CREATING A COMMEMORATIVE SITE ON THE HERITAGE AND MEMORY OF COTTON PICKERS IN THE MISSISSIPPI DELTA: A COMMUNITY DRIVEN MOVEMENT by Cassie Sade Turnipseed A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the College of Graduate Studies in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctorate of Philosophy in Public History Middle Tennessee State University August 2016 Dissertation Committee: Dr. Carroll Van West, Chair Dr. Thomas Bynum Dr. Mary Hoffschwelle Dr. Louis Woods Figure 1. Sharecropper's house optioned, Arkansas. Ben Shahn, photographer. 1898-1969, Library of Congress, call # LC-USF33- 006047-M1 [P&P] circa 1935. This body of research is dedicated to the legacy of elders and ancestors (Grandmama’nem) who once sat in their log cabin, surrounded by cotton fields, and imagined a brighter day not for themselves, but for their progeny. This I offer as a token of respect, honor and appreciation for all who have and will shape our past. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I acknowledge all the folks who were kind, generous and respectful of me while embracing this most difficult course of study to honor the cotton pickers of the world, but particularly in the American South. I owe a debt of gratitude to them and therefore pay homage to those who brought us this far along the way. This body of research is to acknowledge the elders and ancestors who once sat in their log cabin, surrounded by cotton fields, and imagined a brighter day not for themselves, but for their progeny. They may have been enslaved in America or just worked as though they were. This dissertation honors the legacy of those people. This effort is not only to thank them for their work but also to make a deliberate attempt to give them the dignity of proper research, sincere analysis and truthful documentation. In addition, this work is in acknowledgement of my parents the people who gave me life and the ability to love public history: Mrs. Bonnie Lou Thompson-Turnipseed and Mr. Theodore Jim Turnipseed, “grand-mama-nem,” Mrs. Sadie McKinney-Turnipseed, Mr. Johnnie Turnipseed, Mrs. Maggie Lee Hannah-Thompson, and Mr. George Andrew Thompson, Mrs. Carrie Thompson-Hannah and Mr. Dave Hannah, and Mrs. Lucy McKinley-Thompson and Mr. Walter Thompson. An even deeper appreciation extends to all the beautiful unnamed and unknowable people who for over 7000 years spent their entire lives plowing, planting, and picking cotton in Africa, Brazil, China, Pakistan, India, and most recently in the United States of America, Europe and other cotton pickin’ places throughout the world. iii Regarding public history, my overall goal is to present evidence that empowers the Cotton Picker narrative; include traditionally excluded points of views; and to demonstrate inclusiveness as an ideal method of obtaining a collective wisdom in America and throughout the world. I specifically would like to thank Dr. Carroll Van West for planting the “seed” that my love of African American cultural studies was worthy of a PhD. By his invitation into the program at Middle Tennessee State University and his unwavering support every step of the way, I have become what I have always sought to be, a scholar of African American culture and heritage. I must also give a very special embrace of gratitude to Drs. Tommy Bynum, Louis Woods, Mary Hoffschwelle, Joseph Martin Stevenson, and Bren Martin for their unconditional support and guidance. Their sharing of knowledge toward my pursuit of academic excellence is immeasurable. Thanks and appreciation is also extended to my entire family and legion of friends most specifically Mr. Robert Terrell, Ed Dwight, Helen Sims and Mrs. Linda Rule for their generous support throughout this journey. iv ABSTRACT Interpreting the impact of the cotton culture in the Mississippi Delta presents challenges few scholars have addressed and few public historians have ever addressed. Cotton pickers of pre-and post-Reconstruction eras are rarely depicted in public arts exhibits, history exhibits, or educational institutions. When interpreted the myopic recollections of the planter society dominate, thereby relegating cotton pickers to an insignificant role. Such marginalization ultimately distorts the memory of American history, giving cause for reconsideration of the “American exceptionalism” narrative, and our collective commemoration of “greatness.” In a general sense, historians do explore memories of a particular narrative in order to provide an interpretive depiction that is truthful, thorough and done with integrity as mandated by this discipline. However, when it comes to the complex mosaic of the Mississippi Delta, only the parameters of this narrative have been documented and or promoted in recent years.1 The National Park Service substantiates this position in reports that no contemporary historian has written a historical synthesis of the Mississippi Delta, in the context of America’s growth and development, even as “what people love about America has come from the [Mississippi] Delta.”2 This dissertation gives voice to this historical void by addressing the growth of the American economy and cultural heritage through the lens of Mound Bayou, 1 National Park Service, “Heritage Study: Lower Mississippi Delta Region,” United States Department of the Interior, 2 (1998): 3. 