Mississippi Native: C. Liegh McInnis
"Mississippi has given me everything that I need to survive and thrive even while missing so many opportunities to be the vanguard state that we have the ability to be."
What does it mean to call Mississippi home? Why do people choose to leave or live in this weird, wonderful, and sometimes infuriating place? Today we hear from poet, short story writer, Prince scholar, and retired instructor of English at Jackson State University C. Liegh McInnis.
Where are you from?
I was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi and lived my entire life between Clarksdale and Jackson, Mississippi. My mother is from Clarksdale. My pops is from Jackson, and they met at Jackson State University in 1968.
How long have you lived in Mississippi?
I have lived in Mississippi my entire life, which is 53 years.
What does “home” mean to you? How does Mississippi fit into that definition?
Home is the place where one receives a foundation and blueprint of one’s personal and communal self, which teaches one’s worth, beauty, power, and possibility, with the comfort of remaining a haven for where one can take refuge when necessary. Mississippi, despite its horrible history of white supremacy, has been all of this for me because of the Afro-Mississippians who taught me to love myself by loving the culture that produced me.
Community was cultivated for me early by my parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins and community people who simply loved me unconditionally while displaying the genius of blackness daily.
How have you cultivated community in Mississippi? Who are the people who have made you feel rooted here?
Community was cultivated for me early by my parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins and community people who simply loved me unconditionally while displaying the genius of blackness daily. This early existence gave me the understanding that I was of worth and had the ability and right to pursue whatever I desired. Additionally, my parents shared their love of the arts with me, and I gravitated to music and literature with creative writing (poetry and short stories) becoming my primary loves. By the time I got to college, I began to seek other folks who identified as writers with whom to commune, and those have been the people who have made me feel most rooted here. However, I must mention my pops’s lifelong work as a civil rights activist and later political party executive. This rooted me in the history of activism, which continues to inform my writing.
What’s the weirdest question or assumption you’ve encountered about Mississippi (or about you as a Mississippian) by someone who’s never been here?
As someone who has traveled much of the United States, I get the general assumption that Mississippians are not as smart as everyone else. Yet, I get the same question asked in varying ways: “What’s Mississippi like?” Then, they often take two steps back so I don’t get any of that Mississippi on them as I’m answering the question. After so many years of being asked the question, I finally wrote my poem, “Mississippi Like…” as an answer, and that seems to satisfy the question.
Culturally, I have a great work ethic because I was raised by people who believed that the only thing that’s in bed after 8 a.m. is a sorry-ass man. So, I’ve chopped cotton, mowed yards, painted houses, shelled peas, shucked corn, gutted hogs, hunted, fished, and played sports all as activities to prepare me to be a self-sufficient being. I was taught to use my head and my hands to craft the world that I wanted to have.
How has living in Mississippi affected your identity and your life’s path?
I don’t know or really care how different my life would have been if I had lived somewhere else, so it’s difficult for me to answer the question. Despite the past and current evil of Mississippi white oppression, I’ve been very blessed to have family and community people who loved and nurtured me into an independent person. Culturally, I have a great work ethic because I was raised by people who believed that the only thing that’s in bed after 8 a.m. is a sorry-ass man. So, I’ve chopped cotton, mowed yards, painted houses, shelled peas, shucked corn, gutted hogs, hunted, fished, and played sports all as activities to prepare me to be a self-sufficient being. I was taught to use my head and my hands to craft the world that I wanted to have.
The adults who raised me didn’t differentiate or value university studies over skilled labor. They were presented as equally necessary for the liberation struggle. I wasn’t forced to choose between Booker T. Washington, W. E. B. Du Bois, or Marcus Garvey. I was taught to take the best of each ideology and amalgamate a plan of action for my people. I don’t know if that’s exclusive to Mississippi. But, being equally exposed to farmers, construction workers, doctors, lawyers, and teachers who all owned businesses gave me a holistic sense of my people and myself to know I am all I need and that black people are all we need to make our situation better.
