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96-774: The festival in New Orleans is not related to the Mississippi Delta Tennessee Williams Festival in Clarksdale, Mississippi , which is held annually in October in the childhood hometown of Tennessee Williams. Other festivals around the country also commemorate this writer. The Saints & Sinners LGBTQ+ Literary Festival is coordinated by the Tennessee Williams & New Orleans Literary Festival. Tennessee Williams

192-630: A historically black college, is located in unincorporated Coahoma County, north of Clarksdale. The city of Clarksdale is served by the Clarksdale Municipal School District . The district has nine schools, including Clarksdale High School , with a total enrollment of 3,600 students. During the 1960s, the Clarksdale gained notoriety for being the first school district in the state of Mississippi to achieve SACS accreditation for both black and white schools, beginning

288-470: A "hidden" relationship between the two men. Eisenhower enlisted Ambrose in his efforts to preserve his legacy and counteract criticisms of his presidency, particularly those charging that Eisenhower's actions at the end of World War II produced the Cold War. Ambrose wrote a review and book supporting the former general, with Eisenhower providing direction and comments during the process. Rives could not square

384-576: A commentator for Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery , a documentary by Ken Burns . He provided commentary in 20 made-for-TV documentaries, covering diverse topics, such as World War II, Lewis & Clark, and America's prominence in the 20th century. He also appeared as a guest on numerous TV programs or stations, including The Charlie Rose Show , C-Span programming, CNN programming, NBC 's Today Show , CNBC 's Hardball , and various programming on The History Channel and

480-414: A couple years" before his death "doing interviews and talking about his life." The former president's diary and telephone records show that the pair met only three times, for a total of less than five hours. Rives has stated that interview dates Ambrose cites in his 1970 book, The Supreme Commander , cannot be reconciled with Eisenhower's personal schedule, but Rives discovered, upon further investigation,

576-459: A disadvantage in negotiations with white planters, as they were generally illiterate. Planters advanced them supplies and seed at the beginning of the season, allowed them to buy other goods on credit, and settled with them at the end of harvest for a major portion of the crop. Historian Nicholas Lemann writes "segregation strengthened the grip of the sharecropper system by ensuring that most blacks would have no arena of opportunity in life except for

672-471: A female householder with no husband present, and 29.9% were non-families. 27.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.77 and the average family size was 3.38. In the city, the population was spread out, with 32.9% under the age of 18, 14.6% from 18 to 24, 25.2% from 25 to 44, 16.3% from 45 to 64, and 10.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age

768-1064: A footnote. I just want to know where the hell it came from. A Forbes investigation of his work found cases of plagiarism involving passages in at least six books, with a similar pattern going back to his doctoral dissertation. The History News Network lists seven of Ambrose's more than 69 works— The Wild Blue , Undaunted Courage , Nothing Like It In the World , Nixon: Ruin and Recovery , Citizen Soldiers , The Supreme Commander , and Crazy Horse and Custer —contained content from twelve authors without appropriate attribution from Ambrose. A front-page article published in The Sacramento Bee on January 1, 2001, entitled "Area Historians Rail Against Inaccuracies in Book", listed more than sixty instances identified as "significant errors, misstatements, and made-up quotes" in Nothing Like It in

864-484: A nearby plantation. Alcorn became a politician, and was elected by the state legislature as US Senator. Later he was elected by voters as governor of the state. Thriving from the cotton trade and associated business, Clarksdale soon earned the title "The Golden Buckle on the Cotton Belt". African-American slaves cultivated and processed cotton, worked as artisans, and cultivated and processed produce and livestock on

960-475: A security force to prevent theft from the plantation. On October 9, 1875, whites in Clarksdale began hearing rumors that "General Peace" was preparing his troops to plunder the town; rumors spread that he was planning to murder the whites. A white militia was formed, and they suppressed Peace's "revolt". Across Mississippi, white militias frequently formed in response to similar fears of armed black revolt. Twentieth-century historian Nicholas Lemann writes: Like

1056-572: A separate Museum Board of Directors composed mainly of socially prominent, local white blues fans; and to renovate the adjoining Illinois Central Railroad freight depot, providing a permanent home for the Delta Blues Museum. Several Mississippi Blues Trail markers are located in Clarksdale. One is located on Stovall Road at a cabin believed to have been lived in by McKinley Morganfield, also known as Muddy Waters . Morganfield supposedly lived there from 1915 until 1943, while he worked on

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1152-761: A tourism locale termed "Blues Alley", after a phrase coined by then Mayor, Henry Espy. The popularity of the Delta Blues Museum and the growth of the Sunflower River Blues & Gospel Festival and Juke Joint Festivals have provided an economic boost to the city. Clarksdale is located on the banks of the Sunflower River in the Mississippi Delta . According to the United States Census Bureau ,

