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
 

We're all set for the unveiling ceremony to honor the Natchez Deacons for Defense and Justice

Make your plans to attend this important event! 

(Click on image to enlarge.)

This ceremony aligns with the 79th Annual Mississippi NAACP State Convention and Policy Institute taking place in Natchez November 7-9. The Rev. Dr. Robert James, president of the Mississippi NAACP, will be one of our speakers. About 150 attendees of the NAACP convention will attend the unveiling ceremony.

Lambert to discuss enslavement project at Prospect Hill

By Roscoe Barnes III
Natchez, MS, USA / ListenUpYall.com
Oct 18, 2024 | 7:58 AM
 

Dr. Shawn Lambert is an associate professor and undergraduate coordinator at Mississippi State University.

NATCHEZ, Miss. — Dr. Shawn Lambert, associate professor and undergraduate coordinator at Mississippi State University, is inviting the public to his presentation on the Prospect Hill Plantation.

Lambert’s talk will focus on the archaeology of his enslavement project at Prospect Hill. His topic is, “Before They were Settlers: Material Culture and Spaces of Enslavement at the Prospect Hill Plantation.”

Lambert will deliver his hour-long presentation at 12:30 p.m., Thursday, October 24, 2024, at Dumas Hall, Room 107, Alcorn State University, Lorman Campus. He will also share his presentation at 1 p.m. Friday, October 25, 2024, at the Natchez Museum of African American History and Culture, 301 Main St., Natchez.

The programs are sponsored by the Southwest Mississippi Center for Culture and learning at Alcorn. They are free and open to the public.

“Dr. Lambert’s work is significant in many ways,” said Teresa Busby, executive director of the Southwest MS Center for Culture and Learning. “I especially appreciate that he developed the work at Prospect Hill as a multidisciplinary project that involved diverse scholars from several areas of academia to help us better understand the history of enslavement in the South. We will all benefit from Dr. Lambert sharing their findings with us.”

According to Lambert, the research at Prospect Hill has global significance. “It is research that represents the collaboration with diverse communities and descendent communities as well as researchers from other disciplines such as archaeologists, cultural anthropologists, historians, and biological anthropologists,” he said.

Lambert noted the “research is a multivocal and multi-perspective attempt to not only understand the history and archaeology of enslavement at Prospect Hill in Mississippi, but also trace this reverse African Diaspora to Liberia where hundreds of enslaved individuals from Prospect Hill were resettled.”

Prospect Hill is located in Jefferson County. Lambert described it as “an early-to-mid 19th century plantation site that, until recently, has had very little anthropological research.”

The site played a significant role with early plantation life in the South and with the American — and Mississippi Colonization Societies — that relocated hundreds of enslaved people to Greenville, Liberia, Lambert said.

“In this spirit, Prospect Hill is globally connected to the history and development of West Africa and to local communities in Mississippi,” he added.

Lambert works in the department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures at his university.

According to his bio, his research interests include protohistoric and historic decolonial and community-engaged archaeology in the U.S. South with specific focuses in pre-European Contact Native American communities, and the archaeology of enslavement in the American South.

Lambert is recognized as an expert in remote sensing technologies, ceramic analysis, ancient iconography, organic residue analyses, and elemental analyses of artifacts.

Lambert said he is “committed to working with diverse descendant communities and the public to further decolonize archaeological practice, strengthening relationships with underrepresented communities, and making field work more inclusive and supportive for student experiential learning.”

For more information, send email to tbusby@alcorn.edu

 

BEFORE, AFTER: Nellie’s has new look

By Roscoe Barnes III

The Natchez Democrat
Published 1:34 pm Tuesday, October 15, 2024

(Click on image to enlarge.)

NATCHEZ, Miss. — After years of sitting in disrepair on the corner of North Rankin and Monroe streets, the Nellie Jackson house has a new makeover. The wood-frame building has a new roof, new porch, and its original screen door that features a metal cutout of a woman wearing a hoop skirt with a man in top hat bowing in front of her.

The house is painted white with a red door and red trimmings. Its renovation work is continuing inside with new floors and walls.

