The Mississippi Delta Blues Trail
An Implementation Proposal submitted to The National Endowment for the Humanities
Submitted by Delta State University’s Delta Center for Culture and Learning
1. Nature of the Request
The Mississippi Delta Blues Trail project will develop and install 100 public markers in a region from Memphis to Vicksburg, from the Mississippi River on the western border to the hills east of it that mark the span of the alluvial plain known as the Mississippi Delta. These markers will tell the story of the birth of the Blues by identifying the birthplaces, haunts, and resting places of its creators, tradition bearers, and inventors. They will mark the history of the Blues through descriptions of significant Blues events, the relationship of the Blues to cotton culture and the land, its transcendent artistic response to racism and economic oppression, and its impact through the African American Diaspora on every musical expression that arose in America. As the cradle of the Blues, the Mississippi Delta was also the cradle for American cultural expression and identity.
The Delta Center for Culture and Learning of Delta State University, along with its partners the Blues Highway Association, The Mississippi Blues Commission, and Communities in Schools of Greenwood Leflore, is seeking funds for a program that will include these aspects:
Creation of 100 historic markers commemorating the most important Blues cultural and historic sites in the Delta.
Final consultation with a group of eight recognized humanities scholars and Blues experts.
Production of a folding paper map of the sites.
Production of a brochure that incorporates the material in these other publications.
Creation of an after school project that uses the Blues as a window to Delta heritage while promoting learning and civic engagement, and disseminate this project throughout the region.
Production of a coffee-table style book that reflects The 100 Most Important Blues Sites of The Mississippi Delta theme (this item will grow out of the other projects. Funds for the book itself are not requested in this proposal, and the book is not a deliverable even though the materials collected during the proposed project will ultimately result in the book).