1248-410: A unique and extraordinarily close relationship with him over the final five years of the former President's life. In an extensive 1998 interview, before a group of high school students, Ambrose stated that he spent "a lot of time with Ike, really a lot, hundreds and hundreds of hours." Ambrose claimed he interviewed Eisenhower on a wide range of subjects, and that he had been with him "on a daily basis for

1344-544: Is an agricultural and trading center. Many African-American musicians developed the blues here, and took this original American music with them to Chicago and other northern cities during the Great Migration . The Clarksdale Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Coahoma County. It is located in the Mississippi Delta region of Mississippi. In 2023, the Clarksdale, Mississippi Micropolitan area

1440-491: Is just one of many historical blues sites in Clarksdale. Early supporters of the effort to preserve Clarksdale's musical legacy included the photographer and journalist Panny Mayfield, Living Blues magazine founder Jim O'Neal , and attorney Walter Thompson, father of sports journalist Wright Thompson . In 1995, Mount Zion Memorial Fund founder Skip Henderson, a vintage guitar dealer from New Brunswick, New Jersey and friend of Delta Blues Museum founder Sid Graves, purchased

1536-767: Is reserved for a military historian . Each year the Rutgers University Living History Society awards the Stephen E. Ambrose Oral History Award to "an author or artist who has made significant use of oral history." Past winners include Tom Brokaw , Steven Spielberg , Studs Terkel , Michael Beschloss , and Ken Burns . In 2002, Ambrose was accused of plagiarizing several passages in his book The Wild Blue . Fred Barnes reported in The Weekly Standard that Ambrose had taken passages from Wings of Morning: The Story of

1632-809: The American Civil War . He wrote biographies of the generals Emory Upton and Henry Halleck , the first of which was based on his dissertation. Early in his career, Ambrose was mentored by World War II historian Forrest Pogue . In 1964, Ambrose took a position at Johns Hopkins as the Associate Editor of the Eisenhower Papers , a project aimed at organizing, cataloging and publishing Eisenhower's principal papers. From this work and discussions with Eisenhower emerged an article critical of Cornelius Ryan 's The Last Battle , which had depicted Eisenhower as politically naîve, when at

1728-564: The Illinois Central Railroad passenger depot to save it from planned demolition. With the help of local businessman Jon Levingston, as well as the Delta Council, Henderson received a US$ 1.279 million grant from the federal government to restore the passenger depot. These redevelopment funds were then transferred on the advice of Clarksdale's City attorney, Hunter Twiford, to Coahoma County, in order to establish

1824-542: The National Geographic Channel . Ambrose's association with National Geographic stemmed, in part, from his designation as an Explorer-in-Residence by the Society. In addition to his academic work and publishing, Ambrose operated a historical tour business, acting as a tour guide to European locales of World War II. Also, he served on the board of directors for American Rivers and was a member of

1920-576: The Red Shirts worked to suppress black voting from 1868 on. By 1875 conservative white Democrats regained control of the state legislature in Mississippi. They later passed Jim Crow laws , including legal segregation of public facilities. A freedman named Bill Peace, who had served in the Union Army and returned to Clarksdale after the war, persuaded his former owner to allow him to form

2016-849: The Samuel Eliot Morison Prize for lifetime achievement given by the Society for Military History . In 1998, he received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement . In 2000, Ambrose received the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service , the highest honorary award the Department of Defense offers to civilians. In 2001, he was awarded the Theodore Roosevelt Medal for Distinguished Service from

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2112-865: The Theodore Roosevelt Association . Ambrose won an Emmy as one of the producers for the mini-series Band of Brothers . Ambrose also received the George Marshall Award, the Abraham Lincoln Literary Award, the Bob Hope Award from the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, and the Will Rogers Memorial Award. Upon Ambrose's death, U.S. Sen . Mary Landrieu of Louisiana offered a resolution in

2208-499: The desegregation process in its schools. Coahoma Early College High School , a non-district public high school in unincorporated Coahoma County , is located on the campus of Coahoma Community College , approximately 4.5 miles (7.2 km) north of Clarksdale. Coahoma County Junior-Senior High School of the Coahoma County School District is in the city limits of Clarksdale, but does not serve

2304-482: The poverty line , including 46.1% of those under age 18 and 31.4% of those age 65 or over. As of the 2010 United States Census , there were 17,962 people living in the city. 79.0% were African American , 19.5% White , 0.6% Asian , 0.6% Native American , 0.4% of some other race, and 0.5% from two or more races. 0.9% were Hispanic or Latino of any race. As of the 2020 United States Census , there were 14,903 people, 5,847 households, and 3,808 families residing in

