Jackson, Mississippi Civil Rights Trail, Relentless Tenacity

                                                                               

The first recorded European explorer to reach Mississippi was De Soto in 1540. At the time Native Americans had been living there for 12,000-years and three indigenous tribes had the largest presence, the Chickasaw, Choctaw and Natchez. It was Indians who gave the river and the state its name as the “Father of Waters”, “Misi-ziibi". The native inhabitants were displaced through unfair treaties and oppression and in 1719 the French introduced a significant number of slaves into the area. visitmississippi.org

                 

 Jackson, Mississippi’s capital, sits in the central portion of the state on the Pearl River. A French trading post was established there in 1792. By 1798 the territory had 4,500 whites and 2,400 blacks. Thirty years later a treaty allowed white settlement, 2-years later it was named after Andrew Jackson and it became the location of the state capital in 1821 because of its proximity to the Pearl River and the Natchez Trace. 

                  

When Mississippi achieved statehood in 1817 it led the country in cotton production because of their “Petit Gulf” cotton. They produced as much as 3,000-lbs per acre when the average was 530-lbs. Increased production demanded an increased number of enslaved and by the 1830s there were 200,000 slaves, outnumbering the number of whites. At the onset of the Civil War there were 353,901 whites and 436,631 slaves. Because of the ever-present fear of insurrection the slave laws were particularly harsh and the number of enslaved who were freed was held to a minimum. In 1857 a law was enacted making private emancipations illegal. The enslaved always practiced subtle resistance by working slowly, breaking tools, feigning sickness, etc.

    

At the start of the Civil War slavery was legal in 5 of the county’s 10 richest states and there were a total of 3,953,760 enslaved workers worth around 43-billion. Mississippi seceded from the Union on January 9, 1861. During the war it changed hands 9 times and suffered significant damage and a July 1864 raid consisted of Federal units including a black cavalry regiment. 

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The state sent approximately 80,000 white men into the war. Black “Confederates” were issued a pension by Mississippi even though there were no black combat troops, highlighted by the fact that it was not until March 13, 1865 that the Confederate Congress enacted a law permitting black men to serve in combat but, ”nothing in this act shall be construed to authorize a change in the relation which the said slaves shall bear toward their owners”. Blacks served as noncombatant laborers, aid workers, factory workers, transporters of goods and personal servants to troops.

No state’s policy toward the emancipated African Americans was more shaped by prior history than Mississippi. Because of its one-crop economy and the large number of African American residents Mississippi’s white population felt they had to become even more controlling and coerce blacks into remaining in poverty with no political power. These factors reached a boil in 1955 with the murder of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old visitor from Chicago. He was beaten and murdered in Money, Mississippi, a 75-lb fan tied around his neck and thrown into the Tallahatchie River. 

His death launched worldwide protests and made Mississippi the site of a wave of activism that would change the country. Many of the sites on the state’s Civil Rights Trail are located in Jackson. Follow this trail to understand how ordinary people accomplished extraordinary things.civilrightstrail.com

                 

The Jackson Civil Rights Movement Driving Tour consists of 80-sites over 4 neighborhoods. It includes homes, churches, schools and event locations with 11 designated Freedom Markers. It begins in the 19^th-century 125-acre Farish Street Historic District, once Mississippi’s “Black Mecca,” at one of CNN’s 50 States 50 Spots to see, the Smith Robertson Museum and Cultural Center. More than 1,000 artifacts are housed here, the city’s first public school for black children.

                  

Tougaloo College was both a haven and a place to organize for movement members. The college was founded in 1869 on what was the Boddie Plantation. All of the great leaders, Hamer, Baldwin, King, Evers, Bond, R. Kennedy, Bunche, Baez and Rustin spoke from the podium in Woodworth Chapel. Students departed from Woodworth to stage a read-in in Jackson Public Library in 1961 where they were arrested. Cleman Library houses important Civil Rights documents.

                  

A life-sized statue of Medgar Evers stands in front of the Medgar Evers Library a ½-mile from M

edgar Evers Home Museum. He purchased the house with a GI loan in 1957 and was assassinated here on June 12, 1963. The activist and NAACP Field Secretary arrived home at 12:20 AM after attending a meeting at the New Jerusalem Baptist Church. Byron De La Beckwith shot him from a honeysuckle bush 150-ft. away with a 1918 Enfield rifle. He died one hour later. Services were held at Collins Funeral Home. 

