Text by Ser Seshs Ab Heter-CM Boxley
Natchez, Mississippi

Graphics by Renee Shakespeare
Jackson, Mississippi

SUPPORT OUR CAMPAIGN TO ESTABLISH AN EQUAL HISTORY COMMEMORATION AND TOURISM DEMOCRACY ACT IN Mississippi 

Introduction: 

Our proposed Mississippi Equal History Commemorations and Human Rights Act is designed to help achieve history democracy and tourism justice in Mississippi especially in the counties of Southwest Mississippi and Natchez in particular.

The essence of our proposed act stipulates that for all of the federal and state tax dollars now and in the future that are allocated to history preservation, interpretation and presentation be equally allocated to the preservation, interpretation and presentation of African descendants in America history, culture, life, art, heritage, legacies and development of Mississippi contributions.

The enactment of said act is necessary to publicly mitigate past and present omissions, deletions, denials, overlooking, white-outs and obscuring of the collective history, culture, life, art, heritage, legacies and development of Mississippi contributions of African descendants in Mississippi especially during the period of enslavement.

To continue to not mitigate said omitted African descendants’ history, culture, life, art, heritage, legacies and development of Mississippi contributions is to continue denying African descendants our rightful place in the annals of human history and therefore is a covert and overt denial of African descendants’ human rights under the Charter of the United Nations.

The continued use of tax dollars in ways, manners and forms that preserves, presents and interprets history and tourism in Mississippi by making it seem and look like Europeans-European Americans made all the history, culture, life, heritage, art, legacies and Mississippi developments is racial discrimination at the most and such that is supported by taxation at the expense of African descent tax payers is worst at the least. 

Visitors to our website can help our campaign to have an Equal History Commemorations and Human Rights Tourism Democracy Act established in Mississippi. 

Send communications of your support to: 

Governor Haley Barbour P. O. Box 139 Jackson, Ms. 39205
Mississippi State Representative Robert Johnson III rjohnson@mail.house.state.us
Mississippi State Representative Erik Fleming efleming@mail.house.state.us
Mississippi State Representative Jim Evans jevans@mail.house.state.us
Mississippi State Representative David Green 3519 Berwick Cassels Road Gloster, Ms. 39638
Mississippi State Senator Kelvin Butler kbutler@mail.senate.state.us
Mississippi State Senator John Horhn jhorhn@mail.senate.state.us
Mississippi Department of Archives and History Commission  P. O. Box 571 Jackson, Ms. 39205
Mississippi State NAACP Derrick Johnson 601-353-6906 1072 Lynch St # 10 Jackson MS 39203 

Thank you kindly

MISSISSIPPI EQUAL COMMEMORATIONS AND HUMAN RIGHTS ACT - LONG VERSION

An act to establish equity and balance in the expenditure of public funds for preservation, presentation and interpretation of ante-bellum racial populations’ historical presence, humanity, legacies, culture, life and development contributions in the historical development of Mississippi.

TITLE.

This act may be cited as the Equal Commemorations and Human Rights Act.

FINDINGS.

1. The historical ante-bellum presence, humanity, history, heritage, culture, legacies, art, life and community development contributions of enslaved and non-enslaved Africans-African Americans sold and not sold at Mississippi' Forks-of-the-Roads and other enslavement markets are omitted, deleted, denied and are not adequately and sufficiently preserved, presented and interpreted in Mississippi by governments, quasi-governments, schools, churches and the private sector, while at the same time European-European Americans historical ante-bellum presence, humanity , history , heritage, culture, legacies, art, life and community development contributions are not omitted, deleted, denied and are publicly more than adequately and sufficiently highlighted, preserved, presented and interpreted by governments, quasi-governments, schools, churches and the private sector in a ways, structure forms and manners so as to make it appear to the public that European-European Americans were the only ones who historically developed the said developments in Mississippi.

2. The omission, deletion and denial of the historical ante-bellum presence, humanity, history, heritage, culture, legacies, art, life and community development contributions of enslaved and non-enslaved Africans-African Americans seriously and injuriously restricts the ability of the people of Mississippi, the United States and those from abroad, particularly Africans-African Americans, to understand themselves and their past;

3. The omission, deletion and denial of the historical ante-bellum presence, humanity, history, heritage, culture, legacies, art, life and community development contributions of enslaved and non-enslaved Africans-African Americans seriously and injuriously restricts the ability of the people of Mississippi, the United States and those from abroad, particularly Africans-African Americans to view Mississippi as part of the "New South" that has come of age by facing up to its denial of human and civil rights past.

4. Ante-bellum Africans-African Americans’ historical presence, humanity, history, heritage, culture, legacies, art, life and community development contributions expressly includes the varied experiences of Africans in enslavement, their various means and ways of seeking freedom not limited to running away, Underground Railroad escapes, revolts, and maroonage, "Civil War" self-emancipation and the continued struggle for full civil and human rights benefits guaranteed by the U. S. Constitution and United Nations Human Rights Charter.

