PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS

ISBN 1-56898-375-1 $8.95

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YOUR 

TOWN

MISSISSIPPI

DELTA

National Endowment 

for the Arts

National Trust 

for Historic Preservation

Faculty of Landscape

Architecture 

SUNY Syracuse

Shelley S. Mastran editor

Mark Robbins series editor

Washington, DC
Distributed by:

Princeton Architectural Press

37 East Seventh Street

New York, New York 10003

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© 2002 National Endowment for the Arts

05 04 03 02 4 3 2 1 First Edition

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without permission in writing from the publisher.

Design by M. Christopher Jones, The VIA Group LLC.

Printed and bound in the United States of America.

Library of Congress Cataloging-In-Publication 

Data is available from the National Endowment 

for the Arts.

ISBN 1-56898-375-1

Front cover:

Working horsemen in the

Mississippi Delta.

NEA Series on Design

Other titles available in this series:

The Mayors’ Institute: 

Excellence in City Design

Schools for Cities: 

Urban Strategies

Sprawl and Public Space: 

Redressing the Mall

University-Community 

Design Partnerships: 

Innovations in Practice
Preface 1

Mark Robbins

Your Town: 3

Mississippi Delta

Shelley S. Mastran

Invisibility on 7

the Land: A 

Perspective on 

African American

Culture

Craig Barton

Our African 17

American

Communities: 

The Forces 

at Work

William M. Harris 

FAICP, Ph.D.

Planning the 21

Workshop

Shannon Criss

Case Study: 27

Highway 61 

through 

the Mississippi 

Delta

Shannon Criss and 

Shelley S. Mastran

Port Gibson 35

Main Street 

Program

Al Hollingsworth

Case Study: 41

Mound Bayou,

Mississippi

Shannon Criss and 

Shelley S. Mastran

Workshop Schedule 46

Faculty and Speakers 47

Participants 48

Image Credits 50

Perspective 

on the Issues

The Mississippi

Delta

Contents
The goal of these activities is to 

reinforce the underlying tenet that social

engagement and the highest level of

design are not only compatible, but also

essential in approaching change and the

complexity of community development.

—Mark Robbins
1

Preface

Mark Robbins

Director of Design, National Endowment for the Arts

Each year since 1991, Your Town: Designing Its Future has offered four

workshops that focus on design issues relevant to the quality of life in

small towns and rural communities, including growth and suburban

sprawl, historic preservation, land use, and housing. The Your Town program is an ongoing initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts,

administered and staffed through the National Trust for Historic

Preservation with the Faculty of Landscape Architecture at SUNY

College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF). 

During the winter of 1999, through a series of discussions with the

Arts Endowment, National Trust, and ESF, it was agreed that after 10

years the program should reevaluate its methods and broaden its impact

on rural communities. As a result, changes in the Your Town format were

made and new locales suggested. In addition, a greater diversity of design

disciplines and perspectives came to be represented in the resource personnel conducting the workshops. It was also agreed that there were some

communities within the already-underserved rural population that had yet

to benefit from the experience of a Your Town workshop. 

The enhancement of the existing program and the creation of a

fifth annual Your Town in 2000 was made possible by a new Leadership

Initiative in Design at the Arts Endowment. These new, focused sessions

are intended to serve traditionally underserved communities with a 
2

format that emphasizes case studies drawn from the participating areas.

The outcome of these intensive conversations with community members

can therefore include methods for implementing some of the conclusions

of the workshop. The goal of these activities is to reinforce the underlying tenet that social engagement and the highest level of design are not

only compatible but also essential in approaching change and the complexity of community development. 

The first workshop to fully embody this new model for the program was a Your Town focused on historically African American

communities, held in Cleveland, Mississippi, in fall 2000. In this inaugural session the tireless efforts of Shannon Criss, Director of the

Mississippi State Small Town Center, were invaluable. Working with

Shelley S. Mastran, Shannon organized rich and diverse presentations and

ensured that the presentations about community and design were communicated in a clear and challenging way. An exceptionally qualified panel

of resource people contributed their expertise to this effort. This panel

included Craig Barton, Director of the American Urbanism Program at

the University of Virginia, who discussed identity and architecture; Toni

Griffin, Deputy Director of the Washington, D.C., Office of Planning,

who addressed heritage tourism; and Glenn Smith, a landscape architect

who focused on landscape as a cultural resource. All of their efforts resulted in a strengthened and invigorated program. Shelley Mastran also has

my appreciation for her work as editor of this book. I am please that it is

appearing as part of the NEA series on design issued by the Princeton

Architectural Press. Kevin Lippert and Jennifer Thompson at the press

and M. Christopher Jones of The VIA Group merit thanks for seeing the

project into print.

We hope to continue with initiatives like this one, focused on

diverse communities across the country. The intent is to develop an

awareness of the importance of the physical environment as a locus for

community identity and to stress the variety of the cultural landscapes

that merit analysis, conservation, and preservation. 
3

Your Town: Mississippi Delta

Shelley S. Mastran

Codirector, National Your Town Center

This publication reports on a special workshop session of Your Town:

Designing Its Future, which focused on planning and design for rural

African American communities of the Mississippi Delta. Held November

12–14, 2000, at the Center for Community Development, Delta State

University, in Cleveland, Mississippi, and coordinated by the Small Town

Center of Mississippi State University and the Mississippi Department of

Archives and History, the workshop was a special initiative of the

National Endowment for the Arts administered by the National Trust for

Historic Preservation and the Faculty of Landscape Architecture at

SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. 

Fifty-five participants convened in Cleveland to discuss a range of

planning, development, and design issues. At the core of the workshop

was a four-hour field trip along Highway 61 to visit three traditionally

African American communities: Mound Bayou, founded in 1887;

Jonestown; and Clarksdale, home of the Delta Blues Museum.

Participants worked on design problems for these communities, including

rehabilitating and reusing historic structures, enhancing community

spaces, and maintaining cultural identity in the context of limited

resources and high unemployment. Case studies on Mound Bayou and

Highway 61 are included in this publication. 
4
5

This program grew from a long-standing commitment of the

National Endowment for the Arts to provide access to design, preservation, and planning assistance to all communities that have generally been

underserved. The Your Town workshop brought a broad range of speakers to the Delta, including William Harris, Richard Lloyd, and Alferdteen

Harrison from Jackson State University; Craig Barton, University of

Virginia School of Architecture; Toni Griffin, Deputy Director of the

Washington, D.C., Office of Planning; Glenn Smith, a landscape architect; Beverly Meng, Executive Director of the Mississippi Main Street

Association; Michael Hervey of the Historic Farish Street Neighborhood

Foundation; and Isaac Johnson of the Springfield Baptist Church in

Augusta, Georgia. 

This publication includes excerpts from several of their presentations. These selections represent a cross-section of the workshop content

and reflect its special focus. Although the workshop examined issues related to historically African American communities and linkages within the

Mississippi Delta, its messages speak to diverse communities nationwide.

Plan for improved

neighborhood lighting in

Greenwood, Mississippi.

