Marathon Pundit: My Mississippi Manifest Destiny: Mound Bayou, a town founded by freed slaves

At the recommendation of Levois of It's My Mind, I veered a few miles east of Highway 61 onto the Route 161 cutoff to see Mound Bayou, the oldest black municipality in the United States.

From Mound Bayou.org:

On July 12, 1887, the city of Mound Bayou, Mississippi was founded by Isaiah T. Montgomery and his cousin, Benjamin T. Green, former slaves of Joseph Emory Davis. Mound Bayou is situated halfway between Vicksburg, Mississippi and Memphis, Tennessee off of Highway 61. Mound Bayou remains the oldest bastion of Black municipal government in the South.

Isaiah T. Montgomery and Benjamin T. Green had as their dream since before the Civil War to found the Largest U.S. Negro Town. Montgomery and Green founded Mound Bayou to serve as a sanctuary for African-American families and culture. Throughout the years, Mound Bayou has continued its long tradition of community self-empowerment that has produced numerous African American leaders, innovators, and proud family lineages. Mound Bayou has always been a model city for the capabilities of African-Americans to rise above inequality in the South. The town has never practiced or experienced segregation within its borders. Mound Bayou is a town without second class citizens.

Joseph Emory Davis was the brother of Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy. Mound Bayou is not a properous town, but there is a sense of community there--the place just seems to hang together in its own fashion.

Marlo Carter Fitzpatrick, in her book Mississippi Off The Beaten Path, has this to say about the town:

A favorite stop in Mound Bayou is Peter's Pottery. Peter Woods and his three brothers learned the fine art of pottery from the master at McCarty Pottery in Merigold (the next town down the road). The Woods Brothers left McCarty in 1998 with plans to pursue new careers, but soon they realized clay was in their blood. Together they established Peter's Pottery, the place to find animals, candlesticks, dinnerware, crosses, and vases crafted of Mississippi clay and finished with the brother's exclusive glaze, Bayou Blue. Peter's pottery is collected worldwide; President Bush is the proud owner of a Bayou Blue elephant.