Desaix Anderson

February 12, 1936–February 11, 2021

Please visit In Memoriam to read about Desaix’s remarkable life and see his artwork in Portfolio.

••••

Brothers Desaix and Buford Anderson founded the Cassidy Bayou Art Gallery in 2011.

In an interview with Walt Grayson that ran on WLBT-TV in May 2015, the brothers discussed why they were compelled to open the gallery.

“I see so many possibilities for this town,” said Buford. “You need to leave a place and come back to really see the potential.”

"When we mentioned that we were thinking about putting an art gallery in here,” said Desaix, “[people] said, ‘What are you talking about? We need a grocery store and a restaurant.’ We said, ‘We'll put in the art gallery and you'll put in those other things.' And lo and behold, we've got a great restaurant."

The Sumner Grille, which opened in 2013, was described in Delta Bohemian magazine as “a dining mecca for the most beautiful town in all of the Mississippi Delta, Sumner.” Visit the Sumner Grill Facebook page for details about the restaurant and to read what people have to say about this popular gathering place.

A main goal of the Cassidy Bayou Gallery is to promote the arts by featuring the rich and diverse works of regional artists. 

CBAG is just one of the initiatives undertaken in the Town of Sumner to reinvigorate this historic community.

Sumner’s history is incomplete without mentioning the town's dark place in civil-rights history. Young Emmett Till, a 14-year-old from Chicago, was brutally murdered in 1955 while visiting his family in an adjacent county. The trial of the men accused—and wrongly acquitted—of the murder was held in the Sumner Courthouse, which has been restored to its 1955 appearance. The Emmett Till Interpretive Center on the Courthouse square opened in 2015  “to tell the story of the Emmett Till tragedy and point a way towards racial healing.” The Anderson brothers encourage visitors to explore the Interpretive Center’s website and tour the Center when in Sumner.