Presentations

Mr. Bill Luckett, "A Look Inside the Delta"
Introduction by Johnny Maxwell

A Memphis attorney from Clarksdale, MS, Bill Luckett is involved in numerous enterprises in the Delta including Madidi, a fine-dining establishment in Clarksdale, and Ground Zero Blues clubs in Clarksdale and Memphis. Along with business partner Morgan Freeman, he is responsible for the tremendous resurgence of interest in music, food, and businesses of the Delta. He will discuss Delta writers, civil rights struggles, blues musicians, and various attractions in the Delta.

Mr. Sam Brookes, "Native Americans in the Delta"
Introduction by Robert Connolly

An anthropology graduate of the University of Mississippi, Sam Brookes is the forest archaeologist for the National Forests in Mississippi. Having conducted fieldwork in the Natchez Bluffs, Tombigbee, Yazoo Basin (Delta), Southern Mississippi and the Holly Springs areas, Brookes will discuss events in the Delta covering a time span of just over 7500 years that saw global warming and the building of the oldest mounds in the world (predating Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids).

Dr. Curtis Wilkie, "Breaking Convention: Hodding Carter and the
Delta Democrat-Times"
Introduction by Steve Tabachnick

Curtis Wilkie, born in Greenville, MS, was a journalist for nearly 40 years. A graduate of University of Mississippi, he holds the Kelly G. Cook chair in journalism at his alma mater and is a fellow at the Overby Center for Southern Journalism and Politics. He will discuss how Hodding Carter launched a newspaper in Greenville in 1936 and battled the state's conservative political establishment for three decades.

Mr. Willy Bearden, "Documenting the Delta"
Introduction by Kay Farrish

Filmmaker and author Willy Bearden takes us along on a journey through the Delta as he produces a two-hour film to be released this fall. He says, "This is a story that has never been told in all its glory and heartbreak. This film is the Delta beyond the Blues, deconstructing the realities of slavery, sharecropping, mechanization, literature and art, Jews, Italians, Chinese and Lebanese, racism, and a little bit of football. This is the Delta as you've never seen it."

Ms. Eden Brent, "Straight out of the Delta"
Introduction by David Evans

Blues diva Eden Brent is back by popular demand and shows us again why the music of the Delta has traveled around the world. From the roots of the boogie-woogie blues she learned at the feet of Abie "Boogaloo" Ames to her own take on today's blues, Brent delivers with a soulful voice and some of the best piano playing you'll ever hear.

Mr. Owen Brooks, "A Faith to Free the People: How I answered the Call"
Introduction by Beverly Bond

An oral historian for the Smith-Robertson Museum and Cultural Center in Jackson, MS, and the Margaret Walker Alexander National Research Center at Jackson State University, Owen Brooks moved to Mississippi from Massachusetts in the 1960s. He served as director of the Delta Ministry and fought to improve the educational, economic, and political situation of African Americans in the Delta. He will talk about being at the forefront of this decades-long struggle to bring equal rights to all citizens.

Dr. Carol Crown, "Folk Art in the Delta: Masters of Vernacular Art"
Introduction by Dr. Sylverna Ford, Dean of the University Libraries

Carol Crown is a Professor of Art History at the University of Memphis. Her research focus is contemporary folk art--the work of self-taught artists--in the South. Her publications include Coming Home: Self-Taught Artists, the Bible, and the American South and Sacred and Profane: Voice and Vision in Southern Self-Taught Art. She will examine the art of the Delta's most famous self-taught artists in hopes of ascertaining commonalities while celebrating their singular achievements.

Fogelman Executive Conference Center
330 Innovation Drive
Memphis, TN 38152-3130

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