Moving on from the sleepier town of Kilgore, my next stop on the trip is Marshall. Once a major concentration of plantations and slave-holders, the Civil War set the stage for tremendous cultural change in the area. Once the slaves were freed, they became workers and began forging a unique musical culture, Boogie Woogie. The town lays claim to being the "Home of Boogie Woogie." NPR's look at the history of Marshall and Boogie Woogie.
As a child, Nordan met a blues pianist who explained to him the basic structure of Boogie Woogie. The format and stylings of the genre stayed with Nordan throughout his life, embedding its principles in the very foundation of his melodic writing style. The sections of the novel dealing with blues musicians tend to frequently follow this format.
I plan on spending my afternoon in the famous Whetstone Square in downtown Marshall. This is the site of the first sit-ins of the Civil Rights Movement in Texas, protesting school segregation. The Old Harrison County Courthouse is an architectural landmark for East Texas and an exceptionally popular tourist location for the town. The time I spend here will help inform my understanding of Nordan's historically charged world-view that emphasizes the presence that distinct art forms, like the Blues or Boogie Woogie and their presence in our cultural heritage. I would also get to enjoy some of the groundbreaking places where waves from the Emmett Till trial rippled outwards to other states.
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