2400-427: The 75th Anniversary of A Streetcar Named Desire . Clarksdale, Mississippi Clarksdale is a city in and the county seat of Coahoma County , Mississippi , United States. It is located along the Sunflower River . Clarksdale is named after John Clark, a settler who founded the city in the mid-19th century when he established a timber mill and business. Clarksdale is in the Mississippi Delta region and

2496-639: The Chakchiuma Trade Trail, which ran northeastward to the former village at present-day Pontotoc, Mississippi . They later improved these trails for roadways wide enough for wagons. Following the removal of the Indians, European-American settlers migrated to the Delta region, where the fertile lowlands soil proved to be excellent for growing cotton after the land was cleared. They brought or purchased thousands of enslaved African Americans to work

2592-414: The Delta region for work. By this time, Clarksdale had also become home to a multi-cultural mixture of Lebanese, Italian, Chinese and Jewish immigrant merchants. By 1920, the price of cotton had fallen, and many blacks living in the Delta began to leave. The Illinois Central Railroad operated a large depot in Clarksdale and provided a Chicago-bound route for those seeking greater economic opportunities in

2688-600: The Dwight D. Eisenhower Professor of War and Peace during the 1970–1971 academic year, Ambrose participated in heckling of Richard Nixon during a speech the president gave on the KSU campus. Given pressure from the KSU administration and having job offers elsewhere, upon finishing out the year Ambrose offered to leave and the offer was accepted. His opposition to the Vietnam War stood in contrast to his research on "presidents and

2784-855: The Humanities , the Historic New Orleans Collection , the National Endowment for the Arts, and the University of New Orleans. The five-day Festival is held on the weekend nearest March 26, the birthday of Tennessee Williams. This is usually the fourth week of March. Festival events are held at several sites in and around the French Quarter. Many of these events are either speakers or discussion panels, featuring experts from literature, theater, film,

2880-648: The Last American Bomber Shot Down over Germany in World War II , by Thomas Childers , a history professor at the University of Pennsylvania . Ambrose had footnoted sources, but had not enclosed in quotation marks numerous passages from Childers's book. Ambrose asserted that only a few sentences in all his numerous books were the work of other authors. He offered this defense: I tell stories. I don't discuss my documents. I discuss

2976-599: The Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Council. Ambrose's work for the Eisenhower Center, specifically his work with D-Day veterans, inspired him to co-found the National D-Day Museum in New Orleans with another historian and UNO professor Gordon H. "Nick" Mueller . Ambrose initiated fundraising by donating $ 500,000. "He dreamt of a museum that reflected his deep regard for our nation's citizen soldiers,

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3072-530: The Mary Ball Washington Professor of American History. He founded the Eisenhower Center at the University of New Orleans in 1989 with, "The mission of the Eisenhower Center is the study of the causes, conduct, and consequences of American national security policy and the use of force as an instrument of policy in the twentieth century." He served as its director until 1994. The center's first efforts, which Ambrose initiated, involved

3168-483: The New Orleans novelist John Kennedy Toole and other writers from New Orleans . Still, Tennessee Williams remains a primary focus of the Festival. The Festival has published previously unpublished writings and produced premiere performances of newly discovered works. A scholars conference is held every year, and an academic journal, The Tennessee Williams Annual Review , is associated with this conference. Since

3264-679: The Pacific Railroad and related topics. On January 11, 2001, Washington Post columnist Lloyd Grove reported in his column The Reliable Source that a co-worker had found a "serious historical error" in the same book that "a chastened Ambrose" promised to correct in future editions. A number of journal reviews also sharply criticized the research and fact checking in the book. Reviewer Walter Nugent observed that it contained "annoying slips" such as mislabeled maps, inaccurate dates, geographical errors, and misidentified word origins , while railroad historian Don L. Hofsommer agreed that

3360-539: The Senate, which received unanimous consent, saluting the "excellence of Stephen Ambrose at capturing the greatness of the American spirit in words." He married his first wife, Judith Dorlester, in 1957, and they had two children, Stephenie and Barry. Judith died in 1965, when Ambrose was 29. Ambrose married his second wife, Moira Buckley (1939–2009), in 1967 and adopted her three children, Andrew, Grace, and Hugh . Moira

3456-428: The University of Wisconsin football team for three years. Ambrose planned to major in pre-medicine, but changed his major to history after hearing the first lecture in a U.S. history class entitled "Representative Americans" in his sophomore year. The course was taught by William B. Hesseltine , whom Ambrose credits with fundamentally shaping his writing and igniting his interest in history. While at Wisconsin, Ambrose

