About the exhibit

An independent digital exhibit about Chinese life in the Mississippi Delta, built around advertisements, court documents, photographs, and links to oral histories.

The collection

The document collection contains 26 selected records from 1885–1927. Two Leland photographs from 1939 and interviews held by the Southern Foodways Alliance extend the story. Greenwood, Rosedale, Dundee, Alligator, and Clarksdale anchor the Delta documents; other Mississippi places are labeled separately.

Search the documents · Photographs and grocery histories

Read the original

Each document opens with its image, transcription, citation, and reading limits. Transcriptions were prepared with machine assistance and have not received independent human or community review. Check the image before quoting. Repeated newspaper items are repeated printings, not independent witnesses.

Collections to explore

• Mississippi Delta Chinese Heritage MuseumCommunity history and preservation in Cleveland, Mississippi.
• Grocery Stor[i]es · Delta State UniversityCommunity words and images about grocery life.
• Chinese Grocers · Southern Foodways AllianceRecorded interviews and transcripts. The collection includes Mississippi and Arkansas; the exhibit’s selected interviews are identified by place.
• Leland photographs · Library of CongressMarion Post Wolcott, Farm Security Administration, November 1939. No known restrictions.

Oral histories are linked to their collecting institutions; their recordings and photographs are not reproduced here. This exhibit has no institutional affiliation or endorsement.