Springfield Liberty Historic Marker

Springfield Liberty  Road Historic Marker
Photo Credit: Antoinette Harrell

This marker is Easleyville, Louisiana, in St. Helena Parish. The Marker is at the intersection of State Highway 38 and State Highway 441, on the left when traveling east on State High. 38. 

 

Travels to Zama, Mississippi

 

Zama, Mississippi
Photo Credit: Walter C. Black, Sr. 

Zama ia a unincorporated community in Attala County, Mississippi. I traveled there to interview people who lived there that could tell me about sharecropping. 

The Cotton Exchange Museum in Memphis, Tennessee

The Cotton Exchange Museum
Photo Credit: Walter C. Black, Sr. 

The Cotton Exchange Museum in Memphis, TN is located in downtown Memphis, Tennessee. It was established in 1873. The museum was established as a result of the growing cotton industry. 

The Cotton Fields in the Mississippi Delta

The Cotton Field
Photo Credit: Shawn Escoffery

Documentary and travel photographer  Shawn Escoffery took this photograph. Shawn has traveled the world taking photographs of people and places. I was excited he chose to travel to the Mississippi Delta with . 

 

Hopson Plantation in Clarksdale, Mississippi

Hopson Plantation in Clarksdale, Mississippi
Photo Credit: Walter C. Black, Sr. 

The Hopson Plantation family purchased a tract of land that became the home of the Hopson Plantation in Clarksdale, Mississippi. It is now a tourist destination with cabin that can be rented. 

Clarksdale, Mississippi Library Peonage Research

 

Clarksdale, Mississippi
Photo Credit: Walter C. Black, Sr.

What are the chances of walking in a library and finding a magazine with your picture and genealogical DNA story?  This librarian walked up to me and asked me if I was the person in this magazine. She asked me to autograph the copy. People Magazine published an article on my trip to Niger, Africa in 2004.  This library is in Clarksdale, Mississippi. 

Dr. Antoinette Harrell Researching in Clarkdale, Mississippi

Clarksdale, Mississippi Peonage Research
Photo Credit: Walter C. Black, Sr.

In researching peonage cases in Mississippi, Dr. Antoinette Harrell visited many counties. Many cases were found in the Department of Justice, FBI, and NAACP files. She found several counties in Mississippi based on the records. 

Family Lived on Ballground Plantation for 5 Generations

 

Interview with Donald Jeffery on Ballground Plantatiion
Photo Credit: Walter C. Black, Sr.

For five generations, Donald Jeffery and his family have lived on Ballground Plantation in Redwood, Mississippi. He is reviewing plantation records and photographs. Before she passed away, I had the pleasure of meeting his dear mother. Earlie May Jeffery was her name. Donald has lived on the plantation all his life. There was only one place he could call home. 

Researching in Attala County, Mississippi

 

Attala County, Mississippi
Photo Credit: Walter C. Black, Sr.

I was researching peonage files in Attala County, Mississippi.  I wanted to look at records in Kosciusko, Mississippi, the childhood hometown of Oprah Winfrey. I did find the records I was searching fir. 

Ballground Plantation in Redwood, Mississippi

Ballground Plantation
Photo Credit: Kris Davidson

I met these two men on Ballground Plantation. We're in the church down the road near the main house. I enjoyed listening to the oral history they shared with me. Both of them have lived in the area all their life. 

 

Researching My Harrell Ancestors in Amite County, Mississippi

Amite County Courthouse in Liberty, Mississippi
Photo Credit: Walter C. Black, Sr.

I've spent countless of hours researching my Harrell ancestors in Liberty, Mississippi. They were enslaved on the Harrell place. I found the slave inventory belonging to the Harrell family. They migrated from South Carolina in 1803.

 

Liberty, Mississippi
Photo Credit: Dr. Antoinette Harrell

 

Herbert Lee was a Civil Right Activist in Amite County, Mississippi and was advocating for African Americans in the Mississippi to have the right to vote. He was murdered by E. H. Hurst,   on September 25, 1961 in Liberty, Mississippi at the cotton gin. E. H. Hurst was a member of the Mississippi House of Representative from Amite County. 
 

Herbert Lee Murdered in Liberty, Mississippi

Hemora Plantation in Pike County, Mississippi

Hemora Plantation Notes
Photo Credit: Dr. Antoinette Harrell

Hemora Plantation is located in Holmesville in Pike County, Mississippi. Holmesville is an Unincorporated community in Pike County. This note was located inside the book entitled, " Source Material for Mississippi History, Pike County, Vol, 57, Part 2. The note is giving directions to the location of the plantation. 5 miles South of East from Summitt, 3 miles from McComb. 

Pike County Marriage Records Separated Up Until 1976

Marriage Records Books in Pike County, Mississippi
Photo Credit: Dr. Antoinette Harrell

I went to Pike County, Mississippi was still separated by race up until 1976.  I was just as shocked as those of you who are reading this blog post. Long after the Civil Rights movement marriage records in Pike County, Mississippi were still being separated. 

Indian Arrowheads Collection at the McComb, Mississippi Library

Display of Indian Arrowheads
Photo Credit: Dr. Antoinette Harrell

I visited the library in Magnolia, Mississippi the first thing that caught my eye was the display of Indian Arrowheads. Some of them were found in the yards of the local people. It appeared that some where purchased from others states according to the tags. 

Emancipation Day

I was researching at the library in McComb and found this write up in the book entitled "Material  for Mississippi History Pike County, Vol. 57, Part 2. While looking through the book, I came across a write up about Emancipation Day. I was truly outraged after reading what it said. It read as follow: 

Emancipation Day

A celebration characteristic among the Negroes is that of the "eight of May." No Negro can be found anywhere in the white quarters available for any kind of work on that day, the day of all days, to them. May 8 is Emancipation Day," a for picnics and any wild forms of amusement they may see fit to indulge in. No one works, no one cares; from the white-haired mammy, bedecked in red bandanna and fresh white starched apron,  to the most pig-tailed bare-foot pickaninny, with the remains of a fried chicken leg in one hand and a stick of peppermint in the other. In the afternoon they have ball games and the Negroes congregate  from many towns. 

Bibliography:

Source Material for Mississippi History, Pike County, Vol, 57, Part 2

McComb, Mississippi Genealogy Department

Mississippi Department of Archives, 1902-1907

WPA Project

Negro Baptizing in the Tangipahoa River

Baptizing's are held in the river, where sometimes as many as one hundred Negroes are baptized in one way. Negro preacher and about ten or twelve elders from an aisle for them to pass on down to the baptismal hole, while several hundred on the bank sing, "I am going down to Jordan to be baptized.

Bibliography:

Mississippi Department of Archives 1902-1907. WPA

Source Material for Mississippi History Pike County, Vol. 57, Part 2