3552-870: The World : The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad, 1863–1869, Ambrose's non-academic popular history about the construction of the Pacific Railroad between Council Bluffs, Iowa / Omaha, Nebraska , and the San Francisco Bay at Alameda / Oakland via Sacramento, California , which was published in August 2000. The discrepancies were documented in a detailed "fact-checking" paper compiled in December 2000 by three Western US railroad historians who are also experienced researchers, consultants, and collectors specializing in

3648-509: The amount needed, to the University of Wisconsin, to endow a chair in the name of William B. Hesseltine, Ambrose's mentor. The chair's position would focus on the teaching of American military history . When the chair became fully endowed, after Ambrose's death, it was renamed the Ambrose-Hesseltine Chair. The Ambrose Professor of History title was established at the University of New Orleans after his death. The position

3744-521: The arts, history, culture, and other topics. In addition to these panels, there are master classes for aspiring writers, including advice from published writers, literary agents, and editors in the publishing industry. Another highlight during the early festival years was an “I Remember Tennessee” panel. Sharing their memories were Bill Grey, Jack Fricks, Bob Hines, Anna May Maylie, Dan Mosely, Eric Paulsen, and Jere Real. The Festival also hosts musical performances by local musicians . Musical guests over

3840-485: The battle from the view points of individual soldiers and became his first best seller. A reviewer for the Journal of Military History commended D-Day as the "most comprehensive discussion" of the sea, air, and land operations that coalesced on that day. Christopher Lehmann-Haupt , writing for The New York Times , proclaimed that "Reading this history, you can understand why for so many of its participants, despite all

3936-510: The book "confuses facts" and that "The research might best be characterized as 'once over lightly'." In the introduction to Ambrose's biography of Eisenhower, he claims that the former president approached him after having read his previous biography of the American general Henry Halleck , but Tim Rives, Deputy Director of the Eisenhower Presidential Center , says it was Ambrose who contacted Eisenhower and suggested

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4032-470: The book for The New York Times . Ken Burns , who produced and directed a PBS documentary on Lewis & Clark declared that Ambrose "takes one of the great, but also one of the most superficially considered, stories in American history and breathes fresh life into it." In addition to 27 self-authored books, Ambrose co-authored, edited, and contributed to many more and was a frequent contributor to magazines such as American Heritage . He, also, reviewed

4128-470: The city and revitalize the local economy, the festival was created was to establish a literary festival dedicated to Williams. The choice to host the festival in New Orleans was to honor the cultural and literary achievements associated with New Orleans, as Williams felt that some of his best work was written while he lived in New Orleans. The first Tennessee Williams Festival was a two-day event held in 1986, drawing an estimated 500 attendees. The topic of

4224-418: The city declined in population, with rural areas losing residents. The movement of large numbers of people both to and from Clarksdale is prominent in the city's history. Prior to 1920, Delta plantations were in constant need of laborers, and many black families moved to the area to work as sharecroppers. After World War I, plantation owners even encouraged blacks to move from the other parts of Mississippi to

4320-493: The city has a total area of 13.9 square miles (36 km ), of which 13.8 square miles (36 km ) is land and 0.07% is water. U.S. Routes 49 , 61 , and 278 pass through Clarksdale. As of the census of 2000, there were 20,645 people, 7,233 households, and 5,070 families living in the city. The population density was 1,491.8 inhabitants per square mile (576.0/km ). There were 7,757 housing units at an average density of 560.5 per square mile (216.4/km ). The racial makeup of

4416-403: The city was 68.52% African American , 29.95% White , 0.58% Asian , 0.11% Native American , 0.01% Pacific Islander , 0.22% from other races , and 0.60% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.65% of the population. There were 7,233 households, out of which 36.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 35.7% were married couples living together, 30.0% had

4512-563: The city. The city is home to three private schools Jimmy Page and Robert Plant named their 1998 album Walking Into Clarksdale as a tribute to the significance that Clarksdale made in the history of the Delta Blues. Stephen E. Ambrose Stephen Edward Ambrose (January 10, 1936 – October 13, 2002) was an American historian, academic, and author, most noted for his books on World War II and his biographies of U.S. presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon . He

4608-405: The city. In late 1979, Carnegie Public Library Director Sid Graves began a nascent display series which later became the nucleus of the Delta Blues Museum . Graves single-handedly nurtured the beginnings of the museum in the face of an indifferent community and an often recalcitrant Library Board, at times resorting to storing displays in the trunk of his car when denied space in the library. When

4704-566: The collection of oral histories from World War II veterans about their experiences, particularly any participation in D-Day. By the time of publication of Ambrose's D-Day, June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II, in 1994, the center had collected more than 1,200 oral histories. Ambrose donated $ 150,000 to the Center in 1998 to foster additional efforts to collect oral histories from World War II veterans. Ambrose's earliest works concerned

