSoto County.

Blues artist Jontavious Willis at St. James MB Church Cemetery on June 4, 2023 - Photo courtesy of Shannon Evans

We also worked with GIS specialist Michael Garet Madison to redesign our WebAtlas experience and ArcGIS input surveys.

Impact

The impact on our organization has been nothing less than transformative. While we have existed as a nonprofit since 1989, we have never brought in more than $50,000 in donations, and we have never secured a grant for more than $5,000-10,000. This $62,000 grant has allowed us to hire Shannon Evans, who worked as a teacher at a segregation academy in Lowndes County last year, but she was let go due to the political hysteria surrounding critical race theory. So, I am proud to have provided her with a very rewarding job as well as a monthly salary that allowed her to finish her MA at the Mississippi University for Women in 2022. She has told me more than a few times how rewarding her work has been documenting cultural heritage of African Americans in Lowndes County.

The memorial to Jim Jackson made a deep impact on the Second Baptist Church of Hernando’s efforts to have the city maintain the African American section of Hernando Memorial Park Cemetery. The city has long maintained the historic white section of the burial ground, but the African American section was overgrown and abandoned. Due to our efforts to memorialize Jim Jackson, the city has admitted its unequal practice of cemetery maintenance and agreed to work with the Second Baptist Church to clean up the burial ground and ensure its maintenance in the future. This project strikes at the heart of our mission statement. Our memorials to African Americans serve as a tool for historic preservation and reparative justice. We could not have asked for a better outcome.

The historic marker at St. James MB Church also served as a tool for historic preservation. Prior to our collaboration with the Mississippi John Hurt Blues Foundation, a local logging company had clear cut the surrounding forest, someone had installed signage denoting the cemetery as “Durbin Cemetery,” and a local landowner had convinced the county board of supervisors to allow him to establish a new cemetery Spain Cemetery across the street from St. James Cemetery where St. James MB Church once stood. The church site also contained several unmarked graves. In fact, one of the new graves in Spain Cemetery sits atop one of the broken stone

Eric Johnson and Jimmy Peoples of Columbus Marble Works at St. James M.B. Church Cemetery in Avalon, MS (photo by Shannon Evans)

markers near the church site. Our installation of the large, virtually indestructible, granite historic marker ensures that St. James MB Church Cemetery will be accurately marked and preserved forevermore.

The project also provided enough clout to the Mississippi John Hurt Blues Foundation to file a formal request with the Mississippi Blues Commission to relocate the blues trail marker in honor of John Hurt, which sits next to the formerly segregated Valley store, a business that Hurt and his descendants were not allowed to patronize during his lifetime. The MBC has agreed to relocate the blues trail marker to Hurt family land, on which sits Hurt’s former house-turned-museum as well as the relocated St. James MB Church. The MBC also formally apologized for installing the marker beside a business that refused to serve African Americans.

We have also been able to secure a $29,000 matching grant from the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area to expand our WebAtlas into Washington County as well as hire an African American public historian, Milo Reed, to conduct the research necessary to submit a National Register of Historic Places nomination for the Glen Allan juke joint that recording artist Alonzo Chatman built in the 1940s. The building is currently owned by Ollie Morganfield, the nephew of Muddy Waters, and his efforts since 2000 to maintain the structure made the project possible.

Dr. Moore’s blog post about the MDNHA grant can be read on our websitehttps://mtzionmemorialfund.com/2023/02/miracle-in-mississippi/

Milo Reed’s blog post about his love of the blues demonstrates why he was the perfect choice to write the nomination - https://mtzionmemorialfund.com/2023/05/always-loved-the-blues/

In addition, we have submitted several more grants during the grant period.

1. Mississippi Arts Commission – Organizational Capacity - $5,000

2. Jefferson National Parks Association – Lower Mississippi Delta Initiative - $25,000

3.Wal-Mart Cybergrants - $4,700

4. National Endowment for the Humanities – Community & Cultural Resilience - $147,000

Not only have we been able to expand our organization, but we have been able to recruit more stakeholders in the African American community to work on historic preservation projects that prevent the erasure of their cultural heritage. I have included two letters one from Tavon Pugh and the other from Mary Frances Hurt, the granddaughter of Mississippi John Hurt so that you can read about the impact of this project directly from our collaborators.

Partnership(s)

Our project would not be possible without extensive community engagement efforts and collaboration with local organizations. Now that we have established our WebAtlas and created online portals to accept new data from community stakeholders, the participatory nature of our work will expand significantly over the last six months of the project.

