Shannon Evans details the similarities between plantation tourism and blues tourism, both of which employ similar mechanisms of erasure, nostalgia, and mythology. By relying on romanticized narratives that align with the expectations of white tourists, both blues and plantation tourism are detached from the historical realities of the African American experience.
Shannon Evans has worked closely with Mary Frances Hurt of the Mississippi John Hurt Blues Foundation to help preserve St. James Missionary Baptist Church in Teoc, Mississippi. This blog post details her work over the past year.
Shannon Evans beamishly details her return to Tutwiler, MS after many years to attend a meeting with the National Park Service (NPS) and the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area (MDNHA).
Shannon Evans examines the struggle for education for African Americans after the Civil War in Lowndes County, and she highlights the politics of respectability embraced by William Isaac Mitchell, an African American educator and community leader who served as principal of Union Academy from 1878 until his death in 1916.
Shannon Evans examines the white supremacist violence and turmoil that plagued the political career of Robert Gleed, an African American politician from Lowndes County who served as Senator and Columbus Alderman during Reconstruction.
In this blog post, Shannon Evans examines the interments of Sandfield Cemetery, the oldest African American cemetery in Columbus, Mississippi.
In this blog post, Shannon Evans examines the African American histories of Sandfield Cemetery in Columbus, MS. While rounding a curve near Berry, Alabama, the engine and four cars of an excursion train on the Southern Railroad jumped off the track, rolled over and over, smashing the coaches into kindling wood and killing dozens of African Americans passengers.