4800-714: The cotton fields" (p. 6). During the Reconstruction Era following the Civil War, Mississippi's blacks and poor whites both benefited from the State's new constitution of 1868, which adopted universal suffrage; repealed property qualifications for suffrage or for office; provided for the state's first public school system; forbade race distinctions in the possession and inheritance of property; and prohibited limiting civil rights in travel. Those gains were short-lived, as insurgent white paramilitary groups such as

4896-532: The death surrounding them, life revealed itself in that moment at that place." Ambrose's Citizen Soldiers , which describes battles fought in northwest Europe from D-Day through the end of the war in Europe, utilized, again, extensive oral histories. Citizen Soldiers became a best seller, appearing on the New York Times best sellers lists for both hardcover and paperback editions in the same week. During

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4992-497: The defense industry. They developed a rich musical tradition drawing from many strands of music, and influencing jazz and the blues in Chicago. In the early 20th century, Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe began to settle in Mississippi, often working as merchants. From the 1930s to the 1970s, Clarksdale had one of the largest Jewish populations in Mississippi. In the 1930s, they founded Beth Israel Synagogue. However, most left as

5088-530: The disaster of the 2005 Hurricane Katrina . On slightly higher ground, the French Quarter was not among the areas that were flooded during the disaster. The festival continued and grew in popularity until a brief hiatus in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it was resumed virtually in 2021 and then in person in 2022. Principal sponsors of the Festival include the Louisiana Endowment for

5184-510: The end of World War II he allowed Soviet forces to take Berlin, thus shaping the Cold War that followed. Ambrose expanded this into a book, Eisenhower and Berlin, 1945: The Decision to Halt at the Elbe (1967). Ambrose was aided in the book's writing by comments and notes provided by Eisenhower, who read a draft of the book. In 1964, Ambrose was commissioned to write the official biography of

5280-627: The establishment of sharecropping, the restoration to power of the all-white Democratic Party in the South was a development of such magnitude to whites that it became encrusted in legend; many towns have their own mythic stories of the redemption of the white South. In Clarksdale, it is the story of the "race riot" of October 9, 1875. After the Reconstruction era and construction in 1879 of the Louisville, New Orleans and Texas Railway through

5376-457: The experiences of George McGovern , who commanded a B-24 crew that flew numerous missions over Germany. His other major works include Undaunted Courage about the Lewis and Clark Expedition and Nothing Like It in the World about the construction of the Pacific Railroad . His final book, This Vast Land , a historical novel about the Lewis & Clark expedition written for young readers,

5472-517: The first festival in 1986, events have included a guided walking tour to 722 Toulouse St. and other French Quarter residences where Williams once lived. Since 1996, the Festival has ended with the popular Stella and Stanley Shouting Contest , a tribute to the third scene from A Streetcar Named Desire . The contest is open to the public and held on the last day of the Festival, usually Sunday afternoon, in Jackson Square . Actors playing

5568-400: The first literary panel was “New Orleans As A Home For Writers" and Panelists included Fredrick Barton , Christopher Blake , Sheila Bosworth, Everette Maddox , and Christ Wiltz . It was moderated by Ralph Adamo. The festival quickly grew in popularity; it now attracts over 10,000 attendees every year. In March 2006, the festival was the first major event to be held in New Orleans following

5664-463: The first stop on a region-wide tour, where he urged a crowd of 1,000 to "stand in, sit in, and walk by the thousands". National headlines in February 2013 covered the discovery of the body of mayoral candidate Marco McMillian , who was found murdered near the town of Sherard , to the west of his home town of Clarksdale. Because McMillian was openly gay and was badly beaten before his death, there

5760-491: The fledgling museum was accidentally discovered by Billy Gibbons of the rock band ZZ Top through contact with Howard Stovall Jr., the Delta Blues Museum became the subject of national attention as a pet project of the band, and the Museum began to enjoy national recognition. In 1995, the museum, at that time Clarksdale's only attraction, grew to include a large section of the newly renovated library building, but remained under

5856-432: The former president and five-star general Dwight D. Eisenhower . This resulted in a book on Eisenhower's war years, The Supreme Commander (1970), and a two-volume full biography (published in 1983 and 1984), which are considered "the standard" on the subject. Regarding the first volume, Gordon Harrison, writing for The New York Times , proclaimed, "It is Mr. Ambrose's special triumph that he has been able to fight through

