Mississippi Witness by Campbell James T. Owens Elaine

Author:Campbell, James T.,Owens, Elaine
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
Published: 2018-12-14T16:00:00+00:00

Even as she worked on her submission, Mars continued to make photographs. Some of the most poignant were taken at the Neshoba County Fair. The origins of the fair, Mississippi’s famed “Giant Houseparty,” reach back to the 1880s, when residents of the Coldwater community southwest of Philadelphia convened for a combination camp meeting and agricultural fair. It quickly became an annual event. Wagons and makeshift tents soon gave way to permanent cabins, initially a few dozen and eventually hundreds, erected on a sprawling fairground, complete with midway, racetrack, stables, and pavilion. By the time Mars was born in 1923, the traditions of “fair week” were firmly entrenched. Families moved out to the fairground for a week of parties and gossip, harness racing, and carnival rides, culminating on the final night with a community sing-a-long on Founders Square. Although subject to the laws and customs of segregation, the fair was never a lily-white affair. White families brought along their black maids to cook, clean, and mind the children. Black men tended the grounds and groomed the horses. Choctaws from the nearby reservation came to sell their wares, adding another hue to the assemblage.31

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