6 2 - Dominican University

While the experience officially
begins in the classroom with
assigned readings and lectures,
the real learning takes place
during the five-day excursion
down historic Highway 61 from
Memphis to the Mississippi
Delta. From the moment the
dozen or so students exit the
Memphis airport, they are
immersed in a carefully scripted
journey weaving culture, history,
legend and mystery into an
unforgettable educational
adventure entitled “Down at the
Crossroads: The Musical and
Racial Heritage of Memphis and
the Mississippi Delta.”
During the five-day excursion, Professor Monti and
her students visit “Sunshine” Sonny Payne who hosts
the blues radio program King Biscuit Time on KFFA
radio in Helena, Arkansas.
Since 2004, Janice Monti, PhD,
professor of sociology and
department chair of sociology
and criminology, has led the
course, which integrates themes
of race, civil rights and the
musical legacy of the South. It’s
education steeped in experience.
“Most students are crazy about
music, yet most are unfamiliar
with the African-American
heritage that is the backbone of
American popular music,” she says.
The first stop on the trip is the
National Civil Rights Museum
located at the Lorraine Motel in
Memphis where Martin Luther
King Jr. was assassinated. “It’s one
of the most wonderful museums
and it sets the tone for the
rest of the trip,” Monti says.
“Experience is one of the best
ways for students to get the
concepts and information
presented in the classroom.
While they have heard about
Martin Luther King Jr. and the
civil rights movement, in order
to fully understand race and civil
rights in our country you need
to connect to the musical
heritage of the South. When you
look at the history of blues and
gospel music you are talking
about the very themes that
underscore the racial legacy of
the United States.”
Following the
National
Civil Rights
Museum is an
orchestrated
sequence of
visits to the
Stax Museum
of American
Soul Music
and the
Soulsville
neighborhood
of Memphis;
and a
journey down
Highway 61 to the Mississippi
Delta, using the life and times of
historic blues musician Robert
Johnson – whose life and
untimely death were shrouded
in mystery – as a metaphor for
the experience. A certified
ethnographer leads the trip
alongside Professor Monti.
In Money, MS, the group visits
the important sites linked to the
birth of the civil rights movement
such as the Bryant Grocery Store
where Emmet Till reportedly
whistled at a young girl, leading
to his murder, and Tallahatchie
River where his body was
discovered. The students spend
the night in sharecropper shacks
and travel to former cotton
plantations, gravesites, and the
legendary crossroads where
Robert Johnson allegedly sold
his soul to the devil in exchange
for extraordinary musical talent.
For sophomore Jeremy Porter,
the trip was especially profound
since his family roots extend to
Memphis and Clarksdale, MS.
“My grandfather worked in the
cotton fields of Clarksdale, and
staying in the shacks was very
emotional because I thought
possibly my family could have
lived in those same shacks,”
Porter recalls. “It was hard
because it wasn’t a livable
place in my eyes.”
“The historical and racial
memory for the students is quite
profound,” Monti says. “While
they know vaguely about that
history, what they hadn’t
realized is that the Delta
counties of Mississippi rank the
lowest in health, education and
quality of life issues, and are
among the poorest in the United
States. At this point of the
course, we confront that legacy
and the reasons why it is still the
case today. In total, it is a
revelation to the students
because we don’t visit the typical
tourist destinations.”
“Seeing the way people live was
amazing,” says Cecilia Tobias
’10. “It is America’s third-world
country and it’s right below our
feet. I had never been down south
before and having the ability to
immerse yourself in an area you’re
not familiar with was important
because now I have an idea of
what people are living through.”
“I believe we may be the only
school to offer a course such as
this for credit,” Monti concludes.
“There are many profound
unintended consequences for
students because it really
expands their view of the world.
It is quite powerful.”
FEATURE
BLUES AND THE SPIRIT II
SYMPOSIUM
A sold-out crowd of music and
history scholars and fans
attended the Blues and the
Spirit II Symposium on Chicago
Blues and Gospel Music, June
9-10 on the Dominican
campus. The event,
commemorating the
centennial of Howlin’ Wolf’s
birth, as well as the 40th
anniversary of Living Blues
magazine, included keynote
addresses by Chuck D,
co-founder of seminal rap
group Public Enemy and one
of Rolling Stone magazine’s
“50 Most Important Performers
in Rock & Roll History”; award
presentations to Barry Dolins,
deputy director of the Mayor’s
Office of Special Events and
the catalyst for Chicago’s blues
and gospel festivals, and
Howlin’ Wolf’s daughters,
Bettye Kelly and Barbra Marks;
and a thrilling pro jam
featuring the surviving
sidemen of legendary blues
musicians Muddy Waters,
Willie Dixon and Howlin’ Wolf,
and renowned musicians from
the current Chicago blues
scene. The symposium
concluded with a pro jam with
some of the original Howlin’
Wolf sidemen and an afterparty
at Rosa’s Lounge.