Participants worked on design

problems for these communities,

including rehabilitating and 

reusing historic structures,

enhancing community spaces, 

and maintaining cultural identity 

in the context of limited resources

and high unemployment.

—Shelley S. Mastran
6

Ours is the responsibility not to forget

and to make the rest of American society

not forget that the narrative we use to

describe American history is incomplete

if it doesn’t contain our hopes, our

aspirations, and our contributions.

—Craig Barton
7

Invisibility on the Land: 

A Perspective on African

American Culture

Craig Barton

Associate Professor of Architecture, University of Virginia

Note: This is a excerpted transcription of a slide presentation given by Professor Barton.

I understand the enormousness of the task that faces those of us who 

are interested in trying to preserve, manage, and interpret the historical

assets of communities. In this case, let’s talk about the African American

community, though it is difficult to separate the history of African

Americans from the history of the country as a whole. In fact, as we all

went through school, that was more or less the recipe we got. We got a

singular history in which we as black folks did not play a particularly

poignant or visible role. 

There was a question today about what we mean by the word 

landscape. It is a term that in many ways defies a precise and concise 

definition, but I’m going to try. I’m going to use the words of the cultural

geographer Dennis Cosgrove, who defines landscape as “the land shaped.”

We might go to someone else like J. B. Jackson, landscape historian and

designer. He talks about landscape by saying, “I suspect that no landscape,

vernacular or otherwise, can be comprehended unless perceived as an

organization of spaces, and unless we ask ourselves who owns the land,

who uses the space, how these spaces were created, and how they may be

transformed.” I think the issue of land transformation and ownership is

Perspectives 

on the Issues

Aerial view of proposal 

for National Voting 

Rights Museum and

Interpretive Center,

Selma, Alabama. 

This view illustrates 

the location of the

Interpretive Center.
8

critical to understanding the task of managing cultural resources in

African American communities. 

The structure of the land bears in it a record, a memory if you

will, of patterns of use and in some ways a method or vehicle to represent

aspects of culture. Why is that important to African Americans? We have

typically not had access to the civic processes by which civic buildings and

memorials were constructed. In fact, ours has been a tradition of passing

significant information to one another from family to family, from person

to person, through a variety of processes that were not necessarily embedded in the built environment. Oral histories, art, and music are a few of

the forms of memory in the African American community. Typically,

architecture wasn’t used to “store” the memories of African American

communities. When African American communities were intact, the

ephemeral forms of memory were quite powerful; but in the wake of

Brown vs. Ford, African American communities splintered and many of

the cohesive pieces holding the communities together began to disintegrate. In the mid-20th century we found that African American

communities, as well as other communities, began to break apart, making

it even more important, more critical now, to find a way to leverage the

resources that are embedded into the landscape as a means to narrate the

presence and importance of African American history in the Delta, in

Virginia, in New England, and across the nation. 

We know that African American history and culture are extraordinarily diverse, and often obscured or invisible. For instance, in the Black

Belt counties of Alabama and Mississippi where the black population

often exceeded 50 percent of the total, the physical history of African

Americans is often nearly invisible. 

I’m going to suggest some strategies we can examine for making

African American historical artifacts more visible. I suggest this is important because African Americans bear a special responsibility in American

culture. Ours is the responsibility not to forget and to make the rest of

American society not forget that the narrative we use to describe

American history is incomplete if it doesn’t contain our hopes, our aspirations, and our contributions. We know that the land is a vehicle to begin
9

to narrate the story. And it’s a vehicle in our farmland, in our rivers, and

in our cities evident even now in contemporary American society. Ours is

the responsibility to remember and to pass on to subsequent generations

the bits and pieces, the interstitial information that fills in the gaps of

American history. 

As African Americans, how is it that we have somehow gotten

“written out” of the picture? Let me offer at least a partial explanation. I

would argue that part of the difficulty in finding our cultural assets dates

back to Plessie vs. Ferguson, which established the doctrine of separate but

equal. While we understand separate but equal as being primarily a series

of legal mechanisms separating black from white, for an architect these

legal mechanisms have profound spatial implications. We see them every

day—in two systems that were used to educate our population, two systems for simple public convenience—and by virtue of having two, a

hierarchy was created with a major and minor player. It doesn’t take a

rocket scientist to figure out who the minor player was. What happens in

this case is that the resources of the black community become more profoundly obscured. 

Our firm, RBGC, was asked by the Nature Conservancy to assist

the residents of Bayview, a historic African American community on the

eastern shore of Virginia, prepare a very small and defined grant to help

improve the water quality. Because of its soils, the community has a

unique problem. The residents of Bayview are unable to secure permits to

allow them to build septic systems because the soil in the area doesn’t

percolate. So the majority of Bayview residents, who live about 85 miles

south of the nation’s capital, still use outdoor privies. In addition, Bayview

residents don’t have a potable in-ground water infrastructure and are

forced to use hand pumps to pull drinking water from shallow wells. In

concert with the Nature Conservancy, Bayview obtained a grant to help

improve water quality. It quickly became apparent that this grant was

going to allow them to do something else—to develop a master plan

articulating their vision for the community’s growth. 

We met with the members of the community to plan a design

charette. We began by asking the community, “What would you like to
10

do? How would you like to see your community grow?” Designers played

the role of both helping the community to see its future and providing

residents with the materials to build it. One of the things the residents

noted was that other planning strategies tried to introduce suburban land

use and building patterns, providing each house with about an acre’s

worth of land. Everyone involved except the planners at the county level

thought this would be the death knell of the community, because the cost

of the land and the cost of maintaining the houses would be prohibitive. 

We took some of these ideas and used our skill to construct very

simple drawings and collages, to help describe the residents’ vision of the

community. Using the Cole’s Family Chapel—a nondenominational facility that tended to the spiritual needs of the community—as the basis of

the design, we drew a new site plan for Bayview, including new housing

models. We used the charettes to explore the design of units to allow for

shared spaces, to use some efficiencies of scale to keep the carrying cost

of the units down. We designed a duplex containing shared spaces, which

sit between entrances and independent bedrooms, and yet provide each

homeowner their own front door. The houses are perceived as single

units, though in fact they are duplexes with two independent entries. In

addition, we were able to draw upon the local building vocabulary of the

houses on the Eastern Shore to construct new houses for other members

of the community. The Cole’s Family Chapel in its restored state will

once again serve as the core of the community, meeting both its religious

and its secular needs. 

...I remember as a child that my weekly allocation of TV was interrupted one Sunday night in March to see the images of black citizens being

beaten on the side of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. It left

an impression because, as a kid growing up in a suburban neighborhood in

Connecticut, this was far, far from my daily experience. Later, when I got

to Virginia, I thought I’d moved to the South, but I was quickly disabused

of this idea and told that if I wanted to see the South, I needed to get into a

car and drive to the Black Belt. So I got in a car and drove to the only place

that I knew, that was familiar on the map. I knew it because it was part of

my collective unconscious. I got myself to Selma, Alabama. 
11

View of proposed project

site, Hwy. 80 approaching

the Edmund Pettus

Bridge. This view shows

the site of the “Bloody

Sunday” confrontation as 

it appears today.