                 

Twelve Mississippi Blues Trail Markers are placed around the city in recognition of the city’s contributions to music. The 1949 Art Deco Alamo Theater, part of the “Chitlin Circuit”, is featured. It presented black films and performers. It closed in 1983 and was restored and reopened in 1997. msbluestrail.org

                  

The Museum of Mississippi History and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum are situated adjacent to one another connected by a lobby. Together they present a complete picture of the state’s history through artifacts, dioramas, interactive displays, audio, video and informational panels.

                  

The Museum of History presents more than 15,000 years of habitation through three chronological galleries on two floors. The exhibit areas are, 13,000 BC-AD 1798, 1799-1865-Shaping A State and 1866- Present- Remaking Society. Highlights of the museum are a 500-year-old dugout canoe and an in-depth exploration of the Cotton Kingdom and 19^th-century slavery. The museum contains the world’s largest collection of Mississippi artifacts. mmh.mdah.ms.gov

The Mississippi Civil Rights Museum honors those who participated in the 1945-1970 Civil Rights Movement in eight interactive exhibits and I cannot recommend this museum highly enough. The museum guides you from the close of the Civil War to the current state in America. Galleries are built around an area, This Little Light of Mine, that honors the activists with music and features a light sculpture that increase in brightness as more people enter the area. Creative theaters are placed throughout the exhibits. Visitors can view videos in a church, a police van and a jail cell. Other highlights include films on Emmett Till, the slain Civil Rights workers and Medgar Evers. On display is the actual rifle used to assassinate Evers. The music of the movement plays during the tour. mcrm.mdah.ms.gov

                

 You can practice COVID protocols while interacting with history. Stay safe and visit sites that matter. 

 

Fairfax County, VA, George Washington Walked Here! (Part One)

When the first Europeans arrived the region of Fairfax County in 1608 the land had been inhabited for thousands of years by Indians. The Doeg, the largest tribe in the area, lived in three villages in what is now Fairfax. They farmed and fished. By the end of the 1600s they had either migrated, died of disease or war. @VisitFairfax

 In 1649 Charles II of England was exiled but awarded 7 loyalists land in Virginia. The Fairfax family came into the land by 1690 and in 1745 their ownership of 5,282,000-acres was officially recognized. Fairfax County was created in 1742 and thrived on raising tobacco with the extensive use of black slave labor. By 1749 slaves made up 28% of the population and in only 33-years the percentage rose to 41%.

                

The county was named in honor of Thomas the 6^th Lord of Fairfax. He moved from England to VA in 1742 and hired a teenaged George Washington to survey his land. Washington moved to Mount Vernon to live with his half-brother. Fairfax became a slave trader and owned 30 plantations, scattered throughout 9,000-acres, with hundreds of enslaved workers.

                  

The 1759 Gunston Hall became the home of George Mason, Founding Father, delegate to the Constitutional Convention, writer of the Virginia Constitution and the VA Declaration of Rights and one of the 3 men to refuse to sign the Constitution because of its failure to protect individual rights. Ironically, Mason vocally expounded upon the evils of slavery but held the 2^nd largest number of enslaved workers in Northern Virginia and mentioned 36 slaves in his will but failed to free any. 

                  

An 11-minute orientation film and museum are inside the Visitor’s Center. “Revolutionary Rights” exhibit interprets Mason’s influence. “A Woman’s Place” explores the lives of Gunston Hall’s free and enslaved females. Exterior tours of the 1700s Riverside Garden restoration and dependencies are offered as well as guided tours of the Georgian mansion that showcase the phenomenal interior designs featuring chinoiserie, high Palladian and French rococo architecture. gunstonhall.org

George Washington rented Mount Vernon in 1754 upon the death of his brother Lawrence and inherited the estate in 1761 upon the death of Lawrence’s wife. Ultimately he expanded the mansion, adding a floor to the 1 1/2 –story structure, with 21-rooms and an 11,028 square footprint. The plantation was divided into 4 agricultural farms and Mansion Farm that included the area immediately surrounding the house. 

