The Town of Glendora is forging a new and expanding regional cultural alliance committed to safeguarding cultural heritage and human rights of citizens of the Delta region of Mississippi . The purpose of this alliance is to create an alternative tourism network that is supportive of the rich historic culture of small towns in the Delta and South Eastern Region. This unique network will allow tourists to experience the vast and unique dimensions of the region’s history and collective efforts of African Americans engaging in cultural preservation. Among the current members of this alliance are:
Mississippi Valley State University – Delta Research & Cultural Institute
http://www.mvsu.edu/university/delta_research.php
Mississippi Action for Community Education (M.A.C.E.) and its Annual Delta Blues & Heritage Festival, Greenville , MS
Fannie Lou Hamer Memorial, Ruleville , MS
http://www.fannielouhamer.info/
Delta Blues Legend Tours, Greenwood , MS
Glendora ‘s historic relationship to the Emmett Till case places it in pivotal position on the map of the modern-day struggle for civil and human rights, preceding both the Montgomery Bus Boycott and King’s March on Washington . As the birthplace of Aleck Rice Miller “Sonny Boy” Williamson, Glendora also lays claim to one the richest cultural legacies in the evolution of the Blues.
Through a formal collaboration with the Delta Research & Cultural Institute of Mississippi Valley State University, the citizens of the town also enjoy support from and linkage to on-going social science research and analyses on the status of quality-of-life and human rights in a 20-county region that comprises the Mississippi Delta. This research documents the social and economic conditions out of which the Blues, as an emotional musical tradition expressing the social plight of Delta residents, continues to evolve in the 21st Century.
Partnerships with the citizens of Greenwood, Greenville, Ruleville & Marks, MS link Glendora to rich cultural histories and traditions, such as the Trail of the Blues left by Robert Johnson in Baptist Town district of Greenwood, to the current efforts of M.A.C.E. (www.deltablues.org) to promote its annual Delta Blues & Heritage Festival in Greenville, MS, to the struggles of freedom fighter & founder of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, Fannie Lou Hamer, and the final years of the life of Martin Luther King, Jr., particularly his efforts to launch the Poor People’s Campaign for Economic Rights and the symbolic Mule Train from the heart of the Delta in Marks, MS, the place where King is said to have shed his last tears for his people.
Suggested Links: (URLs will be provided)
Blue Highway
http://www.thebluehighway.com/
Delta Blues Museum
http://www.deltabluesmuseum.org/
Mid South Delta Initiative
Mississippi Development Authority – Tourism Division
Official Mississippi Tourism Site
http://www.visitmississippi.org/
Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign
http://www.economichumanrights.org/
Robert Johnson Blues Foundation
http://www.robertjohnsonbluesfoundation.org/
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
Wikipedia: Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party
Wikipedia: The Poor People’s Campaign