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