Greenwood, Mississippi has been characterized as “ground zero” for the Civil Rights movement. The city carries storied history and the powerful legacies of courageous figures who inspired generational change. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. came during the tumultuous 1960s, particularly during the upheaval and solidarity of the 1964 Freedom Summer. Here the call for Black Power began. Here the brutal violence of lynching sparked national outrage and helped launch a movement.
For Sylvester Hoover, the founder of Delta Blues Legend Tour, Greenwood represents the heart of the Delta. His local tour introduces visitors to both the region’s civil rights history and its musical heritage.
“It’s the soul of the world, right here in Greenwood,” Hoover said. “It makes it special. Once you get to the Delta, you can use all five of your senses. That’s why we’re here. Because it’s good. We invite you to come. You can feel it. You’ve just got to come and feel it.”
“It’s the soul of the world, right here in Greenwood. It makes it special. Once you get to the Delta, you can use all five of your senses. You’ve just got to come and feel it.”
—Sylvester Hoover, founder. Delta Blues Legend Tour
Several powerful landmarks bring the living history of the Civil Rights movement into focus. Visitors can see the nine foot tall bronze statue of Emmett Till, whose murder in the nearby town of Money ignited national outrage. They can visit Bryant’s Grocery & Meat Market, a pivotal stop on the Mississippi Freedom Trail located about nine miles from Greenwood. Another Freedom Trail marker commemorates the 1966 speech by Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee chairman Stokely Carmichael, where he delivered his famous “Black Power” address. Visitors can also explore the historic Baptist Town community, the state’s oldest African American neighborhood founded during the cotton boom of the 1800s.
“I grew up here before Civil Rights,” said Hoover, who recently turned 69. “I look at it now—the Delta is just a different place.”
A bronze statue of Emmett Till stands nine feet tall in Greenwood's Rail Spike Park.
“I grew up here before Civil Rights. I look at it now—the Delta is just a different place.”
—Sylvester Hoover, 69
As a boy, Hoover shopped at Bryant’s Grocery near his home. Even then, the place felt eerie to him, heavy with unspoken tragedy. For decades no one in his family or community spoke Emmett Till’s name. Today, Hoover helps bring those stories into the open. Through his tour and the Back in the Day Museum in Baptist Town, he shares the region’s African American history, culture and musical heritage.
“We’ve got a little cafeteria, and my wife cooks the food of the Mississippi Delta,” Hoover added, laughing. “Makes you feel like coming home.”
To learn more about Civil Rights in the Greenwood area and plan an itinerary to visit the region’s markers, museums, and historic sites that echo the region’s past, click HERE. At each stop, visitors can pick up the Greenwood Trailblazer Passport on Brightr to check in and earn a commemorative keychain, click HERE.
