Woodville Deacons and the civil rights showdown that reached the Supreme Court

Column published in The Natchez Democrat (Friday, February 27, 2026, page 4A) 

(Click on image to enlarge.)

 

Woodville Deacons and the civil rights showdown that reached the Supreme Court

  

By Roscoe Barnes III

  

Although little has been said about the Woodville chapter of the Deacons for Defense and Justice in recent decades, the group made headlines across the South in the 1960s and left its mark on Wilkinson County.
 
Like other parts of Mississippi, Woodville at the time seethed with racial tension.
It was a place where the Deacons clashed with white supremacists and law enforcement. Confrontations between the Deacons and local police occurred on several occasions, one of which involved a shooting that resulted in the landmark 1973 U.S. Supreme Court case, Chambers v. Mississippi.
 
The Deacons provided armed protection for civil rights workers and the Black community against the Ku Klux Klan. The organization originated in Jonesboro, Louisiana. The Deacons helped with rallies and marches, and they helped to enforce the boycott of white-owned businesses.
 
In 1965, James Stokes, spokesperson for the Natchez Deacons, helped to establish a branch of the Deacons in Woodville. Some of the original members included President William “Bilbo” Ferguson, Vice President Herman Burkes, and Spokesperson Edward Caine. The other Deacons included Henry Jones, Leon Chambers, Gable McDonald, Samuel Harden, Benjamin Groom, Elmo McKenzie, William Davis, and Earnest Tollivar.
 
For the first two years, the Woodville branch assisted the Natchez Deacons, according to Dr. Lance Hill, author of "The Deacons for Defense: Armed Resistance and the Civil Rights Movement" (University of North Carolina Press, 2004). They also worked with the Wilkinson County NAACP.
 
In August 1967, a Democratic primary was held in Wilkinson County in which no Black candidates won any county posts, enraging the community. In September 1967, the Woodville Deacons supported the NAACP with its boycotts, demanding a new election and Black appointments to the Wilkinson County Election Commission.
 
One defeated leader was Anselm Joseph Finch (Anne Moody’s "Mr. C.H. Willis," founding principal of Willis High School). Finch reportedly lost because a number of Black teachers voted for the white candidate. Wilkinson County NAACP President James Joliff called for a boycott of white-owned businesses with the goal of holding a new election. He later led 200 Blacks and armed Deacons in a march, demanding school officials fire the Black teachers who did not support the Black candidates.
 
Hill reports that later that day, Joliff and the Deacons traveled to Centreville and staged a second march of 200 Black protesters. This time a white man emerged from a gas station along the march route while brandishing a rifle to harass protesters. The moment he appeared, about 25 Deacons pulled up with firearms and surrounded him. The man scrambled back into the gas station.
 
On June 14, 1969, an incident in Woodville made history. It involved Woodville Deacon Leon Chambers, who was convicted of murdering Deputy Sheriff Aaron "Sonny" Liberty and sentenced to life in prison. Although Gable McDonald, another Deacon, confessed to the crime multiple times before recanting, he was never prosecuted. Chambers spent several years in prison. He was released in 1973, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8-1 on February 21 that he had been denied a fair trial under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
 
Decades later, James Stokes made a startling comment about the case in an interview with Richard Grant, author of “The Deepest South of All: True Stories from Natchez, Mississippi" (Simon & Schuster, 2020). He told Grant that Aaron Liberty “was a Tom who would take news back to the whites, and he was harassing James Williams, a loyal man. One of my loyal Deacons killed him.” Stokes said Gable McDonald was the one who killed Liberty.

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ROSCOE BARNES III, Ph.D., is the cultural heritage tourism manager a Visit Natchez.
 
 

Join us for a program on the Indigenous Natchez Language

This event is free and open to the public. 

