Clarksdale, Mississippi, is one of the most famous towns in the Delta. It’s also the setting of Sinners. Here are three behind-the-scenes facts about Clarksdale that make the movie true to the culture.
#1: Legend has it that about 100 years ago a struggling bluesman named Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil in Clarksdale in exchange for fame. Although the blues genre actually started in New Orleans’ Storyville community, many blues greats like Muddy Waters, Johnny Lee Hooker, and the Five Blind Boys called Clarksdale home.
#2: Clarkdale was a hub in the Great Migration. The town served as a major departure point for Black people leaving Mississippi for social and economic opportunities “up north” in Chicago and DC.
#3: Clarksdale may not have had real vampires, but it does have a ghost story. The ghosts of the Parker family, murdered during a botched robbery in 1990, supposedly haunt the area. The crime is remembered as one of the most heinous in Southern history.
Released on April 18, “Sinners” has already established itself as a Black film classic, and one that’s based on history as Black as the devil’s hooves. Wouldn’t it be righteous if more stories that told our true history took the box office by storm?