Doug Wilson, 64, watches the fields grow as cotton season begins in Minter City, Mississippi. Wilson has worked at the Pillar Plantation since he was 17 years old. “Yessir, I’ve worked here for 47 years. I always like hands-on work,” Wilson said.

Larry Coffey walks deep into his backyard to a lake to go fishing for dinner. The Coffey family has lived in Duncan, Mississippi for over 40 years.

Kiray rides a mechanical horse outside of her Grandmothers trailer home in Itta Bena, Mississippi on August 9th, 2020. In rural Mississippi, house that have been demolished over the years remain in the same neighborhoods.

Henry Pollard, 18, knows first hand racism in Mississippi. He recalls being called the “N” word during a football game against a predominantly white team. Pollard also says there are issues with gangs in each town. “Them niggas in Clarksdale, Cleveland, and Mound Bayou all have beef. Niggas in Cleveland know not to come to Mound Bayou. There be shootouts at night.” Pollard claims the towns have turf war with each other, with each town being no more than ten minutes apart from the other.

Robert Lee, 86, refers to growing up in Mississippi as rough. “Couldn’t go hardly anywhere. The crackers always told you what you could do.” Lee lives in Duncan, Mississippi now, and spends most of his days fishing and reading at his home.

Children play outside near a fire burning crops outside in Rolling Fork, Mississippi. 

Larry, 57, has lived in Clarksdale, Mississippi his entire life. The town he grew up in was flustered with gang activity in the 1980s with the Gangster Disciples and Vice Lords gangs playing a role in everyday life in Clarksdale. “I changed my life around. Since I got out I’ve left the streets alone. The brickyard and four corners couldn’t get along back in the day. Now we worried about the police fucking with us,” Larry said. He now lives with his friend Tameka, who goes by the nickname Tameka Alcohol.

David, left, and Melvin, right, live in shotgun shacks in Coahoma, Mississippi. They are modern day sharecroppers who live across the road from a plantation they help harvest throughout the year. “Mississippi a place where the rich get richer and the poor stay poorer,” David said. The men are waiting for cotton season to begin.

The store front were Emmit Till was accused at whistling at Carolyn Bryant in Money, Mississippi, which lead to the lynching of Till in nearby Drew. 

Drew climbs a tree with friends in Alligator, Mississippi on July 31, 2020. The town of Alligator is a three corner long street with few houses and one housing project.

Jimmy, 67, says the racism of Mississippi today is just as bad, but is more discreet. “They are still racist to this day, but they don’t say to your face. We don’t go out at night by ourselves, because they’ll approach you, and they’ll do so in a racist way. Prejudice was what I grew up with, then gangs and drug started a whole other conflict over here,” Jimmy said.

Earn in his Caprice Classic with the big rim (donks) in Shelby, Mississippi.