Martin Luther King, Jr.,

among the leaders of the

Selma-to-Montgomery

march.
12

And I was fortunate to have been befriended in Selma by some

extraordinary people, Louretta Wemberly and J. L. Chestnut. In conversations, I learned that while Mayor Joe Smitherman had a certain view of

events that had transpired in Selma in March 1965, Louretta, J. L., and

other members of the black community had a significantly different view.

It was critical to these citizens, who struggled for the right to vote, that

their views be articulated. We began to talk about what the role of design

might be in this process and how to interpret the events that occurred at

this site. If you have ever driven west from Montgomery on Route 80,

you have likely been over this bridge. It was built in the 1940s after the

war. In almost every way, except for its name, it is nondescript. And it

doesn’t begin to give witness to the significance of the events that transpired there. 

Our challenge as architects is how to work with this rich, complex

historical narrative. The traditional preservation strategies of trying to

crystallize the moment had long since passed at the Edmund Pettus

Bridge, because the hamburger joint that once served as a backdrop had

changed into a car dealership, and that car dealership was now defunct

and the building in disrepair. I have to say that except for the bridge,

there were very few physical things here.

The films of the event show the line of marchers moving in a slow

and steady progression, which was then suddenly disrupted by the

Alabama state troopers and their unofficial deputies. We tried to use the

process of abstraction to extract the sense of the rhythm of the march,

and found a way to construct a foundation to support this idea by claiming a piece of the site and focusing attention on it. We constructed a very

straightforward building containing a simple sequence that brings you to

a place where you can look across Highway 80 to see the site of the

demonstration. We structured the sequence so it provides a view of the

bridge and a view of Selma and takes you through a series of narrated

steps, providing you with enough information so that, when you do arrive

at the site, you are able to understand its significance. 

This strategy works for the pedestrian, but it was also important

for us to design a way in which the building could be understood from a
13

Conflict and resistance on

the march from Selma to

Montgomery.

Aerial view of an

alternative location for the

National Voting Rights

Museum on Broad Street

in Selma.
14
15

vehicle. The building’s façade is therefore made of a series of louvered

screens displaying images of the march. Those images describe the events

of Bloody Sunday and the voting rights movement. We also used the surface of the ground itself, placing rumble strips into the pavement to mark

the site. We wanted people to understand that something had happened

here, and the sound of the tires on the pavement offers testimony to the

events of March 1965. 

If we don’t steward our cultural resources, no one else will. What

I’ve talked about today are a few that are in the process of being attended

to. At some level they will be made more visible and that is a success in

and of itself. One site of cultural importance in Memphis is the Lorraine

Motel, which is now part of the National Civil Rights Museum. Then

there is the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, one of the first seats of the

young minister Martin Luther King. Ironically, just up the street is the

Alabama State Capitol. Their relationship eloquently speaks about the

process of black empowerment in the city of Montgomery. 

While Dexter Avenue, the Lorraine Motel, and the State Capitol

are highly visible, other pieces are more obscure: an African American

schoolhouse in Lowndes County, Alabama; or a small church in Le Flore

County, Mississippi. Even an apparently commonplace house can have

significance, like the houses in Jackson, Mississippi, that were built with

VHA money after World War II. They are in fact unique because they

were owned by black veterans in Jackson who were going to become

members of the middle class. One house in particular is notable because

it’s the house where Medgar Evers lived. One should be able to get to this

site and also to the Bynam Store in Money, Mississippi, and understand

that these are the treasures of the African American community. 

I’ll leave you with a quote from one of my favorite authors, Ralph

Ellison. In The Invisible Man, the narrator says, “Ask your wife to take you

around to the barber shops, juke joints, and the beauty parlors where

they’re cooking hair...there’s a whole lot of unrecorded history going on

there....”

View of one of the 

galleries in the proposed

Interpretive Center.
16

The African American community is not

pathological or sick. The community is not

in danger of decay....The community is not

evil and self-destructive. When considered

in light of the many external oppressive

factors, it is clear that the African American

community is quite sustainable.

—William M. Harris
17

Our African American

Communities: The Forces at Work

William M. Harris, FAICP, Ph.D.

Professor, Jackson State University

When the many variables that influence the quality of life are considered,

the Mississippi Delta lags behind nearly every area of the nation...The

purpose of my presentation is to introduce briefly some of the forces 

that have an impact on African American communities in Mississippi...

I have identified five of these determining forces and I will take each of

these in turn. 

Self-Determination

The essence of a democratic society is the ability of its citizens to make

decisions that affect their lives without coercion. It never fails to amaze

me that white Americans appear to have failed to embrace this reality

when it comes to the lives of African Americans. We live in a republic;

this means that our political views are articulated through representation.

The purest form of that representation is realized when citizens vote

without constraints of any kind. In a worthy democracy, citizen suffrage is

not constrained by social, economic, or political barriers. No individual

understood this principle more than the Delta’s civil rights champion,

Aaron Henry. 
18

In the Mississippi Delta, as it is nationwide, black self-determination continues to be determined by those other than blacks. When

carefully considered, it becomes clear that the primary effort of the

African presence in America has been that of acquiring self-determination

through social, political, and economic means. That tradition continues. 

Race Relations

In 1903, W. E. B. DuBois posited that the problem of race in America is

the color line. That observation remains true today as it was a century

ago. The continued preoccupation with race has influenced every aspect

of the nation’s development....Being white in America affords automatic

affirmative action in economic opportunity, social attainment, political

privilege, and environmental protection....In the Mississippi Delta, no

single issue, not even cotton, has a greater role in the characterization of

the region than race relations. 

Economic Development

No racial or ethnic group in America has been so adversely affected 

by the exploitation of capitalism as African Americans....The great

American myth is that wealth is best acquired through hard work. If that

were true, those who built the Delta would have become wealthy. If that

were true, those who made cotton king would have become wealthy. If

that were true, those who built the roads, constructed the public buildings, and cleaned the houses, and tended the children would be wealthy.

The great myth of hard work belies the monstrosity of institutional 

slavery...and today African Americans still have less than 1 percent of 

the nation’s total wealth. 
19

Housing

Housing is more than shelter. In this nation, housing is both shelter and

future wealth. It remains the American dream to own a home. It is the

goal of every family to live on personally owned property in a safe area. It

is the wish of nearly every citizen to be able to pass along some measure

of wealth to surviving children or family....The gap between white and

black homeownership is staggering....For most rural and inner-city

African Americans, homeownership is beyond a reasonable dream. 

Let me share with you some troubling statistics of housing affordability in two Mississippi Delta counties....In Panola County, when total

family income is considered, the maximum that is affordable monthly is

$145, while the fair market rent is $297 for a one-bedroom unit....In

Quitman County, the maximum that is affordable monthly is $242, while

the fair market rent is $297 for a one-bedroom unit....In a civilized

nation, safe, decent housing is a right.

