May 24, 2024

I do most of the writing and provide most of the pictures for this blog, but I always like to get the other team members involved and let them provide their own individual insights and experiences. Most of the crew took a trip to see some of the local sites yesterday. I skipped the trip. I have seen them in past years and enjoyed just taking a break. But this provides a great opportunity to hear from someone else.

We got a good start installing siding on the last house. We were going gangbusters and hoping to get lots done today. Then the rains came. Thunder and lightning was as all around and the ground turned into muck. So we moved indoors and worked on mudding the drywalls in preparation for painting.

After lunch, some of us went on a field trip to discover history of the area. Our first stop was in Sumner, where the two white men who killed Emmett Till were sent to trial and found not guilty by a jury of 12 white men. They later admitted that they were guilty.

The old courtroom is still in use, and is now a historic landmark under the US Park System.

Then we visited the private Emmett Till Historic Intrepid Center in Glendora. Emmett was killed here and the center has displays explaining what happened.

Our next stop was at the B.B. King Museum. They have many displays of B.B.’s amazing success as a blues guitarist.

B.B.’s gravesite is at the museum.

We ended the day with a visit to Clarksdale to Morgan Freeman’s Ground Zero Blues Club. It was amateur night so we heard lots of acts — some better than others.