Highway 61: Heart of the Delta
Edited by Randall Norris
Photographs by Jean-Philippe Cyprès
With a Foreword by Morgan Freeman
May 2008
It’s said that blues legend Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil there. That is just the kind of lore that underscores the allure and mystery of the Mississippi Delta. It is the kind of place where it seems almost anything can happen—and quite possibly has. Ask the people there what makes the Delta the Delta, and they might tell you it’s the food. Some might tell you it’s the music. Others might argue, no, it’s the people.
In an effort answer to the question of what the essence of the Delta is, Randy Norris and Jean-Philippe Cyprès have compiled Highway 61: Heart of the Delta, a celebration of the Mississippi Delta—and all that it is—in words and pictures, published by the University of Tennessee Press.
Highway 61 brings together essays by noted Delta writers and interviews with nearly thirty people of different ethnicities and social classes who share their knowledge of the past and their hopes for the future in the Delta. The book features Cyprès’s vivid photographs, as well as a foreword by acclaimed actor Morgan Freeman and an original poem by famed poet Nikki Giovanni. The essay writers touch on a variety of themes, from cultural landmarks to racial issues to the struggle for Civil Rights, providing the reader with broad sampling of the 
area’s history and culture. The interviews remind the reader that the Delta is not stuck in a particular time or place in which bad memories, history, and dark images forever hold residents captive. Instead, the region is populated by dynamic men and women whose individual voices, when combined, reveal a powerful force for positive change.
Randall Norris is a professor of English and American culture studies at Sauk Valley Community College in Dixon, Illinois. He is the author of Women of Coal.
With Jean-Philippe Cyprès, he developed a traveling exhibit of text and images on the Mississippi Delta under the auspices of the Mississippi Humanities Council and the Phil Hardin Foundation. Jean-Philippe Cyprès is an award-winning photographer originally from Paris, where he studied with internationally known photographer Cees De Hand.
Q & A
with Randy and J.P.Randy, you are from East Tennessee and J. P. is from Paris. Why a book about the Mississippi Delta?Q
A
I first started visiting the Delta back in 1969, on army leave with a couple of friends. Wherever we went, our army uniforms and regulation haircuts gave us enough status to get free beers, mixed drinks, oysters, shrimp, and all the barbecued pork and steak dinners we could eat. That’s how I was introduced to the Mississippi Delta. I saw the good, but I saw a darker side to the Delta, too. I saw things up close and personal. I was forced to deal with things I had never seen in East Tennessee. Since then I’ve been back dozens of times. I saw the Delta as a kind of caterpillar that some day, some way, stood a good chance of changing into an incredibly beautiful butterfly. When that happened, I wanted to be there to see it fly. In 1990 I managed to pick up a new traveling companion on my trips to the Delta, Jean-Philippe. J. P. is
a veteran of photo shoots around the world. He could sense that something was changing in the Delta, too. With a steady hand and a compassionate lens, he documented changes in the people and the culture all over the Delta. In all our work together— Women of Coal included— J.P. and I have always wanted to provide a placefor people to speak whose voices would not otherwise be heard. That’s the intention of this book.Q
J. P., what drew you do the Delta?A
I went along with my friends not really expecting much besides observing, learning, and taking photos. My first impression was that we had gone back in time. The poverty of the towns struck me and it was hard to “fit in.” Needless to say, we stuck out. I had never been a “stranger” so close to home. The people were very private at first, but after we met and talked they often invited us to their house for dinner. I love reality and all its textures. That’s what drew me in as well; the perspective of seeing places and people who had lived the same ways for generations. It makes for great photos too. The Delta has grown on me, and I see the hard work good people are putting in. The region is generous and open; it just needs a big hug and a good hand. I have many friends there now and always an open spot at the microphone at the Ground Zero!
Q
A
Most outsiders have never been there, so they judge the place by the few horrific events that occurred there during the 1950s and 1960s. While these events should never be forgotten or diminished, the Mississippi Delta and its people are much more than what happened on the darkest of days fifty years ago. That is what I think people miss.Q
J. P., what’s one of your favorite memories of compiling the book?A
The first time we went to Clarksdale, it happened to coincide with their annual blues festival. We were in a swamp of colorful people, food, music. A feast for our cameras, ears, and tummies. We also met some local blues legends. Being a harmonica player, I was touched, having just gone to Sonny Boy Williamson II’s humble grave, in an unmarked site.Randy, what is Highway 61 really about?Q
A
The easy way to view the Delta is through a dark, historical prism, rather than by spending the time it takes to listen to the people in the Delta shine their light so the whole world can see who they are. It took us seventeen years to compile this book, and during those years, everything we have done has always been a labor of love, and the people of the Delta have paid us back a thousand times over for our labor, by visiting with us, giving us directions when we were lost, talking openly and honestly about their hopes, dreams and fears, feeding us when we were hungry, giving us something to drink when we were thirsty, and pointing us in the direction of the next person who might have something both interesting and important to say. This book is, as much as anything else, 150 pages that reflect those acts of kindness, where they shared the “real” Mississippi Delta with us, rather than letting us dwell on the image “manufactured” by the national media. As the old saying goes, “every dog has his day,” and J. P. and I hope that Highway 61: Heart of the Delta is the day that the people in the Delta have been waiting on for so long, where they can hold their heads up high, and proud, and their humanity shows through for the whole world to see!