The house, which was commonly known as Nellie’s Place (or simply Nellie’s), was owned by Nellie Jackson (1902-1990). It is located at 416 N. Rankin and is currently owned by J. T. Robinson, who is restoring the building. Robinson said he purchased the house in 2019.

Caesar Cobb of Cobb Construction, Gloster, is doing the renovation. Completion date is set for November 30, according to Robinson. He plans to open the home as a museum.

Jackson was well known as a friendly madam who openly ran a brothel from her home for about 60 years.

Jackson’s house was built in the Queen Ann style between 1892 and 1897, according to the Historic Natchez Foundation. The house has three bedrooms and two baths. It has undergone a number of changes.

The house was one of the filming locations in the movie, “Get on Up” (2014).

Though mostly known for operating her brothel, Jackson also was known for her charity.

According to news reports, she fed the hungry and regularly provided money for people in need. She also provided transportation for nuns. During the mid-1960s, she served as an FBI informant and provided information on members of the Ku Klux Klan gleaned from her employees who serviced Klan members, according to local historians. She was also known to bail civil rights workers out of jail.

Jackson’s story is told in the documentary film, “Mississippi Madam: The Life of Nellie Jackson” (2017).

Jackson was born into poverty on August 3, 1902, in Possum Corner, an unincorporated community in Wilkinson County. She was the youngest of twins. While growing up, she attended Oak Grove Church in Wilkinson County, according to her obituary. She moved to the house on Rankin in 1921, and a few years later, she joined the Holy Family Catholic Church, the obituary noted.

Jackson died on July 12, 1990, from injuries received in a fire at her home on July 5, 1990. Police said the fire was caused by Daniel Eric Breazeale, 20, a former resident of Oxford. Newspapers reported he was a junior at the University of Mississippi majoring in business. He stayed in Natchez for the summer where he was working. He was living on North Rankin at the time of the fire.

Breazeale reportedly became angry when he was denied entrance into Jackson’s house in the early morning hours. Police said he was told to leave because he was drunk.

Breazeale left and returned with gasoline in an ice chest.

Police said he “poured gasoline on the front porch, entered the brothel and poured gasoline on Jackson. In the process, he also splashed gasoline on himself,” according to The Clarion Ledger (November 13, 2019). Former Mayor Tony Byrne told The Clarion Ledger, “”When he lit the fire at Nellie’s, it blew him almost across the street.”

A witness told The Natchez Democrat (July 6, 1990) that Breazeale resembled a “ball of fire shooting across the street.” The witness said, “He came flying across the road. It looked like a cartoon.”

The Natchez fire chief at the time said the fire destroyed the front porch and one bedroom. Jackson’s bedroom was near the porch. She was asleep at the time of the fire, The Natchez Democrat (July 6, 1990) reported. Two of her four dogs died in the fire.

Jackson suffered first-, second- and third-degree burns over 100 percent of her body, according to press reports. Breazeale suffered third-degree burns to 80 percent of his body.

Breazeale and Jackson died from their injuries. Jackson was 87. Her funeral was held on July 16, 1990, at St. Mary’s Catholic Church. Services were officiated by Father David O’Connor. Jackson was buried at Sunset View Memorial Park.

Read more at: https://www.natchezdemocrat.com/2024/10/15/before-after-nellies-has-new-look/

Natchez Historical Society funds marker honoring Prince Ibrahima

By Roscoe Barnes III
The Natchez Democrat
Published 3:46 p.m. Wednesday, October 16, 2024 
 

Board members of the Natchez Historical Society display a poster of Prince Ibrahima. They approved a donation of $3,420 for a marker in the prince's honor. In the front row from left are Al King, Karen Hill, and Adam Gwin. In the back from left are Roscoe Barnes III, Daye Dearing, and Bobby Dennis. (Click on image to enlarge.)

NATCHEZ, Miss. — The Natchez Historical Society has made it possible for Prince Abdul Rahman Ibrahima Sori (1762-1829) to be honored with his own historical marker.

