The Montgomerys of Mississippi: How a Once Enslaved Family Bought Jefferson Davis’ Plantation House After the Civil War
Posted by: Neely Tucker
One year after the Civil War, the newly freed Montgomery family in Mississippi bought the huge plantations on which they had been enslaved -- those of Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy, and his brother, Joseph. The Montgomerys would go on to found Mound Bayou, the all-Black Black farming community that President Theodore Roosevelt dubbed "the jewel of the Delta." The family saga was one of the most unusual stories to arise from the ashes of the Confederacy and attempts during Reconstruction to create a democratic society in its wake.
Posted in: African American History, Civil War, Manuscripts, Maps, Uncategorized