Environmental Health

Health is the absence of illness. For African Americans, health too often

is a distant commodity. It was the Mississippi Delta’s own Fannie Lou

Hamer who said, “I am sick and tired of being sick and tired.” For blacks

in both rural and urban areas, the quality of health conditions lags behind

that of all other racial groups. When compared with whites, African

Americans have 500 percent fewer doctors per individual, double the rate

of child mortality, and much lower life expectancy. These disparities may

be linked directly to environmental conditions that African Americans are

forced to endure because of poverty, brutality of police and corrections

systems, lack of adequate educational opportunity, location of waste disposals near residential areas, exposure to dangerous farm chemicals, and

inadequate health insurance. 
20

Conclusion

Let me be very clear. The African American community is not pathological or sick. The community is not in danger of decay....The community is

not evil and self-destructive. When considered in light of the many external oppressive factors, it is clear that the African American community is

quite sustainable. The task ahead for African American communities in

the Mississippi Delta and elsewhere is to continue the struggle against

those oppressive factors, build increasing confidence and respect in one

another, and know that nature and history are on our side. 

For many African Americans, the past

presents a complex and often unpleasant

mix of memories. It was our intention

from the beginning to address this reality

directly in an effort to explore the meaning

of preserving physical reminders of one’s

heritage and to find a way to speak and

act upon that history. 

—Shannon Criss
21

Planning the Workshop

Shannon Criss

Former Director, Small Town Center, Mississippi State University

Identifying the Critical Issues

The Your Town program has been critical in educating the general public

about natural resources and community design at the most fundamental

level. It has introduced the design process in rural communities, including

graphic and mapping techniques as well as management skills in financing

and marketing. In organizing this workshop, we felt it was important to

present this material in light of the key issues facing African American

communities in the Delta. 

For many African Americans, the past presents a complex and

often unpleasant mix of memories. It was our intention from the beginning to address this reality directly in an effort to explore the meaning of

preserving physical reminders of one’s heritage and to find a way to speak

and act upon that history. As Toni Griffin said in her presentation,

Community Renaissance: Making Place for a Cultural Economy, “The

physical fabric of place—the land, building, public spaces—tells the story

of key moments in our history, including segregation, desegregation, economic downturns, and prosperity.” Identifying the value of historic sites

and buildings that have not yet been rediscovered became a particular

focus of this session. 

Local residents, as well as those from outside the region, need to

The Mississippi 

Delta
22

be educated about the value of the Delta’s physical history. Musicians, 

literary figures, and civil rights activists from the Delta are worldrenowned. Strengthening awareness of this cultural heritage and

identifying ways to bring it to national attention were another topic 

for discussion.

Highway 61 provides a vehicle for linking this culture to a series 

of places. Historically an important roadway for local economies, it 

physically connects the Gulf Coast to Memphis. The stories surrounding 

the Mississippi Delta continue to draw people from outside the state.

Highway 61 offers great potential for heritage tourism, the fastestgrowing sector in the tourism economy. Again quoting Griffin,

“Americans, as well as international travelers, are increasingly becoming

aware of the richness of our nation’s diverse ethnic history and are 

seeking venues to see, learn about, and experience other cultures firsthand. This interest, coupled with the need to pay serious attention to

places on the verge of ruin, makes heritage and cultural tourism an 

exciting option for creating a community renaissance.” 

Photos in this section

show participants and

their active involvement 

in the success of the

workshop sessions.
23

During the Your Town workshop it was also critical to consider

the most basic economic and social needs of the Delta communities. 

The Welfare Reform Act had a great impact on families and their choice

to remain, or not remain, in small communities. Industrialization of 

agriculture has left many people without jobs and their towns without 

an economic base. Fortunately, it also has left these communities with

assets that include infrastructure, buildings, and often most importantly, 

a specific sense of community and place. Many historically significant

buildings have been abandoned, and these present opportunities to 

house new uses. By identifying these needs and working with local 

leadership and others, it is possible to establish self-sustaining and

empowered communities. Each community in the Delta has its own 

idiosyncratic qualities, and identifying those qualities provides the hope 

of their preservation. 

Inviting National Speakers and Regional Leaders

From the initial discussions, it was decided that nationally recognized

speakers would bring other perspectives and raise the level of the discussion. Local citizens were thus challenged to think about their problems

and opportunities in broader ways. During presentations, speakers cited

examples of what might be possible, and discussion sessions made other

alternatives apparent. It was also critical to have the participation and

support of local leaders.

Team leaders were selected to bring together a diverse set of 

backgrounds and professional expertise; they included a member of 

the regional office of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a 

landscape architect, a planner, an architect, and a member of the

Mississippi Heritage Trust. These leaders were able to address a wide

range of issues and also helped establish the initial problem statements.

We selected a moderator from Jackson, Mississippi, versed in issues of

community development, to facilitate the workshop. 
24

Identifying the Workshop Participants

Approximately 300 to 400 invitations were sent out. Although only 18

confirmations were received just prior to the event, in the end, 46 participants plus 10 students attended the event, with an even number of

African Americans and whites and a good mix of ages and genders. 

Attending to the Details

This event required one year for proper planning, particularly to secure

the commitment of well-recognized speakers. The National Endowment

for the Arts provided approximately 50 percent of the required funding,

with another 35 percent coming from in-kind services and funds contributed by the hosting agencies (Mississippi State University’s Small

Town Center, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, and

Delta State University’s Center for Community Development); the last 15

percent was raised through other grants. 

A location that could provide the proper facilities was also necessary. A variety of spaces were needed, including a large meeting room for

the speaker sessions and for catered meals, and five or six small rooms for

breakout sessions. Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi, was

selected because its Center for Community Development could meet the

physical requirements and provide the needed local support as follow-up

to the event.
25

Each community in the Delta

has its own idiosyncratic

qualities, and identifying those

qualities provides the hope of

their preservation. 

—Shannon Criss

27

Case Study: 

Highway 61 through 

the Mississippi Delta

Shannon Criss and Shelley S. Mastran

Highway 61, which bisects the United States from Canada to the Gulf of

Mexico, cuts through the heart of the Mississippi Delta, a region composed of 18 counties with approximately 490,000 people. The southern

stretch of the road between Memphis and New Orleans is known as the

Blues Highway because it links the hometowns of so many blues performers. The highway is a potential icon for the Delta region. 

Much of Highway 61 through the Delta is rapidly being developed

as a limited-access road, similar to an interstate. While this provides convenience for long-distance drivers, it cuts off access to local towns and

businesses. A portion of Highway 61 has become a direct route from

Memphis to the casinos of Tunica, Mississippi, whose revenues benefit

the region. Tourist travel, however, is limited farther south in the Delta,

where the economy has traditionally been agricultural. 

Highway 61 is emblematic of the Mississippi Delta, a region with a

rich and profound heritage but pervasive poverty and a host of attendant

social problems. Nearly 28 percent of all people receive public assistance.

Though 36 percent of the population, which is split almost evenly

between black and white, live in poverty, the average income of African

Americans is only approximately 38 percent of that of white citizens.

