Delta Memories: A Collective Memoir is an ongoing oral history project providing young people with the skills and techniques needed to collect oral histories. Students interview members of the community including: seniors, teachers, artists, politicians and business owners. They engage them in discussion about their lives and experiences and collect and preserve their Delta memories.

Students from Cassie Pennington Junior High participated in the first phase of the project. They were recommended by teachers and community leaders and had to write a statement about why they wished to participate. Five ninth-grade students were selected to take part in a one day training seminar where they learned how to professionally interview and record their subjects. Students embraced the oral history project at the Museum with dedication, grace and a sense of curiosity. Each student selected and researched topics of their choice, based on events that took place in their own backyard and later conducted two or three interviews. Below are highlights of selected interviews. Complete transcripts in pdf. format soon to follow.

 

Jesse Mae Elmore on growing up in the Delta, marching with Martin Luther King, Jr., and popular music of the day.

The following interview took place September 24, 2009 - Indianola, MS

Reuben Johnson interviews Ms. Jesse Mae Elmore

 

Annie Rose Richardson on the Indianola School District Boycott of 1986.

The following interview took place September 26, 2009 - Indianola, MS

Allison Simpson interviews Annie Rose Richardson

 

 Charles McLaurin on the Delta, Fannie Lou Hamer, and the Civil Rights Movement 

The following interview took place October 24, 2009 - Indianola, MS

Porsche Chambers interviews Charles McLaurin

Delta Memories: A Collective Memoir was made possible by The Mississippi Humanities Council, the University of Southern Mississippi's Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage and the B.B. King Museum.