Parchman lies 300 miles from DeLisle where Ward grew-up and still lives with her family. It also inspired Boi Sauvage who is the fictional town in which her novels are set. Ward made the point that Parchman, the most famous penal institution in the world, still looms large in Mississippi’s imagination, regardless of where a Mississippian lives. Parchman, a former plantation, is found in unincorporated Sunflower County, covering nearly 28 miles. This makes it larger than Brandon, Starkville, Greenville, and Brandon. Parchman prison was constructed in 1901 after Jackson’s state penitentiary was demolished in order to build the new state Capitol. The Legislature still conducts business at the Capitol. Parchman’s wardens invent the conjugal visit. This idea was based on the racist belief of black men having unnaturally high sexual drives. They would be more willing to work harder in fields if there was something to look forward too at week’s end. Ward spoke highly of Parchman, formerly known as Mississippi State Penitentiary. Ward’s new novel, Sing, Unburied, Sing, features ghostly characters. But it is Parchman who casts the longest shadow on the story. Sing, while a road novel, also illustrates America’s long obsession for mass incarceration of poor and black families. Ward’s protagonist JoJo is a teenager who was raised by his grandparents, and who also helps to raise Kayla, his 3-year-old sister. Their mother Leonie, however, lives in the house and has a drug addiction. She is not always around. Leonie loads her children hungry into Misty, her coworker. They travel through several counties in search of Michael. He is released from Parchman on the same day. It breaks my heart to see that Leonie admits in a chapter that she doesn’t have the words or courage to express her affection for JoJo, but she still shows the world that Michael is her true love. JoJo loves to listen to the stories of his grandfather, Pap. Pap was imprisoned at Parchman when he was a young man. After witnessing how the animals responded to Pap’s commands, the white prison officials put Pap in charge the hounds that hunted down escaped convicts. It is not natural for a color man to be able to master dogs. Because it isn’t in his nature to master, a colored man can’t learn how to master dogs. Parchman’s warden stated that Pap was responsible for overseeing the dogs. Pap was also charged for caring for Richie, a 12-year old black boy. Parchman has death row. Richie’s extrajudicial execution haunted Pap, and eventually JoJo, to whom Richie’s ghost returns. Given, Leonie’s brother, was also killed by Michael’s cousins while they were high school students. We also met Michael’s drug dealer defense lawyer, who offered the travelers food in the form a spaghetti dinner and the chance to make a little extra cash by bringing a package of drugs down south. A policeman stops the car and forces Leonie, JoJo, and both white passengers to get out. He then searches for contraband. The travelers arrive in Bois Sauvage to find Michael’s mother, Big Joseph, who is also the protagonist’s father. He doesn’t want anything to do with the son’s mixed race family. Sing exposes the psychological and real costs of poverty, trauma and violence that are designed to funnel vulnerable people into prisons and jails. Michael wrote the best words, writing to Leonie about Parchman: “This isn’t a place for any man. You can choose between black and white. Don’t make no difference. Ward’s novel says that this is a “place for the dead”. We will always be haunted unless we can come to terms with them. Jesmyn will discuss her work and her thoughts about the nation, along with Scott Naugle, on “A Conversation with Jesmyn” in State Capitol Room Room 113 at 12:00 pm.