Mississippi Delta Today I explored the famous Mississippi Delta. The name is something of a misnomer, since it is actually a flood plain. All those floods laid down rich soil, which turned into swamps. Southern planters forced their slaves to clear and drain these swamps just before the Civil War, creating one of the richest cotton growing regions in the country. After the war, the relatively predictable growing conditions attracted sharecroppers from throughout the South. The area has been poor, rural, and primarily African American ever since. These poor farm laborers created the area’s most famous export, Blues music. The Delta is both a landscape and a culture. They are intricately
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