The Delta plantation system started in the 19th ... the backbreaking work of clearing the wild forest and subduing the Mississippi River with levees. As a result of the slaves' labor, the Delta ...

The Mississippi Delta gave birth to a blues style that links most directly to the work songs and field hollers of slaves on Southern plantations. The slaves brought the musical traditions of their ...

was one of the earliest types of blues music and originated in Mississippi in the Delta. The Delta was particularly poverty stricken and the plantation owners kept their workers in harsh conditions.