A treasured artifact belonging to blues musician Mississippi John Hurt is now back in his family’s possession.
David Brown, a former reporter for the Commonwealth who has also worked at The Washington Post, returned a 1944 election poster of Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Mary Frances Hurt, one of John Hurt’s granddaughters, on Tuesday.
The story of its return begins in 1976. Brown, a huge blues fan, wanted to write a piece on John Hurt in remembrance of his death 10 years earlier. Hurt was born in Teoc, was raised in Avalon and spent his career playing for house shows and parties while working as a farmer.
Brown said he went to Hurt’s home and discovered the fully preserved poster of FDR on wallpaper that was peeling. Observing the decaying state of the house and fearing the poster eventually would be lost with it, Brown asked the landowner, A.R. Perkins, if he could take the poster. Perkins agreed without hesitation.
Brown said that the poster has been his “prized possession for decades” and that he intended to have it donated to the Delta Blues Museum upon his death.
Decades later, in 2011, Brown returned to Greenwood to cover a story on the centennial celebration of blues musician Robert Johnson’s birth for The Washington Post.
While researching the story, Brown met with Scott Ainslie, a blues musician and historian. After visiting John Hurt’s grave, Ainslie invited Brown to visit the John Hurt Museum.
The museum, located in Avalon, may be found by going up a long dirt pathway on County Road 109. It doesn’t have a set schedule and is available for tours only by appointment.
Brown was amazed at what the museum turned out to be: “Lo and behold, it was the house I had visited in 1976 and had expected to be a pile of rotted boards long ago.”
Hurt’s granddaughter, Mary Frances, had her grandfather’s home moved to a plot of land that the Hurt family owned.
It is preserved by the Mississippi John Hurt Foundation, which was started by Mary Frances, and the site also hosts the Mississippi John Hurt Homecoming Festival.
In thinking about the future of the poster, Brown said, “It did occur to me on a number of occasions that since this house survived, maybe (the poster) should be back there.”
Brown decided that he wasn’t going to wait until his death to return the poster; he was going to deliver it to the museum and “repatriate” it.
Ainslie told Brown of a documentary being made about the descendants of famous blues musicians. Mary Frances had wanted to preserve her stories on film and seek out stories of the descendants of other blues musicians. A film crew would be in Avalon at the museum to interview her from Monday through Wednesday.
Brown decided this would be his opportunity to deliver the poster in person, and he made the drive from Baltimore. “It feels like the right thing to do,” he said.
On Tuesday afternoon, Brown finally got to surprise Mary Frances with the poster and told her how he found it and why he is returning it.
“I was going to leave it to another museum,” he told her, “but when I found out, much to surprise, that you saved the house, I figured this needs to go back where it came from.”
Mary Frances told him she was “so moved” to receive the poster and was visibly emotional.
“It is the most amazing thing that has ever happened to me,” she said.
“It means very, very much to me and my family, and (the poster) is home.”
- Contact Kevin Edwards at 662-581-7233 or kedwards@gwcommonwealth.com.