Lowndes County

The work of Shannon Evans in Lowndes County received the support of numerous stakeholders in churches and rural communities, resulting in the documentation of over 100 African American cemeteries and churches. The archivist at the Lowndes County Library, Mona Ali Vance, and her team Gary Lancaster and Brenda Durrett proved instrumental. They provided historic maps, government

records, and technical support, and they connected Shannon with numerous stakeholders throughout Lowndes County.

Keith Gaskin, the mayor of the city of Columbus, as well as city council members Stephen Jones and Edith Stewart provided insight and professional guidance as well as introductions to stakeholders in African American communities with knowledge of rural graveyards, cemeteries, and family plots.

Trip Hairston and Leroy Brooks, (members of the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors and lifelong residents with extensive family history in the community) provided information about abandoned and endangered African American burial grounds. The introductions they provided to elders in their respective families and pastors and deacons of local churches has been crucial to locating forlorn burial grounds on private land throughout the county.

City Attorney Jeff Turnage and his paralegal Penny Smith provided technical expertise and direction in the discovery of a host of maps and deeds associated with Sandfield Cemetery, the historic African American cemetery in the city of Columbus.

Greg Andrews and his staff in the tax assessor’s office also provided additional help in locating maps and determining accurate property lines.

Carroll County

We collaborated with the Mississippi John Hurt Foundation in Carroll County Shannon Evans worked very closely with Mary Frances Hurt and the Mississippi John Hurt Foundation to not only erect the historical marker at St. James MB Church Cemetery, but also to lobby for the relocation of the Blues Trail Marker for John Hurt. In late April 2023 at a conference sponsored by “Visit Mississippi,” Shannon and Ms. Hurt attended a Music Tourism workshop that featured the Authority Tourism Development Bureau Manager Kamel King of the Mississippi Development Authority, and they managed to convince Mr. King to relocate the marker. This led to a meeting with the Mississippi Blues Commission in Jackson where Shannon helped Ms. Hurt prepare additional historical context and argue for the official relocation of the marker. The commission voted unanimously to move the sign to a more appropriate location and to revise its content to more accurately represent John Hurt’s life and contributions.

In addition, Shannon and Ms. Hurt collaborated with the mayor of Carrollton to design wayfaring signs for Carroll County that will be used around the community to lead tourists to the Hurt Museum and St. James Church as well as additional wayfaring signs that will lead tourists to the St. James Cemetery. Graphic artist Alan Taylor (Columbus, MS) donated the graphic design for the sign element: an outline drawing of Hurt’s signature bowler.

Shannon also worked in conjunction with Carroll County Tourism director Pam Lee and the Hurt Family to propose the best design and wording for a new Mississippi informational historical marker that will sit off Teoc Road across the entryway to St. James Cemetery Road.

Bolivar County

Kechia Patton Brown lives in Duncan in Bolivar County, and we originally planned for her to spearhead our local efforts on the WebAtlas, but since she was hospitalized the WebAtlas project for Bolivar County has been directed by Tavon Pugh, a descendant of blues artist Eugene Powell who

possesses a vast knowledge of local African American history. You can view his contributions to the WebAtlas so far at this LINK.

Abdul Ajibola also contributed to our field research in Bolivar County. You can read more in his blog post at this LINK. He also contributed to our archival research efforts in Bolivar County through his research at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. He spent several weeks looking through the death certificates on file at MDAH, and his blog post about his first trip is quite informative. Here is the LINK to that blog post.

Benton County

Emily Hilliard worked with the congregation at Shiloh MB Church to erect the memorial to Nathan Beauregard on January 8, 2023. You can view an image of the memorial on our Instagram page. Here is a LINK. We also have more posts on our Facebook and Twitter pages of the event. Master artisan Alan Orlicek engraved the memorial

DeSoto County

We worked with the DeSoto County Museum, the Hernando mayor, the Desoto County Board of Supervisors, and the Second Baptist Church of Hernando on the Jim Jackson memorial project, and we plan to expand our WebAtlas to Desoto County in a future grant through collaboration with the Second Baptist Church.

