VIDEO: Flags from Mississippi Gallery Talk - USCT invited guests Roscoe Barnes III and Dr. Albert Dorsey

 

To view the video, please follow this link: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSTjD0PeDes

 
This is a video of a fascinating and insightful discussion on the U.S. Colored Troops in Mississippi. The event was hosted by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History on Thursday, March 14, 2024, at the Two Museums in Jackson, Miss.
 
I served as a panelist along with Dr. Albert Dorsey Jr., center, assistant professor of History at Jackson State University. Mr. Michael Morris, director of the Two Museums, served as moderator.
 
Many thanks to Drew Gardner, manager of Family and Community Learning at MDAH, for inviting me to participate in this important program.

New booklet tells the history of St. Catherine Street

By Roscoe Barnes III 

Natchez, MS, USA / ListenUpYall.com

(Mar 19, 2024 | 8:57 PM)

Project Director Thelma Newsome displays a copy of the new booklet, "St. Catherine Street: Yesteryears and Now," which tells the colorful history of an area that was once vibrant and filled with businesses.

NATCHEZ, Miss. — A free booklet that highlights the cultural history of St. Catherine Street is now available to the public.

Titled, “St. Catherine Street Yesteryears and Now,” the booklet features more than 40 historical sites in the area that was once known as Natchez’s “Black Wall Street.” Photos of various buildings are included along with colorful anecdotes and historical descriptions.

Thelma Newsome, a staff member of the Dr. John Bowman Banks Museum, spearheaded the publication project. As project director, she plans to use the booklet for tours and other platforms to tell the complete history of  St. Catherine, she said.

“Though many of the places no longer exist, the contribution they made to the growth of the city of Natchez can never be completely erased,” she stated in the text on the back cover of the publication. She also noted that St. Catherine was once “a vibrant community, filled with businesses owned by Black, White, and Jewish citizens.”

The booklet is part of a larger project, which is called, “St. Catherine Street, Natchez, MS: Yesteryear through Today.” The project uses tours, photographs, and oral history to share the rare stories of the people, buildings, culture, and businesses on St. Catherine from as far back as the 1930s, according to Newsome.

In 2022, the project was awarded a $5,000 grant by the Mississippi Humanities Council. The booklet was funded with this grant.

The purpose for the booklet, in general terms, is summed up in a sentence on its front cover: “It is our hope that this booklet gives you some insight into the rich history of Saint Catherine Street and the people that lived there.”

Much to offer

Newsome said the publication has much to offer. “I encourage people to read it and relive vicariously the things we shared on St. Catherine Street,” she said.

Of the 41 stories presented, the one that stands out to her is “Hot Tamales,” which focuses on Mr. Jabo Johnson and his family who lived at 196 St. Catherine.

Thelma Newsome displays an open copy of the new publication on the history of St. Catherine Street.

“I knew that family personally,” Newsome said. “We ate hot tamales on Saturday nights. Back then, they cost about thirty cents a dozen.”

Newsome, a retired educator, said the idea for the booklet originated with a conversation she was having with Dora Hawkins, and Jacqulyn Williams. All three of them are members of Rose Hill Missionary Baptist Church, which owns the Dr. John Banks House.

They were discussing the Natchez Deacons for Defense and Justice, and the role of the Dr. John Banks House in the civil rights movement.

“I started telling them about all the things that happened on St. Catherine, where I grew up,” Newsome said. “They were floored by the amount of information I shared with them. At one point, Dora said, ‘You should do something on the history of this street.’”

And that’s when the idea for the booklet was born.

“They wanted that information to be shared with others,” Newsome said. “We want everyone to understand what a viable part that St. Catherine played in the formation of the City of Natchez.”

Fresh content

The booklet presents 10-pages of content that feature historical nuggets with photos of historical sites on each page. Featured sites and people include:

George F. Bowles House, Dr. John Bowman Banks Museum, Rhythm Night Club Memorial Museum, Mr. Whitehead’s Photo Shop, Three Together, Knoxall’s Grocery, The Iceman, Forks of the Road, Bob Lee’s Cleaners, Red Horse;

Texaco Service Station, O’Brien House, Holy Family Catholic Church and St. Francis High School, Ms. Sadie V. Thompson, Community Market, Ace Theater, White Rooster, Hot Tamales, Mr. Joe’s Store, Perrault Street;

George’s Alley, Churches, Brown’s Velvet Ice Cream, Other Entrepreneurs, Snow White Cleaners, The Bush House, Grocery Store Etc., Monmouth Street, Shotgun Houses, Donut Shop;

Ebony Barber Shop, Funeral Homes, Zion Chapel A.M.E. Church and Parsonage, Brumfield School, Winston Hill, 69 Saint Caterine Street, Combo Restaurant, Cedar’s Alley (Street), Junkin Street, Rembert Street, and Mr. Frazee Miller.

