Dr. John Banks House Awarded $1,200 for Civil Rights Program

Funding Approved as Minigrant by the Mississippi Humanities Council

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 John Spann, program and outreach officer for the Mississippi Humanities Council, recently visited Natchez to offer support for three of its local museums. He is pictured here with staff members of The Dr. John Banks House. From left: Dora C. Hawkins, Thelma Newsome and Jacqulyn B. Willliams.

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NATCHEZ - The Dr. John Bowman Banks Museum, which is commonly known as The Dr. John Banks House, will receive $1,200 through a minigrant approved by the Mississippi Humanities Council. The funding will be used for a special program called, “Honoring the Unsung Heroes and Heroines of the Civil Rights Movement in Natchez, Mississippi.”
 
The program, which is set for February 2022, will be held at the museum and at Rose Hill Missionary Baptist Church, the museum’s proprietor.
 
“We are pleased to support this program with the Dr. John Banks House because it will bring a fuller narrative to the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement by focusing on the unsung civil rights leaders of Natchez,” said John Spann, MHC program and outreach officer. “Often, we get caught up on civil rights events in Jackson and in the Delta but there was a lot of activity in Natchez that deserves equal attention as well.”
 
Dr. John B. Banks (1862-1911) was Natchez’ first African American physician. His home, which was built in the late 1800s, is located at 9 St. Catherine Street. Booker T. Washington stayed at the house in 1904 and 1908, when he came to town for a lecture series, according to the Historic Natchez Foundation. In the 1960s, the house served as the headquarters for the NAACP.
 
Dora Prater Hawkins, trustee emeritus of Rose Hill, said the museum staff is excited about the funding, and they look forward to engaging the community with their program.
 
“The Dr. John Banks House played a key role in the struggle for civil rights,” Hawkins said. “We are elated to have gotten this grant to further our mission about introducing the world to the unsung heroes of the civil rights movement in the 1960s in Natchez.”
 
The 2022 program will be the first of many the museum will host for the public, according to Roscoe Barnes III, cultural heritage and tourism manager for Visit Natchez. He said the museum staff has been working hard to build their collection and get everything into place for tours and special events.
 
“They are well aware of what the museum has to offer, and they are eager to share it with the community,” he said. “Visitors will be pleasantly surprised by the stories that will emerge from this unique place in Natchez.”
 
Barnes said that he and Visit Natchez were happy to assist the museum staff with the grant application. “This funding will allow them to share their history and move forward with other important projects,” he said.
 
In August, MHC awarded the John Banks House $12,000 through its ARP Humanities Recovery Grant program. The award was part of more than $450,000 awarded by MHC to 36 different cultural organizations, historical societies and museums recover from the financial hardships of the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
The funds were provided by U.S. Congress through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which engaged MHC along with 55 other state and territorial humanities councils, to support America’s cultural sector.
 
The MHC grants program provides financial support for “projects that stimulate meaningful community dialogue, attract diverse audiences, are participatory and engaging, and apply the humanities to our everyday lives,” according to the MHC website.
 
For more information about this program, visit mshumanities.org. To learn more about other local museums and historical sites, see visitnatchez.org.
 
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Roscoe Barnes III, Ph.D., is the Cultural Heritage and Tourism Manager at Visit Natchez.