Now:

5. Whereas, from the 1700 until the "Civil War," literally thousands of Africans-African Americans were "sold down the river" and forced walked overland on the Overground Railroad in captivity from Maryland, Washington DC, Virginia, South and North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee and also, they were shipped from the Caribbean and Africa up and down the Mississippi River to Mississippi's Forks-of-the-Roads enslavement market at Natchez and other enslavement markets where they were sold into racial chattel enslavement intended for life; and

6. Whereas, those enslaved and non-enslaved humans in captivity who were sold and not sold at Mississippi's Forks-of-the-Roads enslavement market at Natchez and other enslavement markets were the Foreparents and now Ancestors of most Africans in America Descendants in Mississippi today and to a large extent account for the subsequent African American "Great Migration" up north and out west; and

7. Whereas, those enslaved and non-enslaved humans in captivity sold and not sold at Mississippi's Forks-of-the-Roads enslavement market at Natchez and other enslavement markets did the work and provided the skills that built the “king cotton" economy and infrastructures that generated the life styles of wealth, not so much wealth, governments, schools, churches and "southern" culture of Mississippi and the emerging wealth and culture of the United States and industrial Europe, as we historically know these places today; and

8. Whereas, without the skills and abilities of thousands of enslaved and non-enslaved Africans- African Americans in captivity, in at least the following areas: scientific, economical, agricultural, social, organizational, artistic, metallurgical, cosmological, spiritual, medicinal, culinary, hunting and gathering, fishing, construction, engineering, irrigation, stone masonry, material crafting, weaving, family rearing and development, animal husbandry, mining, smiting, music, dance, song, survival tenacity and adaptability Mississippi would not have been developed into the existence as we know it today; and

9. Whereas, governments, quasi-governments, schools, churches and the private sector in Mississippi, particularly in Natchez have developed an extensive tourism industry that showcases the extant ante-bellum homes, plantation estates, plantations, monuments, cemeteries, street names, ceremonies, bluff stabilization and other edifices that have been preserved, is being preserved or planned to be and is presented and interpreted in ways, structures, forms and manners that glorify the gone with the wind era of enslavement economics and culture, “Civil War" lost cause and "white culture," while at the same time they have failed and refused to adequately and satisfactorily preserve, present and cause the interpretation of the story of slavery, thus continuing their pattern of racial history and tourism injustice discrimination, by the continued omission, deletion and denial of the historical ante-bellum presence, humanity, history, heritage, culture, legacies, art, life and community development contributions of enslaved and non-enslaved Africans Americans. Said racial history and tourism Injustice discrimination and human and Civil rights denial seriously and injuriously restricts the ability of the people of Mississippi, the United States and those from abroad, particularly Africans-African Americans to view Mississippi as part of the "New South" that has come of age by facing up to its infamous human and civil rights past; and

10. Whereas, observant tourists, visitors and concerned persons and organizations point out such obvious omissions, deletions and denial of the historical ante-bellum presence, humanity, history, heritage, culture, legacies, art, life and community development contributions of enslaved and non-enslaved Africans-African Americans that accounts for Mississippi's unfinished civil and human rights agenda and said racial preservation history discrimination and tourism injustice and human rights denial taints the progressive image of Mississippi by seriously and injuriously restricting the ability of the people of Mississippi, the United States and those from abroad, particularly Africans- African Americans to view Mississippi as part of the "New South" that has come of age by facing up to its infamous human and civil rights past; and

12. Whereas, there are no African-African Americans designated national historical landmarks designated by the U. S. Department of Interior National Park Service among the 70 such National Historical Landmarks in Mississippi, including 7 in Natchez; and

13. Whereas, Mississippi's Forks-of-the-Roads enslavement market sites in Natchez is the only historical site in the State that explains the comprehensive and collective contributions of Africans-African Americans to the historical developments of not only Mississippi and the "Old Natchez District," but also the historical developments of Central Louisiana, East Texas, Alabama and Arkansas. It as well explains the continuing presence and migratory contributions of African- African Americans; and

14. Whereas, Mississippi's Forks-of-the-Roads enslavement market sites crossroads juncture is the above ground artifact in Natchez that explains the historical gateway connections to the Upper Old South's and Mid-West's exporting enslavement states and land migratory routes of European-European Americans to the Old Southwest, especially the connections to the Natchez Trace; and

15. Whereas, Mississippi's Forks-of-the-Roads enslavement market sites in Natchez was the Deep South selling head quarters established by The James Brothers, Franklin & Armfield and R. H. Elam, long distance enslavement trafficking dealers. Franklin & Armfield were once the largest kingpin domestic enslavement dealers in the United States, whose eastern buying head quarters was 1315 Duke Street in Alexandria Virginia, now a national historic landmark and the corporate office of the National Urban League of Northern Virginia; and

