Moving to the Delta
Posted: Monday, October 27, 2008
by Janice Tracy
Yesterday, I began the story of my paternal grandparents during the Great Depression, and this is a continuation of that journey.
It was quite a bold undertaking for my grandparents, because they left the only place that either of them had ever called home, Attala County, Mississippi, to travel to Humphreys County ("The Delta") where they would continue to live for almost twenty years. The decision to go somewhere else to farm must have been a difficult choice for them to make, or it may have been a necessity rather than a choice at all. It must have been a sad experience for both of my grandparents, since they left all their family members behind. My father was a child, an only child at that, and he had to leave his numerous cousins and his young friends to attend a school in a place that was "next to nowhere." He later graduated from high school in that very small town in the Delta as a member of a class that had only 14 students.
Life was tough for everyone who lived in the Mississippi Delta during the depression years. Cotton was "King," but the weather ruled everything the farmers did. Heavy spring rains that caused flooding and summer droughts, along with insects, such as the ever-present and destructive boll weevil, kept farmers busy trying to predict when to plant, apply chemicals, and when to harvest. They toiled from daylight to dusk, and their work seemed to never end.
There were basically two classes of people during the depression years: the "haves" and the "have nots." Most families didn't even own a family automobile unless it was an old farm truck that was considered a necessity for bringing supplies from town or for taking some of their crops to market. Food was grown at home, and families subsisted on the "three M's," (corn) meal, molasses, and meat. Staples, such as flour, had to be purchased at the local store, and many children wore clothing made out of "feedsacks" or "floursacks," if their parents were lucky enough to find several sacks made of the same material. In the summer, children "went barefoot," with shoes reserved for church on Sunday and for school in the fall and winter.
Since the early years of the Depression had caused many farmers to lose ownership of their land throughout the state, a new group of farmers, known as "sharecroppers," had emerged. But these families, including my grandparents, were survivors of the times. They held on to each other and the things they considered most precious - memories of better times and sentimental possessions that money could not buy.
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Top-level comments on this article: (3 total)Janice, I truly enjoyed this and look forward to more -- I envision this as a possible series to publish - Thanks for sharing!Thank you, Judi, and I am glad you enjoyed the article. I have one more article to publish today and one left to write.
Wonderful article about real life. I loved it, Janice. Thanks for sharing with us. And Welcome to SearchWarp.SandraThank you for the kind words, Sandra.
Nice "roman a clef" article, reminds me of theearly south I was raised in.Thanks, Walter. I am pleased that you enjoyed the article and particularly that you can connect with the truth of it - I can, as well.
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