The Museum of the Mississippi Delta will host a book signing and reading of “Trials of the Earth” at 6 p.m. Thursday.
The event will feature Kerry Hamilton, who will read and sign copies of his great-grandmother’s autobiography, and special guest actress McGhee Monteith.
“Trials of the Earth” by Mary Mann Hamilton is a first-person account of a Mississippi Delta pioneer woman struggling to survive, protect her family and make a home in the early American South.
She was one of the only women to write about homesteading in the Mississippi Delta.
Near the end of her life, Hamilton (1866-1936) began recording her experiences. An early draft of “Trials of the Earth” was submitted to a writers’ competition sponsored by Little, Brown in 1933. It didn’t win, but 83 years later, in partnership with Hamilton’s descendants, “Trials of the Earth” was published by Little, Brown.
Maureen Corrigan of NPR’s Fresh Air said in 2016 when the book debuted, “It’s the back story that will first grab a reader, but it’s Hamilton’s gift for storytelling in her blunt voice that makes this memoir such a standout. ... Beyond everything else, this memoir impresses on readers just how easy it was to vanish in an earlier America. ... How fortunate that the manuscript of ‘Trials of the Earth’ didn’t meet that same fate.”
The event is being held in conjunction with the Museum of the Mississippi Delta’s current Smithsonian traveling exhibition “Crossroads: Change in Rural America.”
“Crossroads” takes a look at the characteristics of rural America. It explores how an attraction to and interaction with the land formed the basis of rural culture and how rural communities and small towns evolve and change. It highlights how change transformed rural America, especially during the 1900s, and how rural Americans are evolving for the future.
“We are very pleased with the community’s reaction thus far to ‘Crossroads,’” said Katie Mills, executive director of the Museum of the Mississippi Delta. “Our visitor count so far has been wonderful. People are coming from all over the Delta and beyond to see the exhibition and visit our community. It is great exposure for the museum and the town. And our public programs have been fascinating and well-received.”
The event will be held at the museum, 1608 U.S. 82 West, and Turnrow Books will be on site selling copies of the book.
“Crossroads” will be on view through Friday.
- Contact Ruthie Robison at 581-7235 or rrobison@gwcommonwealth.com.
