Unit 7: Post-Reconstruction (1877 – 1935)
Class 1:
Mound Bayou: One of the First All-Black Towns Founded by Formerly Enslaved Blacks PART 1
Map of Mound Bayou
Mound Bayou, Mississippi was founded in 1887 and incorporated in 1898.
Documentary: Take the Mountain: History of Davis Bend and Mound Bayou (9:59 min)
Mound Bayou traces its origin to people from the extensive plantations at Davis Bend, located 20 miles south of Vicksburg, Mississippi. The latter was established in the 1820s by the planter Joseph E. Davis, the much older brother of Jefferson Davis. This short documentary follows Isaiah T. Montgomery, a slave born on the plantation, from his childhood at Davis Bend, through the Civil War, to the founding of the town of Mound Bayou. The decendants of the original founders promoted education as an essential path to community survival. They opened the Taborian Hospital in 1942, one of only two African American hospitals in the state during the first half of the 20th century.
Published by Deborah Freeland