Day one of the workshop kicks off at Jobe Hall with an orientation of sorts from Dr. Herts and Lee. In addition to walking the participants through the week’s busy schedule, Dr. Herts shares videos about the Mississippi Delta and topics such as intersectionality to prepare the group for the impactful workshop ahead.
Lee further familiarizes participants with the Mississippi Delta, imparting upon them the importance of the the Mississippi River to the evolution of the region and the importance of The Delta to the history of the country. She tells the participants: “You know things about the Delta, but what you know about the Delta you didn’t know was about the Delta.”
After introductions, participants take a short drive over to The Senator’s Place for lunch, owned and run by Senator Willie Simmons. Since 1993, Senator Simmons has served the Cleveland community as the Senator of District 13; since 2003, he has served them love-filled, world class Southern Soul food.
In the In the upcoming elections, Senator Simmons will be running for Transportation Commissioner of Mississippi's Central District. Senator Simmons' daughter, Sarita Simmons, will be running for the senate seat previously held by her father.
After lunch, the group returns to Delta State Campus to watch the Academy Award-nominated film LaLee’s Kin: The Legacy of Cotton. The film follows the life and family of woman named LaLee Wallace, who lives in Tallahatchie County, one of the poorest counties in the nation. The family embodies the cycle of poverty and poor education that have been left in the wake of the eras of slavery and sharecropping.
Also featured in the film is Reggie Barns, the West Tallahatchie School Superintendent from 1994 to 2001, who was tasked with getting the school district off of probation by increasing standardized test scores. He speaks passionately about his experience in as Superintendent and the understanding it afforded him of the systemic social, economic, and educational ills faced by residents of places like Tallahatchie County. Mr. Barns and the participants exchange insights regarding what is needed to uplift a school district like West Tallahatchie.
The next stop is the Mississippi River—the Nile of the New World. Typically, participants visit the river at the site of the Levee Break of the Flood of 1927, the subject of their required pre-workshop reading, Rising Tide. However, because the water is so high in the area this year, the group overlooks the river from Terrene Landing instead.
Teachers marvel at the river, the bearer of a great deal of economic, cultural, and musical Delta heritage. Some bend down to touch its waters while others try their hand at skipping rocks.