Copies of the St. Catherine Street booklet are available for free at Visit Natchez, Historic Natchez Foundation, NAPAC museum, and Natchez City Sightseeing Tours in the lobby of the Natchez Grand Hotel.

The booklet may be downloaded at https://visitnatchez.org/wp-content/uploads/St-Catherine-Street-Tour.pdf

For more information, call Roscoe Barnes III at Visit Natchez at 601-492-3004.

 

George F. Bowles house receives historical marker

By Roscoe Barnes III
The Natchez Democrat
(Published 9:26 am Friday, March 1, 2024)

Mayor Dan Gibson and the City of Natchez recently dedicated a historical marker for the George F. Bowles House at 13 St. Catherine St. From left are Mayor Dan Gibson, Brenda and Larry Homes, Debra and Rev. Birdon Mitchell, and Alderwoman Valencia Hall.

NATCHEZ, Miss. -- The George F. Bowles House, located at 13 St. Catherine St., is the recent recipient of a historical marker presented by the City of Natchez and the NAPAC museum. 

Mayor Dan Gibson and a group of local residents unveiled the marker in front of the house during a dedication ceremony Wednesday, Feb. 28. 

The mayor was joined by Larry and Brenda Holmes, the current owners of the house; Alderwoman Valencia Hall; the Rev. Birdon and Debra Mitchell, next-door neighbors; and Dr. Neifa Hardy.  

Friends and family members of the Holmes also attended the event which was held in recognition of Black History Month.  “It is such a blessing to witness the great things happening in Natchez,” said Gibson. “Being able to celebrate the history of this home, located in the Holy Family Catholic Church Historic District, and in the heart of the historic black business and residential area of North Natchez, is just another step forward in telling our story, all of it, for One Natchez.” 

The marker is inscribed with the words, “The George F. Bowles House: 1886 – 1890.” It displays the NAPAC museum logo and a QR code for additional information on the site.

 Larry Holmes said that he and his wife were elated about the marker.  “We both feel good about it,” he said. “This is something we’ve wanted for a long time. George F. Bowles was an important man in our history and his story, as well as the story of his wife, needs to be told.” 

Larry Holmes grew up behind the house, across the street known as Bowles Alley. In 1977, he moved into the house as a tenant.  

He said that he and Brenda purchased the house in 1984, and it has been their home ever since.  Birdon Mitchell, pastor of Zion Chapel A.M.E. Church, has been the Holmes’ neighbor for many years. He said he was happy to see the recognition given for their property. 

“Larry and Brenda are very knowledgeable about the history of this property,” Birdon Mitchell said. “They love telling the stories about this house and they’re eager to share this information with the broader community. Natchez is fortunate to have this property preserved for the present and future generations.” 

George F. Bowles (1844-1899) was a prominent African American who played a significant role in Natchez’s history in the 1800s.  Born enslaved in Charleston, S.C., he gained his freedom before the start of the Civil War.   

Bowles came to Natchez in 1871 after practicing law in Tennessee. In the 1880s and 1890s, he served as a member of the state House of Representatives from Adams County.  He was a successful businessman, inventor, newspaper publisher, and philanthropist. His wife, Laura E. Davis Bowles, was a member of a prominent black family. 

George Bowles built his house between 1886 and 1890, according to Mimi Miller of the Historic Natchez Foundation.  It is located in the Hospital Hill neighborhood on the very site that was home to Natchez’s first public hospital building, the Mississippi State Hospital, built in 1813.   

Before its main section was demolished in 1866, the hospital existed on the north side of St. Catherine across from the present location of Holy Family Church.  The Bowles house is flanked on the west by the Dr. John Bowman Banks house and on the east by the parsonage of Zion Chapel A.M.E. Church. 

The Bowles lived in the house until 1899, the year that both of them died. Laura Bowles died on Aug. 17, 1899 and George died in their home on Dec. 26, 1899, at the age of 55. 

His pallbearers included Dr. John Banks, G.W. Brumfield and L.D. Kastor. John Roy Lynch was listed as an honorary pallbearer. 

The Bowles house is the latest historical site to be added to the city’s Self-Guided African American History tour, which features 29 sites related to African American history. Barber Jessie Winston’s home was added to the tour in December 2023. 

The city’s self-guided history tour project was unveiled during a Black History program in February 2023. It is a joint initiative of the City of Natchez and NAPAC Museum. 

