Grab a Brown Bag and Experience Jewels of the Delta

“Mrs. Dilliard, 101, who refused to have her children work in the cotton fields, she wanted them to go to school. The overseer told her she couldn’t have her black babies not working in the field or the other blacks would try it, so he gave her an ultimatum: move off the land and find somewhere else to live and work or have her children work in the field. So, she moved.” Photo and caption by Alysia Steele

“The telephone company wouldn’t put Missus by black folks’ names. Put your first name down there and that’s it in that book. So I went down there and told them, “Well now, you put the Missus for the white folks names and I’m a Missus too, I’m married too. They didn’t do nothing but change it. I don’t know if I was the first, but anyway, I had it done. When the next one (book) came out, it had my name like it was supposed to be written. If you can write those white folks names down as Missus, you can write mine Missus. It was just my name at the time. It didn’t really bother me, but I just after all, I’m married too. What’s the difference? That’s what I wanted to know. I’m just real vocal about things and I’ve never been, never stood back.” Photo by Alysia Steele

“Love. You talk about love? Mine was deep down. I reckon because I loved his style. I loved his style and he was wild about mine. When we get together and get to talkin, I thought he was just really beautiful, just cute. I just really loved the man. He wasn’t real tall and he wasn’t no fat neither, cause I never liked a big ole man. He dressed real neat and he talked real kind. Well, I wouldn’t say how my style was to him, but I knew I was cute. I knew I was because everybody would tell to me, ‘you is one, pretty young lady.’ And when he told me – I knew I was. And when he told me about it, oh, that made me feel really, really good. He had a stylish walk, I ain’t kiddin. That was the cutest walk and I loved that walk. That’s right. And he was kind, nice and kind. With that walk, he was mo better looking than that walk.” Photo by Alysia Steele