A map constructed by

workshop participants

highlighting the heart of

the Mississippi Delta

“cultural corridor.”
28

Although the Delta has a number of institutions of higher education (with four community colleges and two universities), adult illiteracy

rates are high. Fifty-seven percent of the African American residents have

less than an eighth-grade education, and dropout rates are high. Infant

mortality rates, births to teenage and unmarried mothers, and crime

among youth are far above national percentages. 

The area has abundant natural resources in land, water, and hardwood forests, and the land is productive. Historically, however, the Delta

has not developed a manufacturing base to assist in adding value to the

cotton, soybeans, and rice it produces. 

Housing conditions in general are substandard, with many homes

lacking adequate plumbing and sewage systems. More than 6 percent of

black-occupied homes lack complete plumbing facilities, and 26 percent

do not have a telephone. In a region without a system of public transportation, 32 percent of African Americans do not own a vehicle.

Heritage tourism offers a way for Delta communities to recognize

and value their identity, history, and geography. Toni Griffin, one of the

distinguished Your Town workshop speakers with experience in economic

development, gave advice to participants in considering the creation of a

“Highway 61 Cultural Corridor.” Griffin emphasized the importance of

defining where tourists should go, where the buses should stop, and what

kinds of public infrastructure are needed to make destinations attractive.

Other important considerations included establishing a common vision

for the highway and the story it tells, as well as determining the audience

for this history.
29

The Delta, like the blues,

belongs to black people, the

people here say, though many

do not own enough of it to root

a vine. It was their sweat that

cleared its vast forests and

transformed the 19th-century

jungle into the richest farmland

on earth. 

It lies in the deltas of the

Mississippi and Yazoo rivers, an

indistinct triangle of vast fields,

islands of trees and small

towns extending south from

Memphis for about 200 miles,

covering an area about 70 miles

wide on both sides of the

Mississippi. 

No other place, blues men say,

could have nurtured the blues.

What other place saw such toil,

such pain? 

The Blues Is Dying in the Place 

It Was Born,” 

The New York Times, April 22, 2001

A drawing of Port Gibson

by workshop participant

Michael A. White.

“

31

Design Problem: 

Develop a Heritage Tourism Plan for Highway 61

The rich narratives and landscapes of the Mississippi Delta continue to

attract people from beyond the borders of the state, but often once there,

tourists have difficulty grasping the history and the meaning of the place.

Here, perhaps more so than in other places, one needs to be an insider to

know where to go and what to see. The interpretation of Highway 61

through a heritage tourism plan could assist in making the assets of the

region more accessible and provide the needed spur to economic development. Places along the route could be identified that would reveal the

distinct character of the region in its landscapes, industrial sites, and historic landmarks and buildings. Local artistic, musical, and cultural

traditions will also draw tourists and help strengthen an economic base. 

Each group of workshop participants was asked to develop a heritage tourism plan for Highway 61 identifying specific sites and placing

them on county maps. Participants gave careful consideration to the key

elements of the corridor that provide tourism opportunities. The flat

landscape itself is a significant feature of the region. Access to the

Mississippi River, which parallels the north-south highway, is limited, and

only a few communities are actually located adjacent to it. Oxbow lakes

and manmade attractions along the river could draw people to spend time

there, yet bayous, lakes, and hunting areas remain inaccessible or

unknown to those from outside the region. Potential recreational sites

were identified in these areas. In addition, several Native American

mounds and burial sites, which have not been appropriately preserved and

marked, could be highlighted. Many cotton gins and buildings related to

farming and the railroad are in ruin. Preserving and giving focus to these

artifacts could become important in preserving the history of the Delta.

Perhaps the best known aspect of the Delta is its blues musicians

and musical traditions. Participants felt that not enough had not been

done to recognize the individuals who created this unique legacy. Also,

live performances of the blues are infrequent except at special festival

events. More regular programming and identification of public venues for

Details of the Mississippi

Delta “cultural corridor.”

compiled by workshop

participants. 
32

performances could increase awareness and travel to the region. 

Other significant contributors to the cultural life of the region and

the nation need to be recognized. The contributions of civil rights leaders

such as Aaron Henry, Fannie Lou Hamer, Blanche K. Bruce, Amzi

Moore, and Hodding Carter deserve marking in a physical place. Literary

figures such as Clifton Taulbert, Willie Morris, Richard Wright, Walker

Percy, Elizabeth Spencer, Bea Richards, Shelby Foote, and William

Alexander could be recognized, as well as entertainers such as Morgan

Freeman, James Earl Jones, Holt Caulier, Ike Turner, and Jim Henson.

The presence and value of local folk artists and craftsworkers were also

suggested. Many of their products, such as handcrafted quilts, pottery,

and paintings could be advertised more widely and made available in

buildings that are more visible along Highway 61. 

Each group also identified sites that have distinctive characters and

offer interesting stories. The Blues Museum, for example, housed in the

old train station in Clarksdale, was recently renovated. It is now a destination spot for tourists from all over the world and serves as a model and

inspiration for rehabilitation throughout the Delta. 

The design solutions of the workshop were based on the principle

that linking many sites together thematically provides increased opportunities for tourism. One group envisioned a comprehensive map

identifying the locations of significant sites; a brochure based on the map

would be made available in town halls, businesses, and gas stations

throughout the corridor. This information could be posted on a web site

as well. Another group developed a marketing plan that included web

sites, a well-designed publication, a theme song for radio stations, kiosks,

and an information package to be distributed at casinos and other tourist

attractions. 

There was general agreement that a series of visitors’ centers

along Highway 61 could be of value. A “Delta Welcome Center” was

proposed at the junction with Highway 49 to provide visitor information

as well as locally produced foods, music on CDs, crafts, and artwork. It

was suggested that one or more sharecropper shacks along Highway 61

could serve as visitors’ centers with information provided on a video. The
33

history of the cotton industry could be revealed and connected to a particular plantation or agricultural site. 

It was clear in all of the discussions that the Delta region offers

great heritage tourism potential and Highway 61 presents a real opportunity to be the connecting link for interpretation and exploration of the

area in a way that would preserve the Delta’s heritage and enhance local

economies. 

Mayor Phillips introduces

participants to Jonestown,

Mississippi.
34
35

Port Gibson 

Main Street Program

Al Hollingsworth

Main Street Manager

The first thing a visitor sees when coming into Port Gibson is a sign that

reads, “Welcome to Port Gibson, Mississippi, the town too beautiful to

burn —General U.S. Grant.” A lot of what we try to do is be sure that

history is accurately told, so I have to start with a confession: General 

U. S. Grant never said that. The Chamber of Commerce loves it, though. 

Port Gibson is the only incorporated town in Claiborne County. It

sits at the junction of Highway 61, the Blues Highway, with the Natchez

Trace Parkway. Its population today is about 1,800; Claiborne County’s is

about 12,000. Evidence of Native American culture stretches back to

about 7000 B.C. in our county, and their mounds and village sites have

been explored by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

Native Americans also left us a number of our roads, which still look

today as they did centuries ago, and we’re trying to preserve them. 

