The Civil Rights Movement in Natchez, Mississippi

The civil rights movement in Natchez, Mississippi, is a portrait of hate, hope, and heroism. The movement began during the segregated Jim Crow era when Blacks lived under the constant threat of racial violence and culminated with major concessions from the White establishment.

Located in the southwest corner of the state, Natchez is one of the oldest settlements along the Mississippi River. For decades, the Ku Klux Klan terrorized Black families in the area and by the early 1960s, civil unrest erupted, triggered by years of discrimination, police brutality, and racial violence.

By the mid-1960s, the city had become a powder keg of racial tension. Fed up with the oppression, Black leaders implemented boycotts, picketing, and marches, including armed protection, that forced the city — and White-owned businesses — to agree to their demands for justice and equal rights.

Violence and Freedom Summer

In the 1960s, Natchez’s population was close to 24,000. Its 12,300 Blacks were a slight majority, but they were dominated by the city’s 11,500 Whites. Blacks were disenfranchised and seemingly locked in a state of inferiority and subordination.

At the height of the civil rights movement in 1963 and 1964, Klan violence and intimidation tactics increased, including church burnings and the brutal beatings of two Black men – James Carter Wilson, who worked at the International Paper Company, and Alfred Whitley, who worked at the Armstrong Tire and Rubber Company.

Soon after, Bob Moses, a New York native who was special field secretary for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), led the 1964 Freedom Summer Project. The project’s more than 700 volunteers, most of whom were White college students from the North, worked with Black Mississippians to help them overcome voter intimidation, discrimination at the polls, and educational barriers.

Notable Freedom Summer activists who arrived in Natchez in the late summer of 1964 included Dorie Ladner, George Greene, Annie Pearl Avery, Charles “Chuck” McDew, and Janet Jemmott, all members of SNCC who faced bombings, threats of violence, and arrests as they worked with the community’s Black families.

George Metcalfe Bombing

Tension heightened in 1965 after the attempted murder of George Metcalfe, president of the Natchez branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Metcalfe knew he was a target of the Klan, but he continued to lead voter registration drives, resulting in some 8,000 Blacks gaining access to the ballot box. He also filed a desegregation lawsuit against the city of Natchez.

Metcalfe and NAACP treasurer Wharlest Jackson Sr. were two of about 400 Blacks employed at the Armstrong Tire and Rubber Company, and the pair led efforts to improve race relations and end the segregation barriers at the plant. In August 1965, Metcalfe presented the local school board a petition seeking the desegregation of the public school system. He and his delegation called on the school board to comply with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Through it all, Metcalfe remained determined, but he hardly knew how his life would soon change.

On August 27, 1965, he completed his shift at noon at the tire company, walked outside the plant, got into his car, turned the ignition, and the car exploded. An investigation revealed that dynamite had been wired to his car’s electrical system. Metcalfe survived the bombing, but he suffered major injuries. Although many suspected the bomb was planted in the car by the Klan, no one was ever charged for the crime.

On the day of the bombing, Charles Evers, the Mississippi field secretary for the NAACP, rushed to Natchez and became the leader of the local NAACP. Evers was the brother of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers. Many believed the bombing was meant to kill Metcalfe and cripple the Black fight for equality. Instead, it galvanized the community, prompting hundreds of Blacks to hold rallies and march in protest. The protests included boycotts of White-owned businesses, picketing, and armed protection.

Mobilization in Natchez was led by leaders such as the Rev. Shead Baldwin and Jonathan Grennell. Women also played a vital role in the Natchez movement, including Mamie Lee Green Mazique, Mary Lee Toles, Jessie Bernard Williams, and Marjorie Baroni.

Deacons for Defense and Justice

The escalating tension moved Governor Paul Johnson to announce on September 2, 1965, that he would send 650 national guardsmen to patrol the city. The guardsmen patrolled Natchez for two weeks. Meanwhile, several local Black men met secretly to protect the community and civil rights workers. These men traveled to Louisiana to meet with a paramilitary protection organization – the Deacons for Defense and Justice. The group, which originated in Jonesboro, Louisiana, provided armed protection for civil rights workers and Black communities.

On September 10, 1965, the Natchez men met at Donnan’s Barbershop at 319 N. Dr. M.L.K. Street (formerly Pine Street) and held their first official meeting as the Natchez Deacons for Defense and Justice. The barbershop, owned by Leon Donnan, became the command post for the Deacons. There, they held meetings, swore in new recruits, and discussed strategy. James “Big Jack” Jackson, one of the barbers, served as the founding president of the Deacons.

The Deacons provided protection for the Black community that was often denied by law enforcement. They assisted with rallies and marches, and they also helped to enforce the boycotts.

The Parchman Ordeal

On October 2 and 3, 1965, hundreds marched in solidarity through the city’s streets in defiance of a September 30 court ban against marching. They were all arrested. When the local jails became full, the authorities bused 150 marchers to the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman. The protesters, some of whom were teenagers and young adults, were subjected to harsh treatment at the prison.

A few days after the Parchman ordeal, the protesters received good news about their struggle. On October 6, 1965, the U.S. District Court lifted the injunction against protest marches. This legal action prompted 1,200 marchers to fill the streets of the downtown area – one of the largest protests in the city’s movement. However, it would take another two months before they achieved the movement’s most significant victory.

In December 1965, after months of protests, arrests, and boycotts, Natchez city officials conceded to a list of 12 demands presented by the NAACP. The officials signed what became known as “The Natchez Agreement.” The civil rights organization, under the leadership of Charles Evers, had called for justice, equality, respect, desegregation of public facilities, Black representation on government boards, better law enforcement, and hiring opportunities for Blacks, among other changes. The NAACP also called on the city to denounce the Klan, White supremacy, and racial violence.

This success in Natchez, which occurred without federal intervention, was reported in the January 1966 issue of the NAACP publication, The Crisis. In an article headlined, “THE NATCHEZ AGREEMENT,” it read: “The agreement represents an upgrading of the status of the Negro community unparalleled in the settlement of any similar protest in a Southern city.”

Even though Natchez experienced unprecedented change as a result of the movement, racial violence persisted. For instance, Ben Chester White, a 67-year-old Black man was brutally murdered by members of the Klan on June 10, 1966. NAACP treasurer Wharlest Jackson Sr. was killed on February 27, 1967, when a bomb hidden in his truck by the Klan exploded as he turned into his neighborhood.

Conclusion

The civil rights movement in Natchez, while fraught with danger, was a springboard for a widespread movement across the state of Mississippi. The Black community in Natchez displayed uncommon courage, and in the end, their sheer determination paid off as they succeeded and became a model for other communities.
 

A native of Indianola, Mississippi, Roscoe Barnes III, Ph.D., is the cultural heritage tourism manager for Visit Natchez. He is an award-winning newspaper journalist and independent scholar whose research focuses on Anne Moody and the civil rights movement. Barnes’ articles have appeared in scores of newspapers, magazines, and academic journals.