W. Ralph Eubanks, "When It's Darkness on the Delta: How America's Richest Soil Became Its Poorest Land" (Beacon Press, 2026)

Jan 7, 2026

W. Ralph Eubanks, an award-winning writer and scholar, delves into the complex history of the Mississippi Delta, a region often misrepresented as merely impoverished. He discusses the dynamic interplay between economic oppression and grassroots resilience, spotlighting figures like Gloria Carter Dickerson, who fought for desegregation. Eubanks also examines the lasting impacts of historical injustices, the myth-making surrounding the Delta, and the nuanced relationships between politics, race, and economic instability, providing a thought-provoking perspective on the region's legacy.

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INSIGHT

Three Questions Structure The Book

Eubanks framed three guiding questions to structure his reporting and research.
He used those questions to navigate archives, interviews, and landscape evidence while blending memoir and history.

INSIGHT

Delta As A Model For American Inequality

Eubanks argues the Delta is not an isolated other but central to American inequality.
He links extractive industries like cotton to patterns of long-term local disadvantage nationwide.

INSIGHT

Competing Narratives Around Emmett Till

Eubanks highlights how competing narratives shaped Emmett Till's story and sidelined Mamie Till's perspective.
He stresses the challenge of preserving truth amid local silences and competing mythologies.

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Once the powerhouse of a fledgling country’s economy, the Mississippi Delta has been consigned to a narrative of destitution. It is often faulted for the sins of the South, portrayed as a regional backwater that willfully cleaved itself from the modern world. But buried beneath the weight of good ol’ boy politics and white-washed histories lies the Delta’s true story.
Mississippi native and award-winning writer W. Ralph Eubanks unearths the region’s buried history, revealing a microcosm of economic oppression in the US. He traverses the Delta, examining its bellwether efforts to combat income inequality through vivid portraits of key figures like

Theodore G. Bilbo and William Whittington, segregationist congressmen who sabotaged federal reparations for former sharecroppers in the 1940s and ’50s

Gloria Carter Dickerson, founder of the Emmett Till Academy, whose parents were instrumental in desegregating schools in Drew, MS, where Till was murdered

Calvin Head, a community organizer who runs a farming co-op in Mileston, who revived the legacy of his hometown, the only Black resettlement community in Mississippi

Eubanks delivers a powerful and insightful examination of how racism and economic instability have shaped life in the Mississippi Delta. He traces the enduring consequences of political decisions that have entrenched inequality across generations. At the same time, he brings attention to the resilience of local communities and the grassroots movements working toward meaningful change. The book offers a thoughtful framework for policy reform and community investment, underscoring the need to support those who have long sustained the region through their labor and lived experience.

You can find Ralph at his website.

A soundtrack for the book is available here.

Host Sullivan Summer is at her website, Instagram, and on Substack.

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