Expenditures:

Please see attached spreadsheets

The Mt. Zion Memorial Fund FOR

BLUES, MUSIC, AND JUSTICE

22 County Road 422 Water Valley, MS 38965

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DATE: April 10, 2023

HERNANDO, MISSISSIPPI

BLUES LEGEND JIM JACKSON HONORED IN HERNADO CEMETERY

Hernando, MS On June 3, 2023 at 5 o’clock pm the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund for Blues, Music, and Justice with generous support from the American Historical Association will dedicate a memorial in honor of Jim Jackson (1876-1933) in Hernando Memorial Cemetery for his significant contributions to the canon of Mississippi blues music. Not until 2018 did the organization determine the location of Jackson’s final resting place in the African American section of Hernando Memorial Cemetery. “Jim Jackson’s Kansas City Blues” was a best-selling record in 1927, and this monument acknowledging his deep impact on the early recording industry seeks to transform his burying ground into an international tourist destination.

Born in Hernando, MS in 1876, Jackson played a significant role in establishing the financial impetus of the country blues, and he opened the door for many African American musicians. Before his first recording session in 1927, he performed in medicine shows, juke joints, and private parties across the South. His music made an indelible imprint on the Memphis sound, and he worked with other Memphis area recording artists, including Frank Stokes, Furry Lewis, Garfield Akers (Echols), and Joe Callicott, among others.

The public is cordially invited to the event, which will be emceed by harmonicist and scholar Jock Webb, of Birmingham, Alabama, and it will feature an all-star group of musicians, including Mt. Zion Memorial Fund Minster of Culture Jontavious Willis of Columbus, Georgia; recording artist Omar Gordon of Clarksdale, Mississippi; and Damien Wash of Oxford, Mississippi. Vencie Varnado of Coffeeville will provide commentary and public announcement for the event.

Chip Johnson, the mayor of Hernando, will also speak at the event, as well as Pastor Quinton Taylor, of the Second Baptist Church; Robert Long, curator of the Desoto County Museum; and Alderman Andrew Miller. In addition, the caretaker of the burial ground, Quincy Randle, will also serve as the guest of honor. Mr. Randle was crucial to the success of the project.

“Our work is about so much more than blues,” exclaimed MZMF executive director Dr. DeWayne Moore, “This project was conceived self-consciously as a way to not only honor a legendary artist, but also prevent the erasure of cultural resources in the African American community. We have visited the cemetery several times over the past few years, and we hope to make sure the site is maintained in the future.”

“It is vital that as we move forward,” exhorted emcee Jock Webb, “We must not forget the contributions of the seminal African American artists. Not only will this memorial serve to honor a legend, but it become a force in preservation and tourism!”

The MZMF erects memorials as a tool for historic preservation. Since 1990, the organization has erected or accepted responsibility for the maintenance of more than 25 memorials in Mississippi and Memphis. The organization has also initiated a pilot project to create a WebAtlas of African American cemeteries in Lowndes, Bolivar, and Carroll Counties, and they intend to expand the project in other counties in the future. With funding from the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area (MDNHA), the MZMF also plans to get the juke joint built by Alonzo Chatmon in Glen Allan, MS listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

For more information, please visit their website at www.mtzionmemorialfund.com or contact them directly via email or social media.

Our work is about saving the soul of Mississippi!

-30-

www.mtzionmemorialfund.com

The Mt. Zion Memorial Fund

FOR BLUES, MUSIC, AND JUSTICE

22 County Road 422 Water Valley, MS 38965

Letter of Support

Goodmorning,

Iwantedtowriteafewlinestoletyouhearfromme.MynameisTaVon,I’ma3rdgenerationnative Washingtonian.Moreimportantly,I’maBlackMan.BeingBlack,Iwasbornwiththerhythm.Iwas bornwith the blues. Myculture drives the world,whether“we” knowitornot. Orwhether“they” admititornot.Butit’sobvioustheywantourRhythm,butnotourblues.&rarelygivecreditwhen creditisdue!

I have lots of love for Tyler DeWayne Moore & all that he’s accomplished. We became acquainted sometimeafterthegreatestofthemall,thekingMr.CharleyPatton,cameintomyworldwhenIwas about 16 in 2013. We struck up a relationship based on our mutual respect & admiration for Mr. Patton,Mr.SamChatmon&theChatmonfamily&allofthegreatMississippiBluesmasters.Much respecttoDr.Moore!