2 Ibid., 11-12. v Mississippi. This work looks at all of its developmental stages that support the charge and the necessity to build a historic site about cotton pickers in that location based on what is determinably an authentic and truly exceptional American narrative. John Bodnar defines memory as “a body of beliefs and ideas about the past that help a public or society understand both its past and its present, and, by implication, its future.”3 The proposed Cotton Pickers National Memorial is a step forward to correcting the national memory of the Mississippi Delta and its agricultural way of life. 3 John Bodnar, “Public Memory in an American City: Commemoration in Cleveland,” in Commemorations: The Politics of National Identity, ed. John R. Gillis (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994), 76. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES … viii INTRODUCTION … 1 CHAPTER I FROM DAVIS BEND TO MOUND BAYOU … 14 CHAPTER II MOUND BAYOU: AN OASIS IN THE MOST SOUTHERN PLACE ON EARTH … 48 CHAPTER III MISSING VOICES, MISSING PLACES … 90 CHAPTER IV THE PURSUIT OF A NATIONAL PARK DESIGNATION … 129 CHAPTER V CONCLUSION … 152 BIBLIOGRAPHY … 162 APPENDICES … 183 APPENDIX A KHAFRE, INC 2012-2017 STRATEGIC PLAN … 184 APPENDIX B ENDORSEMENTS … 203 APPENDIX C COMMUNITY OUTREACH / PARTNERSHIPS … 212 APPENDIX D AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORIC SITES, NATIONAL (CIRCA 2015) … 233 APPENDIX E NATIONAL PARKS SERVICE AGREEMENTS … 235 APPENDIX F PHOTO OF PO’ MONKEY AUTHORIZATION EMAIL … 237 vii LIST OF FIGURES 1.1 Sharecropper's house optioned, Arkansas ii 1.2 Joseph E. Davis 15 1.3 “African Wedding at Hurricane Plantation” 18 1.4 Davis Bend Plantation Marker 20 1.5 Benjamin Thornton Montgomery 23 1.6 Hurricane Garden Cottage at Davis Bend Plantation 32 1.7 Slave quarters at Jefferson Davis’s Brierfield 35 1.8 Mr. and Mrs. Isaiah T. Montgomery, taken during celebration of their wedding anniversary, circa May 11, 1921 40 2.1 Isaiah T. Montgomery, 1847-1924 52 2.2 Aurelius P. Hood, The Negro at Mound Bayou 59 2.3 The Negro at Mound Bayou 59 2.4 Mound Bayou Family 60 2.5 Mound Bayou Depot 63 2.6 The Louisville, New Orleans, and Texas railway line 63 2.7-2.8 Four cotton gins at Mound Bayou’s peak 64 2.9-2.13 City of Mound Bayou downtown buildings 64-65 2.14 Isaiah Montgomery home 66 2.15 Isaiah Montgomery home (side view) 66 2.16 George W. Creswell's residence 67 2.17 Eugene P. Booze’s residence 67 2.18 Reverend Will Ivory’s residence 67 viii 2.19 Mrs. M.E. Ellison’s residence 68 2.20 Resident unknown 68 2.21 Cover page of Aurelius P. Hood’s publication 69 2.22 E. P. Powell selling cotton, circa 1910 69 2.23 Mount Bayou Oil Mill and Manufacturing Company, circa 1910 69 2.24 Men working in the field, in Mound Bayou. 70 2.25 A.M.E. Church (close exterior view) 70 2.26 A.M.E. Church (long exterior view) 70 68 2.27 A.M.E. Church congregation entering (exterior view) 71 2.28 A.M.E. Church congregation assembled (interior view) 71 2.29 Cashier's office - Bank of Mound Bayou 73 2.30 Charles Banks at desk 74 2.31 Bank of Mound Bayou 74 2.33 Charles Banks 76 2.34 Booker T. Washington at the opening of the Cotton-Oil Mill 77 2.35 Carnegie Library in course of construction at Mound Bayou, Miss. ([1910]) 77 2.36 Bank of Mound Bayou (1910) 78 2.37 Bank of Mound Bayou (2014) 78 2.38 Mound Bayou Bank Building marker 79 2.39 Mound Bayou State Bank certificate 79 2.40 Mound Bayou Cotton-Oil Mill 81 2.41 Mound Bayou cotton gin 81 2.42 Image of Taborian Hospital 83 ix 2.43 Mayor Darryl Johnson and Tim Howard (son of TRM Howard) 84 2.44 Excerpt, What of the Future of Mound Bayou, written in early 1900s 88 2.45 C. Sade Turnipseed on proposed site for Cotton Picker’s Monument 89 3.1 C. Sade Turnipseed picking cotton 90 3.2 “The First Cotton Gin” engraving from Harper's Magazine, 1869 95 3.3 Cotton Gin Patent 96 3.4 Cotton Gin on display at Eli Whitney Museum 96 3.5 The 1890 Mississippi Legislature 110 3.6 Booker T. Washington in a public meeting in Mound Bayou, circa 1905 118 3.7 President Theodore Roosevelt on a bear hunt expedition 119 3.8 Willie “Po’ Monkey” Seaberry 126 4.1 Road sign on location of future site for the Cotton Pickers’ Monument 129 4.2 Cotton in the Delta, circa 2014 138 4.3 Cotton Pickers of America (cropped), image by Ed Dwight 146 4.4 Cotton Pickers of America (side view), image by Ed Dwight 149 5.1 Plantation Cotton Field 152 A.1 Dr.