Well, we're back. We left Tutwiler at 7:15 am and got in to Evanston around 6:00 pm. I certainly noticed the difference in the mood going down vs. the mood coming back. Going down excited and full of energy. Coming back, exhausted but satisfied with a job well done. I have a couple of reflections from Jan and then some photos that didn't make it into my other blog posts.
Casey
Jan
May 23, 2014
On Friday morning Marie and I took a break from to worksite to attend to a task Sr. Maureen, Community Center Director, asked us to do. We replaced the roof on a pergola like structure that stands across the street from the Community Center. The challenge here was that the 4x4 posts supporting the structure had about 12, maybe 18, years of warp and twist in them. We debated for some time whether to replace the posts, straighten them, or leave them as is. We opted for the last, reasoning that we did not want to change what was an established Tutwiler landmark, but the roof did need to go.
I had designed and built some trusses using lumber I found on discard pile earlier in the week, and after demolishing the old roof, managed to frame up the new roof. In the meantime Marie set about touching up the paint on the 5 foot harmonica that hangs beneath the pergola, taking care not obscure the designs of the creator. This is truly a piece of folk art. In fact, while Marie was working on it, a passing driver stopped to ask if it was for sale. JD eventually arrived with the sheeting and shingles and we completed a credible job that I hope will last or another 18 years.
About 30 yards down the street is a collapsing shell of a brick building with a brightly painted sign in front that identified it as the funeral home where Emmett Till’s body was brought after it was found nearby in the Tallahatchie River, and where it was turned over to Emmett’s uncle on condition that the casket not be opened. We learned later that evening that someone had secured a grant to turn the funeral home into a museum and historical site. It certainly deserves more than it is now. Tutwiler deserves more, so this is good news.
Later that evening out group walked by the funeral home and a few very sketchy looking juke joints to a new restaurant that opened just a few weeks ago. Landers grill sits across the street from the library in the Masonic Hall. We were greeted by the owners, Marvin and his wife Mary (JD’s little sister), Marvin’s daughter Nikki and husband Johnny, and their 3 year old son Lander, for whom the place is named. They’re only open on weekends and offer a limited menu. The sign on the door lists “rib tips, polishes, and how wings” and that’s what we had. The setting and décor was inviting and comfortable, and the food was as great as the hospitality. We all hope that their business thrives. A spot like this would be a huge anchor for revitalizing the center of town. Those of us who had been to Tutwiler for several years were buoyed by these recent changes, evidence of people showing their pride in their community and taking control of how things will be done.
Finally, there was a lot of talk about the upcoming, first ever, Tutwiler Day on June 7, something I wish we could attend. One of the young fellows who was working with us was planning to show his “stepping horse” and his “racing horse”. There’ll be pony rides as well. The Community Center Blues group will be performing, and the Tutwiler cheerleaders will be there too. JD is planning to enter his ribs in the BBQ competition and Johnny will be there with his rib tips. There will be a car show too, which, judging by some the cars I saw cruising by, should be something to see.
JN
We ate everything they put in front of us!
May 24, 2014
We returned home from Tutwiler last night to find the expected stack of mail collected by our neighbor on the kitchen table. In the pile was a magazine, the Rochester Review, a publication of the University of Rochester directed to alumni. I usually scan through the pages looking to see which faculty had retired, or died, and news of some of my classmates. This issue, however, includes an article about Matthew Zwerling, class of ’64, who was moved to participate in Freedom Summer, the 1964 effort organized by the NAACP and the SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) to recruit college students to help register black voters in Mississippi. Zwerling travelled from NY with another student from his apartment building, AndyGoodman, and they spent a week in training together before receiving their assignments. Matthew was assigned to work in Clarksdale, a town about 25 miles from Tutwiler that our HFH crew is very familiar with. (Four years ago, after mass at St Elizabeth’s, I met Paul Clark, whose grandfather gave Clarksdale its name. He directed us to Abe’s where he joined us a few minute later.) Andy was sent to Meridian. Within a week, Andy Goodman, James Chaney, and Michael Schwerner had been murdered, their bodies being discovered several weeks later. In this article Matthew described some his experiences in the Clarksdale area and some of the heroic people who worked with him. I encourage you to read the article (http://www.rochester.edu/pr/Review/V76N5/0501_voting.html).
One of the issues I struggle with every time I go to Tutwiler is trying to understand how the local folk perceive us. What must they think when they see this convoy of white people from Evanston, in their pretty nice SUV’s, pull into the HFH dorm driveway. (I have to believe that our reputation for eating well has made its way into local legend.) I feel their sincerity in welcoming us and I think they truly appreciate our being there. I feel very comfortable among them, but the people we meet, mostly blacks, have a history that I, a white person, cannot really comprehend. I worry, too, that what we might like to think of history, is still pretty active. We spend a week there, among friends. What is their life like when we leave? We may have returned to Evanston, but my mind, and a piece of my heart, is still in Mississippi.
JN
We'll be back next year with more tales from the Delta
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