Wednesday, October 2, 2019
Mound Bayou
In 1887, former slaves and cousins Isaiah T. Montgomery, Joshua P.T. Montgomery, and Benjamin T. Green sought to obtain land where black people could own land and make profits by farming their own land. They decided to settle towards the bottom of the Mississippi Delta, which at the time was uninhabited. Black men who came helped clear the land, except this time, they were the ones who would profit from it. Residents of Mound Bayou were able to build a bank, schools, government, etc. making it a developed area. There was also a hospital, schools, and parks. This time period was marked by segregation and was during the Jim Crow era, so having a place like Mound Bayou was important. In fact, it eventually became the largest African-American community in the nation.
Unfortunately, during the twentieth century, a changing economy and conflict coming from within and outside the community caused Mound Bayou’s success to subside. The price of cotton started to fall which caused less revenue, and therefore made the community more dependent on white communities. Additionally, in 1926, there was a lethal fire that destroyed businesses. There was yet another fire in 1941 that had an equal impact. Today, the town still exists but is deteriorated, and there are only a few places of interest that remain there. Additionally, many living there today are in poverty.
Mound Bayou was not the only town founded by black people after the Civil War. Another town was Nicodemus, which is located in Kansas. As blacks migrated from the South to Midwest, they decided to move to Nicodemus, which was another bleak area. However, they were able to build houses and create a town. The town became developed, but eventually many people left after droughts and a failure to build a train station in the town. Today, similar to Mound Bayou, Nicodemus has few buildings and not many people either. However, these towns were impactful and important during the time period for black people trying to form their own communities and escape from the unfair treatment during the Jim Crow era.
Sources:
- https://mississippiencyclopedia.org/entries/mound-bayou/
- https://www.nps.gov/articles/nicodemus.htm
- https://www.npr.org/2017/03/08/515814287/heres-whats-become-of-a-historic-all-black-town-in-the-mississippi-delta
- https://www.nps.gov/nr/feature/places/pdfs/13000735.pdf
- https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/mound-bayou-mississippi
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
It is interesting that there were successful black establishments during this divisive period in American history. Mound Bayou was very successful during the 19th century but unfortunately collapsed due to financial issues that plagued the country. Also the fires were devastating and has had everlasting effects. Nonetheless, it is comforting to see that there were successful black communities during the Jim Crow era.
ReplyDeleteI found this post very interesting and I really liked how you compared other communities to Mound Bayou. One thing I wanted to know more about were the values present in Mound Bayou. I learned that during Reconstruction, Mound Bayou was known as a community with very high morals; there was low crime, no gambling, no sales of alcohol, and an emphasis on education. Newspapers promoted education as a way to make a prosperous community and give more opportunities to its inhabitants. Given the segregation and Jim Crow Laws, it was very impactful for black people to develop their own communities where they could live without discrimination.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/mound-bayou-1887/