On Monday, Oct. 14, the society’s board members approved a donation of $3,420 that will cover the cost of the marker, which will be acquired through the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. The total cost includes $2,670 for the marker and post, plus an additional $750 for a sign underneath that reads, “Sponsored by the Natchez Historical Society.”

Karen Hill, the society’s president, said she is very pleased with the board’s decision.

“I am proud of the Natchez Historical Society,” she said, adding the donation is important for many reasons. “I’m happy that our gift will help to ensure that the legacy of Prince Ibrahima will be honored and shared for years to come.”

Ibrahima’s story is told in Dr. Terry Alford’s book, “Prince Among Slaves: The True Story of an African Prince Sold into Slavery in the American South” (Oxford University Press, 1977). Alford welcomed the news about the funding.

“Kudos to the Natchez Historical Society and to Dr. Roscoe Barnes III, Visit Natchez’s cultural heritage and tourism manager, for this exciting news,” he said. “The diverse history of our area’s exceptional people is well-served by this worthy step.”

The marker will be a first for the Natchez-Adams County area that pays tribute to the African prince who spent 40 years enslaved on Thomas Foster’s plantation near Washington. His story has been widely known and publicized for decades.

“I feel this marker will give recognition to the man and his skills utilized in the productivity of the Natchez District, which helped to build its wealth,” said Bobby Dennis, director of NAPAC Museum and new board member of the society. “The knowledge of an enslaved man or woman is rarely discussed, only the productivity of the enslaved slave who an owner led.”

In addition to Dennis and Hill, the society’s board members who approved the donation include Daye Dearing, Al King, Virginia Benoist, Adam Gwin, and Roscoe Barnes III.

Dr. Artemus W. Gaye, a seventh generation descendant of the prince, said he and his family were excited to learn about the donation.

“The responsibility or obligation of the living and the community is never to forget the past and the ancestors whose footprints we are walking in the here and now,” he said. “After 240 years since Prince Abdul Rahman and his trusted friend, Samba, walked the paths of their enslavement in Natchez and Washington, the onus is now on us to always remember their legacies and the society they built within their own constrained limitations. This historic marker in essence is a testimonial of this great effort to reconcile and remember!”

Gaye is the author of “Dr. Isabella Rahman and the African Prince of Fouta Djallon” (Forte Publishing International, 2023).

Once the application for the marker is approved and processed, it will be delivered around August 2025. An unveiling ceremony will be planned around that time or later.

The marker will be posted near Historic Jefferson College and Highway 61, a site that played a significant role in Ibrahima’s life. It was in this area in Washington that Ibrahima recognized Dr. John Coats Cox in 1807 at the market place. Cox, an Irishman, had sailed to West Africa in 1781. After going ashore, he became lost and later collapsed. He was rescued by the Fulani people and taken to Timbo, where Ibrahima’s father cared for him until his health was restored.

After Ibrahima and Cox recognized each other at the market in Mississippi, the doctor tried for many years to buy his freedom. However, Foster refused to sell him. Cox died in December 1816. The story of their chance meeting near Natchez became widely known.

Read more at: https://www.natchezdemocrat.com/2024/10/16/natchez-historical-society-funds-marker-honoring-prince-ibrahima/

Natchez National Historical Park Invites Public Input on a Long-Term Vision for the Forks of the Road Site

Report by the Natchez National Historical Park

(Click on image to enlarge.)

NATCHEZ, Miss. – On November 19, Natchez National Historical Park will begin a civic engagement process on the future of the Forks of the Road site at D’Evereux Drive and Liberty Road. The site is the location of the second largest domestic slave market in the Deep South during the antebellum period, where tens of thousands of enslaved men, women, and children were trafficked.
 
At the height of the pre-Civil War explosion in cotton production, these individuals were torn from their homes and families in states as far away as Virginia, Maryland, and Kentucky and transported by ships or marched a thousand miles overland to the Forks of the Road. From there, they were sold by traders to labor in rural and urban areas in Natchez and the surrounding counties. In 1863, the Forks of the Road became one of the area’s first recruitment locations for formerly enslaved people to join the U.S. Colored Troops.
 