The town was the third to be incorporated in what was once the

Mississippi Territory—then the states of Mississippi and Alabama. It was

established by Samuel Gibson, an entrepreneurial young man who built

Gibson’s Landing in 1788 at the point where the Natchez Trace trail

crossed the Bayou Pierre. In 1803 it became the county seat, and in 1811

it was named Port Gibson.

The first public library in the state of Mississippi was established

The Presbyterian Church

of Port Gibson, Mississippi,

with its 11-foot high

golden hand reaching

skyward.
36

The most dramatic

development on Market

Street was the building of

the County Administration

building. Initially planned

as two double-wide

trailers with a Roman

brick front, the final

results were far superior.

The Board of Supervisors

understood that they were

building for future

generations.

here. The state’s second newspaper began publication in 1818 in Port

Gibson. In 1830 the Presbyterian Church established Oakland College

here for the education of its young men. In 1871, the state of Mississippi

acquired the campus and created the first land grant college for the education of black people. We are proud of what the past has left for us to

enjoy. There is the Planters Hotel, a federal-style building downtown;

Wintergreen Cemetery; the Gothic-style Catholic Church (probably the

most integrated church in town); and in Romanesque revival style, our

most famous landmark, the Presbyterian Church with an 11-foot-high

golden hand with finger pointing heavenward. 

The city and county 

jointly funded the

rehabilitation of the

building that became 

the Harriette Person

Memorial Library, 

perhaps one of the 

most community-friendly

spots in Port Gibson.
37

The National Main Street Center

wrote about Port Gibson: “Torn

apart by intense racial strife during

the 1960s, downtown Port Gibson

suffered severe economic

deterioration. Although racial

tension gradually improved, the

economy didn’t. So, in 1990, the

community joined the Mississippi

Main Street Program. With an

ethnically diverse board of

directors, the leaders of Main 

Street rolled up their shirtsleeves

and began to work.” 

—Miracle on Main Street
38

In 1901 a little brown bug known as the boll weevil came to

Mississippi and devastated the economy. For 91 years that would mean 

no significant commercial development in Port Gibson. The shape of

downtown Port Gibson was also affected by the civil rights activities 

of the 1960s, including the economic boycotts. Beginning in the late

1970s, a series of court actions resulted in the U.S. Supreme Court’s 

ruling that peaceful boycotts were a justifiable means to resolve economic

oppression.

In 1980, the Main Street Program was begun under the direction

of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Mississippi ran an associated program through the Mississippi Main Street Association. Port

Gibson’s Main Street Program was chartered in 1990. From the beginning, the founders knew that it would take the power of the city

government and the power of both the black and the white communities

coming together to make it work. The founders of our program based

their strategy on the need to be inclusive, and no one has ever been

excluded from Main Street proceedings.

The Main Street district is 13 blocks long and two to three blocks

wide and includes the commercial center and two residential neighborhoods on either end. Our goals were to clean up the downtown, restore

pride, create economic incentives, and guide building renovation. A vision

statement was created to facilitate the revitalization of the downtown

commercial district in the context of historic preservation. We made sure

that the value of the National Register district (established in the late

1970s) was understood and that the zoning ordinance was respected. We

established an urban renewal district to overlay the Main Street district. A

tree board was also created, and city and county preservation ordinances

adopted. We focused on the historical uniqueness of the town, on maintaining its architectural integrity and developing a strong community.

In the 10 years since the Main Street Program was established, the

public investment in downtown Port Gibson has been $3,625,000, with

$1.5 million invested by private interests. That can happen only when

people feel comfortable about their investment—when they feel that the

community and its governance are stable. 
39

We have created a seasonal banner and a bench program. (We’ve

bought 16 benches, and they’ve been distributed in public spaces.)

Promotion activities are important. We have a heritage festival that

includes a 5K walk-run, arts and crafts and children’s activities, a food

court, historic tours, and of course, music. In addition there are the

Original Mississippi Venison Cookoff, an Easter egg hunt, and a

Halloween celebration. There have been 28 ribbon cuttings in Port

Gibson in the last 10 years, and the start of 44 new businesses, which

have created 146 new jobs. 

Main Street is about creating a common agenda; it’s about giving

the public an opportunity to come together and work for the benefit of

their community and building trust among the people of Port Gibson. 

Our goals were to clean up 

the downtown, restore pride,

create economic incentives, and

guide building renovation.

—Al Hollingsworth

41

A map overlay created 

by workshop participants

outlining land use and

pinpointing the historic

locations of Mound Bayou,

Mississippi.
42

Case Study: 

Mound Bayou, Mississippi

Shannon Criss and Shelley S. Mastran

Mound Bayou is a rural Delta community of some 2,200 people in

Bolivar County, Mississippi. It is eight miles from Cleveland, the county

seat and site of a state university. The redevelopment of Highway 61 as a

limited-access road has displaced Mound Bayou from the major transportation artery, but the town is still connected to Memphis, 122 miles to

the north, and Jackson, 143 miles to the south. Mound Bayou is located

in a prosperous and fertile agricultural area specializing in the production

of cotton, soybeans, grain sorghum, rice, and vegetables. 

Mound Bayou was one of a number of African American settlements established during the post-Reconstruction period. Isaiah

Thornton Montgomery and his cousin Benjamin Green, slaves of the

Jefferson Davis family, established a settlement south of Vicksburg but

had to abandon the site in 1883 because of flooding. Granted a large tract

of land in Mississippi, the Louisville, New Orleans and Texas Railroad

asked Montgomery to assist them in soliciting African American workers

to the Delta region, as they believed that only African Americans had the

ability to adapt to life in the semitropical climate. Montgomery founded

Mound Bayou at the convergence of two bayous that drained the Delta,

near a large Indian mound. 

From the beginning, Mound Bayou prospered because of its location along the railroad. In 1904, the Bank of Mound Bayou was founded.

The Mound Bayou Oil Mill and Manufacturing Company, built in 1907,

was the largest enterprise of its kind in the state. In 1912 Mound Bayou

received a town charter that established an alderman form of government

with a mayor, town marshal, and five aldermen as elected officials. By

1920, the Mound Bayou public school served Bolivar County’s African

American children. During the early 20th century, numerous shops,

stores, fraternal buildings, institutional buildings, and private residences
43

were constructed. The Taborian Hospital was opened in 1942, providing

health care to African Americans throughout the Delta. 

Unfortunately, in the past two decades, the community has

declined. Recent plant closings in the region have had significant impact

on Mound Bayou. The railroad that brought the founding fathers to the

community no longer runs, and the tracks have been removed. The

health care center is the largest employer in Mound Bayou, with the

Bolivar County school system being second. Agriculture is still an important economic activity for the community, and many farmers own their

own land. Several farmers in the area have recently formed a cooperative

to better compete in the region. Still, the town has an approximately 24

percent unemployment rate with an average annual per capita income of

only $4,000. 

