Mississippi Zion: The Struggle for Liberation in Attala County, 1865–1915

244 Pages·2022·18.002 MB·English

by  Evan Howard Ashford

Mississippi Zion

The Struggle
for Liberation in
Attala County, 1865–1915
∏
Mississippi
s s
Zion
Evan Howard Ashford
University Press of Mississippi / Jackson
The University Press of Mississippi is the scholarly publishing agency of
the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning: Alcorn State University,
Delta State University, Jackson State University, Mississippi State University,
Mississippi University for Women, Mississippi Valley State University,
University of Mississippi, and University of Southern Mississippi.
www.upress.state.ms.us
The University Press of Mississippi is a member
of the Association of University Presses.
Publication of this book was supported in part by the UPM First Author’s Fund.
Any discriminatory or derogatory language or hate speech regarding race, ethnicity, religion, sex,
gender, class, national origin, age, or disability that have been retained or appear in elided form is
in no way an endorsement of the use of such language outside a scholarly context.
Copyright © 2022 by University Press of Mississippi
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
First printing 2022
∞
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Ashford, Evan Howard, author.
Title: Mississippi Zion : the struggle for liberation in Attala County,
1865-1915 / Evan Howard Ashford.
Description: Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, [2022] | Includes
appendixes | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022006009 (print) | LCCN 2022006010 (ebook) | ISBN
9781496839725 (hardback) | ISBN 9781496839732 (trade paperback) | ISBN
9781496839749 (epub) | ISBN 9781496839756 (epub) | ISBN 9781496839763
(pdf) | ISBN 9781496839770 (pdf)
Subjects: LCSH: African Americans—History—1863–1877. | African
Americans—History—1877–1964. | Attala County (Miss.)—History.
Classification: LCC F347.A7 A84 2022 (print) | LCC F347.A7 (ebook) | DDC
976.2/64406—dc23/eng/20220208
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022006009
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022006010

British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data available
To my loving and dedicated parents:
Mr. Charles Henry and the late Mrs. Linda Joy Ashford

Contents
∏
............................................ ix
Acknowledgments
..................................................3
Introduction
A New Dawn: Embarking on the Liberation Journey ......19
Chapter 1.
Pick Yo’ Own Damn Cotton: Building the
Chapter 2.
Foundations of Zion.............................................41
Taking Flight: Moving Towards a Liberated Zion .........69
Chapter 3.
United We Stand: Organizing in
Chapter 4.
the Decade of White Supremacy...................................93
There Shall Be Blood: The Price of Liberation ........... 121
Chapter 5.
Unfinished Business: Liberation and Jim Crow..........145
Chapter 6.
..................................................... 161
Epilogue
...................................................167
Appendix A
viii Contents
...................................................187
Appendix B
........................................................ 191
Notes
.................................................223
Bibliography
........................................................229
Index
Acknowledgments
∏
All acknowledgements are first and foremost given to Allah, Cherisher and
Sustainer of the Worlds.
Mississippi Zion was as much a community effort as it was that of my
individual work and determination. My parents have been the one constant
in my life, teaching me that the pitfalls of life should never deter me from
achieving my dreams. Their undying and unyielding support from the
beginning made this book a reality. Through my older brothers, Charles,
Derrian, Derek, and Brandon, I learned how to navigate life and to stay
dedicated to my goals and dreams. Dr. John H. Bracey, to whom I will be
forever indebted, played the most significant role shaping the research
contained within this book and my identity as a historian. He saw the
significance of Mississippi and its place in American history and pushed
me to tell the state’s history proudly and accurately.
I thank the Association for the Study of African American Life and History
(ASALH) for providing me the opportunities to present multiple chapters
of what is now Mississippi Zion. Through this space, I met my editor, Emily
Bandy. I thank Emily for listening and believing in the concept of this book
from its inception. I appreciate her dedication to the project through the
revision process. To the University Press of Mississippi, I thank the editorial
board for its unanimous approval for this project. I find it fitting that my first
monograph center on Mississippi and be published by the state’s university
ix