This initial civic engagement effort will help the National Park Service prepare preliminary concept plans and includes opportunities to participate in public listening sessions and provide comment. Preliminary concept plans developed as a result of the feedback from these sessions will be shared with the public in 2025. The Forks of the Road site is a new addition to the national historical park, and this planning process will address development for visitor access, preservation of resources, accessible visitor infrastructure, and visitor capacity. The goal of this plan is to create a place where the fundamental resources and values of the park are protected and where visitors can have meaningful experiences. 
 
“We are pleased to offer this opportunity for the public to provide early input on future development and management at the Forks of the Road,” said Superintendent Kathleen Bond. “Since 2017, the National Park Service (NPS) has been working to acquire enough of the site to provide visitor access and has coordinated with park partners to identify opportunities for quality visitor experiences and thoughtful interpretation of the history and ongoing legacy of the site. We now wish to gather feedback from the public and stakeholders that will help us put formal planning for the site’s future on the right track.” 
 
Public listening sessions will be held in Natchez to discuss the purpose of the concept plan project and garner feedback from the public on future ideas for the site on November 19 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Historic Natchez Foundation and November 20 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Natchez Museum of African American History and Culture. During the meetings, the planning team will explain the plan process, collect public ideas for the future of the site, showcase methods for further public comment, and answer participants’ questions. A similar virtual meeting will be held on November 26 from 12:00 to 1:30 p.m. CT.  

More information about the meeting locations, meeting formats, and a link to join the virtual meeting can be found on the project website at https://parkplanning.nps.gov/FOTR_Concept_Plan.  

 
Beginning on October 21, written comments may be submitted by visiting https://parkplanning.nps.gov/FOTR_Concept_Plan and selecting “Open for Comment” on the left menu bar and selecting “Preliminary Civic Engagement Information.” 

 
Written comments may also be submitted by mail to:
 
National Park Service 
Denver Service Center 
Attn: Forks of the Road Master Plan / Charles Lawson 
1 Denver Federal Center, Building 50 
Denver, CO 80225 
 

To ensure the planning team has the opportunity to consider your ideas during the initial phase of the planning effort, comments must be submitted online or postmarked by November 30. Additional opportunities for commenting and public engagement will be offered throughout the life of the planning effort.

About the Forks of the Road Master Plan 
 
The 2017 boundary expansion of NATC authorized the incorporation of the Forks of the Road site into the park, and the first parcels of the Forks of the Road site came under NPS ownership in the spring of 2021. The site is comprised of urban parcels that have been developed and redeveloped over decades, though certain portions remain largely undeveloped. Particularly, some city-owned parcels contain a remnant historic road that dates to the slave market period (1833 to 1863) and a brick bridge that narrowly post-dates this period (circa 1888). Over this road trace, many enslaved persons walked their final steps on their thousand-mile journey in coffles down the length of the Natchez Trace. Few other resources are intact from the period of significance, a situation common of sites related to the slavery story in America. This erasure of history from the landscape underscores the need for thoughtful planning to provide for a powerful visitor experience at the site.
  
Consultation and coordination among the public, partner organizations, and other stakeholders is vitally important to this planning process, and successful implementation of the park's future plans will depend on continued coordinated efforts with partners. 
 
 

Dr. Akinyele Umoja to speak at ceremony honoring Natchez Deacons for Defense and Justice

NATCHEZ, Miss. -- Dr. Akinyele Umoja, a professor at Georgia State University, will be the guest speaker at the November 9 ceremony honoring the Natchez Deacons for Defense and Justice. The Deacons have been awarded a Mississippi Freedom Trail marker, which will be unveiled following the ceremony. 

The ceremony will be held at 2:30 p.m. at Zion Chapel A.M.E. Church at 228 North Dr. M.L. King Jr. St. 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. 

The event is free and open to the public. 

Umoja is a leading authority on the Deacons for Defense and Justice. He is the author of “We Will Shoot Back: Armed Resistance in the Mississippi Freedom Movement” (NYU Press, 2013).