The Natchez Democrat
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| Willie Carter of Natchez stands in front of the two-story building that once served as the meeting place for the Natchez Deacons for Defense and Justice. Carter is the current owner of the building which is now home to two small businesses. The barbershop is where the Deacons organized in September 1965 under the leadership of President James "Big Jack" Jackson, who worked as a barber. (Photo taken in February 2022./Submitted Photo |
NATCHEZ, Miss. -- The building once used as a meeting place for the Natchez Deacons for Defense and Justice will be the site of a second Mississippi Freedom Trail Marker in Natchez, announced John Spann, program and outreach officer for the Mississippi Humanities Council. He shared the news Wednesday, Dec. 13, following a meeting of the Freedom Trail Scholarly Review Committee.
Spann said the committee felt the application for the
marker, which was prepared by the Natchez Civil Rights Trail Committee, was
“compelling” and the site was “definitely deserving of being on
the Freedom Trail.”
The building is located at 319 N. Dr. M. L. King St.
(formerly Pine Street). It is a two-story wood-frame structure that housed the
Donnan’s Barbershop on the first floor in the 1960s. The barbershop is where
the Deacons organized in September 1965 under the leadership of President James
“Big Jack” Jackson, who worked as a barber.
“We are excited to bring the story of the Deacons for
Defense to the Mississippi Freedom Trail,” said Spann. “Stories like theirs
give a different perspective of the movement that is seldom discussed. It’s
important to the Freedom Trail Committee to add markers that uplift unknown
people, events, and nuance essential to the Mississippi freedom movement.
Telling this story of organized armed defense of civil rights activity and
leaders of this state, fits our mission.”
Willie Carter, who worked as a shoe-shiner in the
barbershop in the early 1960s, and later as a barber, is the current owner of
the building.
When he worked at the site, the building was owned by
Leon Donnan, he said. According to Ser
Seshsh Ab Heter-Clifford M. Boxley, a former Deacon, Donnan “was extremely
influential on the civil rights strategy.”
Carter said he was happy to learn that Donnan’s
Barbershop is being recognized for its role in the civil rights movement in
Natchez. “I am grateful,” he said. “It
gives me great pride to know that this barbershop was allowed to be part of the
Natchez movement that enabled Black people to have freedom and be recognized in
the society.
“I appreciate the contributions of the people in our
community whose work and sacrifices got us to where we are today. I’m also
thankful that Leon Donnan allowed the Deacons to use his barbershop for their
meetings. I’m grateful to have been a part of this important movement.”
Mayor Dan Gibson suggested the recognition is one of many
ways in which the city of Natchez is working to tell its complete history.
“Since the beginning of our administration, we have been
working to tell a more inclusive history of Natchez,” he said. “Up until then,
our city was not even listed as on our state’s Freedom Trail or on America’s
Civil Rights Trail. This now will be the second marker placed in Natchez in
less than one year, placing us solidly on both trails. I am so grateful. And I
applaud the work of those who have been working to make this happen. Telling
our whole story is key to bringing our city together as One Natchez.”
Natchez’s first Freedom Trail marker was unveiled in
April this year at the Dr. John Banks House at 9 St. Catherine St. In 1965, the house served as the headquarters
for the Natchez Branch of the NAACP. It was also the home of NAACP George
Metcalfe who used it as a boarding house for civil rights workers.
NAPAC Museum Director Bobby Dennis said the announcement
of Donnan’s Barbershop being recognized is good news for Natchez. He suggested there is much to be told about
this barbershop and the people who came through it.
“It was a gathering place of civil rights workers and
educators, as well,” he said, noting many prominent people in the African
American community frequented the door of the barbershop. “The barbershop was
the hottest spot for most of the people who had any role in the civil rights
movement,” he said.
The Deacons for Defense was a civil rights
paramilitary organization of African Americans who provided armed protection
for civil rights workers and the Black community. It was founded in 1964 in Jonesboro, La., in
response to the terror and violent acts of the Ku Klux Klans against civil
rights activists.
The Natchez Deacons organized soon after the attempted
assassination of NAACP George Metcalfe, whose car was bombed by members of the
Ku Klux Klan on Aug. 27, 1965, in the parking lot of Armstrong Tire and Rubber
Company. Metcalfe survived the bombing with major injuries.
In a February 2022 interview, Boxley said Donnan’s
Barbershop played an important role in the civil rights movement. He said it was a command post and observation
point used by the Deacons to keep an eye on the Klan, among other things.
Boxley said the Deacons aided the Natchez movement in
becoming one of the most successful movements in the South. Because of this success, Natchez became a
model for other communities in Mississippi.
According to historians, the impact of the Natchez Deacons was
felt throughout the state as they established chapters in other areas,
including Wilkinson and Jefferson counties.
Historian Akinyele Omowale Umoja noted: “The Natchez
Deacons became an essential ingredient in the Natchez and the Mississippi
movements…..Without a doubt, the Deacons made the Natchez and Mississippi
movements more effective.”
The Mississippi Freedom Trail was created to commemorate
the people and places in the state that played a pivotal role in the American
Civil Rights Movement. As of Dec. 14, a
total of 35 new markers have been approved.
The Freedom Trail markers are managed by the Mississippi Humanities
Council, with partnership and funding provided by Visit Mississippi.
Read more at: https://www.natchezdemocrat.com/2023/12/14/donnans-barbershop-building-approved-for-mississippi-freedom-trail-marker/
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