three or five-year career. it's a big topic. absolutely. thank you. there is so much more ground to cover in this topic. i cannot wait for everyone to see your whole show "inside man." and that's going to be it for our show. you can follow me on twitter, like us on facebook, or find us on the web on cnn.com/unguarded. and join us next friday night on "unguarded." sometime ago, something crawled or slithered or grew like a fungus. something that started small, got bigger, lurched like a swamp thing in the humid of the night in the delta. then it took over the world. so next time some someone

wonders out loud, what good is america? well, you can always pipe up that the blues, rock 'n' roll, r & b, and soul all came out of this place. one state, mississippi. ♪

right now, we're in the middle of downtown jackson. >> a lot of history and what it used to be like back in the day. >> the street was packed with folks. folks all over. they had their own restaurants, grocery stores. everything happened on ferris street that happened in jackson for the african-american community. >> the state capital of jackson, mississippi, located along interstate highway 55 known as the mississippi delta. it's the kind of place that makes you wonder, why did they make it the capital? until you grab hold of what used to be around here. it used to be the hub of african-american life in this city. when dr. king came to town, he came here. everybody did.

medka revers had an office above here. musicians all played here, and the likes of duke ellington, count basey and louis armstrong took the stage at places like the crystal palace ballroom and the alamo on the street. >> what happened? where did it all go? >> integration. once we were able to branch out of our own indigenous black run businesses, the black-owned businesses died. great for the black race, but terrible for the black businessman. in fact, the only reason you're coming to ferris street right now, two churches, two funeral homes and the big apple inn. you're either going to die, worship, or come to my place to eat. >> or all three. not in that order.

>> his great grandfather moved to mississippi from mexico city, started a family with an african-american woman in jackson. he sold hot tamales out of a steel drum on a corner. he moved the operation inside right here. now, the last restaurant on the street. lurking inside waiting for us is john t. edge. >> how are you doing? >> who makes the point a mission out of knowing and teaching as much as he can about the real culinary traditions of the south, and doing what he can to keep them alive and unmolested. >> thanks, sir. >> what is that? >> it's like a green sandwich. >> what you go for here are smoked. smoked sausage sandwiches. and these sandwiches called ears. both pretty much served with the same garnishes with slaw,

mustard and hot sauce on a soft bun. >> as i understand it, originally, this is one of those, nobody wants these things they're dirt cheap. >> by dirt cheap, actually free. >> right. >> my great grandfather started giving the pig ears because the local owner was giving them to him because he was giving them away. >> everything we like about it, the texture, fatty lean, all that. all of that's good. man, that is hard to beat. >> isn't it good? it's a sandwich. >> and, of course, hot tamales which at this point are as about as mississippian as they are mexican. mexican migrant workers came in to replace african-americans who were headed to work in the great factories of stockyards of chicago and detroit. >> you know, sitting down here eating tamales, that's kind of what i'm most interested in

doing is helping southerners understand their foods are as african as they are western european. largely, you know, music and all the other cultural expressions in the south. i think food is a way to get at some of the serious stuff we've been talking about. >> as i told you before, i didn't know what a cool job or restaurant i had until you showed it to me. i'm going to make a living like a lot of folks. we're not trying to make history. not trying to increase tourism. all we're doing is doing what we do. >> there is a discomfort level about exploring southern foodways. when you talk about high-end traditional southern cooking, you're talking flavor cooking. that's where these recipes taste from. you don't want to tumble into nostalgia. >> i'm not saying that's what i want the south to be. i'm saying that's what people come to the south looking for.

>> right. >> come to the south looking for the past preserved. but the reality is something different. 1865 or 1985, i want it to change, i want to document the change along the way and celebrate the change. the burden of race is upon us and we ain't going to shake it. and that could make us better. >> i'm a yankee. so for me, it's kind of shocking to see this flag. it means a lot of things to a lot of people. first and foremost meaning i'm not a yankee and i don't much care what you think. there's no doubt that much of mississippi history is ugly. slavery which was pretty much the backbone of industry from the get go to jim crowe. lynchings to church burnings.

14-year-old emmit tilt killed for talking fast to a white lady. the murders of civil rights workers james cheney, and andrew goodwin in 1964. had to send in 30,000 armed federal agents, national guardsmen and military police just to enforce federal law allowing a black man to attend state college. a notion that was, shall we say, less than popular here. to be honest, that was about all i had for an image of the state of mississippi. that was all i knew. and it hadn't occurred to me to look further. but i traveled the world since then and i visited and learned to love many places, not my own, cultures and beliefs very different from the upper east side of manhattan. wipe can't i love mississippi?

