A Look Back at the

2024 Mississippi John Hurt

Homecoming Festival &

History Symposium

By Corey Crowder

What goes through your mind when you think about 2024?

For me, it started out on a high note. In February, the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund (MZMF) worked with the Mississippi John Hurt Foundation (MJHF) to submit a $50,000 grant proposal to the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, a private grant program created in 2017 by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. At the end of the month, the Mississippi State Historic Preservation Office added Mississippi John Hurt’s Historic House Museum to it’s official list of state landmarks. Yet, before Black History Month came to an end, the museum had burned to the ground, effectively ending our efforts to add it to the National Register of Historic Places.

Despite the deep sense of loss we felt—and continue to feel—about the destruction of the Mississippi John Hurt Museum, 2024 stands out as an important year to remember due to all the people who worked together to organize the 26^th annual Mississippi John Hurt Homecoming Festival & History Symposium, held on October 3-4, 2024, right next to the ashes of museum in Avalon, Mississippi.

So much happened during that two-day span of time to uplift and inspire us. Every single person who attended the 2024 Homecoming walked away with a renewed sense of hope. Both MZMF and the MJHF came away from the October event with an invigorated determination to fulfill their missions–to prevent the erasure of African American history in Mississippi.

Little did we know that our resolve was about to get tested in ways that we would have never imagined…

James “Super Chikan” Johnson performing on the last night of the 2024 Homecoming Festival [Photograph © Corey Crowder 2024]

The Aftermath of Loss

Everyone would have understood if the MJHF decided not to organize an event in 2024. It was not easy to mobilize in the aftermath of such a loss, but the event was important–and not just because of the fire. The event has turned out to be an important symbol–that African American history will not be silenced despite the overwhelming odds against it.

A Growing Partnership

MZMF had worked with the MJHF to erect a historical marker at the entrance to St. James MB Church Cemetery in 2022, and MZMF planned to expand that partnership in 2024. Though the extent of that partnership changed dramatically after the fire, MZMF had no intentions of sponsoring the homecoming festival. Having been organized by MJHF President Mary Frances Hurt since the early 2000s, the event seemed doomed at the close of Black History Month. No one was in the mood for a celebration–especially not with the ashes of the museum still smoldering.

The mood, however, had changed in the spring. MZMF learned that the National Trust for Historic Preservation had awarded them a grant to conduct a pre-preservation survey of the St. James MB Church, which sits on the festival grounds, and the MJHF decided to work with the MZMF, pool together all their resources, and organize the homecoming festival in October 2024.

Corey Crowder & Mary Frances Hurt take a selfie together at the 2024 Homecoming Festival [Photograph © Corey Crowder 2024]

Valerie and Benedict Turner performing as Piedmont Acoustic Blues Duo [Photograph © Corey Crowder 2024]

The partnership brought together an amazing group of people. First and foremost, the energy and leadership of Valerie and Benedict Turner– internationally renowned performing artists who served on the MJHF board–proved the driving force behind every meeting that led up to the 2024 Homecoming. Not only did they help galvanize our forces, but they designed the official poster and agreed to perform as the Piedmont Acoustic Blues Duo. The 2024 Homecoming, simply put, would not have happened without them, and I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to get to know them as well as learn from them. Valerie and Benedict Turner also played an important role in producing the film.“A Man Called Hurt: the Life and Music of Mississippi John Hurt,” which was screened inside the St. James MB Church during that event.

Leading up to the event, I enjoyed promoting the event on Mississippi Public Broadcasting (MPB Think Radio) with Germaine Flood, who invited Mary Frances Hurt and I as guests on her Friday morning talk show. It was a particularly memorable moment in hindsight, as Mississippi Public Broadcasting has historically relied upon federal funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which plans to shut down before the end of 2026. [LINK] In July 2025, Congress passed the Rescissions Act and cut 1.1 billion dollars in previously approved funding for the CPB. The result is that MPB will no longer receive federal funding, and it might be forced to shut down Think Radio.

Paul West and his Victrola [Photograph © Corey Crowder 2024]

Floyd Baily and Mary Frances Hurt unveiled the relocated Mississippi John Hurt Blues Trail marker [Photograph © Corey Crowder 2024]

MZMF wrote numerous grants to support the event, which kicked off with the re-dedication of the “John Hurt” Mississippi Blues Trail marker in front of the former museum site. MZMF vice president Shannon Evans and MJHF president Mary Frances Hurt worked very hard to convince the Mississippi Blues Commission that it needed to relocate the historical marker from beside an old country store in Teoc, Mississippi to the heir property of Mary Frances Hurt, which has been in her family since the 1930s. Not only had she relocated the museum to the property, but she also relocated the St. James MB Church. Now, the “John Hurt” blues trail marker sits proudly on the same property.

