Shrimp, grits and watermelon have been the only things I have eaten in Mississippi. This state is called the "Hospitality State," and the "Magnolia State," and it just so happens to be the place I was born. Jackson is an interesting little big town. Word on the street is that downtown Jackson is desolate at night because of the black mayor. When he was elected, many white businesses moved north of town, and so during my stay in the downtown section it was just a few other lost souls and me. Spent the morning at the Smith-Robertson Museum http://www.jacksonms.gov/visitors/museums/smithrobertson (first and only black school in Jackson,MS). This museum and its people are incredible. I had a long conversation with the curator and secretary on the history of the town, current racial attitudes, and much, much more. The museum had an art exhibit on the poverty of rural Mississippi, Emmit Till, famous African-Americans from Jackson, and folk art (more on this later). I really recommend visiting this museum; it is truly a jewel in Jackson. The folk art piece that really blew me away was by a man in his nineties in the Mississippi Delta. He didn't have electricity so he made his own guitar by taking a wire from an old broom and nailing it to the wall and applying canola oil. He said he could make it sing just as good as a six string guitar. Amazing.
After this stop I went to the home of Medgar Evers, where he was assassinated forty years ago in his driveway. Jackson is the only town so far to have an eighty page Civil Rights tour book at the visitors' center. Also visited the Old Capitol building and ended the night with shrimp, grits, and a intimate concert with Eddie Cotton, "the baddest blues brother in the South". www.theauditoriumrestaurant.com
July 4th headed to Starkville, MS my birthplace.
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