♪ >> a proud son and resident of mississippi. a youth mentor in jackson's church and public school systems, owner of a marketing agency and hip hop artist. >> this feels empty. where is everybody? >> i think one thing is a lot of people think that you have to leave mississippi to be able to do something great. but i think a lot of it is there's so much bubbling in the undercurrent that sometimes is a theme. i think it takes an artist that takes something blank and creates something that is awesome to be able to see the potential in the place in a

canvas so to speak that has been vacated by others. >> one of a number of places where something is going on. for artists, entrepreneurs, moving to workshops, performance spaces, set up something new and good in formally abandoned and neglected parts of town. >> this is a deeply, deeply conservative state to say the least, right. >> i've got my own opinion. is it more racist than new york? >> i think there are some deeply ingrained problems in mississippi that are connected to a very ugly past that we share with some other southern states. however, i think as far as we talk about racism --

>> he's originally from clarksdale in the delta, he went to ole miss, but he's neither left nor lost state, he feels an obligation to empower, uplift, educate and contribute. >> one of the important paths of musicians is being able to really speak truthfully about what's going on, without fear of reprisal, right? it allows the audience to say, you know what, you're right. now that you put it to a nice melody or nice beat, hopefully that engages them more and allows them to move. and i don't think any movement in the world has not had a sound track, right? regardless of what it is. and so that's our job.

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depending on what they're using, it's between the fourth and tenth largest river in the world. one thing for sure, it's big. and you've got to put your back into it if you're crazy enough to paddle a canoe around in the fast-moving waters. >> what's the source of the mississippi? >> anywhere rain drops fall, 44% of america. follows the volume of water, 2/3 comes down the ohio river. >> john rusky started the canoe company, a custom outfit that leaves guided expeditions on the mississippi river and its tributaries. as a central part of his

operations, he trains local kids from mississippi and across the river in neighboring arkansas under an apprentice program teaching skills like hand carving canoes, outdoor survival and the ins and outs of guiding and the history of the river. most of these kids come from pretty distressed neighborhoods and the hope, the intent is that once trained up, they'll stay with the company. >> you got the feathered end. >> thank you. i'll be feeling that tomorrow. >> most of the island could be under 45 to 50 feet of flowing river water from april to june with the spring ice melt and rainstorm. >> we do a lot of cooking. >> multipurpose and indestructible. >> mm-hmm. >> the next step in this is

securing the green, and we should stock as many greens as we can into that pot. >> right here? >> yeah. >> how does your program work? around what age are they? >> teenagers. as soon as they can hold a paddle, the only thing we ask is interest and commitment. >> what does that mean? commitment? we have the thing called the three "rs," respect yourself, getting good sleep, eating good food. respect of other people, other paddlers and, of course, the client. and then the third thing is taking care of the river. and you know, they've been told by their parents, don't get on the mississippi river. maybe they don't even know how to swim. and you know for a young man or woman, overcoming a fear like that is getting in the canoe and then to have people come and appreciate what you're doing is life changing experience. will. >> what's within that, incredible beautiful experience and intact in the delta.

>> throw on the corn when getting close. finally, the wet logs on top of glowing coals, lay some steaks, pork loin and pork tenderloins right on there. just keep an eye on them. >> steaks, potatoes perfect. >> corn on the cob? >> yeah. hunk of bread. living large on the mississippi. >> and, yes, there is too much food for two people. and yes, that is a whole hell of a lot of meat. and i know it would be awful to waste all that extra. but don't worry. these gentlemen are tired and hungry. >> welcome, gentlemen. >> corn on the cob here, green.