Mount Vernon is the most visited historic home in America and tours of the first floor are offered. Highlights of the tour are personal items, furnishings, portraits and the key to the Bastille gifted to Washington by Lafayette. https://virtualtour.mountvernon.org

In 1761 2,000 slaves worked at Mount Vernon. At Washington’s death there were almost 8,000, 316 which he owned personally. Brick slave quarters were added in 1793 for Mansion House enslaved. Each had a fireplace and glazed windows. Self-guided tours reveal how these, largely skilled, enslaved lived. A Cemetery Slave Memorial is also on the grounds as Washington’s Tomb.

Prior to the tour you should visit The Museum and Education Center. The 23 galleries and theaters present interactive exhibits, films, artifacts and original objects including a set of Washington’s famous dentures. Current special exhibits include  “Be Washington”, the 4-D Revolutionary War Theater and "Lives Bound Together", an interpretation of the institution of slavery, the life of Mount Vernon’s enslaved and Washington’s views on slavery. #mountvernon
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When Mount Vernon opened for tours in 1858 travelers were served refreshments because the estate was so far from any other dining facilities. Today the adjacent Mount Vernon Inn serves excellent Colonial American fare with an 18^th-century vibe. The do not miss dish here is peanut soup.

George Washington owned a Distillery & Gristmill. A white farmer and several enslaved males operated the 3-story, 1771, mill. It is reconstructed to the era and fully functional. 

The reconstructed distillery was the largest in the nation. In 1799 six enslaved workers and a farmer produced 11,000-gallons of whiskey. It is the only 18^th-century distillery in the country and is the start of the official American Whiskey Trail. The Signature Rye Whiskey can only be produced and purchased at Mount Vernon and is the Official State Spirit of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Tours of both structures, 3-miles from Mount Vernon, are available.

The 2,000-acre Woodlawn Estate was a wedding gift from George Washington to his step-granddaughter and nephew.  In 1805 slaves used hand-fired 24” thick bricks to construct the Georgian/Federal, 5-part mansion, an architectural wonder. The family owned 90-100 slaves.

James Mason, a Baptist abolitionist, purchased the property in 1853 and it became a hub of abolitionism, Quaker, education and scientific farming technique activities. During the Civil War both sides distrusted the Quakers and harassed and imprisoned them. An armed, interracial, civilian militia was established to protect them, unique for the region and the era.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Unisonian-style Pope-Leighey House is the only Wright house in the region. It was commissioned in 1939 as a home that the middle class could afford. The 1,200-sq. ft., L-shaped, house cost $7,000 and has 2 bedrooms and one bath. The structure was built using only brick, concrete, cypress and glass. Wright also designed the furniture and incorporated such features as radiant heat, high ceilings and an open floor plan. The house was moved to this site in 1965. Tours are by reservation. woodlawnpopeleighey.org

West Ford’s mother Venus was a slave. She told people, including George Washington’s sister-in-law, that West (1784-1863) was George’s son and his sister-in-law saw to it that he was educated and freed at the age of 21. He became manager of Mount Vernon upon George’s death. He served as Washington’s first tomb guard, a job held by his family for years. He inherited 160-acres from Bushrod Washington and in 1833 he purchased 214-acres and established Gum Springs 2-miles from Mount Vernon. It was a place for freed blacks and freedom seekers to start a life and gain economic stability. It remains one of the oldest African American communities in the country and nearly 500 residents are descendants of the first occupants. 

The Mount Vernon Ladies Association purchased Mount Vernon and 200-acres for $200,000 in 1858 to preserve and restore it. They used Ford’s recollections as the basis of the reconstruction. Eventually they moved him to Mount Vernon and cared for him until his death. It is believed he is interred in the family tomb.

Gum Springs Museum & Cultural Center has exhibits curated by Ron Chase that interpret the experiences and history of Gum Springs. Mr. Chase, a descendant, makes the stories come alive. gumspringsmuseum.blogspot.com

                 

All of the sites adhere to strict health guidelines. Call for hours and information and ease your way back into travel.