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This Week's Featured Marker:

Kilmichael: B.B. King's Roots

August 21, 2012, was declared B.B. King Day in Kilmichael, as these fans that were passed out show.Riley B. King, as he was known during his years in Kilmichael, returns smiles to the school children who had been brought to see him.King stands in front of the marker titled 'Kilmichael: B.B. King's Roots' soon after it was unveiled.King steps off his bus to be greeted by cameras from those who wanted to document this day.A local resident looks at an old photograph from the early 1940s that shows the same intersection where the marker is located. Other photos on the marker show King's friends and mentors from his time there.

August 21, 2012, was a big day for the community of Kilmichael, Mississippi. The internationally known and loved B.B. King rolled into town in his bus behind police escorts to be greeted by more than a hundred fans including state elected officials and students from local schools. The crowd turned out to see him at the unveiling of the marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail that honors the time he lived here. King spent several formative years in Kilmichael in the late 1930s and early '40s, during which time he faced the death of both his mother and grandmother. He mentions them along with Mr. Luther Henson, his teacher at the local Elkhorn School, and Mr. Flake Cartledge, who gave King a place to live, as some of his heroes in life. King left the ceremony headed to Indianola, Mississippi, for his annual homecoming concert on the grounds of the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center.

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