>> yeah. a little bit more of this. >> oh, looking good. i don't want to say i'm good, but i'm good. all right. who's missing steak here? who needs steak? i feel all crocodile dundee. >> beautiful. >> how bad am i going to hurt tomorrow? >> i don't like the sound of that. >> hesitation, not a good sign. >> those tenderloins are nice. good stuff. >> man, we have mastered the wild today.

the mississippi delta is a big sponge that stretches between the yazoo and the mississippi. it's a floodplain of about 11,000 square miles or almost 4.5 million acres. this area used to look very different. massive wild old wood forest and swamps. after the passage of the tearful sounding native removal act of 1830, the delta became open for settlement for any white people crazy enough, determined enough or plain mean and greedy enough to come here. >> do it again. >> there's no way to make up for our bad racial past. but you do, you know, the sense of community that keeps people here is evidence in this place. >> julia reid is born and raised, a daughter of a political family, a writer,

author and as delta as it gets. >> how long you been in mississippi? >> 22 years. 1992. >> john is a celebrated chef who left new orleans to come to mississippi and open first one then many more restaurants and businesses in the town of oxford. and this is does' place. >> in charge of the salad bowl and has been. when did y'all open up? 1930 -- '41, close enough. >> like a lot of folks around here, dominic got his start selling hot tamales to go. at the beginning, the place catered to the black community. but after word got out how good the food was, white people started coming, which led to a weird accommodation to the s segregation of the day.

the menu expanded with the clientele. >> what human qualities are unique in the native of mississippi? >> i could not address -- the delta's a whole other planet. >> how does the delta resident -- >> it was like the swamps, buddy. it was under water. you had to be crazy to come. had enough money to make it work. some sort of gamblers. that spirit is still is a little reckless. it's sophisticated because they all come from elsewhere, you know. i mean, you go from the delta to the hills. we're totally snobbish up here when you didn't have a right to be. you'd have to be paid money to go to jackson from greenville. >> did they feel the same way down there? >> they ain't got no sense of humor. >> what about the food? has this place changed at all?

>> no. >> it's been 20 years since i was here last and literally exactly the same. >> not much in the way of capital improvements or time motion studies. the system such as it is is, well, crazy. right here in the kitchen in the division of labor, the flow of work, well, i gave up trying to figure it out five minutes in and figured i'll get loaded and eat all this delicious food. the salad thing is famous. hand tossed in the same wooden bowl for decades. the hot tamales, same as they ever was. >> and those are just incredible because they're made with the thick drippings you're getting ready to see. believe me, enhances the flavor. >> i could eat them until i was sick. >> fries down in cast iron pan on the stove top. the famous shrimp, steaks on an old broiler, drippings all over the top.

>> and, you know, you're not going to get skinny or healthy eating this, there's no question about it. >> that's good. that's good. you're right about those shrimp, they are delicious. >> the shrimp? >> yeah. >> oh, yeah. >> is there a dessert to save room for? >> there is no dessert. if you ask for one, they'll give you a lollipop. in pursuit of all things awesome, amazing, and that's epic, bro, we've forgotten just how good good is. good is setting a personal best before going for a world record.

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this is exactly what you'd expect in mississippi, right? >> yeah, it's supposed to look like this. >> you know, i moved here from georgia. and the things that struck me when i moved here was driving through the delta the first time. how empty it was. it was like everybody left. >> the great migration. three doctors, automation, the invention of mechanical means to pick cotton, the call of better paying jobs in the industries of the north. and, of course, freedom. >> you know, people think about the blues as a myth. a lot of blues songs are about freedom, about getting out of

mississippi. and there were a lot of reasons to get out of mississippi for a long time. now there's a return migration. and it's a whole period, late '60s early '70s where are bugging out of brown university. there's a cyclical pattern to that. now, you know, you see people doing the same thing with food. there's a whole generation that wants to come down here. >> state senator willie simmons has been an elected official of the mississippi delta for 20 years. and he's been running this place, senators place, for 11. >> what's the difference between soul food and southern traditional southern food? >> depends on the culture. and if you were in the black neighborhood, it became soul. we probably put a little bit more of the throw away in our

cooking, the pig feet, the pigtail, the leg bone. >> now you're making me hungry. >> so greens? >> greens. >> some of that, for sure. step right over there. i'll have a little of that. might need more than one plate at this rate. get some mac & cheese. what is that? lima beans? the red beans, man, that looks good, too. floating around somewhere? yale, i'll have some of those. rice and gravy on there, thanks. and i'll have a piece of fried chicken there. if you've got a thigh, that'd be great. man, that's good. >> here in the south, if you want to, you can throw your fork

away. >> i'll be working on that. >> could eat this okra all day long. man, that's tasty. is this the way people get credit for southern cooking as we know it? >> i do. >> people know. people know who is behind this food. whether it's called soul food or country cooking. >> how is it delta, the mind set of the delta different from the rest of the state? >> nobody else can compare with us. tell you they represent where the blues was born. no one else can tell you in this district. he's been to the area where

