Cotton, fried catfish and folklore were all on the menu at the "Delta, Everything Southern Symposium" that was held by the friends of the library on campus June 29.
The list of speakers ranged from cotton barons to catholic priests to musical scholars all sharing their knowledge about the Mississippi Delta.
"It was a very interesting and well conducted conference," said Jonathan Large, a graduate student from the University of Kentucky. "I am looking forward to going to another one."
Howard Stovall kicked off the day by giving a unique view into Delta life by sharing his and his family's experiences on their cotton farm, which they settled in the 1840's, according to Large.
Stovall's family farm was where Alan Lomax first discovered and recorded famed blues man Muddy Waters. Stovall also brought along some memorabilia from the plantation, including money that was minted especially for use at the plantation store.
"It was the first time that he'd (Stovall) spoken on the subject," said William Bearden, one of the speakers and organizers of the symposium. "It was great to hear what a person with his kind of background had to say. I think that he knew more than he ever realized."
Unita Blackwell, the first African-American mayor of a Mississippi city, was scheduled to speak, but she was not able to attend, which was disappointing to the attendees, according to Large.
"We are determined to have greater African-American involvement in the event. We had placed our hopes on Unita Blackwell, and she would have no doubt been excellent at opening up the discussion on the black experience of the Delta," said Tom Mendina, assistant to the dean of University libraries. "She was apparently not able to come to Memphis that day."
The University of Memphis's own David Evans played guitar and sang old blues tunes for the approximately 110 conference attendees. Evans also gave a lecture on the origins of some of the more unique musical innovations that came out of the Delta, including the bottleneck slide guitar.
James Cobb, professor of history at the University of Georgia and author of several books about the Delta, was the keynote speaker. Cobb spoke at length about the lifestyles of all people and the economics of the Delta.
"It has not been its isolation, but rather its susceptibility to external forces that have made the Delta appear so southern," Cobb said. "Delta planters have consistently reigned supreme at the hog trough of government subsidies."
Cobb hopes that his work is helping to dismantle the myths about the South, he said.
William Bearden gave a presentation complete with humorous slides to illustrate his points.
"I usually never let the truth get in the way of a good story," Bearden joked. "In the Delta everything was cotton. Everything happened because of cotton."
Bearden also expounded on some of the more idiosyncratic elements of life in the Delta, including the diddly-bow. The diddly-bow is similar to a one stringed guitar that is hung on the side of a house and uses the house as the resonating chamber, producing a large sound, according to Bearden.
Maude Schuyler Clay gave a presentation of her photographs that has been made into two books.
"Clay's photos that told the story of Emmett Till were particularly moving," Large said. "It isn't often that you get to see images that illustrate the story and explain it so well."
Paul Canonici ended the day with a lecture about Italians and other ethnic minorities in the Delta, and how they interacted with the other peoples of the area.
There are many more programs that the library will be hosting in the fall and spring that students are encouraged to be a part of, including a celebration of banned books, a program on Memphis Italians and a six-part series on the history of jazz music in the U.S., according to Mendina.
"I would say that it was a success," Mendina said. "More importantly those 65 or so attendees out of a total of around 110 who completed the event evaluation form uniformly checked 'excellent.'"
