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Music Festival Returns To Jefferson College
The Great Big Yam Potatoes Old-Time Music Gathering and Fiddle Contest returns for its eighth year to Historic Jefferson College on Saturday, May 16. Enjoy performances by some of Mississippi’s best old-time musicians on the outdoor stage, watch talented fiddlers young and old vying for the prize in the fiddle contest, or join a jam session in the shade of the majestic live oaks.
This free festival celebrates Mississippi’s long tradition of fiddle and string band music. Live acoustic performances begin at 9 a.m. on the outdoor stage and will feature some of the region’s finest traditional musicians. Scheduled acts include gourd banjo player Jason Smith; clawhammer banjo player and multi-instrumentalist Johnny Rawls; early Americana duo Hal and Connie Jeannes; finger-picking blues guitarist Reeves Jones; old time band Mississippi Cajun, outlaw fiddlers Frank and Jesse, fiddler band extraordinaire Kinney’s Two Carr Garage, and more.
The old-time fiddle contest gets underway at 10 a.m. in the circa-1839 West Wing building with musicians seventeen
and younger. Fiddlers eighteen and older take to the stage af-
Aunt Suzie’s Catering will return as food vendor. Primitive
Washington, four miles northeast of Natchez on H igh way 61.
In 1939 the federal government assigned Herbert Halpert to travel to Mississippi and make field recordings of folk songs for the Library of Congress. Halpert captured performances by several fiddlers, in some cases preserving songs that might otherwise have been lost to time. A selection of these recordings was released by MDAH in 1985 under the name “Great Big Yam Potatoes,” after one of the featured tunes. The gathering and fiddle contest is named after that influential album, now out of print.
Jefferson College was the first institution of higher learning in the Mississippi Territory. Jefferson Military College, as it came to be known, closed its doors in 1964 after serving as a prep school from 1866. Today the site is open throughout the week, allowing visitors a look at the restored student dormitory, dining hall, kitchen buildings, and other historic sites. A nature trail winds by St. Catherine Creek, and a museum and gift shop are located in the visitor center. For more information call 601-442-2901.
ter lunch. Cash prizes will be	camping is available Friday and
awarded to the top three fiddlers	Saturday night on the grounds of
in each division. The contest	Historic Jefferson College,
entry fee is five dollars. Updated	The Great Big Yam Potatoes
rules, registration information,	Old-Time Music Gathering and
and an event schedule are online	Fiddle Contest is presented by
at www.bigyampotatoes.com or	the Mississippi Fiddlers As-
on Facebook at www.facebook.	sociation, which aims to foster
com/GreatBigYamPotatoes. ■	interest in rural fiddle music.
A dance featuring live music	To learn more contact Robert
will be held in the West Wing at	Waldo Gray at rwgray@umc.
7:20 p.m. following the contest	edu or at 601-898-8265. Historic
and performances.	Jefferson College is located in
Civil Rights Veteran Jesse Harris Dies at 75
Jesse Harris, a longtime leader in the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement, died January 27, 2015. He was 75.
Harris was an organizer of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and a board member of the Veterans of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement. Inc. In 2014 he was awarded the 2014 Humanitarian Award by Jackson State University’s Fannie Lou Hamer Institute at COFO.
Harris was invited by James Farmer, a leader of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, to join SNCC as a field secretary. Harris was assigned to Laurel, Mississippi, to organize a voter registration project and a non-violent workshop with area high school students. After seeing the results
of Harris’s work in Laurel, Mississippi, state director of SNCC Bob Moses asked Harris to go to Greenwood to support and reinforce the work being done in the Mississippi Delta.
In 1964, Harris helped train Freedom Summer volunteers before they came to Mississippi and managed the volunteers in and around McComb. Harris was also an organizer for the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. In the mid-1960s he worked for the Child Development Group of Mississippi, a predecessor of Head Start.
Later, Harris worked with the Poor People’s
r
Corporation and the Federation of Southern Co-Ops to improve the economic opportunities for black craftspeople and farmers.
“Jesse was one of the first ‘foot soldiers’ that I met when j/m . I went to Mississippi in April 1962,” said Dave Dennis. “He was one of the many local unsung heroes who continued the struggle until his death. It was an honor to have had the opportunity to be a friend and to work by his side and under his leadership. He was and is an inspiration to all, and he will truly be missed.”