The group begins its Thursday with a bus trip to Mound Bayou, a historic all-black town, famed for being an autonomous and largely self-reliant community.
The first stop in Mound Bayou is the Taborian Hospital, opened in 1942 by the International Order of Twelve Knights and Daughters of Tabor. Equipped with operating rooms, an x-ray machine, among a host of other advanced facilities, the Hospital was a testament to Mound Bayou's self-sufficiency. Having closed in 1967 because of financial pressure, it was refurbished and reopened in 2011.
The group then heads over to Po' Monkey's a popular rural juke joint and the home of its owner, Willie "Po' Monkey" Seaberry. Adorned with string lights and stuffed monkeys, it was an important breeding place for blues music during its years of operation. Po' Monkey, who passed away in 2016, was known for changing into various vibrant suits throughout each night at the juke joint and is fondly remembered by those who knew him.
The group returns to the Delta State campus and has the opportunity to hear from Charles McLaurin. From Jackson, Mississippi, McLaurin was a part of SNCCs very first voter registration organizing efforts and was the one who took civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer to register to vote. He recounts his experience with Fannie Lou Hamer, which included managing her campaign when she ran for Congress in 1964.
Participants listen intently to Charles McLaurin's accounts, captivated by his firsthand insights into crucial historic events and sentiments.
Emmett Till Panel at Tallahatchie County Courthouse
The highlight of the day is the group's trip to Tallhatchie Courthouse in Sumner, MS, where an all-white jury acquitted Roy Bryant and J. W. Milam for the lynching of 14-year-old Emmett Till in 1955. Bryant and Milam mutilated and drowned Till in the early morning after he allegedly whistled at Bryant's wife, Carolyn Bryant, in her family's grocery store in the town of Money, MS, where Till was visiting from Chicago. The courthouse today is heavily semblant of its 1955 self; it still exhibits at its front a monument to the Confederacy, echoing the sentiments that engendered the 1955 acquittal.
Inside the courthouse, the Rev. Wheeler Parker, Emmett Till's cousin, and the Rev. Willie Williams speak to the group about the death of Emmett Till and its aftermath. Rev. Parker, familiar with the social standards of the south, describes the fear he felt in the moment that Till whistled Bryant Grocery. The two speak on Emmett Till's Legacy and what it meant for the Civil Rights Movement. After the panel, participants are able to speak directly with the reverends.
To bring the day to a close, the group visits Broad Street Historical Park in Greenwood, MS, where a Mississippi Freedom Trail Marker commemorates Stokely Carmichael's 1966 "Black Power" speech.