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5952-458: The fresh interest in World War II that had been stimulated by the 50th anniversary of D-Day in 1994 and the 60th anniversary in 2004. Ambrose served as executive producer for Price for Peace , a documentary concerning the war in the Pacific theater during World War II, and for Moments of Truth , a TV documentary containing interviews with World War II veterans. In addition, Ambrose served as

6048-400: The historical consultant for the movie Saving Private Ryan . Tom Hanks , who starred in the movie, said he "pored over D-Day " and Band of Brothers in researching his role. Hanks also credited Ambrose's books with providing extensive detail, particularly regarding D-Day landings. The HBO mini-series, Band of Brothers (2001), for which he was an executive producer, helped sustain

6144-604: The large Stovall cotton plantation, before moving to Chicago after mistreatment at the hands of a Stovall overseer. Another Blues Trail marker is located at the Riverside Hotel, which provided lodging to blues entertainers passing through the delta. In 2009, a marker devoted to Clarksdale native Sam Cooke was unveiled in front of the New Roxy Theater. Established in 2008, the Clarksdale Walk of Fame are plaques located in downtown which honor notable people from Clarksdale. Honorees include John Lee Hooker , Ike Turner , Muddy Waters , and Sam Cooke. Coahoma Community College ,

6240-441: The largest movement of Americans in U.S. history, and was recounted with Clarksdale triangulated with Chicago and Washington D.C. in Nicholas Lemann's book The Promised Land: The Great Black Migration and How it Changed America . The History Channel later produced a documentary based on the book, narrated by actor Morgan Freeman , who is also a co-owner of Ground Zero Blues Club . On September 10, 1919, Black veteran L. B. Reed

6336-650: The memoranda, the directives, plans, reports, and official self-serving pieties of the World War II establishment to uncover the idiosyncratic people at its center." Ambrose also wrote a three-volume biography of Richard Nixon . Although Ambrose was a strong critic of Nixon, the biography was considered fair and just regarding Nixon's presidency . A visit to a reunion of Easy Company veterans in 1988 prompted Ambrose to collect their stories, turning them into Band of Brothers, E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne: From Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest (1992) . D-Day (1994), built upon additional oral histories, presented

6432-475: The military at a time when such topics were increasingly regarded by his colleagues as old fashioned and conservative." Ambrose also taught at Louisiana State University (assistant professor of history; 1960–1964) and Johns Hopkins University (associate professor of history; 1964–1969). He held visiting posts at Rutgers University , the University of California, Berkeley , and a number of European schools, including University College Dublin , where he taught as

6528-410: The museum. "The Stephen E. Ambrose Memorial Fund continues to support the development of the museum's Center for Study of the American Spirit, its educational programs and oral history and publication initiatives." In 1997, Ambrose received the St. Louis Literary Award from the Saint Louis University Library Associates. In 1998, he received the National Humanities Medal . In 1998, he was awarded

6624-435: The north; it soon became the primary departure point for many. During the 1940s, three events occurred which increased the exodus of African-Americans from Clarksdale. First, it became possible to commercially produce a cotton crop entirely by machine, which lessened the need for a large, low-paid workforce. (Coincidentally, it was on 28 acres of the nearby Hopson Plantation where the International Harvester Company perfected

6720-454: The overwhelming evidence against them, the justice of peace court judge freed the accused perpetrators". On May 29, 1958, Martin Luther King Jr. visited Clarksdale for the first major meeting of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). In 1960, Aaron Henry , a local pharmacist, was named state president of the NAACP, and went on to organize a two-year-long boycott of Clarksdale businesses. In 1962, King again visited Clarksdale on

6816-405: The plantations. They built the wealth of "King Cotton" in the state. U.S. Census data shows Coahoma County, Mississippi 's 1860 population was 1,521 whites and 5,085 slaves. James Alcorn was a major planter, owning 77 slaves according to the 1860 Slave Schedule. Cedar Mound Plantation, located 5 miles south of Clarksdale, was purchased and named in 1834 by Alex Kerr Boyce. He died childless and it

6912-708: The project, as shown by a letter from Ambrose found in the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum . In his response, Eisenhower stated that "the confidence I have derived from your work by reading your two books—especially the one on Halleck—give reasons why I should be ready to help out so far as I can." The Halleck biography "still sits on a shelf" at the Eisenhower National Historic Site in Gettysburg. After Eisenhower's death in 1969, Ambrose made repeated claims to have had

7008-496: The questionable interview dates cited by Ambrose in later works, but uncovered a relationship with Eisenhower that was "too complicated" to be described by Ambrose's critics. In his 2015 book The President and the Apprentice: Eisenhower and Nixon, 1952–1961 , Irwin F. Gellman wrote that "while some Eisenhower scholars questioned Ambrose's research after [his] book's publication, the enormity of his falsifications