The historic Mound Bayou commercial district has suffered as

well. The only historic commercial building in the community is the 1904

bank building. Other commercial buildings, primarily along old Highway

61, are struggling mom-and-pop businesses. Many buildings in the commercial core are vacant. The former railway forms a green space in the

center of town, yet this space has never been developed. Of the 715 housing units in Mound Bayou, only 347 are occupied. Most are single-family

ranch-style houses, but there are several apartment complexes and a number of mobile homes. 

Mound Bayou has several important historic resources. The 

Isaiah T. Montgomery house, home of the town’s founder, is a National

Historic Landmark and has received funds from the Save America’s

Treasures program. The Taborian Hospital and the old Bank of Mound

Bayou are listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Both suffer

from neglect but hold the interest of the community. Other historic

buildings have been changed significantly and, although not eligible for

listing in the National Register, have been designated local landmarks by

the town’s Historic Preservation Commission. Mound Bayou has recently

completed a Heritage Tourism Plan and hopes to build on the historic

resources and the heritage of the community to attract visitors. 
44

Design Problem: Form a Vision for the 

Future of Mound Bayou.

The challenge was to create a vision for this community’s future through

an analysis of its existing physical structure. Groups were asked to identify all of Mound Bayou’s anchoring institutions, such as schools, churches,

and civic institutions, as well as discrete neighborhoods, and then propose

physical changes that could bring distinction and positive value to the

neighborhoods and the community in general. 

Each workshop group recognized Mound Bayou’s strong assets:

the fact that it was the first all-black community in the state with an

interesting story to tell; the historic structures that have supported the

community’s history; and the physical access to Highway 61, which provides opportunity for businesses associated with travel and heritage

tourism. There are a couple of industries developed by families within the

community that are just now becoming better known to those outside. A

sweet potato processing facility has become successful in the past decade.

The community has an annual festival to celebrate the harvest, which

draws many visitors. Also, a family has begun a potter’s shop, which produces artifacts popular throughout the region. 

Each group also identified Mound Bayou’s challenges. The community lacks a clear boundary and cohesive identity. There is no defined

entrance or center to the town. It is difficult for the traveler to know 

what to visit, as there are no historical markers. Basic infrastructure is

needed to provide food, public restrooms, and community services to 

residents and visitors. There is a real lack of retail services. The overall

visual quality and image of the community (with wrecked cars and other

unsightly areas) needs to be improved. 

Workshop participants recommended that Mound Bayou develop

an African American cultural center to provide information about its history, the Civil Rights Movement, and access to the folk arts of the region.

Mound Bayou has an ample stock of interesting historic buildings plus

proximity to Highway 61, and if developed appropriately, it can be a sig-
45

We hope to continue with

initiatives like this one, focused on

diverse communities across the

country. The intent is to develop an

awareness of the importance of

the physical environment as a

locus for community identity and

to stress the variety of the cultural

landscapes that merit analysis,

conservation, and preservation. 