In 2023, I had the pleasure of meeting several veteran supporters of the MJHF, including Gabriel Akins, Craig Sonnenfeld, Jim Crosby, and MJHF Vice President Andy Cohen. All of them returned in 2024, and many of them performed with all their hearts. Several new faces also visited the festival grounds in 2024, specifically Birmingham harmonica player and emcee Jock Webb, the duo of Buck Hoffman and Drew Fisher, Dee Robinson, and DelJ’von Gray–a community-based historic preservationist in Florida.

MJHF Board member Paul West hauled a beautiful, ancient victrola out to the property, and he played 78 rpm blues and jazz recordings in between live music segments. An expert in film and cinematography, Paul played a crucial role in the production and screening of “A Man Called Hurt: the Life and Music of Mississippi John Hurt”–including inside the St. James MB Church on Saturday evening during the festival.

DelJ’von Gray is a historic preservationist in Florida [Photograph © Corey Crowder 2024]

TJ Wheeler at the 2024 homecoming festival [Photograph © Corey Crowder 2024]

The festival featured much more than music. Art therapist Raven Lovett also conducted a quilting workshop about healing. Made possible with a grant from the Mississippi Arts Commission, she worked with attendees to co-develop a quilt–part of the healing process–to memorialize the loss of the museum.

Musician and veteran Blues-In-The-Schools (BITS) educator TJ Wheeler received a grant from the New Hampshire Arts Commission to not only conduct a BITS workshop at the festival, but also to share his passion for Blues and African American history with children at several public schools in Mississippi. In fact, TJ has been travelling to the Magnolia State since the 1980s, working very hard to prevent the erasure of historical resources in rural African American communities. His work aligns closely with MZMF, because he led the initial efforts to maintain the small cemetery located in Tutwiler next to Whitfield MB Church, which holds forever close the remains of legendary recording artist Sonny Boy Williamson II.

The 2024 Homecoming festival was also unique due to the inclusion of lectures and a roundtable featuring the descendants of Blues artists. Dr. Brian Mitchell travelled from Illinois to explain the importance of historic preservation in the rural African American communities of Mississippi.

Dr. Tara White caught a flight to Mississippi to moderate the shining star of the event–the Blues Artists’ Descendants Roundtable, featuring 1) the granddaughter of Mississippi John Hurt, Mary Frances Hurt, 2) the granddaughter of Memphis Jug Band guitarist Charlie Burse, Cynthia Burse Wesson, 3) the daughter of guitarist Johnny Shines, Caroline Shines, 4) the grandson of guitarist Eddie Cusic, Tracy Cusic, and 5) the niece of Tommy Johnson, Vera Johnson Collins.

The festival grounds went completely silent for two hours, as the descendants answered a range of questions about race, heritage tourism, and the individual legacies of their ancestors. Needless to say, I received an education that afternoon. The descendants offered up poignant recollections of their fathers, grandfathers, and uncles–to whom the state is deeply indebted for their vibrant, teeming contributions to the record of African American lived experience. Their vivid descriptions of family life were moving, but candid opinions about the divorce of blues tourism from African American history were the most revealing.

Descendants Roundtable – Vera Johnson Collins, Mary Frances Hurt Wright, Dr. Tara White, Cynthia Burse Wesson, Carroline Shines, and Tracy Cusic [Photograph © Corey Crowder 2024]

Click HERE to watch Paul West’s video of the descendants roundtable at the 2024 MS John Hurt Homecoming Festival

The second day of the 2024 Homecoming Festival started with a memorial walk to the St. James MB Church Cemetery, which sits about three quarters of a mile from the festival grounds.of festival participants, and it closed with a rousing performance by Clarksdale-native James “Super Chikan” Johnson.

Several of my friends showed up to enjoy the weekend’s festivities, and other friends, including Yerger Andre, Andy and Cristen Hemmins, and Yoknapatawpha Arts Council Director Wayne Andrews, graciously loaned us several tents. Oxford friends Johnny and Susan McPhail gave me a ride to and from the festival on Saturday and Sunday. Words cannot express my heartfelt appreciation to all who participated.

It’s not enough simply to say that I enjoyed putting the festival together in 2024. Looking back, I truly cherish my involvement, and I look forward to returning to the festival grounds on the first weekend in October 2025 to attend the dedication ceremony for the new Mississippi John Hurt & Jerry Richardson Educational Center. As we speak, the new building is being constructed on the festival grounds, and we have optimistically submitted grant proposals for new projects. If you get a chance, you should visit the festival grounds at 1972 CR 109, Carrollton, Mississippi.