Each day of our workshop will have central theme, and for each theme, we have chosen a short text, a single song, and a food item.  We think of these three things as being “icons” for the day.  Icons in this sense are devices that summarize complex patterns and relationships and stick in our minds.  We can use them to help us remember complicated issues more easily, and we hope that they remind us of our experiences in the Delta whenever we run across them elsewhere.  Hopefully, the meanings of the icons we’ve chosen will become clear during the workshop, but our desire is that once they do become clear, you will think of certain issues and events every time you hear a particular song or taste a certain food…..revised January 27, 2010

Day 1:  The River, Creator and Destroyer of the Delta

Richard Wright’s Down by the Riverside:  http://www.pipeline.com/~rougeforum/floodstories.html

William Faulkner’s Old Man:  http://town.hall.org/radio/HarperAudio/080294_harp_ITH.html
 

Song:  When the Levee Breaks by Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe McCoy:  http://www.harptab.com/lyrics/ly4467.shtml

Food:  fried catfish
 

Day 2.  Immigrant Stories

A ruling by the US Supreme Court in the case of Gong Lum vs. Rice, 1927:  http://supreme.justia.com/us/275/78/case.html
 

Song:  Sail Away by Randy Newman, sung by Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee:  http://www.randynewman.com/tocdiscography/disc_sail_away/lyricssailaway
listen to the song here for free:  http://www.rhapsody.com/sonny-terry
 

Food:  Delta Chinese
 

Day 3.  The Blues:  American Roots Music and the Culture that Produced it.

The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes:  http://cai.ucdavis.edu/uccp/workingweary.html

Song:  Crossroads Blues by Robert Johnson:  http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/Delta/2541/blrjohns.htm#Crossroads478

Food:  Hot Tamales

Day 4.  The Story of Emmett Till

The Shocking Story of Approved Killing in Mississippi by William Bradford Huie:  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/till/sfeature/sf_look.html

Other information at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/till/

Also check out http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14904083

Song:  The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan: http://www.bobdylan.com/#/songs/death-emmett-till

Food:  Koolickles

Day 5.  The Civil Rights Movement

To the White Citizens of Cleveland, Mississippi, by Dianna and James Bevel

The Voter Registration form Fannie Lou Hamer had to fill out

Also, read this interesting blog that discusses the work of Charles McLaurin: http://george.loper.org/~george/trends/2008/Nov/980.html

Song:  Green Onions by Booker T. and the MG’s:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-7QSMyz5rg

Food:  BBQ

Day 6.  The Delta in Diaspora

Letters back and forth from the South to the North:  http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5332

Song:  Sweet Home Chicago by Robert Johnson:  http://www.deltahaze.com/johnson/lyrics.html

Food:  Fried Chicken and pound cake