WEST POINT – From the outside, it doesn’t seem that special.
Walking along Commerce Street in downtown West Point, the Black Prairie Blues Museum looks like any other historic building on the road.
But after passing through the building’s front door, a traveler might find themselves in the midst of a soulful gospel performance or listening to the deep bass lines and sorrowful harmonica notes of a blues song.
Deborah Mansfield, museum director, said that’s by design, and the monthly performances are just one of the ways the museum honors the rich blues history of the area beyond displays and exhibits.
“Blues music came out of hardship,” Mansfield said. “… We need to have a place where we learn … about the heritage and culture of the musicians and how it came about and how it’s affected music today. And I’m grateful that we have a museum that (is) able to tell this story.”
Now with an extra $50,000 on hand from a T-Mobile Hometown Grant, that story can be heard clearer. The museum was awarded the grant to fund new sound equipment and artifact storage, a Thursday press release said.
Mansfield said while the grant is a great boost, the museum still needs about $2 million to fully fund repairs and expansion efforts to get the museum closer to its initial design from eight years ago.
The Black Prairie Blues Museum opened in 2018 with a goal of being a two-story museum featuring exhibits that highlight local musicians, like Howlin’ Wolf, and the history of Black Prairie Blues music more broadly.
Historically, Mansfield said, the funding to bring that plan to fruition has been difficult to come by. Over the last two state legislative sessions, District 16 Senator Angela Turner-Ford, D-West Point, authored bills to give the museum the funding it needed, but neither passed.
“Our biggest challenge, I believe, in getting city, county and state funding is educating everyone about what the museum does for the local community (and) the state of Mississippi,” Mansfield said. “… We want to inspire artists, musicians, historians and patrons alike through the blues of the Black Prairie. We want the Museum to become a central cultural hub for the greater Mississippi area and the Black Prairie. We have been able to provide these things but on a limited basis.”
The T-Mobile grant, alongside $123,000 in a Mississippi Humanities grant and matching funds from Blue Cross Blue Shield Mississippi awarded in January, have helped to fund some of the building’s first improvements since it opened. Those include a new wheelchair accessible ramp through the front door, expanding the museum’s stage and signage out front, Mansfield said.
The bridge to the blues
With a tight annual budget, Mansfield said the museum has had to get creative over the years with its displays. Volunteers have strung up chicken wire and wooden beams against the building’s walls to hang artwork and posters.
Even with its humble interior, the museum has become a place where annual events, including the Black Prairie Blues Festival, have thrived with performances from the likes of Ghost Town Blues and Jimmy “Duck” Holmes, said Jeremy Klutts, the museum curator.
“Not everybody’s cup of tea is music or what we do there,” Klutts said. “But it’s kind of grown into a space (where) we can express art and (display art) as well, (and) combine it and mix it up for what it is today and what it will continue to do.”
Klutts said additional funding for a secondary building and additional displays out more permanently could help expand the museum’s reach, though its reach has proven to be quite expansive when it comes to tourism.
Lisa Klutts, director for the West Point-Clay County Growth Alliance, said international interest in Black Prairie Blues musicians like Howlin’ Wolf, alongside the museum’s annual events, has made West Point a hot spot for blues enthusiasts.
“We have a blues trail marker and a statue … and so a lot of things (are) tied together,” Lisa said. “But the museum has just been working for many years now, to just keep building on it.”
Mansfield hopes one day the museum can bring its initial dream to fruition by buying the building next door, constructing a permanent exhibit area and hiring a full-time staff.
Until then, she is proud with how far the museum has come so far.
“(We feel) now we’re able to really branch out and tell people all that we have done over the past eight years and really show them that we’re serious about committing ourselves to the Blues,” Mansfield said. “And … bringing people in, having events, educational programs and making it a real community place.”
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