Mayor Gibson has said the project is one of many ways through which the city is telling its complete history. 

A detailed article on the history of the George F. Bowles House can be read in the September/October 2023 issue of Natchez Magazine.

Read more at: https://www.natchezdemocrat.com/2024/03/01/george-f-bowles-house-receives-historical-marker/

Panelist for ‘Flags From Mississippi Gallery Talk: USCT.’

On Thursday, March 14, I had the pleasure of  serving as a panelist for the MDAH program, “Flags From Mississippi Gallery Talk: USCT.” The program, which focused on the U.S. Colored Troops, was held at the Two Mississippi Museums in Jackson. My fellow panelist was Dr. Albert Dorsey Jr., center, assistant professor of History at Jackson State University. Mr. Michael Morris, director of the Two Museums, served as moderator. We had good turnout and good discussions. I thoroughly enjoyed it all.

I’m grateful to Drew Gardner, manager of Family and Community Learning at MDAH, for inviting me to participate in this important program.

Dr. Max Grivno to speak on ‘Natchez Diplomacy, 1540-1730’ at March 26 meeting of Natchez Historical Society

This program is free to the public

By Roscoe Barnes III
Visit Natchez

Dr. Max Grivno
University of Southern Mississippi

NATCHEZ, Miss. – Dr. Max Grivno, associate professor of History at the University of Southern Mississippi, is returning to Natchez to talk about diplomacy in the early years of the city’s history.

Grivno will present his lecture, “Natchez Diplomacy, 1540-1730,” at the Tuesday, March 26 meeting of the Natchez Historical Society at 108 S. Commerce St. The program is free to the public. It will begin with a social at 5:30 p.m. and the presentation at 6 p.m.
 
“I am excited to have the opportunity to return to Natchez and to speak to the historical society,” said Grivno. “The previous decade has seen an outpouring of work focused on the Natchez nation -- work that has changed how we understand these people and their place in the history of the Lower Mississippi River Valley.  I look forward to sharing some of those findings with the society.” 
 
Grivno is associate professor of History at the University of Southern Mississippi and editor of The Southern Quarterly. Specifically, he will speak about Native American diplomacy in the colonial period in Natchez.
 
Alan Wolf, a director of the society and its program chair, explained that Dr. Grivno’s presentation will examine how the Natchez wrestled with notable and critical changes diplomatically.
 
“He will look at Natchez diplomacy with other native peoples and the Natchez attempts to secure alliances with the encroaching European empires, while all the while attempting to maintain their own economic and political independence,” he said.
 
Grivno has spoken for the society in the past. For example, in November 2022, he gave a lecture on the topic, "Hernando De Soto and the First European Contact with the Mississippi Civilization of the Lower Mississippi Valley." It was well received.
 
This March 26 program is funded in part by a grant from the Mississippi Humanities Council, through funding by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
 
For more information, visit natchezhistoricalsociety.org or call 601-492-3004. Emails may be sent to info@natchezhistoricalsociety.org
  

Ladner remembered as ‘giant in the civil rights movement’

This story was published online at 5:08 p.m., Tuesday, March 12, 2024, by The Natchez Democrat.

By Roscoe Barnes III

Dorie Ladner. Photo by Deborah Menkart
(Click on image to enlarge.)

NATCHEZ – Dorie Ann Ladner, who fought for civil rights and voter registration in Natchez, has died, her sister, Joyce Ladner, announced on Tuesday. Dorie Ladner was 81.

“My beloved sister, Dorie Ladner, died peacefully on Monday, March 11, 2024. She will always be my big sister who fought tenaciously for the underdog and the dispossessed. She left a profound legacy of service,” Joyce Ladner shared in a Facebook post. 

Dorie Ladner is remembered as a giant in the civil rights movement who worked closely with such leaders as Bill Ware, George Greene, and George Metcalfe, among others.

Ser Seshsh Ab Heter-Clifford M. Boxley, who knew Dorie Ladner personally, said it was interesting that she died on Monday, one day before the polls opened Tuesday on primary election day in Natchez.  In a Facebook post shared Tuesday, Boxley said he “brought her back to Natchez to tell her story and free her spirit from all the pent-up stress generated when she did outstanding community organizing for [the] SNCC Voters Project.” 

‘A good job done’

Boxley wrote that she had not returned to Natchez since leaving “after having plowed the grounds for voters’ civil rights and a good job done.” 

Boxley said he brought Dorie Ladner, and the Rev. Al Sampson of Chicago of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, to Natchez in 2015 for the 50th anniversary of the modern civil rights movement in Natchez as part of his annual Black and Blue Civil War Living History program. The guests spoke at Jefferson College. 