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Join us for a program on the indigenous Natchez language at 6 p.m. on March 26, at the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians.  Dr. Geoffrey Kimball, author of Natchez Analytical Dictionary (University of Nebraska Press, 2025) will discuss the last fluent speakers of the Natchez language, and the work of Mary Haas and others in documenting the Natchez language with these speakers in the early 20th century.  Dr. Keith Cunningham will discuss how he is using the dictionary to assist people of Natchez descent in developing learning tools and pedagogical material in their efforts to revitalize the language. Relatives of the last fluent speakers from the Sam Family will be in attendance to speak to their family’s genealogy and current Natchez language revitalization efforts.
 
The Natchez Analytical Dictionary is for sale in the museum store, and a book signing will follow the program. Refreshments will be served.
 

Black History Program at Magnolia Baptist Church, Woodville, Miss.

Cierra Sherman, mistress of ceremony, and Roscoe Barnes III (Click on image to enlarge.)

On Sunday, February 22, 2026, I had the honor of speaking at the 6th Annual Black History Program at Magnolia Baptist Church just outside of Woodville. I spoke about Prince Ibrahima and the Woodville Deacons for Defense.

Pictured from left: Roscoe Barnes III, Ms. Shirley Swain, Ms. Nell Ward, and Deacon Samuel Booker. (Click on image to enlarge.)

Natchez's Dr. John Banks House is featured on the Mississippi Encyclopedia's home page

 

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I was delighted to see my entry on the Dr. John Banks House featured on the home page of the Mississippi Encyclopedia.

See more at this link: https://mississippiencyclopedia.org/

How Prospect Hill owner helped shape Alcorn State University

Top of the Morning column published in The Natchez Democrat (Wednesday, February 18, 2026, page 4A) 

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Top of the Morning

 

How Prospect Hill owner helped shape Alcorn State University

 

By Roscoe Barnes III

The story of Prospect Hill Plantation is a piece of history that reads like a novel. It is a dramatic story with many twists and turns. It’s a story about slavery and freedom, but it’s also a story about education with ties to Alcorn State University.

It begins with Captain Isaac Ross (1760 – 1836), a planter and a veteran of the American Revolutionary War of South Carolina. When he came to the Mississippi Territory in 1808, he brought with him over 100 enslaved people as well as the freed Blacks who had fought with him in the military. A man of wealth, he bought thousands of acres of land in Jefferson County near Port Gibson and developed what became Prospect Hill Plantation.

Ross, according to some historical accounts, allowed some of the enslaved people to learn to read and write, even though such practice was unusual and illegal in Mississippi at the time.

Given his interest in educating those he enslaved, it is not surprising that he would invest in a college. In 1830, he used his wealth – becoming a major donor -- to support the founding of Oakland College, a private, white men’s-only school near Rodney that was affiliated with the Presbyterian denomination. Its mission, initially, was to prepare men for ministry.

Ross and other contributors were joined by the Rev. Jeremiah Chamberlain (1794 – 1851), who served as the school’s president from 1830 to 1851. Chamberlain was murdered in 1851 in front of his home at the college. He was killed by George Briscoe, a local planter, who beat him and stabbed him in his chest. Briscoe killed him reportedly because Chamberlain opposed slavery and did not support southern rights, according to historical accounts. Other accounts suggest he and the faculty had expelled a student for giving a pro-states' rights or pro-secession speech on campus.

When the Civil War broke out in 1861, the school began to struggle as its students and faculty joined the military to fight in the war. In 1862, the school closed, with the Union Army occupying its campus during the war.

In 1871, the state of Mississippi purchased the campus for the purpose of establishing a new educational institution. This marked the formal end of Oakland College as an entity.

The state reopened the school as Alcorn University. It was founded specifically to educate the descendants of formerly enslaved African Americans, making it the first Black land‑grant college in the United States. The school was named in honor of Mississippi State Governor James Lusk Alcorn (1816-1894).

In 1871, Hiram Rhodes Revels became the first president of the school. He took the position after becoming the first African American to serve in the U.S. Congress. Revels served as president until 1873. He was reappointed in 1876 and remained in the position until 1882.

