Drawing on oral history interviews, Kimber Thomas examines the resilient creativity of Black women in the Crossroads community of the Mississippi Delta during Jim Crow. Using material objects like Prince Albert tins and brown paper bags, the women defined freedom for themselves in the absence of sociopolitical freedom.

Mildred "Mama Dip" Council passed away on May 20, 2018, at the age of 89. This is a condensed and edited excerpt from her oral history with the Southern Oral History Program, conducted by Donna Clark in 1994. Listen to the full interview at sohp.org.