An African-American heritage map with historic sites throughout Coahoma County was unveiled during a ceremony at the Visit Clarksdale office recently.
Brochures highlights key points in the African American community and the map can be picked up at a kiosk at the Visit Clarksdale office at 326 Blues Alley Lane.
The ceremony was held at the former passenger depot of the Clarksdale Station which is now the headquarters of Visit Clarksdale and the historical significance of that spot was not lost on attendees either.
The train ran from Vicksburg to Chicago and the track created a de facto separation between black and white Clarksdale residents between Third and Fourth streets. It was where singer-songwriter Muddy Waters and many others boarded the train to Chicago during the Great Migration in the mid-20th century.
Clarksdale resident Brenda Luckett showed photos on the African-American heritage map. Some of them were of disc jockey Early Wright and also known as “Soul Man;” blues musician Wade Walton. Another photo was of Dr. Aaron E. Henry on the steps of First Baptist Church. He was a Civil Rights leader, politician, and head of the Mississippi branch of the NAACP. She also showed a photo of Vera Mae Pigee, who was over the NAACP Youth Council and an active member of the Civil Rights community.
“So many of you call her Vera Mae,” Luckett said. “I have never in my life. We have Mrs. Pigee here.”
Pigee’s beauty salon, also a safe place for Civil Rights activities, organizing and shelter, is on the map.
Luckett talked with Colleen Buyers from Shared Experiences USA , reflected on the history and the impact her family personally had. She is the daughter of Edna Poindexter Luckett and Joe R. Luckett.
Luckett said her father was one of the men who guarded Henry’s house after a bomb was thrown through the kitchen window. She also said Coahoma County Board of Supervisors president Johnny Newson’s father was also one of the guards for Henry’s home.
“The community got together and started guarding his house because his family was in the house when they did it,” Luckett said.
Luckett said her father worked for railroad companies and also drove a city cab, but he would leave after dinner and guard Henry’s home. She said her father was a charter member of the Coahoma County branch of the NAACP.
“My father started out as a teenager cleaning the toilets at this train station,” Luckett said. “His father had that job and he wouldn’t get up in the morning and do it, so Dad was downtown and he just started doing his job for him. That’s what he continued to do until he had a job at the Alcazar Hotel.”
Luckett said her father, who was also a mathematician, did several jobs, had love for trains, got a job for City of New Orleans and Panama Limited, which are passenger trains under Illinois Central. The main base was in Chicago.
Luckett said her mother, an educator and historian, could not openly be a member of the NAACP and teach school, but she became Henry’s secretary after Pigee for about 25 years.
Luckett taught special education in the Clarksdale and Coahoma County school districts for a combined 33 years. She may not be in the classroom, but she is still teaching with the African-American heritage map.
“It’s about education,” Luckett said. “If you’re a teacher, you’re a teacher.
“I just do it naturally.”
Bubba O’Keefe, executive director of Visit Clarksdale, credited Bernie Demczuk, professor of African-American history at the University of District of Columbia, with coming up with the idea for the African-American heritage map.
“He just loved Clarksdale,” O’Keefe said. “He’s been coming for years.”
O’Keefe also praised Luckett, executive director of Griot Arts Inc. Leonette Henderson, former Mississippi Today report Aallyah Wright and JoAnn Blue of the Carnegie Public Library for their work on the map.
“We’ve got more things coming,” O’Keefe said. “We’ve got Points of Interest signs that will be put around town. We’ve got a team working on that. We just appreciate Brenda, Leonette, Aallyah and Ms. Blue and all the team. I’ll tell you what we appreciate the most is the history the people before us left for us and we just want to embrace it so it is not forgotten and we could pass it on and pass it on.
“This is so essential for our community, the Delta and the state of Mississippi.”
Newson spoke during the event.
“What this means for Clarksdale is innovation,” Newson said. “When we talk about innovation, we’re making sure things change with the time.”
Newson talked about the many different things the map features.
“We’re asking the people to come visit Coahoma County, come visit Clarksdale,” Newson said. “You will be very excited and we guarantee you will not be disappointed.”
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