In 1878, the school was named Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College, which reflected its new mission as a federally recognized land‑grant college. Alcorn A&M College remained the name until 1974, when Mississippi officially granted the institution university status and renamed it Alcorn State University. This change reflected its growth in academic offerings, infrastructure, and statewide significance.

When we talk about Prospect Hill and its connection to Alcorn, it’s important to confront the full picture. Slavery remains a dark and indelible chapter in Mississippi's history. The story of Isaac Ross and the Prospect Hill Plantation delivers hard facts and painful truths about that era.

The wealth extracted through the forced labor of enslaved people at Prospect Hill helped fund Oakland College, which, over time, became the site of a historically Black land-grant university.

That transformation, however, does not soften or erase the cruelty of slavery or the profound suffering endured at Prospect Hill. That reality remains painful and unchangeable.

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ROSCOE BARNES III, Ph.D., is the cultural heritage tourism manager at Visit Natchez.

Black History Month program at Alcorn State University

I'm here with Marsha Belton, MLIS, Technical Service Director at the J.D. Boyd Library at Alcorn State University. (Click on image to enlarge.)

On Wednesday (2/11/2026), I had the pleasure of speaking at a Black History Month program at Alcorn State University. My topic was "Prospect Hill Plantation and Alcorn State University: Where History Shaped Higher Education." The man on the screen is Isaac Ross, the original owner of Prospect Hill Plantation.

(Click on image to enlarge.)

Natchez announces ‘Kick Back at NAPAC’ Black History program

By Roscoe Barnes III

Natchez, MS, USA / ListenUpYall.com
Feb 12, 2026 | 3:05 PM

The "Kick Back at NAPAC" program will be hosted by Rose Hill Missionary Baptist Church. (Click on image to enlarge.)

NATCHEZ, Miss. — This year’s Kick Back at NAPAC program will celebrate retired Black educators over the age of 80. The annual event, presented in recognition of Black History Month, will be held 5:30 p.m., Thursday, February 19, at Rose Hill Missionary Baptist Church at 607 Madison Street.

“Celebrating our Black Educators” is the theme for the program, which will be hosted by Rose Hill Missionary Baptist Church. It is free and open to the public.

NAPAC Executive Director Bobby Dennis said the program will include a panel discussion that he will moderate to highlight the contributions of the retired educators. The panelists will include Zandra McDonald, superintendent of the Natchez-Adams School District, and retired educators Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis, Thelma Newsome, Cleveland Watts, and Larry Jackson.

The Rev. LeRoy White, pastor of Rose Hill Missionary Baptist Church, will present opening remarks.

“Our educators have helped shape the history of our community. It will be a great opportunity to highlight those who during difficult times contributed so much,” he said.

The panel discussion will be followed by a presentation of an Angel Award to each of the senior retirees. The honorees include:

Estelle Banford, Melissa Bolden, Betty Bowser, Roland Bowser, Artis T. Simmons Butler, Camille Carter, Mildred Carter, Mildred Dunham, Lillian Clarke Edney, Nancy Green;

Renza Grennel, Pearl H. Groom, Leola Harris, Peggy Hickombottom, Larry Jackson, Bessie Jenkins, Joyce Johnson, Lillian Johnson, Wilbur Johnson, Marjorie Kinds;

Mable King, Fred Marsalis, Mildred Mitchell, Lorene Mock, Clara Pinkney, Laura Price, Bonita Reed, Evelyn Smith, Mary C. Smith, Mary Stanton;

Flora Terrell, Elnora Washington, Cleveland Watts, Jacqulyn Williams, Jenette Wilson, Willie “Bill” Woods, Willie “Coach” Woods, Clementine Youngblood, Eva Love, Jimmy Love, and Audrey Irving Dean.

The Kick Back at NAPAC program is supported by Walmart, Concordia Bank, Regions, and United Mississippi Bank.

For more information, call 601-445-0728.

See more at this link: https://listenupyall.com/2026/02/12/natchez-announces-kick-back-at-napac-black-history-program/