Forging Ahead, 1946–Present

Muddy Waters and Langston Hughes Spread the Blues at Newport and Beyond

Theme and Time Period
Muddy Waters’s accomplishments and influence as a musician have been recognized by many. Most notably, he was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame (1980) and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1987). He was nominated by the Recording Academy of the United States for twelve Grammy Awards and won seven.

Muddy Waters and Langston Hughes Spreading the Blues at Newport and Beyond

Overview

Muddy Waters (born McKinley Morganfield) grew up in the Mississippi Delta, yet he helped transform popular music in America and Europe. Waters’s notable innovation of amplified electric guitar sound not only expanded the blues but also helped shape rock and roll. His performance at the Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island in 1960 was a pivotal point in his career.

The Big Dreamer: James Meredith’s Fight for Integration

Theme and Time Period
Applying to the University of Mississippi on January 20, 1961, Meredith was immediately rejected after writing in his application that he was a Black man. Unwavering in his mission to be admitted, he reached out to Medgar Evers, field secretary for the NAACP.

Student Protest at Delta State College in March 1969

Theme and Time Period
Today, legal and institutionally supported racial segregation within places of higher learning feels like a thing of the past. Yet, integration and increased representation of students of color, especially Black students, did not come easily in the Mississippi Delta even after racial segregation was outlawed.

The Role of Lawyers in the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi

Theme and Time Period
In the early twentieth century, Black people in Mississippi who aimed to exercise their rights as citizens of the United States had few allies. State and local government officials, acting under the authority of the 1890 state constitution, blocked efforts by black citizens to vote and operated separate schools for White and Black children.

Census and Redistricting: Just the facts, Ma’am.

Theme and Time Period

Every ten years, the population of the United States is counted by the U.S. Census Bureau, a division of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The census count is relied upon for distributing federal funding for the following decade, but it is also used to equalize voting strength among the population. 

Basic thoughts about the Census:

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