#1 resource for Cigar Box Guitars, Free Plans, How-To, Parts & More!

Dockery Farm Birth Place Of The Delta Blues

http://www.dockeryfarms.org/blues

I liked bugs doc. so I thought you guys might enjoy this. I don't have a youtube page so I have to edit down my vids to get them under the Nations 100meg limit.

Part 1

The music that was created, at least in part, by Dockery farm workers a century ago continues to influence popular culture to this day. It was a welcome diversion from their hard lives and a form of personal expression that spoke of woes and joys alike in a musical language all its own. Will Dockery, the son of a Confederate general that died at the battle of Bull Run, founded the plantation. Young Will Dockery had graduated from the University of Mississippi and in 1885, with a gift of $1,000 from his grandmother, purchased forest and swampland in the Mississippi Delta near the Yazoo and Sunflower Rivers. Recognizing the richness of the soil, he cleared the woods and drained the swamps opening the land for cotton. Word went out for workers and before long African-American families began to flock to Dockery Farms in search of work in the fields and, as tenant farmers (sharecroppers,) they cultivated cotton on the rich farmland. Throughout the South, large landowners opened their fields to sharecroppers who would lease plots of land to tend themselves. In return they had to share part of their harvested crops as rent for the use of the land. Contracts for sharecroppers were often harsh and many lived on the verge of starvation. Will Dockery had earned a good reputation for treating his African-American workers and sharecroppers fairly and thus attracted ambitious workers from throughout the South.
The Dockery plantation by its peak in the mid 1930s consisted of 18,000 acres and extended over 28 square miles of rich fertile lowland along the Sunflower River. Will Dockery managed the land until the 1930s when his son, Joe Rice Dockery, took over and maintained the plantation through the Great Depression until his death in 1982. His widow, Keith Dockery McLean then ran the farm, which diversified to produce corn, rice and soybeans. In 1994, she turned the farm over to hired managers. It was Ms. McLean that realized that Dockery Farms was a hotbed of the blues and later in her life came to take pride in the farm's significance as a source of this music. Since her death in 2006, her daughters and grandchildren have owned Dockery and have established a foundation in hopes of funding research into its extensive historic archives of the Delta Blues. part 2 at start of comments.

8 members like this

Get Embed Code

Tags:

Latest Videos

Comment

You need to be a member of Cigar Box Nation to add comments!

Join Cigar Box Nation

Comment by RTZGUITARS on February 21, 2014 at 8:28am: thanks Darryl when I first found this I couldn't stop watching it .

Comment by darryl kernaghan on February 21, 2014 at 1:20am: missed this at the time rt,great post

Comment by RTZGUITARS on November 30, 2013 at 10:13am: Found it on the archive John just had to post it.

Comment by Uncle John on November 30, 2013 at 3:00am: Wonderful stuff, RTZ. Somehow I missed it when you posted it.

Comment by RTZGUITARS on July 21, 2013 at 9:16am: This is on YouTube but I found it on the archive and just wanted it on my page.

Comment by Downtown Vinnie on July 21, 2013 at 5:53am: great lesson,way cool, gives ya goosebumps seein where it all started, awesome work, bud salud to u

Comment by RTZGUITARS on January 30, 2013 at 8:06am: Thanks bug 30 years ago this information would of been tough to find.

The guy on guitar for Mavis is Rick Holmstrom.

Her singing can move anyone alot more of her on youtube.

Comment by BUGGY (C) on January 30, 2013 at 6:30am: Cool Vid and Music RTZ

Comment by RTZGUITARS on January 30, 2013 at 6:11am: Yep wes, one interesting thing I found reading this stuff, Pop Staples is the father and founder of the Staples Singers a church group. Out of this group came one of the strongest female blues singer Mavis Staples. This song was about the civil rights movement as young people went north too fight for their rights.

Comment by RTZGUITARS on January 29, 2013 at 5:11pm: Check out the web site James it really is some good stuff. Anyone into the slide and delta blues should check this site. I wonder what kind of instruments may have been made here.

‹ Previous
1
2
Next ›

Welcome to
Cigar Box Nation

Sign Up
or Sign In

Or sign in with:

The Essential Pages

Site Sponsor

Forum

Blog Posts

Latest Activity

A.D.EKER replied to Southern Ray's discussion AI Search Query - Curious Answer

"Nice one Korigan ! The Vinger Slascher ?"

23 minutes ago

A.D.EKER commented on Doug Thorsvik's video

I Can Only Imagine: 2-String Chugger License Plate Cigar Box Guitar

"Cool Tune Doug !!"

31 minutes ago

A.D.EKER commented on Doug Thorsvik's video

I Can Only Imagine: 2-String Chugger License Plate Cigar Box Guitar

"Head Slingers "The Steady Crew " Right On !"

34 minutes ago

A.D.EKER commented on Dar Stellabotta's video

Cigar Box Guitar 106 now for sale 🙌

"crunch Rocking DAR ! nice kit ! jangling julery! Slash Dar Johnson!! now on stage !!"

38 minutes ago

A.D.EKER commented on A.D.EKER's video

There i was Standing at the ..... BCB - A. D. Eker 2024

47 minutes ago

A.D.EKER posted a video

There i was Standing at the ..... BCB - A. D. Eker 2024

The Robert Johnson fight whit the devil, and there he was , standing on the Crossroads, waiting to meet the Guy that was going to change his way's, did he w...

1 hour ago

1 Comment 1 Like

Southern Ray replied to Southern Ray's discussion AI Search Query - Curious Answer

" That's what I thought!"

1 hour ago