What is something that you’ve learned about Mississippi only by living here? In what ways has Mississippi lived up to your expectations?
Some of the greatest musicians, writers, and scholars come from Mississippi. Yet, sadly, there is a new generation that does not know this because we no longer do a good job of celebrating who we are. Additionally, people living outside Mississippi don’t know that the state consists of three different landmasses or terrains (Delta, Pine Belt, Gulf Coast), which produces three distinct cultures, showing that Mississippians, especially Afro-Mississippians, are not a monolith. To this point, Mississippi has given me everything that I need to survive and thrive even while missing so many opportunities to be the vanguard state that we have the ability to be.
Mississippi has given me everything that I need to survive and thrive even while missing so many opportunities to be the vanguard state that we have the ability to be.
Do you ever consider moving away someday? Does a sense of duty keep you rooted here? Do you have a “tipping point”?
I never considered moving because I love it here. I do have a sense of duty as a writer to continue the great tradition of Mississippi literature. But, my love for Mississippi blues, literature, and HBCU culture is what kept me here. Also, since I was able to earn a living here, I wasn’t forced to leave for employment.
What do you wish the rest of the country understood about Mississippi?
People should know that the vast majority of Mississippi’s problems are rooted in the desire of racist whites to maintain the Confederacy. When Afro-Mississippians travel the country, non-Mississippians treat us like we are the cause of Mississippi’s issues. The blame for just about all of Mississippi’s issues is white supremacy and the desire of those who are still fighting the Civil War.
Do you have a favorite Mississippi writer, artist, or musician who you think everyone needs to know about?
There are too many to mention here, but a few are: Richard Wright, Margaret Walker Alexander, Etheridge Knight, Jerry W. Ward, Charlie Braxton, Jimmy Kimbrell, Kiese Laymon, Jesymn Ward, Natasha Trethewey, Angie Thomas, B. B. King, Compozitionz, Lester Young, Bo Diddly, Sam Cooke, Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, Son House, Ike Turner, Howlin’ Wolf, Jimmy Rogers, Charley Pride, Big Joe Williams, John Lee Hooker, Mississippi John Hurt, Charlie Patton, Rufus Thomas, Jim Henson, Morgan Freeman, Freedom, Wynd Chimes, The Chambers Brothers, and more. Obviously, most of these people are famous, but many don’t know that they are from Mississippi.
People should know that the vast majority of Mississippi’s problems are rooted in the desire of racist whites to maintain the Confederacy.
If you had one billion dollars to invest in Mississippi, how would you spend your money?
I would invest equally in arts and STEM, parenting classes, funding/training support for black-owned businesses, HBCUs, and a literary journal that specializes in Afro-Mississippi writers.
What or who do you want to shamelessly promote? (It can absolutely be a project you’re working on, or something you are involved in.)
The current biggest project is the upcoming Phillis Wheatley Poetry Festival curated by the Jackson State University Margaret Walker Alexander Center, celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the 1973 Phillis Wheatley Poetry Festival, which was organized by Dr. Margaret Walker Alexander to celebrate the bicentennial of Wheatley’s collection of poetry. That festival is still hailed as one of the greatest gatherings of black female creatives and scholars, and the upcoming celebration November 1–4, 2023, will include seven of the ten living original participants with some of today’s top black female creatives and scholars. For more information, folks can go to the Jackson State website at https://www.jsums.edu/philliswheatley/.
Other than that, folks can visit my website, Psychedelic Literature, and my YouTube page, @PsychedelicLiterature, to see my books, other writings and video presentations. They can also email me (psychedeliclit@bellsouth.net) to receive my weekly newsletter, which showcases the local and national intersection of African-American art, especially African-American literary art, with a socio-political focus. It generally begins with a commentary (sometimes serious and sometimes silly) by me that is followed by updates about local and national literary and other artistic events involving Afro-Mississippians and African-American artists.
He was kind enough to give my novel manuscript a sensitivity reading, and had great insight into how I could write outside myself. Great to see him recognized here.