Dorie Ladner was one of the first workers to come to Natchez to get people to vote, said Bobby Dennis, executive director of the NAPAC museum. “That was the beginning of the time when we had a heightened length of Ku Klux Klan activity here in Natchez,” he said.

Dennis said that when Dorie Ladner returned to Natchez as part of Boxley’s program, she visited the NAPAC museum. 

Dennis pointed to the film, “Black Natchez” (1967), which presents a documentary of the Natchez movement. He noted that Dorie Ladner is shown approaching activist Bill Ware as he stood on top of a car in front of the NAACP Headquarters. She rushed to him and beckoned for his attention. When he knelt to hear her, she said, “The mayor rejected all of the demands.” 

SNCC Field Secretary Dorie Ladner speaking passionately to volunteers in a training session on nonviolent self-defense in June 1964 in Ohio. Photo courtesy of Dr. Joyce Ladner

In addition to fellow activists, Dorie Ladner’s work has been praised by scholars, historians, and government leaders. The Mississippi Humanities Council described her as “a giant in the civil rights movement.”

“Dorie Ladner was a vital part of the grassroots effort to change Mississippi and America,” said Dr. Stuart Rockoff, executive director of the Mississippi Humanities Council. “A native of the small community of Palmer’s Crossing, she took her experience in the Mississippi movement to become a national leader in the effort for civil rights. The Mississippi Humanities Councils looks forward to honoring the life and legacy of Ms. Ladner and her sister Joyce with a new Freedom Trail Marker to be dedicated in their hometown on May 4th.” 

Metcalfe Boarding House 

Dorie Ladner was a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).  In 1964, during Freedom Summer, she was one of several women who stayed at the Dr. John Banks House at 9 St. Catherine St. At the time, the house served as the headquarters for the Natchez Branch of the NAACP. It was also home to NAACP President George Metcalfe, who lived on the first floor. 

The civil rights workers called the residence “Metcalfe Boarding House.” They stayed at the house following the bombing of Freedom House #1 at 611 S. Wall St., according to Boxley. 

John Dittmer wrote about the bombing in his book, “Local People: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi” (University of Illinois Press, 1995):  “In the late summer of 1964, when SNCC organizers Dorie Ladner, Chuck McDew, and Charles Neblett inaugurated COFO’s first project in Adams County, a bomb destroyed the building next to the house where the SNCC workers were staying. Chief of Police J.T. Robinson told Ladner that the ‘bomb was meant for you. I’m surprised you haven’t been killed already.’” 

Dorie Ladner featured in ProPublica article, "Keep on Pushing" (Sept. 18, 2014). Photo by T.J. Kirkpatrick. Courtesy of  Dr. Joyce Ladner.

Other women who stayed at Metcalfe Boarding House included Janet Jemmott, who would later marry the respected civil rights leader, Bob Moses; and Annie Pearl Avery, who sometimes guarded the house using her .22 pistol, according to SNCC.

Her later years 

During Dorie Ladner’s later years, she struggled as her health began to deteriorate. A few weeks before her passing, her daughter, Yodit Churnet, opened a GoFundMe page for her mother. 

“Dorie Ladner is at a critical time of her life and is in urgent need of home healthcare assistance,” she wrote. “She suffered a stroke and was struck with cancer and underwent a mastectomy. She is also suffering from debilitating back problems such as arthritis and spinal stenosis (surgery in October 2023) and is still in recovery.” 

Churnet noted her mother joined the movement while still a teenager and continued to work for human and civil rights for more than 60 years. 

“America is a much more democratic society because of the sacrifices made by Dorie to end racial segregation,” she wrote. “Millions of African Americans throughout the South are now able to vote and participate in determining the direction of America because of her contributions.”

Read more at: https://www.natchezdemocrat.com/2024/03/12/ladner-remembered-as-giant-in-the-civil-rights-movement/

Scott George and the Osage Singers perform at the Oscars

On Sunday, March 10, 2024, I had the pleasure of watching Osage member Scott George and the Osage Singers sing “Wahzhazhe: A Song for My People,” at the Oscars. George is a regular performer at Natchez Powwow. He composed the song, “Wahzhazhe,” which is featured in Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon.” In the film, it is performed in the closing dance scene by Osage tribal singers.

George’s song was nominated for Best Original Song. Unfortunately, the song did not win, but George and the Osage Singers gave a great performance at the Oscars, which I found to be powerful and deeply moving. I loved the standing ovation they received.

Now I can’t wait to see George when he returns to Mississippi for a performance at Natchez Powwow. I am so happy for him and the Osage Singers.

To see the performance, visit this link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dn4krzAKRfQ