“In the valley of the Mississippi more than anywhere else will be determined the future of the United States and indeed the western world; and the type of civilization reached in this mighty valley will largely fix the type of civilization for the whole western hemisphere.”
Teddy Roosevelt
The Mississippi Delta is full of culture and grandeur, and many people who live here don't realize it, said Dr. Luther Brown, director of the Delta Center for Culture and Learning.
Brown spoke of the importance of the Delta and its heritage to members of the Greenwood Kiwanis Club on Thursday.
Brown started by sharing three quotes made about the Mississippi valley, including the one above by President Teddy Roosevelt.
“Roosevelt was referring to the entire lower Mississippi valley, not just our Delta, and he was likely talking about the control of nature by man,” Brown said, “but the grandeur of his claim is still impressive: ‘will largely fix the type of civilization… .”
A second quote Brown shared comes from the National Park Service: “Much of what is profoundly American n what people love about America n has come from the Delta, which is often called ‘the cradle of American culture.'”
“Again, the grandeur is impressive: ‘the cradle of American culture,'” Brown said.
“Some people might see this as excessive, especially if they are used to life in upper middle class exurbia and are driving down old Highway 61 through the small towns that are now struggling merely to survive,” he said.
Many Deltans would disagree with these quotes as well, especially if they are young and looking forward to a productive career and good salary, Brown said.
But these are two credible sources n a U.S. president and the National Park Service, he said. Both state with certainty that the Mississippi Delta is a very important region n “no less than the very “cradle of American culture,” Brown said.
“I think they are both right, meaning we need somehow to reconcile these statements with our current economic stresses, health-care problems and other contemporary challenges,” Brown said.
Brown then asked the club members to consider another quote by Bruce Cole, chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities n “Citizens kept ignorant of their history are robbed of the riches of their heritage.”
“If people don't know their heritage stories, they can't benefit from them financially or psychologically, and both types of benefits are potentially enormous,” Brown said.
Delta State began to address this issue in 2000 when it created the Delta Center for Culture and Learning. The Delta Center was the brain child of former university President David Potter and a group of DSU faculty, Brown said.
When current president John M. Hilpert took control, he announced that DSU would be the best regional university, giving new momentum to the center's efforts to educate the current and future students about their heritage, Brown said.
“President Hilpert took our heritage program to a new level this past fall by declaring the theme for the school year to be Delta Heritage and calling for a yearlong celebration,” he said.
Many events are planned throughout the year.
The Delta Center also is producing a calendar of Delta events. “It will feature ‘On this Date in the Delta Heritage' entries,” Brown said. The center hopes to have it available by Jan. 1.
“We have a good smattering of birth and death dates, significant events like the great ice storm, hurricanes, important pieces of legislation, and the demonstration of the first mechanical cotton picker,” he said.
The center also is hosting several public presentations.
James Cobb, author of “The Most Southern Place on Earth” and other books about the Delta, will speak Nov. 8. Pete Daniels, who has written about souther agriculture history and also about the flood of 1927, will speak in April. And Hodding Carter will speak at the dedication of the new journalism lab at Delta State on April 14. Carter is the former Pulitzer Prize-winning editor of the Delta Democrat Times in Greenville.
A class during DSU's December intersession also will focus on the natural history of the Delta.
Each month of the celebration focuses on a different Delta heritage topic. For example, November will focus on Delta food, Brown said.
“The Mississippi Delta has incredible riches when it comes to heritage, and we also have a rich future,” he said. “Delta State University serves the people of the Mississippi Delta. One way we try to do so is to make sure that our students and the communities around us can reap the benefits of their own heritage.”