7104-476: The role of Stella and Stanley provoke the contestants from a gallery from one of the Pontalba Buildings . After the first round of tryouts, a second round takes place, where finalists compete for prizes and trophies. The COVID-19 pandemic caused 2020's festival to go on hiatus and in 2021 the festival was fully virtual. In 2022, the festival returned to in-person status with the festival celebrating

7200-471: The same week, in September 1998, D-Day and Undaunted Courage , Ambrose's 1996 book on Meriwether Lewis and the Corps of Discovery, appeared on the best seller list, also. He also wrote The Victors (1998), a distillation of material from other books detailing Eisenhower's wartime experiences and connections to the common soldier, and The Wild Blue , that looks at World War II aviation largely through

7296-405: The several extensive cotton plantations developed in the county. The first ones were always developed with riverfront access, as the waterways were the chief forms of transportation. John Clark founded the town of Clarksdale in 1848, when he bought land in the area and started a timber business. It became a trading center. Clark married the sister of James Lusk Alcorn , a major planter who owned

7392-498: The single-row mechanical cotton picking machine in 1946; soil was prepared, seeded, picked and bailed entirely by machines, while weeds were eradicated by flame.) Second, many African-American GIs (soldiers) returned from World War II to find slim opportunities for employment in the Delta region. Finally, there appeared an accelerated climate of racial hatred, as evidenced by the violence against such figures as NAACP representative Aaron Henry . "The Great Migration" north became

7488-402: The story. It almost gets to the point where, how much is the reader going to take? I am not writing a Ph.D. dissertation. I wish I had put the quotation marks in, but I didn't. I am not out there stealing other people's writings. If I am writing up a passage and it is a story I want to tell and this story fits and a part of it is from other people's writing, I just type it up that way and put it in

7584-643: The tight control of the Carnegie Library Board, who subsequently fired Sid Graves, at the time seriously ill. Graves died in Hattiesburg, Mississippi , in January 2005. In an interim move from the renovated Library building, the Museum spent most of 1996 in a converted retail storefront on Delta Avenue under the direction of a politically connected Wisconsin native, the late Ron Gorsegner. In 1997–1998, Coahoma County finally provided funds to form

7680-410: The town, Clarksdale was incorporated in 1882. In 1886, the town's streets were laid out; it was not until 1913 that any were paved. African Americans composed most of the farm labor in the county into the 1940s, when increasing mechanization reduced the need for field workers. Thousands of blacks left Mississippi in the Great Migration to Chicago , St. Louis , and later, West Coast cities to work in

7776-602: The workers on the Home Front and the sacrifices and hardships they endured to achieve victory." He secured large contributions from the federal government, state of Louisiana, Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, and many smaller donations from former students, who answered a plea made by Ambrose in the New Orleans Times-Picayune . In 2003, Congress designated the museum as "America's National World War II Museum ," acknowledging an expanded scope and mission for

7872-422: The works of other historians in the Journal of Southern History , Military Affairs , American Historical Review , The Journal of American History , and Foreign Affairs . He served as a contributing editor to MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History , also. Ambrose featured in the 1973-74 ITV television series, The World at War , which detailed the history of World War II. He served as

7968-1120: The years have included artists such as Vernel Bagneris , Danny Barker , Spencer Bohren , Tom Sancton , Butch Thompson , Allen Toussaint , and Dr. Michael White . Past speakers have included prominent authors and playwrights such as Edward Albee , Robert Olen Butler , Richard Ford , Michael Cunningham , Phillip Caputo , Rick Bragg , and Yusef Komunyakaa . Other speakers have included writers Anne Rice , Cokie Roberts , Michael Cunningham , John Waters , Nora Roberts , Stephen E. Ambrose , Douglas Brinkley , James Carville , Andrei Codrescu , Sue Grafton , Margaret Atwood , Larry Brown , Margaret Walker , Fannie Flagg , Allen Gilchrist , Kaye Gibbons , Dorothy Allison , Barry Gifford , Rex Reed , Peggy Scott Laborde , and Errol Laborde , as well as actors Patricia Clarkson , Stephanie Zimbalist , Alec Baldwin , John Goodman , W. Kenneth Holditch , Tab Hunter , Dixie Carter , Gerald McRaney , Elizabeth Ashley , Anne Jackson , Eli Wallach , and Kim Hunter . Tennessee Williams's brother, Dakin Williams,

8064-418: Was 28 years. For every 100 females, there were 89.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 81.1 males. The median income for a household in the city was US$ 20,188, and the median income for a family was US$ 22,592. Males had a median income of US$ 23,881 versus US$ 18,918 for females. The per capita income for the city was US$ 11,611. About 32.7% of families and 39.2% of the population were below

