When James Meredith became the first African American to attend the University of Mississippi… Moses, Robert Parris 1935— Recreation and the arts—important aspects of community life—go unmentioned.On the other hand, the exhibit structure allows viewers to draw their own conclusions. In the same year, one observer noted that Mound Bayou was "mostly a town of old folks an' folks getting old." "Mound Bayou: Jewel of the Delta." Isaiah T. Montgomery was the fi rst mayor and served until 1902. This search ultimately led the railroad to recruit Montgomery and a handful of other African American agents.Once all involved agreed on an exact location for the Mound Bayou settlement, in the hinterlands of Bolivar County near the Chickasaw burial mounds some seven miles west of the Sunflower River and fifteen miles east of the Mississippi River, Montgomery set out in search of potential settlers. Blackwell, Unita 1933– Civil rights pioneer, lecturer Fannie Lou Hamer spent most of her life in rural southern poverty, entering politic… Meredith, James H. 1933— With the hospital, schools, parks, and a small but impressive array of African American professionals, Mound Bayou offered hope, examples, and a central location for many African Americans in the Delta.The second half of the twentieth century was not nearly as kind to Mound Bayou. As an oasis from white-run politics and white-owned business, it was a safe place for some civil rights leaders, especially early in the movement. Source for information on Mound Bayou, Mississippi: Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History dictionary. Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list. Mound Bayou is a city in Bolivar County, Mississippi, United States. It is notable for having been founded as an independent black community in 1887 by former slaves led by Isaiah Montgomery. Born on Hurricane Plantation near Vicksburg, he was raised with owner Joseph Davis' utopian ideal of an educated slave population with limited self-government. For a time, Mound Bayou was the third-largest cotton-producing town in the South.In 1914, declining cotton prices began years of economic problems exacerbated by the Great Depression in the 1930s. All donations are tax deductible.Photo by Russell Lee, Courtesy U.S. Library of Congress (LC-USF33- 011969-M5) Mound Bayou thrived culturally and economically for five decades, reaching a population of approximately 8,000 as it overcame the Jim Crow laws and poverty that plagued many southern blacks after the Reconstruction Era (1865-1877).One of the more improbable facts is this: The founders' ideal of a separate, self-reliant, educated and ethical African-American community had developed on a plantation owned by Jefferson Davis' older brother, Joseph.The rise and decline of Mound Bayou is told in an eye-opening, though somewhat disjointed new photo exhibit developed by the Smith Robertson Museum. Established in the late 1800s, the allAfrican American town was completely unlike any other of its time. Established in the late 1800s, the allAfrican American town was completely unlike any other of its time. The Montgomerys and Green gained expertise from their slave-era experiences that served the budding town they helped establish: Isaiah Montgomery and Benjamin Green in business matters and Joshua Montgomery in the practice of law.In July 1887 Isaiah Montgomery was commissioned to serve as land agent for the Louisville, New Orleans, and Texas Railroad, which sought to build passenger rail links through the heart of the Delta region but desperately needed towns to create a customer base. At a time when few Delta communities could organize themselves effectively, Mound Bayou, through the work of another astute businessman, Charles Banks, developed a thriving business infrastructure complete with a governing body, banks, merchants, cotton gins and warehouses, and a public school system, all outside the reach of the surrounding white-dominated towns. These successes began to draw notice from around the country, as Booker T. Washington, Theodore Roosevelt, Andrew Carnegie, Julius Rosenwald, and other noted figures became de facto supporters of the town’s vast enterprises. He later traveled to other parts of the Deep South to entice former slaves to come to Mound Bayou, where they would engage in the all-too-familiar clearing out of swamplands but would now do so for their own benefit. It is notable for having been founded as an independent black community in 1887 by former slaves led by Isaiah Montgomery.
Encyclopedia.com gives you the ability to cite reference entries and articles according to common styles from the Modern Language Association (MLA), The Chicago Manual of Style, and the American Psychological Association (APA). But in its heyday, Mound Bayou was a model community, as this exhibit shows.Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content. B. Harvey of Memphis, an unscrupulous white businessman, while the bank failed in the fall of 1914 amid allegations of mismanagement. Located along US Highway 61 in the central Mississippi Delta, Mound Bayou was at one time the nation’s largest and most self-sufficient African American town. But a series of business setbacks, fluctuating markets, mounting antagonism from surrounding areas, and severe political infighting began to wear away at its legacy, and by the late 1960s the once proud and self-sufficient town had been reduced to the level of many other small, struggling Delta communities.
The venture prospered until hit by low crop prices, floods, insects and a labor shortage. It also had the distinction of being the largest African-American city in the nation.