After two years writing about an area which I had thoroughly researched but never been to, I decided it was finally time to see the 'The Delta' for myself. Raising the money from two film 'Angels' who had helped me out on 'Dark Summer', I set out in search of Mary's home town, a young black American reporter in White Light, and a key character in the script.
Using Ken Light's brilliant photographic book Delta Time, Mississippi Photographs (Ken's web site with photographs from the book) as my guide, I arrived in Memphis, Tennessee, USA, and picking up the hire car the next day, headed south into the 'Mississippi Delta' on my voyage of discovery.
"...'The Delta' of popular myth, encompassing just 250 miles of King Cotton's realm between Memphis and Vicksburg; in his historical book Where I was Born and Raised writer David Cohn contends that the Mississippi Delta "begins in the lobby of the Peabody Hotel in Memphis and ends on Catfish Row in Vicksburg." As important as its proper boundaries is its dual legacy as a great Civil War battleground and cradle of nearly every American musical style from gospel, blues, and jazz to country and rock 'n' roll. The backbone of our route, US-61, is also legendary as the path of the Great Migration, the post-Depression exodus to the industrialized northern U.S. of some five million black sharecroppers displaced by the mechanized cotton harvester."
Quote from 'Road Trip USA' ©1999 by Jamie Jensen
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| Mississippi |
Coahoma Co. |
Clarksdale |
Jonestown |
Having only two weeks to accomplish a seemingly impossible task, I base myself in the Clarksdale Days Inn and spend the next week, from dawn to dusk, fanning out over an area measured 350 by 150 miles. Trying to soak up the real atmosphere of 'The Delta' by keeping as far away from the tourist route as possible, taking all the back roads and unmapped dusty lanes and stopping where possible to talk to the local people.
Jonestown, Coahoma County, Mississippi.
Ironically, on the first day I saw a very small town called Jonestown, just off the US-61, and pretty much knew that this was the right place, but stubbornly continued my search for the next 6 days just to make sure.
The more I travelled through the small towns and hamlets, the clearer reality became. To be honest my research and Ken Light's book had prepare me for the poverty of this part of America, but I was still shocked at the extent of its existence.
What I wasn't prepared for however was how religious 'The Delta' is; In every small town, no matter how small the population, there are 2 or 3 churches. (During my stayed I was luck enough to be invited to two church meetings. Incredibly by English standards, the services were 5 hours long.)
At the end of the week I was completely exhausted, having covered over 1,200 miles, which included a day trip to Jackson to meet up with Ward Emling from the Mississippi Film Department, so for last week I stayed around Clarkesdale getting to know the people of Jonestown and meeting their Major.
I was sad to leave the amazingly friendly people of 'The Delta', but I came back totally revitalised and attacked the script for another draft as soon as I returned.
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