美国国家公共电台 NPR Here's What's Become Of A Historic All-Black Town In The Mississippi Delta

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

And we're going to go now to the Mississippi Delta¹ to a town with a unique history and a storied past. It's Mound² Bayou. It was founded in 1887 by former slaves - founded with a vision to be a self-reliant, autonomous³ all-black community. And it thrived for decades, famous for empowering its black citizens. So what has become of Mound Bayou now?

Our colleague Melissa Block went to find out as part of her travels. She's traveling around the country. It's a series called Our Land.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MOUND BAYOU")

MAXINE SULLIVAN AND HER JAZZ ALL-STARS: (Singing) Mound Bayou...

MELISSA BLOCK, BYLINE⁴: For generations, that name stood for independence.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MOUND BAYOU")

MAXINE SULLIVAN AND HER JAZZ ALL-STARS: (Singing) Mound Bayou - that's the town I'm bound for.

BLOCK: It stood for success, a haven⁵ from the virulent⁶ racism⁷ in the Jim Crow South.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MOUND BAYOU")

MAXINE SULLIVAN AND HER JAZZ ALL-STARS: (Singing) I'd reach and wrap them gently 'round my Mound Bayou.

BLOCK: For a long view, we stop in at the Mound Bayou home of Annyce Campbell, age 92. She's waiting for us in a reclining chair, eager to talk about the town she loves.

ANNYCE CAMPBELL: Mound Bayou is where I was born and reared.

BLOCK: There's a lot of history in this town.

CAMPBELL: Oh, don't say nothing - plenty history in Mound Bayou.

BLOCK: Back in 1887, the founders⁹ of Mound Bayou, former slaves, bought Mississippi swampland covered with forest and did the backbreaking work of clearing it for farming. It became prime cotton land, and word spread. Mound Bayou became known as a place where blacks enjoyed political and economic freedom.

Teddy Roosevelt came through here in 1907, saw the prosperity and proclaimed Mound Bayou the jewel of the Delta. And that's still the slogan on the sign leading into town. Back in its heyday¹⁰, Annyce Campbell tells me, Mound Bayou had everything.

CAMPBELL: You name it, we had it.

BLOCK: Dozens of businesses, three cotton gins, a sawmill, a black-owned bank, several schools, a train station, a Carnegie library.

CAMPBELL: We had everything here but a jail, to tell you the truth.

ROLANDO HERTS: Just being able to walk through the front door of a hospital and immediately receive the care that you need. It's almost like it was an inverted¹¹, (laughter) you know, or alternate universe where being black was a positive thing.

BLOCK: That's Rolando Herts. He directs the Delta Center for Culture & Learning at Delta State University. He's talking about Taborian Hospital, which opened in 1942 and served blacks from all over the Delta. That hospital is shuttered now, and a drive through Mound Bayou shows a town that's fallen hard. There are just a few businesses left - a convenience store, a gas station, a funeral home. I meet Rolando Herts outside the abandoned home of Mound Bayou's founder⁸, Isaiah T. Montgomery. Its foundation is cracked and crumbling¹².

What happened to this place that had such promise and hope?

HERTS: I think desegregation happened. And this is a case that we've seen across the country in which black communities - people who had more options left those communities to move to the suburbs or to move to urban areas for more opportunities and took their know-how¹³ and their resources with them.

BLOCK: It didn't help that Highway 61, which used to bring people through Mound Bayou, now bypasses it. The population has dwindled¹⁴ to under 1,500, a fraction of what it once was. More than half the children here live below the poverty level.

EULAH PETERSON: People are different. Times are different. A sense of what was is not here.

BLOCK: This is Eulah Peterson, former alderman and vice¹⁵ mayor of Mound Bayou. Her grandparents moved to this town in 1903, drawn¹⁶ by the promise of what was happening here.

PETERSON: My grandfather, I like to tell, was a slave. My mother's father was 7 years old when the slaves were freed.

BLOCK: Eulah Peterson hasn't given up on this town. In fact, she moved back here after many years away and is running for mayor.

PETERSON: I do feel that Mound Bayou will survive - not necessarily the way it was but maybe different and better in some way.

BLOCK: Despite it all, Peterson is a believer. She has faith there are others like her, people who've moved away but want to come back home and help revive Mound Bayou, Miss.

Melissa Block, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF MAXINE SULLIVAN AND HER JAZZ ALL-STARS' "MOUND BAYOU")

1 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。

2 mound   

n.土墩，堤，小山；v.筑堤，用土堆防卫

参考例句：

• The explorers climbed a mound to survey the land around them.勘探者爬上土丘去勘测周围的土地。
• The mound can be used as our screen.这个土丘可做我们的掩蔽物。

3 autonomous   

adj.自治的；独立的

参考例句：

• They proudly declared themselves part of a new autonomous province.他们自豪地宣布成为新自治省的一部分。
• This is a matter that comes within the jurisdiction of the autonomous region.这件事是属于自治区权限以内的事务。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 haven   

n.安全的地方，避难所，庇护所

参考例句：

• It's a real haven at the end of a busy working day.忙碌了一整天后，这真是一个安乐窝。
• The school library is a little haven of peace and quiet.学校的图书馆是一个和平且安静的小避风港。

6 virulent   

adj.有毒的，有恶意的，充满敌意的

参考例句：

• She is very virulent about her former employer.她对她过去的老板恨之入骨。
• I stood up for her despite the virulent criticism.尽管她遭到恶毒的批评，我还是维护她。

7 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

8 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

9 founders   

n.创始人( founder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was one of the founders of the university's medical faculty. 他是该大学医学院的创建人之一。 来自辞典例句
• The founders of our religion made this a cornerstone of morality. 我们宗教的创始人把这看作是道德的基石。 来自辞典例句

10 heyday   

n.全盛时期，青春期

参考例句：

• The 19th century was the heyday of steam railways.19世纪是蒸汽机车鼎盛的时代。
• She was a great singer in her heyday.她在自己的黄金时代是个了不起的歌唱家。

11 inverted   

adj.反向的，倒转的v.使倒置，使反转( invert的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Only direct speech should go inside inverted commas. 只有直接引语应放在引号内。
• Inverted flight is an acrobatic manoeuvre of the plane. 倒飞是飞机的一种特技动作。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 crumbling   

adj.摇摇欲坠的

参考例句：

• an old house with crumbling plaster and a leaking roof 一所灰泥剥落、屋顶漏水的老房子
• The boat was tied up alongside a crumbling limestone jetty. 这条船停泊在一个摇摇欲坠的石灰岩码头边。

13 know-how   

n.知识；技术；诀窍

参考例句：

• He hasn't got the know-how to run a farm.他没有经营农场的专业知识。
• I don't have much know-how about engines.发动机方面的技术知识我知之甚少。

14 dwindled   

v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Support for the party has dwindled away to nothing. 支持这个党派的人渐渐化为乌有。
• His wealth dwindled to nothingness. 他的钱财化为乌有。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

16 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。