Carol M. Highsmith

Juke joint festival is half blues festival, half small-town fair and all about the delta

Carol Highsmith has donated her life's photography work of tens of thousands of images to the Library of Congress during her decades-long career.  The photography collection at the Library is the most historic photographic collection on earth and includes the work of Dorothea Lange and Frances Benjamin Johnston.  Highsmith has been doing a visual study of America for 40 years and travels the United States for about 10 months a year.

Mississippi

S.S. Hurricane Camille after Hurricane Katrina, Gulfport, Mississippi

Vintage car stuffed with knick knacks, Pontotoc, Mississippi

Vintage automobile at the Hopson Plantation site on the outskirts of Clarksdale, Mississippi

Gas pump and signs on the Hopson Plantation site on the outskirts of Clarksdale, Mississippi

This fellow sitting outside Red's Blues Club in Clarksdale, Mississippi

Owner inside Deak's Mississippi Saxophone & Blues Emporium, Clarksdale, Mississippi

Painted vintage car from the days of oversized, Clarksdale, Mississippi

Man inside Hopson Plantation’s, Clarksdale, Mississippi

A colorful and audaciously decorated street catfish figure in Belzoni, Mississippi

State Capitol, Jackson, Mississippi

Statue of three prominent Mississippians in Jackson, Mississippi

Senate chamber of the Mississippi Capitol in Jackson, Mississippi

Man selling sweet potatoes from truck, Mt. Olive, Mississippi

Panther Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, Yazoo City, Mississippi

Carousel horse used as decoration on the street in downtown Meridian, Mississippi

Pumpkin scarecrow on tractor, Shady Acres Village, Sanford, Mississippi

Eagle atop the pediment of the 1906 Illinois State Memorial, Vicksburg, Mississippi

Illinois state memorial Vicksburg, Mississippi

The Gibbs Country Store in Learned, Mississippi

An old cabin that has the looks of an old-time store in Learned, Mississippi

Shoe-store sign in Port Gibson, Mississippi

St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Raymond, Mississippi

Old cotton-processing plant in Abbeville, Mississippi

Andrew Ben Williams enjoys a soda after church in tiny Glendora, Mississippi

The neon sign at the visitor center promoting Tunica,Mississippi

Alligator mural in the tiny Alligator, Mississippi

The Commerce Boulevard Christian Church in Tunica, Mississippi

Neon sign at the visitor center promoting Tunica, Mississippi

Row of wooden houses in Grenada, Mississippi

Hanging bench in Senatobia, Mississippi

Converted cabin on the Hopson Plantation site on the outskirts of Clarksdale, Mississippi

Jazzman Terry "Harmonica" Bean performs at the Club Red jazz club in Clarksdale, Mississippi

Four women at the Ground Zero blues club in Clarksdale, Mississippi

Booth and mementos at Johnnie's Drive-in restaurant, Tupelo, Mississippi

Kitchen of the humble cabin where Elvis Presley was born in 1935, Tupelo, Mississippi

The boyhood home of legendary singer Elvis Presley in Tupelo, Mississippi

Pier pilings at dusk along the Gulf of Mexico, Hancock County, Mississippi

Smokestacks and bridge of a steamboat docked at Jackson Square, Mississippi

Columns at The Windsor Plantation, Claireborn County, Mississippi

The Manship House built in 1857, Jackson, Maryland

Mammy's Cupboard Restaurant Located in Natchez, Mississippi

Art Deco Mississippi War Memorial Building, Jackson, Mississippi

Food stalls at Juke Joint Festival, Clarksdale, Mississippi