The University of Mississippi Panel

Skip Henderson, founder of the Mt Zion Memorial Fund (MZMF) and Steven Salter, president of the Killer Blues Headstone Project (KBHP) sat down at the Oxford Blues Festival on the campus of the University of Mississippi to answer questions pertaining to the unmarked graves of blues musicians, their respective experiences locating and preserving rural and urban cemeteries, and the different missions that serve as the driving force behind the cemetery organizations. According to Salter, one of Henderson's comments offered an apt summation of the differences between the two organizations: "Killer Blues takes care of the people who make the blues while [the Mt Zion Memorial Fund] takes care of the people who cause the blues." Having installed 51 grave markers, Salter and the KBHP have experienced substantial growth and achieved a new height of success after seven years. The MZMF, having initiated several legal maneuvers and erected thirteen markers and headstones to protect African American cemeteries in Mississippi, looks forward to continuing its work in the Magnolia State. Henderson reported that the new grave marker and commemorative bench for the grave of Sam Chatmon in Hollandale should be finished and installed in the fall.

Killer Blues and Mt. Zion Memorial Fund

(L to R) Steven Salter, president of the Killer Blues Headstone Project (KBHP); DeWayne Moore, executive director of the Mt Zion Memorial Fund(MZMF); and Skip Henderson, founder of the MZMF.

The directors of two organizations came together on the morning of July 18, 2015 for a panel discussion at the Overby Center at the University of Mississippi to kick off the 6th annual Oxford Blues Festival. Steve Salter answered a host of questions concerning, among other topics, 1) how the KBHP marked 51 unmarked graves of blues musicians since its incorporation in 2008, 2) the problems that explain why that number should be as high as 54, and 3) how the institutional origins of the KBHP inspired its limited fundraising efforts. 

Henderson talked about the endeavors of the MZMF to save rural, black cemeteries in Mississippi, which stemmed from its first headstone projects in the 1990s. Working strictly in Mississippi, the MZMF encountered a host of issues that were not too much of a problem in the more urban realm of the KBHP, such as non-existent plot maps and aggressive agricultural developers. In contrast, whereas the highest expense of KBHP projects was often installation fees in urban cemeteries, which sometimes cost more than the headstone itself, the MZMF rarely encountered exorbitant cemetery fees, having often paid no fees whatsoever to place the markers of such blues musicians as Big Joe Williams in Crawford, Mississippi.

http://www.mtzionmemorialfund.org/

GRAVE MARKER DEDICATION FOR BLUES MUSICIAN JAMES “T-MODEL” FORD

The Mt. Zion Memorial Fund, on behalf of Estella Ford and Fat Possum Records, invites everyone to the dedication ceremony for the headstone of James Lewis Carter “T-Model” Ford at Green Lawn Memorial Gardens Cemetery off Highway 82 West outside of Greenville, the “Queen City” of the Mississippi Delta.  The graveside ceremony will be held at 4 o’clock on Saturday, May 31, 2014.  The reception will be held afterwards at the Walnut Street Blues Bar (128 South Walnut Street) in Greenville.  Local food and live music will be provided.

T-Model Ford died at home in Greenville of respiratory failure after a prolonged illness on Tuesday, July 16, 2013.  Amos Harvey, formerly of Fat Possum Records, stepped up to help cover the costs of the visitation at Redmond Funeral Home on North Broadway Street in Greenville, and friends and admirers of the blues musician held fundraisers at the Walnut Street Blues Bar in Greenville, the North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic in Marshall County, and other locations throughout the state.  Gravel Road, the blues singer’s former backing band, as well as Chris Johnson from Bayport BBQ helped finish out the payment on the funeral costs.  The funeral service was held at the Washington County Convention Center on July 27.  Musician and songwriter Robert Mortimer, Jr., of Mortimer Funeral Homes, donated the burial plot and vault for the local blues singer in the newly named “Legends” section of the burial ground.  The grave marker was designed by Amos Harvey and engraved by Alan Orlicek.

HEADSTONE DEDICATION CEREMONY FUNDRAISER

This Friday, May 16th from 9pm - close The Mount Zion Memorial Fund is hosting a concert raising funds for the headstone dedication ceremony of blues musician T-Model Ford at The Blind Pig in Oxford, MS.  Silas Reed N' Da Books, Cadillac Funk, and Tyler Keith are set to perform. Donations will be accepted all night Friday or can be sent directly as outlined on the Donate page. For more information contact T. DeWayne Moore at tmoriver@gmail.com.

Photographer: Bill Steiber