Sunflower County in the Delta

I shot this photo in Sunflower, Mississippi in the Delta.

He was with three of his friends behind a convenient store and liquor store. However, before I left the owner asked all three to leave the area suggesting that all they do when behind the store is litter.

Sunflower County is often called Sunflower Country. It was named Sunflower in 1844.

In the 1930's, the county had over 66,000 residents. Today, that number is down to 27,005. It is one of the poorest counties in the state and also one of the poorest in the U.S.

The Mississippi State Penitentiary is one of the largest employers in the area. It is the home of Mississippi's death row and execution chamber.

He has style

While he lives on the streets of Tennessee, style is not beneath him. He looks like someone one might spot playing a bass in a jazz club or perhaps a guitar in a blues band.

"My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style." - Maya Angelou

The Store of Death?

I heard about the so called store of death, but I had to see it for myself to believe it.

It was not exactly my cup of tea, but some seem to really like it. 

It is a small store located in the depths of Nashville with a hearse parked out front and a small camper to the right of it. The store is called "Hail Dark Aesthetics."

Inside I found a variety of animals, all deceased of course. They even had a giraffe head / neck inside the store.

In addition to animals, I also saw an assortment of antique medical supplies which were actually for sale.

Almost Home

I met a man who calls a school bus home. The gentleman, who was previously homeless, came up with this creative idea to save his money and buy an old school bus. He is in the process of making it into a real home.

I thought it was pretty cool for sure.

I did a short interview with him (audio on below link). It is worth a listen.

To hear an audio interview with the man, CLICK HERE for link. 

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Meet Henry of Nickson Juke Joint

He owns a small bar in the Delta of Mississippi. There were no windows and I felt as if I should knock to go inside.

There were about six men sitting out front drinking and smoking on a beautiful Sunday morning and they looked at me as if I were lost, however they invited me to go inside.

After I walked in I was greeted by Henry, the owner of Nickson Juke Joint… I did not see a sign on the front of the bar and his Mississippi drawl was long and sincere, but a foreign language to me. We then started to talk about the past as I sat down at the bar with my camera in hand.

Henry is 72 years old and has lived in Mississippi his entire life. He told me, “When I grew up around here, they was pickin’ cotton paying like $1.25 per hour for pickin’ cotton – mostly everybody, that’s what they was paying and $5 a day for driving-driving a tractor.”

I talked to him about growing up in the Delta and he said, “It was hard, during the time that I come up.” He then told me that his family lived in a small farm house, “My parents and them, we stayed on a farm like a sharecropper and picking cotton, pick ten bales of cotton a day they get $10 and they split the money with you.”

Juke joint: a bar featuring music on a jukebox and typically having an area for dancing.

A swamp in the Delta of Mississippi

It looked like a painting both in life and in picture. The swamps of the Mississippi Delta. 

"I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in." -George Washington Carver

Farming, a way of life

On the move with big equipment: Even under dark rain filled clouds, every turn in the Delta region of Mississippi offers a new feast for the eyes of little boys who grew up with Tonka trucks and tractors. 

All I own is in this cart

Everything he owns is in his shopping cart. Tonight, he will sleep under the tree standing behind him, near Graceland, home of Elvis in Memphis, TN. 

Hard Work in the Mississippi Delta

Hard work at a small used tire shop in the Mississippi Delta. 

"The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand." - Vince Lombardi

Lost her husband upon his return from Vietnam

She is one of nearly 11,400 residents in Yazoo, Mississippi, between the Yazoo River and the Mississippi River.

She has been a widow since her husband died shortly after his return from Vietnam. However, she was quick to tell me that he took very good care of her.

When asked if she would like to move, the answer was, “If I could move to D.C. where my kids are.” Like many children in the Delta region, once they are old enough to move on, they quickly do in search of better jobs as employment is scarce in the Delta. She told me that if she had the money, she would make the move to Washington D.C., but she doesn’t, so she will stay put. 

100 Pound Watermelons in the Delta of Mississippi

He is a former Sheriff’s Deputy in Tunica County, Mississippi and he is now retired. He carries a small handgun in his left pocket at all times, as crime is quite high on the Delta. Health problems like diabetes keeps him home many days, but he has a love for his garden and his small dog.

He lives alone with his Chihuahua, but finds joy in his garden that sits in the front yard of his camper. He has grown everything from okra to watermelons. He said with a smile from ear to ear, “I have grown everything from sweet corn, green beans, whole beans, you name it and I have pretty well grown it.”

He recently grew several 100 pound watermelons that he took to a local school in Tunica County. He said, “I had some special seed that grew some extremely large watermelons and I donated a couple of them to the local private school over here (Pointing South) and after football practice one day they enjoyed some big watermelons.”

This is my home

She has called the Delta of Mississippi her home her entire life. She, like many residents, like the slower pace of life compared to larger cities. However, she confirmed that jobs are scarce.

As far as change of the years, she said little is different. Farm jobs were lost years ago with new technology. Retail stores are scarce along with restaurants these days.

An article about the Delta in The Economist stated (2013):

“You can’t out-poor the Delta,” says Christopher Masingill, joint head of the Delta Regional Authority, a development agency. In parts of it, he says, people have a lower life expectancy than in Tanzania; other areas do not yet have proper sanitation.