8160-561: Was a frequent guest at the Festival until his death in 2008. Another major feature of the Festival is its theatrical productions, including productions of full-length plays and one-act plays by Tennessee Williams, as well as works by other writers. In 1992, the Festival began hosting a one-act play contest. The winning plays are premiered at the Festival, and have become one of the Festival's most anticipated events. The Festival also sponsors poetry and short fiction contests. The Festival highlights other contemporary Southern artists , such as

8256-522: Was a longtime professor of history at the University of New Orleans and the author of many bestselling volumes of American popular history . In 2002, several instances of plagiarism were discovered in his books. In 2010, after his death, Ambrose was found to have fabricated interviews and events in his biographies of Eisenhower. Ambrose was born January 10, 1936, in Lovington, Illinois , to Rosepha Trippe Ambrose and Stephen Hedges Ambrose. His father

8352-465: Was a member of the Navy and Army ROTC . He graduated with a B.A. in 1957. Ambrose received a master's degree in history from Louisiana State University in 1958, studying under T. Harry Williams . Ambrose then went on to earn a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1963, under William B. Hesseltine. Ambrose was a history professor from 1960 until his retirement in 1995. From 1971 onward, he

8448-615: Was a member of the University of New Orleans faculty, where he was named the Boyd Professor of History in 1989, an honor given only to faculty who attain "national or international distinction for outstanding teaching, research, or other creative achievement". During the 1969–1970 academic year, he was the Ernest J. King Professor of Maritime History at the Naval War College . While teaching at Kansas State University as

8544-525: Was a physician who served in the U.S. Navy during World War II . Ambrose was raised in Whitewater, Wisconsin , where he graduated from Whitewater High School . His family also owned a farm in Lovington, Illinois , and vacation property in Marinette County, Wisconsin . He attended college at the University of Wisconsin–Madison , where he was a member of Chi Psi fraternity and played on

8640-593: Was added to form the new Memphis-Clarksdale-Forrest City Combined Statistical Area. The Memphis-Clarksdale-Forrest City Combined Statistical Area has around 1.4 million people. The western boundary of the county is formed by the Mississippi River . European Americans developed Clarksdale at the intersection of two former Indian routes: the Lower Creek Trade Path, which extended westward from present-day Augusta, Georgia , to New Mexico; and

8736-613: Was an active assistant in his writing and academic projects. After retiring, he maintained homes in Helena, Montana , and Bay St. Louis, Mississippi . A longtime smoker, he was diagnosed with lung cancer in April 2002. His health deteriorated rapidly, and seven months after the diagnosis, he died at the age of 66. George McGovern , the primary focus of Ambrose's Wild Blue said, "He probably reached more readers than any other historian in our national history." Ambrose donated $ 500,000, half

8832-466: Was inherited by his niece Mrs. Catherine (Kate) (née Henderson) Adams of South Carolina . She divided it among her unmarried children: Jennie, Will, and Lucia Adams. The sisters' correspondence (1845-1944) is held in a collection in their name at the University of Mississippi. After slavery was abolished, many black families labored as sharecroppers or tenant farmers. They gained some independence, no longer working in gangs of laborers, but were often at

8928-488: Was lynched as part of the Red Summer of 1919 . Clarksdale played a very important role in the civil rights movement in Mississippi. The starting point for a civil rights movement in Clarksdale was the rape at gunpoint of two African-American women, Leola Tates and Erline Mills, in August 1951. The two white teenagers they said assaulted them, who admitted the event but said it was consensual, were arrested, but "despite

9024-467: Was not native to New Orleans, but he lived in New Orleans's French Quarter at several points in his adult life. Two of his major plays, A Streetcar Named Desire and Vieux Carré , and several short stories were set in the historic French Quarter. Shortly after Williams's death in 1983, the city of New Orleans happened to undergo an economic recession. Among the proposals to attract tourists to

9120-712: Was published posthumously in 2003. Ambrose's most popular single work was Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West (1996), which stayed on the New York Times best seller list for a combined, hardcover and paperback, 126 weeks. Ambrose consolidated research on the Corps of Discovery 's expedition conducted in the previous thirty years and "synthesized it skillfully to enrich our understanding and appreciation of this grand epic", according to Alvin M. Josephy, Jr. , who reviewed

9216-477: Was speculation that his murder qualified to be classified as a hate crime . Lawrence Reed, an acquaintance of McMillian, was charged, tried, and found guilty of the murder in April 2015. Clarksdale has been historically significant in the history of the blues . The Mississippi Blues Trail places interpretative markers for historic sites such as Clarksdale's Riverside Hotel , where Bessie Smith died following an auto accident on Highway 61 . The Riverside Hotel

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