—Mark Robbins
46

Workshop Schedule

Center for Community Development, Delta State University

November 12–14, 2000

7 am Continental Breakfast Continental Breakfast

8 am Design Process & Graphic Case Study

Techniques—John McRae Housing

60 minutes 60 minutes

9 am Case Study Design Problem #3

Port Gibson Main Street Meeting Local Needs

60 minutes 2 hours

10 am Registration Design Problem #1

2 hours Your Town Vision

1.5 hours

11 am Break

Available Resources & Getting

Travel to Luncheon Assistance—Jerry Robinson

12 pm Introductions Luncheon Heritage Tourism— Lunch

& Opening Remarks Toni Griffin

40 minutes 1.5 hours Visioning Financing &

Our African American Marketing Your Town—

1 pm Communities: The Forces Beverly Meng

at Work—William Harris 1 hour

60 minutes Pin-up & Set-up Group Projects

Load Buses for Case Study Tour

2 pm Case Study Tour to Case Study Group Reviews & Final Comments

Mound Bayou, Jonestown, African American Churches Departure

& Clarksdale 60 minutes

4 hours

3 pm Design Problem #2

Identifying the Heart & 

Soul of the Place

2.5 hours

4 pm

5 pm

6 pm Break Break

7 pm Dinner & Craig Barton Dinner & Alferdteen Harrison
47

Craig Barton

University of Virginia

School of Architecture

P.O. Box 400122

Charlottesville, VA 22904

Shannon Criss

Small Town Center

Mississippi State University

Mississippi State, MS 39762

Milburn Crowe

CLG Coordinator

City of Mound Bayou

404 Renee Street

Mound Bayou, MS 38762

Tony Griffin

D.C. Office of Planning

801 North Capitol Street, N.W.

Washington, DC 20002

William Harris

Department of Urban & 

Regional Planning

Jackson State University

3825 Ridgewood Road

Jackson, MS 39211

Alferdteen Harrison

Margaret Walker Alexander

National Research Center

Jackson State University

P.O. Box 17008

Jackson, MS 39217

Michael Hervey

Farish Street Historic District

Neighborhood Foundation

P.O. Box 24263

Jackson, MS 39225

Al Hollingsworth

Port Gibson Main Street

P.O. Box 607

Port Gibson, MS 39150

Tom Howorth

115 Courthouse Square

Oxford, MS 38655

Isaac Johnson

2553 Wheeler Road

Augusta, GA 20904

Michelle Weaver Jones

Mississippi Department of 

Archives & History

P.O. Drawer AQ

Mississippi State University 39762

Richard Lloyd

Department of Urban & 

Regional Planning

Jackson State University

3825 Ridgewood Road

Jackson, MS 39211

Shelley S. Mastran

2031 Hillside Drive

Falls Church, VA 22043

John McRae

Dean, School of Architecture

Mississippi State University

P.O. Drawer AQ

Mississippi State, MS 39762

Beverly Meng

Executive Director

Mississippi Main Street Association

P.O. Box 2719

Jackson, MS 39207

Sierra Neal

National Trust for Historic

Preservation

456 King Street

Charleston, SC 29403

Joe Phillips

Mayor of Jonestown

P.O. Box 110

Jonestown, MS 38639

Mark Robbins

Director of Design

National Endowment for the Arts

1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20506

Jerry Robinson

Center for Community

Development

Delta State University

P.O. Box 3134

Cleveland, MS 38733

Glenn L. Smith

Washington/Alexandria

Architecture Center

1001 Prince Street

Alexandria, VA 22314

Stella Gray Bryant Sykes

Executive Director

Mississippi Heritage Trust

P.O. Box 577

Jackson, MS 39205

Faculty and Speakers
48

Participants

Libba Alford

President

McComb Main Street Association

PO Box 802

McComb, MS 39649

Louis Armstrong

Graduate Student

JSU Urban & Regional Planning

3825 Ridgewood Road Box 23

Jackson, MS 39211

Amelda Arnold

Mayor

City of Port Gibson

PO Box 607

Port Gibson, MS 39150 

Lula Arnold

Port Gibson Main Street

202 112 Fanner Street

Port Gibson, MS 39150 

Joan Beesley

Port Gibson Chamber of

Commerce Port Gibson Main

Street/HPC

PO Box 466

Port Gibson, MS 39150 

Margaret L. Bogie

Executive Director

USDA-Agricultural Research

Service 10825 Financial Centre

Parkway, Suite 309 Little Rock, AK

72211

Mary Boteler

CLG Coordinator/President

City of Leland/Leland Historic

Foundation

301 East Third Street

Leland, MS 38756

Tazwell Bowksy

Supervisor

Pike County District One

PO Box 431

Magnolia, MS 39652

Adrian Brown

Graduate Student

JSU Urban & Regional Planning

3825 Ridgewood Road Box 23

Jackson, MS 3921 I

Luther Brown

Director

Delta Center for Culture and

Learning/DSU

PO Box 3152

Cleveland, MS 38733

Arjang Ryan Ehsan

Graduate Student

JSU Urban & Regional Planning

3825 Ridgewood Road Box 23

Jackson, MS 39211

Dudley Ford

US History Teacher

Callaway High School

5155 Wayneland Drive #F-2

Jackson, MS 39211

Deborah Grison

Graduate Student

JSU Urban & Regional Planning

3825 Ridgewood Road Box 23

jackson, MS 39211

Kate Groover

Executive Director

McComb Main Street Association

PO Box 802

McComb, MIS 39649 

Kim Hilliard

Graduate Student

JSU Urban & Regional Planning

3825 Ridgewood Road Box 23

Jackson, MS 39211

Patricia Hoban-Moore

Senior Community

Builder/Coordinator

Department of Housing and 

Urban Development

100 West Capitol Street, Room 910

Jackson, MS 39269

Libby HolIingsworth

Historic Preservation

Commissioner

City of Port Gibson

1001 Church Street

Port Gibson, MS 39150

George Irby

Director of Federal Programs

City of Columbus

PO Box 1013

Columbus, MS 39703

Johnny Johnson

Assistant Treasurer

Knights and Daughters of Tabor

105 MLK-Box 540

Mound Bayou, MS 38762

Annie Joiner

Special Populations Personnel

Coahoma Community College

3240 Friars Point Road

Clarksdale, MS 38614
49

WJ Jones

Mayor

Town of Coahoma

PO Box 23

Coahoma, MS 38617

Martha Lott

Supervisor

Claiborne County

PO Box 279

Port Gibson, MS 39150

Doris Miller

Consultant

Mississippi Conference of Black

Mayors

PO Box 1665

Clarksdale, MS 38614

James Miller

302 Mansion

Port Gibson, MS 39150

John Morgan

Alderman

Town of Morgan City

PO Box M

Morgan City , MS 38946

Gene Mosley

Historic Preservation

Commissioner

City of Jackson

1968 Wingfield Circle

jackson, MS 39209

Haneefah Muhammad

Delta Service Americorps Member

Mercy Care

PO Box 98

Mound Bayou, MS 38762

Kinchen O’Keefe

Proprietor

Sunflower River Trading Company

252 Delta Avenue

Clarksdale, MS 38614

Deborah Oakley

Preservation Specialist

Historic Preservation Division

Mississippi Department of Archives

and History

PO Box 571

jackson, MS 39205

Ed Owen

Architectural Review Board

Member

City of Meridian

2420 24th Avenue

Meridian, MS 39305

Elvin Parker

President

Port Gibson Main Street

PO Box 183

Port Gibson. MS 39150

Paul Purdy

Prentiss Normal & Industrial

Institute

2111 Queens Road Avenue

Jackson, MS 39213

Clovis Reed

Claiborne County Administrator

PO Box 689

Port Gibson, MS 39150

Josephine Rhymes

Executive Director

Tri-County Workforce AIliance PO

Box 1348

Clarksdale, MS 38614 

Thelma Rush

Museum and the Marketplace 623

Locust Street

Vicksburg, MS 39183

Phoenix Savage

Medical Anthropologist

PO Box 242

University, MS 38677

Cissy Scanlon

Membership Services Mississippi

Heritage Trust

PO Box 577

Jackson, MS 39205

Jackie Scott

Community Educator/ AmeriCorps

Member West Tallahatchie

Economic & Community

Development Corporation

PO Box 563

Tutwiler, MS 38963

Denise Sibley

3890 Wolf Road

Columbus, MS 39705

Mattie Sink

Coordinator of Manuscripts

Division, Special

Collections

Mississippi State University

Libraries

PO Box 5408

Mississippi State, MS 39762
50

Participants (continued)

Andrew L. Smith

Executive Director

Small Towns and Rural

Communities Planning

Consortium

4628 Normandy Drive

Jackson, MS 39206

Mae Ruth Smith

Teacher Assistant/Lab Supervisor

RH Bearden Elementary School

Sumner, MS

Norma Thompson-Lewis

Assistant Administrator

Claiborne County 

111 Whitney Lane

Port Gibson, MS 39150 

Cassandra TilIman

DPP Tutor

PO Drawer 175

Lambert, MS 38643 

Chukwunyere Ugochukwu

Graduate Student

JSU Urban & Regional Planning

3825 Ridgewood Road Box 23

Jackson, MS 39211

Ben Wesley

Graduate Student

JSU Urban & Regional Planning

3825 Ridgewood Road Box 23

Jackson, MS 39211

Joan Wesley

Graduate Student

JSU Urban & Regional Planning

3825 Ridgewood Road Box 23

Jackson, MS 39211

Michael A. White

City of Port Gibson

Port Gibson Alderman

206 Mimosa Street

Port Gibson, MS 39150

May Whittington

Representative

MS House of Representatives

PO Box 211

Schlater, MS 38952

Glendscene Williams

Center for Community

Development/America

Reads

1417 College Street

Cleveland, MS 38733

Leonard WilIiams

Mid Delta Workforce Alliance

3068 Radford Road

Memphis, TN 38111

Mayo Wilson

Executive Director

Comprehensive Urban/Rural

Ensemble, Tourism

628 DeSoto Avenue

Clarksdale, MS 38614

Image Credits

Cover: Photo by Mark Robbins

1: Courtesy of Mark Robbins,

photo by Michael DiBari

3, 4: Courtesy of Small Town

Center, School of Architecture,

Mississippi State University

6 , 7, 11 (top): Courtesy of 

Craig Barton

11 (bottom), 13 (top): Courtesy 

of Alabama Department of Archives

& History

13 (bottom), 14: Courtesy of 

Craig Barton

17: Courtesy of William M. Harris

21, 22, 25, 26, 29, 30, 33: Courtesy

of Small Town Center, School of

Architecture, Mississippi State

University

34: Courtesy of Main Street

Port Gibson

35: Courtesy of Small Town Center,

School of Architecture, Mississippi

State University

36: Courtesy of Main Street

Port Gibson

41: Courtesy of Small Town Center,

School of Architecture, Mississippi

State University

Shelley S. Mastran editor National Endowment for the Arts

YOUR TOWN: MISSISSIPPI DELTA

PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS

ISBN 1-56898-375-1 $8.95

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