Daylight on the Delta

• Prize
  Bronze in Book (Series Only)/Documentary
• Photographer
  William Hereford

The birthplace of American soul lies within the Mississippi Delta. I wanted to see it and for it to inspire my work. But while walking along the streets of Clarksdale or down a country road in Duncan, I felt an overwhelming sense that something was missing. Our expectations of the rural American South are informed by iconic images of The Civil Rights Movement, blues musicians, and pre industrialized cotton culture. However, most residents of the modern Delta did not march on Washington nor did they spearhead the migration of blues into Chicago. They did not pick cotton in 100 degree heat, and their communities did not appear in the pages of Life Magazine. This project investigates the descendants of a community famous for the best and worst things about America.