Above: Officially dedicating the B.B. King Memorial Highway at a ceremony on Friday at Mississippi Valley State University are, from left, Northern District Transportation Commissioner Mike Tagert; MVSU Acting President Jerryl Briggs; state Sen. David Jordan; musician Lil’ Ray Neal; Robert Terrell, director of operations at the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center; Malika Polk-Lee of the B.B. King Museum; the Rev. Herron Wilson, pastor of Strangers Home M.B. Church and Pilgrim M.B. Church in Shaw; state Sen. Willie Simmons; Willie Bland, a family friend of King’s; and Dr. Alphonso Sanders, director of the B.B. King Recording Studio at MVSU.Below: A highway marker designates a stretch of U.S. 82 in Leflore County from Mississippi Valley State University to the Berclair turnoff as the B.B. King Memorial Highway. King was born at Berclair.
