Dr. Gregory d. Smithers, an associate professor of history at virginia commonwealth university, specializes in native American History. Else the author of several books including an indigenous history of migration, resettlement and identity about which greg spoke here a few years ago. And his newest book and the subject of todays lecture native southerners indigenous history from origins of removal. Please give a warm welcome to our guest speaker, greg smithers. [ applause ] let me first begin by acknowledging the traditional landowners of this region, members of the powatan chiefdom and the chickahawpee people. Thank you to those who organized this. Its much appreciated and its lovely to be back here at the Virginia Museum of history and culture. I hope i got that right. Im going to begin today by talking just a little bit about the artwork on the cover of my new book. This is a piece by chief terry saul. Hes was hes passed, now hes walked on. Chief terry saul was chickasaw and chokta
anthony: some time ago something crawled, or slithered, or grew like a fungus. something that started small, got bigger, lurched like a swamp thing out of the mud and moist earth and humid nights of the delta. then, it took over the world. so next time some smart ass foreigner, horrified by our latest ham-fisted foreign policy blunder wonders out loud, what good is america? well, you can always pipe up that the blues, rock n roll, r&b, and soul all came out of this place one state mississippi. i took a walk through this beautiful world felt the cool rain on my shoulder found something good in this beautiful world i felt the rain getting colder sha la la la la sha la la la la la sha la la la la sha la la la la la la geno: right now we re in the middle of downtown jackson. farish street. anthony: it is a street with a lot of history. what did it used to be like back in the day? geno: the street was packed with folks. folks all over, they
This place one state mississippi. I took a walk through this beautiful world felt the cool rain on my shoulder found something good in this beautiful world i felt the rain getting colder sha la la la la sha la la la la la sha la la la la sha la la la la la la geno right now were in the middle of downtown jackson. Farish street. Anthony it is a street with a lot of history. What did it used to be like back in the day . Geno the street was packed with folks. Folks all over, they had their own restaurants, grocery stores, juke joints. I mean everything happened on farish street that happened in jackson for the africanamerican community. Anthony the state capital of jackson, mississippi, located along interstate highway 55, just outside whats known as the mississippi delta. Its the kind of place that makes you wonder why did they make it the capital. Until you grab hold of what used to be around here. Farish street used to be the hub of africanamerican life in the city. Its black commercia
right. if you don t like my rules, don t come. anthony: what are the rules here? no rap music. william po monkey seaberry: no. nobody likes that bumpa bumpa bump . i don t like that. it gives me a headache in the brain. i love all blues. all of it s good to me as long as it s blues. anthony: good r&b? william po monkey seaberry: that s right, that s right. anthony: but no rap. william po monkey seaberry: no, no. anthony: never, even if i have kanye west wants to rent out the place, are you gonna rent it to him? william po monkey seaberry: yeah, i d rent it to him. anthony: oh okay. just in case. william po monkey seaberry: so i ain t got time to work with them and keep down all this old bullshit, if you ain t come for a good time stay away from here. anthony: words to live by. well, thank you, sir. i love your place and thank you for having us. william po monkey seaberry: well, you got to come back again. anthony: oh, i surely will. will