University of Mississippi eGrove Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 1-1-2016 "Take the Mountain": The International Order of Twelve Knights And Daughters of Tabor and The Black Health Care Initiative in the Mississippi Delta, 1938 – 1983 Katrina Rochelle Sims University of Mississippi Follow this and additional works at: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Sims, Katrina Rochelle, ""Take the Mountain": The International Order of Twelve Knights And Daughters of Tabor and The Black Health Care Initiative in the Mississippi Delta, 1938 – 1983" (2016). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1430. https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/1430 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at eGrove. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of eGrove. For more information, please contact [email protected]. “TAKE THE MOUNTAIN”: THE INTERNATIONAL ORDER OF TWELVE KNIGHTS AND DAUGHTERS OF TABOR AND THE BLACK HEALTH CARE INITIATIVE IN THE MISSISSIPPI DELTA, 1938 – 1983 A Dissertation presented in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Arch Dalrymple III Department of History The University of Mississippi by Katrina Rochelle Sims August 2016 Copyright 2016 Katrina Rochelle Sims ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ABSTRACT The dissertation explores the intersection of black racial uplift strategies, black women’s entry and marginalization within distinctly male-dominated spaces such as fraternal orders, and institutional racism, specifically the implementation of regulatory policies to hinder predominately black communities from accessing state programs and funding resources. It demonstrates how African Americans in the Mississippi Delta circumvented Jim Crow practices that restricted black Mississippians access to facilities and funding. It acknowledges the comprehensive health care initiative that provided African Americans with autonomous medical care. It complicates the narrative that defined civil rights strictly within the framework of the franchise and integration of public schools, city transit systems, and leisure activities. As early as the 1930s, the International Order of Twelve Knights and Daughters of Tabor argued that access to quality medical care was in fact a right afforded to all citizens, irrespective of race. Additionally, the hospital emerged as a symbol of black entrepreneurship and advancement. The hospital represented black Mississippians to articulate and implement their own visions of freedom as they demanded full inclusion in southern society. For the hundreds of black residents of Mound Bayou, Mississippi, full inclusion in society included access to modern health care. The dissertation considers the gender dynamics of fraternal organizations as well as the medical profession. It complicates the role of women within African American fraternal orders, particularly the International Order of Twelve Knights and Daughters of Tabor. The dissertation ii explores the distribution of influence and the ways in which black women fraternal leaders, on occasion, successfully wrestled power from male leaders to advance their own visions. Considering women fraternal leaders were tasked with ensuring the organization had sufficient funds in its coffers, they formed impressive coalitions of middle-class and working-class women who identified needs within the community and allocated resources at their discretion. The dissertation examines the intricacy of the strategies employed by black women fraternal leaders as they challenged the predominate male-vision for the organization and the community. The dissertation interrogates role of state regulation and state actors including the Mississippi State Board of Health, Mississippi Commission on Hospital Care, and William Waller, Governor of Mississippi 1972 – 1976 who targeted the black medical professionals including midwives and nurses as well as black institutions in the 1920s, 1940s and again in the 1960s as the profitability of treating poor and elderly patients increased with the implementation of Medicaid and Medicare. The dissertation identifies three transformative pieces of legislation: the Maternity and Infancy Act of 1921, commonly called the Sheppard-Towner Act; the nationally popular yet racially discriminatory Hospital Survey and Construction Act of 1946, commonly referred to as the Hill-Burton Act; and the with Anti-Poverty programs of the 1960s, the implementation of federal legislation by state agencies resulted in the systematic removal of blacks from the medical profession. As state regulators imposed ridged regulations which led to the disappearance of black institutions, particularly, black hospitals, black women health care providers expanded their responsibilities to ensure the medical, mental, and nutritional needs of patients and residents were adequately addressed, in spite of the economic limitations of the hospital and its founding organization. iii DEDICATION To my Momma Your encouragement and occasional, yet necessary, pushes cultivated the spirit of perseverance and hard work that made this all possible. I love you iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS ICGM International Chief Grand Mentor IGHP International Grand High Preceptress CGM Chief Grand Mentor GHP Grand High Priestess VGM Vice Grand Mentor VGP Vice Grand High Priestess CGS Chief Grand Scribe CGR Chief Grand Recorder GPP Grand Presiding Prince GQM Grand Queen Mother CGO Chief Grand Orator CGP Chief Grand Priestess HP High Priestess QM Queen Mother KDT Knights and Daughter of Tabor Mississippi Jurisdiction Archives MDAH Mississippi Department of Archives and History NACWC National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I express my deepest appreciation to the Arch Dalrymple III Department of History and the Division of Outreach and Continuing Education at the University of Mississippi for funding this endeavor. This project would not have been possible without the support of the family of Perry Monroe Smith and Kemper Harreld Smith who granted me unfettered access to their grandfather and father’s private papers. I would like to thank Drs. David T. Beito and Blake Wintory for allowing me to mine their collections. Thank you to Christyne M. Douglas, archivist at Meharry Medical College, who permitted me to roam, seemingly aimlessly, through their unprocessed collections. A special thank you to the staff of the Archives and Special Collections in the J. D. Williams Library at the University of Mississippi, especially Lauren Rogers, who joyously accommodated all of my last minute request to reexamine materials and manuscripts. I would like to thank my dissertation committee. To Dr. Elizabeth A. Payne, who introduced me to the Taborian Hospital and remained unwavering in her support for my research. To Dr. Charles K. Ross, who during comprehensive exams and prospectus stage reminded me to never cease asking questions. To Dr. Shennette Garrett-Scott, whose polite yet unyielding emails inquiring about my writing progress, nudged me along when I felt I still needed to do more research. To Dr. Debra J. Moore, who during the early stages of the project, taught me the invaluable lesson of cultivating personal relationships with community members. vi To my family and friends, thank you for the endless words of encouragement and prayers. A special thank you to Dr. E. Murrell Dawson, who introduced me to archival research at the Southeastern Regional Black Archives Research Center and Museum in Tallahassee, Florida, and Dr. David H. Jackson, Jr., who during my matriculation at Florida A&M University planted the seed that I had something of value to offer the academy. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... ii DEDICATION ............................................................................................................................... iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS ........................................................................... v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... vi LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................................ x INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER ONE: “The White and Black Races Are Steadily and Progressively Drifting Further Apart”: The Marginalization of Black Health Care and the Origins of Black Self-Reliance in Mississippi, 1799 – 1915 .............................................................................................................. 16 CHAPTER TWO: “None but Reliable Fearless Men”: The International Order of Twelve Knights and Daughters of Tabor, 1859 – 1936 ............................................................................. 53 CHAPTER THREE: “Justifiably Proud”: The Mississippi Jurisdiction of the International Order of Twelve Knights and Daughters of Tabor, 1937 – 1970 ........................................................... 83 CHAPTER FOUR: “She was Counsellor and Advisor”: African American Women Fraternal Leaders of the Knights and Daughters of Tabor, 1940s – 1970s ................................................ 113 CHAPTER FIVE: “What