He was a track runner in the 1970's

Mr. Richard Townsend lives in a small house that was once where slaves called home in the Delta of the Mississippi. The home is approximately 15 feet long and 8 feet wide. It consists of two small rooms with a toilet and kitchenette that was added years and years after slaves, then sharecroppers made the house their residence.

Mr. Townsend who was born in Mississippi, later moved to California. While on the west coast and in his early twenties, he was known for running trackfrom 1976 to 1979. He ran for the Santa Monica Track Club. The track club in California received worldwide recognition in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s after setting numerous world and national records.

I was able to track down information that showed his name on an April 1977 schedule to run in event #33 during the Drake Relays. Townsend ran the 440 yard relay in heat number one. His relay team made the run in 41.34 seconds, placing second in their event.

Today, Richard Townsend pays $125 per month to rent the small home that he has lived in for about 15 years. The area in which he lives is surrounded by drug dealers who harass him on a daily basis and even throw bricks at his house. He told me that people make and sell meth and crack in the neighborhood and drink non-stop. Townsend told me, “As for me, I only drink coffee and juice.”

While talking to Townsend, I witnessed the harassment first hand. Mr. Townsend told the subject who walked up to his house to leave and said to him, “He’s interviewing me, you need to get outta’ here.” The man continued to harass Mr. Townsend until we were finished talking.

Townsend has numerous “No Trespassing” signs posted on nearly every side of the small house. He even has a gate across his front steps so people cannot enter his home. The two do little to keep people away.

As for why he moved back to Mississippi… It was to be with his mother who was near death. She passed away shortly after his arrival and is buried in a cemetery about a mile from his home.

As I left I could see that he was tearing up. I think he enjoyed reminiscing about his mother and his track days. He seemed to be a very kind, open and thankful man.

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We are all similar

The Mississippi Delta: “I’m from Memphis,” he told me with a slow country slur. He moved to the Delta of Mississippi for a slower pace of life and less crime than the big city.

We are all human beings working on our hurts, sins and life together despite of our current living arraignments. Some of us live in the Delta while others live in large cities at a faster pace. But underneath our hats, many of us have similar past.

“Practiced on our sins
Never gonna let me win, uh huh
Under everything
Just another human being, uh huh"

"Yeah, I don't want to hurt
There's so much in this world
To make me bleed”

-Eddie Vedder, Just Breath

Sleeping anywhere in Memphis, TN

In an area that is called the Delta, he is homeless in Memphis, Tennessee. He told me that he and his girlfriend of 13 years sleep anywhere they can find. 

Crop Dusting Planes in the Delta

On Monday, I found myself in the middle of nowhere in the Delta of Mississippi surrounded by cotton fields to my left and right. Out of nowhere, a crop dusting plane flew over my car. I followed the plane to where it landed and quickly made my way to the small country airport to speak to the pilot as he was refueling.

The first commercial crop-dusting plane was not a plane at all, it was instead a hot air balloon used to spread seed over a field of swampland in New Zealand. The balloon was tethered to the ground and moved from one side of the field to the other in 1906.

The idea of utilizing a plane in agriculture was born in 1921 by the U.S. Agriculture Department and the Army Signal Corps. A man by the name of John A. Macready piloted the first crop duster in 1921. I guess you could say the rest is history.

Working off fines in the Delta

Living in the Delta of Mississippi is tough due to a lack of jobs that are currently available. Things that many of us in most cities could avoid like paying a simple fine can quickly equal headaches and sometimes jail time in the Delta.

This man lives in Indianola, Mississippi and was jailed for a speeding ticket and driving without a license as opposed to simply paying the fines. Due to a lack of income, he is working off the fines through the workhouse.  

Living in the Delta

Mississippi Delta – Land Lost: The Mississippi Delta is a very different region of the country when compared to other areas.

After the Civil War, many areas were undeveloped, despite the well balanced land to grow a variety of crops on. Today, many of the Delta areas are still undeveloped and lack jobs, hospitals, education and more.

The Delta is comprised of a flat low lying land that sits between the Mississippi River and the Yazoo River. The land in between is 200 miles long and 70 miles wide at its widest point.

This resident has lived in the delta her entire life, since 1961.

They Litter My Property

Mississippi Delta – Land Lost: He was armed with a small sheep knife on his side when he came around the corner. The knife was not exposed, but on a strap around his shoulder as if to say that he means business.

“You need to leave now,” he growled at several men on his property behind a market that he has owned for about 30+ years. The men were sitting around on old milk crates that were previously stacked behind his store. The area in which they were sitting was once a car wash behind the market in Drew, Mississippi.

After the men walked away he told me in a tone that made me quickly realize he has grown tired of cleaning their mess, “They sit around and drink all day and litter my property (pointing at a pile of liquor bottles and beer cans).”

The men slowly walked away as if they knew the routine, once again leaving behind beer cans.

The poverty rate is 36.1% in Drew City, which is in Sunflower County, Mississippi. It is the 8th poorest county in the state. In Sunflower County, only 70.2% of adults 25 and older have a high school diploma or higher education. The per capita income over the past 12 months stands at a low $12,177 in Sunflower County.

What does poverty look like?

What does poverty look like to you? 

“The greatest disease in the West today is not TB or leprosy; it is being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for. We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair, and hopelessness is love. There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread but there are many more dying for a little love. The poverty in the West is a different kind of poverty -- it is not only a poverty of loneliness but also of spirituality. There's a hunger for love, as there is a hunger for God.” ― Mother Teresa, A Simple Path: Mother Teresa