TheMt.ZionMemorialFundhasdoneatremendousjobforabout30yearsatpayinghomagetothe legends bymarkingtheirfinal restingplaces &preservinghistoric sites such as the ChatmonJuke JointnearGreenville.Mr.JohnFogerty&othersalikehavebeenverygenerouswithgivingmoneyto assistinmakingthesethingshappen.Withoutthem,alotofthishistorywouldbeburied.DeWayne &Ihavedoneextensivegenealogyresearch,especiallyontheChatmonfamily,toassurethatwehave itallrecorded.Theyhavescouredthroughdeathcertificaterecords,wehavedocumentedcemeteries, etcfornothours,days,orevenweeks,butforsomeofus,monthsonend.Forothers,years.TheMt. Zion Memorial Fund takes the duty of historical preservation very seriously & make sure that the story is right every single time. I have insisted before that the group needs more Black American peopletobeapartofwhat’sgoingon&takecareofourownhistory.Itshouldmeanmoretous.We willcontinuetorecruit&thegroupwillplayahugepartinbringingtheMississippibacktolife.

MygreatgrandparentswerefromMS,Coila(CarrollCounty)&Scott(BolivarCounty)tobeexact,so naturallyit’snear&deartome.Mygreatgrandma&herpeoplecouldhaveevenseenCharleyPatton & knew him for all I know; on her side of the family there is a cousin through marriage who is a Patton!Onmygreatgrandfathersside,hisnephewwasthesoninlawofEugene“SonnyBoyNelson” Powell,&hisunclewasafirstcousinofthemuchyoungerWillieBrewer“Brewer”Phillips&oneof his2ndcousinsmarriedintotheHurtfamily(allfromCarrollCountyexceptforMr.Powell).Helived near the Fluker family as well, of which they had a Bluesman for a relative, “Lucky” Fluker. Other famouspeoplewho’sfamilycomesfromCarrollCountyincludesAlvinYoungbloodHart(Bluesman), OprahWinfrey,DianaRoss,MichaelJackson,SonnyListon&MorganFreeman!Mississippi’shistory is rich &a great thanks is owed to the Mt. ZionMemorial Fundfor doingtheir partinhonoring& respectingthedeceasedlegendsthatoncesangformoney,sangfrompain,sanginthefields,&sang intherain.Aslongasweshallrememberandhonorthem,theirnames&voicesshallberemembered untiltheendoftime.

TheBlackChurchis whatstarted itall.Those white painted clapboardroofed churches wherethe congregationgatheredtorejoiceinHisHolyname&repentedfortheiractionsaheadoftime,because thatnight,theywouldbepreachin’&hollerin’theblues!Aftertheywereexploited,&gotfamewhile makingothers rich, the creditwould go toThe RollingStones insteadof MuddyWaters &Howlin’ Wolf;LedZeppelininsteadofWillieDixon&LeadBelly;TheBeatlesinsteadofLittleRichard&Chuck Berry;EricClaptoninsteadofRobertJohnson;&toBobDylaninsteadofCharleyPatton.Muddy,Wolf, RobertwereallcreditedoverMr.Patton,theirteacher.Everythingthroughoutourhistoryhasbeen takenfromus.EvenCharleyPayton’sBlacknessisbeingtaken,becausetothem,“there’snowaya Black Man could be so brilliant! He’s got to be Cherokee.” Not only were there no Cherokee in Mississippi, but Charley Patton was always a Black Man, a Negro… in Mississippi. They gave him money&withithe bought “candy” thatwould bringhim to a premature end, likesomanyothers afterhim,stilltilthisverydayin2023.

Untilwegetitright,thecyclecontinues.Thelegacyofthesegreatmen&womenshouldbelongto themnaturally,itshouldn’thavetobegiven.ChuckBerrydidn’tget“SweetLittleSixteen”fromThe BeachBoys&LittleRichard’s“TootiFrutti”wasnotacoverversionofPatBoone’sseasonlessrecord. IkeTurner’spenned“Rocket88”wastheFIRSTRock&Rollrecord!Not“RockAroundtheClock”by BillHaley.YeahElviswasshotwaistupbecauseofhishipswinging,butthepeoplewholookedlike me were arrested for doing it long before Elvis! It’s crucial that more people who look like me, especiallyyoungpeople&thosethatareable,takebackourhistoryandstandintheshoes&inthe placeofthosethathascomebeforeus.Itmeanseverythingtous,whetherweknowitornot.It‘is’ us.It’sjustmusicthatsoundsgoodtoothers.&itdoestometoo.

TheywantourRhythm,butdon’twantourBlues,unlessit’sthemusic.

Sincerely,

TavonPugh