Natchez homesite added to Mississippi Freedom Trail – Mississippi’s Best Community Newspaper

By Roscoe Barnes III

NATCHEZ —The Dr. John Banks Home, which as soon as served because the headquarters for the Natchez NAACP, would be the first website of a Mississippi Freedom Path marker in Natchez. Approval of the designation by the Mississippi Humanities Council and Go to Mississippi, means the town will now be listed on the state’s Freedom Path and the U.S. Civil Rights Path.

Information of the historic landmark recognition was introduced not too long ago by Dr. Stuart Rockoff, govt director of MHC. In an e mail dated Could 23, he wrote: “I’m happy to share the information that the Freedom Path Students Committee has accepted your utility to position a marker on the Banks Home in Natchez.”

Plans are underway for a dedication and unveiling ceremony later this 12 months.

Devin Heath, govt director of Go to Natchez, stated Natchez’s itemizing on the Freedom Path highlights the necessary function the town performed within the civil rights motion. “It’s also a possibility to honor and acknowledge those that paved the way in which for us,” he stated.

“Seeing Natchez accepted for inclusion on the Mississippi Freedom Path and the U.S. Civil Rights Path is a dream come true,” stated Mayor Dan Gibson. “From day certainly one of our administration, we have now longed for this to occur. I’m so grateful to Devin Heath and Dr. Roscoe Barnes III at Go to Natchez, and Mr. Robert Pernell, who first dropped this concept on my desk, and our wonderful committee for making our dream a actuality.”

The Mississippi Freedom Path is a part of the U.S. Civil Rights Path. It was created in 2011 to honor the individuals and locations that performed a serious function within the civil rights motion. A complete of 25 markers are actually posted on the path, which incorporates Cleveland, Ruleville, Greenwood, Holly Springs, Clarksdale, and Jackson.

Efforts to have Natchez listed on the Freedom Path have been led by the Natchez Civil Rights Path Committee. Along with Heath and Gibson, the volunteer committee members embody Roscoe Barnes III, cultural heritage tourism supervisor for Go to Natchez; Robert Pernell, chairman of the Natchez U.S. Coloured Troops Monument Committee; Rev. Clifton Marvel Sr., pastor of Larger Macedonia Baptist Church; Carter Burns, govt director of Historic Natchez Basis; Kathleen McClain Bond, superintendent of Natchez Nationwide Historic Park; Lance S. Harris, director of Grand Village of the Natchez Indians; Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis, president of the Natchez Adams County NAACP Department; William Terrell, editor and writer of The Bluff Metropolis Submit; and James Ware, president of the Natchez Enterprise and Civic League.

Assist for the challenge, which is in Ward 4, additionally got here from Alderwoman Felicia Bridgewater-Irving, and members of Rose Hill Missionary Baptist Church, which owns the property.

Along with serving because the NAACP Headquarters, the Banks Home was the house of NAACP President George Metcalfe. In 1964, throughout Freedom Summer time when a thousand volunteers converged on the state to work with Black Mississippians to register voters and function Freedom faculties, members of the Scholar Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) resided on the home.

In January 1965, “evening riders” who dedicated acts of violence at evening intent on inspiring terror fired pictures by way of a window of the home. On Aug. 27, 1965, Metcalfe suffered critical accidents when his automotive was bombed on the Armstrong Tire & Rubber plant by the Ku Klux Klan.

The posting of the Freedom Path marker in Natchez has a price ticket of $9,000. Nonetheless, it’s made attainable by way of a partnership between Go to Mississippi and MHC. The 2 businesses are utilizing federal funds by way of the U.S. Financial Improvement Administration to cowl the price of 20 Freedom Path markers all through the state.

“We couldn’t be extra excited to work with Go to Mississippi to protect and promote Mississippi’s very important civil rights historical past,” stated Rockoff within the Could 2022 difficulty of the MHC e-newsletter. “Our hope is these markers not solely entice vacationers but additionally strengthen our communities by serving to all Mississippians recognize our state’s very important civil rights historical past.”

Roscoe Barnes III is the Cultural Heritage Tourism Supervisor at Go to Natchez.