jared butler was born. when we talk about the heritage and the culture and what's come out of the delta, that's all within the southern district that i represent. so mississippi delta has that pride. >> 46 miles southeast is greenwood. the town with a lot of history. most of it, of the not good variety. known for tom brady's infamous speech after brown versus board of education. fairly enough, it's hard to get past that. during all the years of cruelty and struggle from 1933 on, through it all, and until today, this place lusco's was a beloved institution. once a grocery store turned restaurant to the money class

turning them in discreet quarters in the back where one could enjoy an alcoholic beverage in which was once then a dry state. >> it's a place of indiscretions past. >> to tell the story of the place, you have to start with the story of the most famous employee. booker wright. he'd been working at lusco's as a waiter since he was 14 years old. >> we don't have a red menu. >> in 1965, nbc news came to town. they did a documentary on race relations. booker's recitation of the menu was famous around town and they asked if it was a usual retune f routine for the camera. but at the end of his usual litany is where he dropped the truth bomb that nobody was ready

for. right here. >> now, i expect my customers to be respectful of me. some call me john some call me tim. all that hate, you have to smile. if you don't, what's wrong with you? the meaner the man be, the more you smile, you quiet on the inside. yes, sir, thank you. what you say? but you have to go through with it. remember, keep that smile. >> telling the truth was still risky business in 1966, mississippi. and booker wright was not rewarded for his candor. >> it was not a good experience for him. it did not make him a star. >> not within the white community. but even the black power here, that was less important to the

black community here than what booker said on the nbc news. >> the private dining rooms at lusco's are still here. the menu, much the same. steaks, fish. the famous broiled shrimp. the lusco's special salad with the dressing and a healthy dose of anchovies, onion rings. >> salad makes me happy, too. >> yeah. >> cat fish for mr. edge, the famous pampano for me. >> a great restaurant in the delta. >> it's a big fish. no way i'm finishing this. >> sitting here, the booth, the curtains, the whole ring bell for service thing, it seems lost in time. >> we got a long and ugly history. but the only thing i love about this chance is you can't deny the burden of the past. it's on your shoulders. right there, you know, america

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oxford, mississippi, is a lovely eccentric little island.

a mutation, a college town, a magnet for writers, thinkers and oddballs, drawn, perhaps, by the rich literary tradition is william faulkner. a mississippi native, a former postman and outdoorsman and an eventual winner of the nobel prize of literature and two p h pulitzer prizes. this was his house. faulkner wrote such classics as "the sound and fury," "as i lay dying," and many of his works took place in a fictional county. a place very much like this place in mississippi. >> this is where faulkner started his writing career in this room here. >> for the past ten years, bill griffith has been curator at william faulkner's estate. >> on the wall here is an outline of one of his shovels.

novels. >> that was his greatest book. faulkner thought this was his masterpiece. >> the author of "your body is changing," "the mysterious secret of the valuable treasure" and "awesome" as well as the series "adventure time." all works of which i'm a huge fan. >> he just wrote on the wall? >> he wrote on it. it's his version. he said you have one room dedicated to the family business and this family's business is writing. >> faulkner wrote extensively about the post civil war south. he was the first author to do so at a time when most writers were writing about anything but. >> he always said he wrote about a south torn between itself. torn between the old ways, traditional ways and modern development. he said he was going to break the code. >> he did. >> but.

>> and he had the hobbies and interests that were definitely a gentry class and nature. >> his portrait -- >> there's a great example. and his writing habits, that's a good example. you do get to a certain level of success and all of a sudden this seems like a good idea. and it's never a good idea at that age. >> at any age. >> exactly. >> was he politically active at all? >> middle of the road. that's what he said. he said you have to bring black education up with white education. the state of mississippi will not invest in black education, it's up to us citizens to do so. he said that segregation wasn't about being right or wrong, he said any sane sober southerner knows it's wrong. it's not wanting to change. but people don't want to give up power. fear is still alive and well in mississippi. i think racism is one of those great things in the world that you'll never solve and that's

why faulkner wrote about it. >> writers, as i know from looking at my own dark heart, are generally terrible people. put ten of them together, it's like putting your head in a bag full of snakes. i meet a bunch of them above city grocery, the place on the square. there's the brilliant author tom franklin and his wife the poet beth anne. ken darvis, you know, the poet, the senior writer for espn, fellow writer on the series "treme," derek correll originally from milwaukee, billy boyle from brooklyn. downstairs, the city grocery cranks out many delicious things. the man known as b bad chef

