In the Mississippi Delta, Black Farmers Are Rebuilding the Legacy of Land Ownership

In the Mississippi Delta, Black Farmers Are Rebuilding the Legacy of Land Ownership

JONESTOWN, Miss. — As Pastor Bennie Brown sat in the bright red pews of St. James Missionary Baptist, just a few feet away from the podium where he preaches every Sunday, the 71-year-old farmer recalled feeling the spiritual presence of the ancestors.  The church is located in Jonestown, an all-Black rural town in the Mississippi Delta, about 12 miles north of Clarksdale and 67 miles south of Memphis, Tennessee. Today, the church serves as a pla…