Willie Carter has barber chair previously owned by James ‘Big Jack’ Jackson, president of the Natchez Deacons for Defense and Justice

Willie Carter displays the barber chair previously owned by James 'Big Jack' Jackson, who served as president of the Natchez Deacons for Defense and Justice. Carter is owner of the building that was home to Donnan's Barbershop, the meeting place for the Deacons. He moved the chair to his current barbershop. (Click on image to enlarge.)

NATCHEZ, Miss. -- When I met with Willie Carter in his barbershop back in January 2024, he surprised me with a piece of important history. He showed me a barber chair and said, “This is the chair that was owned by James ‘Big Jack’ Jackson. Yes, this is his chair. I saved it.”

Jackson was the president of the Natchez Deacons for Defense and Justice, a paramilitary organization that provided armed protection for civil rights workers and the Black community against the Ku Klux Klan and other hate groups. The Natchez Deacons are featured in the documentary, “Black Natchez” (1967).
 
Carter wants to use the chair in some way to share the history of Jackson and the Deacons. In the meantime, he’s planning to join the Natchez community in commemorating the Deacons with a Mississippi Freedom Trail marker. An unveiling ceremony will be held at 2:30 p.m., Saturday, November 9, at Zion Chapel A.M.E. Church at 228 North Dr. M.L. King Jr. St.
 
After the ceremony, the unveiling of the marker will occur at 319 North Dr. M.L. King Jr. St., which is the site of the two-story building that was home to Donnan's Barbershop. The barbershop  was the meeting place for the Deacons. Carter is the current owner of the historic building which was owned earlier by the late Leon Donnan. In the early 1960s, Carter worked in the building as a shoe-shiner.
 
In addition to being a meeting place for the Deacons, the building was the site of the first meeting held by the Council of Federated Organizations or COFO. The group met in 319C, Carter said.
 
According to Ser Seshsh Ab Heter-Clifford M. Boxley, an upstairs room in the building became the office of Judge Willie Scott, “the first African American judge in modern time.” The second floor also housed a library for the black community, Boxley said.
 
The Freedom Trail markers honor the people and places in Mississippi that played a pivotal role in the American Civil Rights Movement. The markers are approved by Visit Mississippi and the Mississippi Humanities Council.
 
For more information on the November 9 unveiling ceremony, visit this link:
https://roscoereporting.blogspot.com/2024/09/honoring-natchez-deacons-for-defense.html