Delta
Blues Historical Intersections:
A Meeting of Culture, Place, Events, and People
A Series of Lesson Plans with Teacher Resources
Leslie Griffin, Dean
Jenetta Waddell, Chair of Teacher Education
DSU College of Education
Featured Lessons:
History and Geography Intersect to Cradle the Blues
The Great Migration Intersects with Freedom (via Highway 61)
Son “Ford” Thomas: How One Life Intersected with the Blues
The Delta Blues Intersect with Other Musical Forms to Create New Genres
Overview of the Unit
The broad theme of “intersections” was chosen
as the binding thread for this unit because of its association with definitions
that include the following: junction, crossroads, connection, and meeting
place. From these definitions, we can see that an intersection can be
material (a physical place) or figurative (a symbol). These lessons about
the Delta Blues will provide both material and figurative ways of understanding
the blues, which is considered by many to be a uniquely American music
genre.
With the surging interest in the Delta Blues—locally, nationally, and
internationally—it is appropriate that students understand the history
of these blues, how they have impacted lives, and the qualities that render
them of contemporary interest. Perhaps this interest is best reflected in the
following quote credited to Como, Mississippi’s Slick Ballinger in the
May 2006 Atlantic Southeast magazine. As the article recounts, several years
ago Ballinger, a “15-year-old country boy from Johnston County, North
Carolina, flipped on an old movie and encountered destiny.”
It was the first blues I ever heard . . . this movie
Crossroads . . . about this old
Blues man who used to know Robert Johnson. He’s in a nursing home up
in
New York City and this white boy takes him down to Mississippi. But it wasn’t
the
story that got me. It was the very first five minutes. It started with Robert
Johnson
walking up and down these crossroads with a guitar and there’s a harmonica
playing in the background, and Mississippi cotton fields all around, and that
harmonica just chilled through my body and let me know that’s what I
wanted to
do. It just flipped the switch. That’s it for me.” (p. 23)
And, so it goes. It is the authors’ hope that these lessons will intrigue and possibly strike a chord with students, in effect “flipping the switch” that will lead them on an interesting journey through the historical terrain of the Delta Blues, and all it envelops.
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