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Delta Culture
NOTABLE NATIVES
The Mississippi Delta has produced and served as inspirations for some of the most prolific Americans in the fields of music, literature, and theater, not to mention politics and business. Here are just a few:
Actors/Entertainers
Morgan Freeman
Jim Henson, creator the Muppets
James Earl Jones
Athletes
Dave "Boo" Ferris, professional baseball player
Jim Gallagher, Jr., professional golfer
Archie Manning, professional football player
Archie Moore, legendary boxer
Businessmen
Fred Carl, Jr, founder Viking Range
Craig Claiborne, food critic and NY Times editor
Fred Smith, founder of FedEx
Historical Figures
LeRoy Percy, senator who led opposition to Ku Klu Klan
Musicians
Mose Allison, jazz
Sam Cooke, "You Send Me," "Wonderful World"
Robert Johnson, blues
B.B. King, blues
Charley Pride, country
Conway Twitty, country
Ike Turner
Muddy Waters, blues
Politicians
Haley Barbour, Mississippi Governor & RNC Chair
Writers
Hodding Carter
Shelby Foote
Willie Morris
Tennessee Williams
Source: www.wikipedia.org, article title: "Mississippi Delta"
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B.B. King from Indianola, Mississippi
Photo courtesy of Mississippi Delta Tourism Association, visitthedelta.com
"There should be a special pride [in the Delta] too; I feel, that out of its burdens and sufferings and paradoxes over the years, an incredible creativity has emerged. Its writers and artists and musicians of both races are symbols of its remarkable courage and resourcefulness and imagination."
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Source: Willie Morris in "My Delta. And Yours?", essay published in 1992 in A Social and Economic Portrait of the Mississippi Delta (a publication of the Mississippi State University Social Science Research Center)
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