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Staff Report
Oct 27, 2022 | 9:27 AM
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Brumfield School, built in 1925, is one of many sites
that will be featured in the St. Catherine Street history project. This
historic photo shows band director Woodrick McGuire and his band at the school
at 100 St. Catherine St. He later died in the Rhythm Night Club fire in 1940,
according to Historic Natchez Foundation. Photo courtesy of Historic Natchez
Foundation
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NATCHEZ, Miss. – Mississippi Humanities Council
recently awarded a $5,000 grant to the staff of the Dr. John Bowman Banks
Museum for a project that highlights the cultural history of St. Catherine
Street.
The project is titled “St. Catherine Street, Natchez, MS:
Yesteryear through Today.” It will use tours, photographs, oral history, and a
brochure to share the rare and untold history of the people, buildings,
culture, and businesses on the street from as far back as the 1930s, according
to Project Director Thelma Newsome.
“Some people view St. Catherine as a mini version of
‘Black Wall Street’ of Tulsa, Okla., because of its thriving black businesses
and cultural development in the past,” said Newsome. “The small business is
what helped to carry the people along all these many years. They were
especially vital in a time of heightened racism and discrimination.”
Newsome, a lifelong resident of St. Catherine, said the
street once boasted of thriving businesses that included barbershops,
restaurants, grocery stores, laundromats, drycleaners, service stations, shoe
repair shop, and beauty shops.
Although many of those businesses are gone, they had
stories that need to be told about their existence and the impact they had on
the community, Newsome said.
“This is a project whose time has come,” said Dora P.
Hawkins, one of the organizers. “The Dr. John Bowman Banks Museum staff is
elated to introduce St. Catherine Street, Natchez, Miss., to the world and to
reintroduce the street to Natchez. In our research, we are finding so many
interesting facts about this street and, it appears, we are only at the tip of
what’s available.”
Organizers hope to launch the project in November or
December. The tour experience will begin at Forks of the Road and end at the
Rhythm Night Club Memorial Museum.
The project is a joint effort by the museum staff and
other volunteers, all of whom are members of the St. Catherine Street
Committee. In addition to Newsome and Hawkins, committee members include
Jacqulyn Williams, Teresa Farley, Teresa Busby, Roscoe Barnes III, Robert
Pernell, Mark LaFrancis, and Leon Hollins III.
“This is rewarding work for us,” said Hawkins. “We
appreciate the tremendous assistance that Dr. Roscoe Barnes III, Mrs. Mimi
Miller and the Natchez Historic Foundation have provided in our efforts.
In addition, we could not accomplish our mission without the Mississippi
Humanities Council’s approval of our grant request.”
Barnes, who serves as the cultural heritage tourism
manager for Visit Natchez, said it has been an honor to work with Newsome,
Hawkins, and the other committee members, and to see firsthand the fruit of
their hard work.
“This is another important milestone for this community
and the city of Natchez,” he said. “We’re all making history in more ways than
one, and it’s all possible because of the significant contributions of a great
committee and Mississippi Humanities Council.”
Barnes noted that he and Visit Natchez were also happy to
assist the committee with the grant application.
#VisitNatchez
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