“We had a clash of cultures, so to speak. You had the people to the north, who were basically small farmers interested in growing and producing the animal units, of wheat, barley, and corn, and using family-size units. People just worked like they did maybe in some of the northern agriculture states, even until today. But then people down to the southeastern part of the area or the southern part of the area, they took on the legacy of the sharecrop system.” – Alex A. Cooper, Sr.
The Missouri Delta, or Bootheel, is a place of cultural confluence, a region where the South transitions to the Midwest, where fields of cotton and soybeans meet the Ozark hills. Located in the far southeast corner of the state, some might say it is a border region, a place on the margins.
The struggles of African Americans for civil and economic rights in the delta counties reflect these liminal qualities, for they do not fit easily into popular narratives of activism in the rural Deep South or the urban Midwest. But it is life and struggle on the margins that can help us understand the full complexity of the African American experience in the United States and the changing, persistent realities of racism.
This website is intended to be one starting point for learning about African American activism and community building in this region, and it builds upon the books, articles, and stories of others. It is a new iteration of a website that historian Heidi Dodson created when she was a graduate student. The stories and documents reflected here come from archival research, and they include the memories of current and former residents who generously shared their experiences in oral history interviews.
The purpose of this site is to share histories that have been silenced, but it is only a beginning. The hope for this project is that it will become a collaborative, community-led effort. If you have feedback on this site or would be interested in contributing to the project, please contact Heidi L. Dodson.
