Money, Mississippi is an unincorporated community in Leflore County near Greenwood. It is said that one of the things most scarce in Money was money. Like many towns and communities in the Mississippi delta, Money was marked by poverty and racial divides, but is most infamous for the murder of Emmett Till in 1955. The murder to the 14- year-old African-American youth by two white men drew nationwide attention. The perpetrators were ultimately declared not guilty by an all-white jury.
Author. G.E. Johnson entered this scene of racial division a short 19 years after the murder as the first white teacher at the all-black Wilkes School in Money. Johnson taught a number of different classes including a gym class for a school which had no gym or equipment. Wilkes School has long since been abandoned.
Darkness on the Delta is Johnson’s first novel, and she stated that the experiences of the main character, Bern Gresham, are based 75% on her real-life experiences and 25% is fictional. The title of the book is from a song of the same name which has been recorded in many different genres.
In the book, Gresham, a white teacher at an all-black school in the Delta, is forced to grapple with wide array of complicated issues he battles against deep poverty and racial divides. His personal life is marked by deaths of family members, depression and lingering anger. He struggles to reconcile this in order to find joy and a realization that life is worth living. Darkness on the Delta has received all 5-star ratings on Amazon.com.
The Friends of the Library hosted a well-attended book signing for Johnson on Monday, August 19 at the Winston County Library. Johnson grew up in Jackson and graduated from Jackson Central High School, before continuing her education at Delta State University. She moved to Texas in 1985. She spent 40 years in education, 20 years as a classroom teacher and 20 years as an administrator. Johnson still resides in Texas and is a cousin of the late Frances Tabor of Louisville.