johnny snack is preparing goodies upstairs. >> usually puts my writers in a room is -- hatred. >> we all hate tommy. >> that goes without saying. >> i hate him worst of all. >> around here, anyway, the writers are supportive of each other. for writers to argue, would be like arguing over a piece of dirt. what are we fighting about? why would you be a jerk about it? >> if this were a different country, by consensus statewide, who would the statue be of? >> elvis. >> really? >> it should be b.b. king. >> yeah. >> but it would be elvis. >> it would be elvis. >> the joke is that it's not a

state, it's a club. and it's so small that everybody knows everybody. >> in the middle of mississip , mississippi -- sentiment and everything. >> why the velvet ditch? >> you roll in, comfortable and you don't care much about getting out. right? right? am i right? >> no one here seems too bitter about that. >> it's a really great one. we're never leaving. [ male announcer ] hey, look at you!

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there was a distinctive barbecue style in the state of mississippi? >> no, not that we can discern at all. and it's part of the reason we wanted to do this. we got our hands on this place and sort of have been puzzled for years, you know, what mississippi barbecue is all about. the more i dug into it, the less and less i could find. what we wanted to do was take a lock at barbecue that surrounds us and see if we can sort of frankenstein barbecue. >> there isn't really any fixed idea of mississippi barbecue. and other than this place, the not for profit bar and restaurant, there's no other whole hog barbecue in the entire state. a 175-pound pig will feed many mouths. about 250 people eat here a day.

>> this is a not for profit? >> yeah. >> is that right? >> yeah. it sure is. >> what kind of socialist, communists are you up to? this is the state of mississippi. >> oh. >> i've been here only a week, and my sentence was they're starting to change already. because not just the physical, but a rhythm, the speed, the way i'm organizing my thoughts is starting to change. >> some of the writers last night managed to make it out of bed. heads pounding, no doubt, filled with shame and self-loathing familiar for writers. but like so many greats of the past, they, too, have learned that more alcohol first thing will often make you feel better about the world. particularly, the companied by fresh baked corn bread.

i feel better already. >> the mississippi i've received. not the mississippi i have in my head. come to oxford. >> you think that's true? >> well, you can't throw a rock without hitting a writer. and he says, do me a favor, throw it hard. >> -- look at mississippi and go, that just happened down there. so we're good. our hands are clean. it's a totally misperceived place, but i fell in love with the place. i never thought i would. there's something to it, but you can't put your finger on what it is. what it is can be found in the dark spaces across the tracks and on the other side of town. >> hey, good evening, ladies and

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what is a juke joint? what is it?

i guess the first thing you've got to know is it's pronounced juke joint, and this one, this is a real good one. scholars have suggested the word came from the gulla and it meant wicked or disorderly. to dance or a place of shelter. started as plantation community rooms during slavery times. they went on to become the small, private african-american run bars, clubs and lounges. first in rural areas, then in towns and cities where workers could dance, drink, party and gamble. they were often condemned by church leaders as houses of the devil.

william runs this place as he has since 1963. and he makes the rules. >> how long have you been in business? >> 58 years. i'm 74. >> how did you get into this business? >> i just got into it. something i like to do. everybody come in and enjoy themselves. no problem. >> please explain this policy. no hats backwards and no pants hanging down. >> you don't like my rule, don't come. >> what other rules? no rap music. >> no. get a headache. i love all of it, blues. >> good r & b? >> that's right. that's right. >> no rap? >> no. >> kanye west wants to rent out the place, you rent it to him? >> i'd rent it to him. i ain't got time. >> words to live by. well, thank you, sir. i love your place and thank you for having us.

>> you've got to come back again. >> i surely will. >> i'll find somebody to get naked with you. >> oh. >> okay. you can kick it back on. >> don't forget about it. >> thursday night is family night, mostly locals, a mixed bag. the music is classic r & b and pre-disco soul. the attitude, loose, just familiarize yourself with those rules and there won't be a problem. in the cities of the north where i come from, in some ways, we've been able to buy ourselves free from our past. new arrivals pour in with no mother of ugly parts of our history. we can afford the luxury of the new, we can live in comfortable bubbles, our apartments high in

the skies. in many ways, more separate than in any time in history. but for mississippi, the path is right there to see. still present and coming to terms with it not in abstract discussions but the daily business of life. ♪ i remember the moment i first realized i had been living my whole life in black and white. ♪