Comments on: I’m sorry folks, this is not Robert Johnson’s birthplace

By: NMC

NMC — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 20:54:35 +0000

Robert Johnson was probably born in 1911. In the “last census before his birth”– 1910– his mother was living somewhere else. In 1900, she was living in the house in Damascus Community.

In 1910, when the census workers found her living somewhere else, she did not have a baby named Robert.

If the letter is all that you have– I’d like to see what it actually says– I’d discount it, because I think it clear that both Johnson’s mother and her husband were gone from the area in 1910 and he was born thereafter. This was a period when his family was severely disrupted, and apparently, his half-sibblings not all in one place. Documents I’ve seen suggest they had the house in 1908-09, and lost it by 1910, the year before he was born. What small children would remember about 1910 and 1911 when writing about it in the 1970s or 1980s does not seem as reliable as contemporaneous documents.

By: Dr. Janet Schriver

Dr. Janet Schriver — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 13:43:29 +0000

As the Director of the Copiah County Office of Cultural Affairs, I was careful to go through all evidence that supports the claim that this is where Robert Johnson was born. I went through the usual courthouserecords and studied the Damascus area. My PhD is in Humanities from the University of Texas. I performed the necessary research before I made the claim that this is Robert Johnson’s birthplace. The evidence indicates that Julia was living in the house with several of her children at the last census before Robert’s birth. The deciding factor, for me and others, was a letter from Johnson’s half-sister. In this letter, there are descriptions of the area where the house was located and little known facts about Dodd’s contribution to the building of the house that assure the authenticity of this as the birthplace. This letter, along with the other supporting courthouse documents is a solid enough body of evidence to have had the house placed on the “Endangered List” for historical places by Mississippi in 2004 and the authenticity of this as the home is supported by the Mississippi Development Authority as the house where Robert Johnson was born.

By: Dr. Janet Schriver

Dr. Janet Schriver — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 13:27:07 +0000

Robert Johnson Home; Robert Johnson House, Copiah County Office of Cultural Affairs

By: Chico Harris

Chico Harris — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:36:37 +0000

When were you writing for the Anchorage Daily News? I read it daily in 1990 while living there a few months before going to sea.

By: Amy van Singel

Amy van Singel — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 04:55:30 +0000

Hey! Great to find your blog! I’ll be spending time (or is that wasting time?) reading a LOT of it. I found the “Birthplace of RJ” piece interesting. I’ve had just about ENUF of RJ, personally. (Although my current SO, Tlingit Native from Sitka, AK, had never heard of Johnson — he’s into classical music — but was fascinated by “terraplane Blues” & “32-20″ being he’s an old vehicle fan and a former hunter.

I’m pondering starting a blog, too — Primarily to post old LB articles that I wrote; the stuff I wrote for the Anchorage Daily News entertainment section; old photos (if I can get prints from Jim O’Neal), etc.

Stay in touch! Regards, Atomic Mama