16. Whereas, Mississippi's Forks-of-the-Roads enslavement market sites in Natchez on the positive side of freedom, justice, civil and human rights explains the Run Away Freedom Summer of 1863 self-emancipation of thousands upon thousands of enslaved and non-enslaved African- African Americans in Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Tennessee, Texas, Arkansas and the "Old Natchez District, who ran away from enslavement captivity to emancipation proclamation freedom behind Union Army lines and then many able bodied men, women and children, including Mississippi's famous author Richard Wright's and others grandfathers, were stationed as Union Army freedom fighters soldiers and "Contraband" workers at the Forks-of-the-Roads, Natchez Under-the-Hill, Vicksburg and other locations in Mississippi; and

17. Whereas, the Southwest Mississippi-Central Louisiana Underground Railroad Association and a host of supporters have been and are aggressively seeking to have Mississippi's Forks-of-the-Roads enslavement market sites and adjacent lands in Natchez be purchased by any means and brought under public domain thereby immediately mitigating over 300 years of omissions, deletions and denial of the historical ante-bellum presence, humanity, history; heritage, culture, legacies, art, life and community development contributions of enslaved and non-enslaved Africans-African Americans which seriously and injuriously restricts the ability of the people of Mississippi, the United States and those from abroad, particularly Africans- African Americans to view Mississippi as part of the "New South" that has come of age by facing up to its denial of human and civil rights past by now adequately and sufficiently preserving, presenting and interpreting in Mississippi said Africans-African Americans contributions through governments, quasi-governments, schools, churches and private sector use of present and future federal past through funds to Mississippi, Mississippi public funds and local level funds raised through bond issues allowed under State statues; and

18. Whereas, the Forks-of-the-Roads juncture streets of St. Catherine Street, Liberty Roads and D'Everaux Street West (formerly Washington Road) are formally and officially included in the National Park Service Southeast Region National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program [authorized by the U. S. Congress in 1998] Website www.cr.nps.gov/ugrr and said juncture was designated as a "MILLENNIUM TRAIL" called Natchez Trace's Forks-of-the-Roads Hub Millennium Trail by former First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton's White House Millennium Council in 2000 and the Forks-of-the-Roads enslavement market sites was nominated for a historical landmark designation by Mississippi Department of Archives and History Director at Natchez and Mississippi Department of Archives and History awarded $200,000 of Mississippi State Legislature's Bill 1672 funds to the City of Natchez to purchase the historical ante-bellum enslavement market sites at the Forks; and

19. Whereas, Former Governor Ronnie Musgrove's proclamation proclaiming "April Confederate Heritage Month in Mississippi" and his main whereas reads: "Whereas, it is important for all Americans to reflect upon our nation's past, to gain insight from our mistakes and successes, and to come to a full understanding that the lessons learned yesterday and today will carry us through tomorrow if we carefully and earnestly strive to understand and appreciate our heritage and our opportunities which lie before us; and NOW THEREFORE, " Ronnie Musgrove, Governor of the State of Mississippi, hereby proclaim the month of April 2002 as CONFEDERATE HERITAGE MONTH in the State of Mississippi."

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the state of Mississippi will immediately implement the MISSISSIPPI PUBLIC EQUAL COMMEMORATIONS AND HUMAN RIGHTS ACT so as to permanently correct the historical and contemporary prejudicial expenditures of public funds in the State of Mississippi that preserve, present and interpret European-European Americans historical ante-bellum presence, humanity, history, heritage, culture, legacies, art, life and community development contributions by governments, quasi-governments, schools, churches and the private sector in ways, structures, forms and manners so as to make it appear to the public that European-European Americans were the only ones who historically developed the said developments in Mississippi.

Proposed by Southwest Mississippi-Central Louisiana Underground Railroad Association, Fort McPherson U. S. Colored Troops Chapter and friends and supporters of balance history democracy and tourism justice in Mississippi and Mississippians for Mississippi coming of age as part of the New South."

End Notes:

Congress. John Conyers' bill HR 40 proposes to study the effects of the problem in # 2 above.

Ninety percent of the language in the Findings 1,2, and 3 and whereas 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12,

13, 14, 15, 16, and 17 was adopted in resolution form by the NAACP State Organization during its 1999 Annual State Conference Convention November 11-13 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

To 'learn more about the Forks-of-the-Roads enslavement market history, sites and annual Ancestral Commemorations ceremonies visits website: www.forksoftheroads.net/

Professor Jack Davis in his recent published book: Race Against Time Culture and Separation in Natchez Since 1930 summed up his 20 years scholarly research on history and cultural preservation, presentation and interpretation in Natchez by saying on page 280: “Each initiative toward making public history in Natchez more racially inclusive represents another victory of the African American experience and, one might add, a victory for history itself. Neither victory will come without a struggle."

Prepared by: Ser Seshs Ab Heter-CM Boxley, Coordinator of Southwest Mississippi-Central Louisiana Underground Railroad Association and Fort McPherson U. S. Colored Troops Chapter.

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Copyright © 2006. Ser Seshs Ab Heter-Clifford M. Boxley, Natchez, Mississippi. All Rights Reserved.

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Posted on February 17, 2005 by

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