From Freedom To Slavery: Two Dark Moments In American History We All Should Know
By Ty Ross
There’s something eerie about Mississippi. A feeling that washes over you the moment you cross the state line. A feeling of being transported back to another, earlier, more oppressive time. One of blatant, unabashed racism, segregation and an overwhelming feeling that one can fall victim to an act of white supremacy at any time. A state where in some places, blacks still don’t look whites in the eye when speaking.
It’s reflected in the people, the economy, the infrastructure. Or lack thereof. In the abandoned buildings, and that despite having one of the largest percent of black residents than any other state, the African American population has remained, oppressed, depressed, segregated and all but shut out of the same state and local legislatures responsible for making the financial, educational, legal, judicial and social decisions that affect them disproportionately.
Mississippi is home to Medgar Evers, the civil rights activist and veteran of the US military shot and killed in front of his home in Jackson. A city I have been to and driven through many times. Murdered by white supremacist and Klan member Byron De La Beckwith. That was in 1963, yet in 2021 Beckwith’s name still evokes a swelling of emotion within me.
A year after Evers’ death would see the murders of James Earl Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner in Philadelphia, MS. A black boy from MS and two Jewish boys from NY working together to organize black people to vote. They were first reported missing, until their bodies were later found. Confirming their deaths. The movie Mississippi Burning is loosely based on the events leading up to the murders, and the resulting investigation.
Even knowing of Mississippi’s long history of segregation, intimidation and violence against black people, black communities and their allies, around the state, the following two events made me especially sad, and to be honest a bit broken inside. Not just because of the horrific nature of both, but because until recently I had no idea they even occurred. Even trying to get more information found me halted and detoured by informational roadblocks. Which was even more frustrating. An attempt, I believe to wash away the blood-stained facts of the very real brutality experienced by blacks in America. And I’m not talking about slaves and slavery, but what freed men, women and children in both the 19th and 20th centuries would endure.
The Devil’s Punchbowl
Natchez, MS, this small town of about 15,000 people is nestled on the Mississippi River, which made it a center of trade and bustling plantations in the pre-civil war south. About 100 miles from the state capital of Jackson, and right over the Louisiana border, Natchez embodies the deep south.
Home of The Devil’s Punchbowl. An area of lush greenery and wild peach groves, that gets its name from its shape. And location at the bottom of a ravine. But for African Americans from Mississippi, and those familiar with the horrors that occurred there, the name evokes a different image.
A few years ago, I was talking to a friend who lives in Michigan. Somehow the conversation veered to talk of fruit. How I love peaches and plums. She said ‘oh no, black folks don’t eat peaches. Especially ones that come from Mississippi.’ I was a bit puzzled, and she explained to me that her grandmother, who was from Mississippi originally, told her a story about what fertilized those peach trees. And I can’t lie, I’ve never been able to look at a peach again without feeling a little sick. But it did make me want to know more, so I began researching things like ‘why blacks don’t eat peaches’ and ‘what’s wrong with Mississippi peaches.’ I didn’t get much anywhere, but I wasn’t as savvy then at getting the information I needed and wanted. Recently I tried again and what I found is beyond horrifying.
We have been programmed to believe, Union = good, Confederacy = bad. That’s it. I mean, the Union Army helped ‘free’ the slaves after all. I know things are never that simple, but never really looked into it. So, imagine my surprise to find out 100 years before the murder of Evers, that one of the worst atrocities unleashed on the black population not enslaved, was perpetrated by the very people who were supposed to be its saviors.
During and after the Civil War, Union occupied cities across the south saw a dramatic increase in freed slaves fleeing plantations and settling in those cities. The Union response to this was to recapture those slaves and put them in Union run camps. They were considered, not as humans, but captured enemy property. It would be in these camps that blacks were forced to work hard labor. The Devil’s Punchbowl being one. Walled off at the bottom of the cavern to insure there was no way the people there would be able to escape. This includes freed men, women and children. While the men worked, the women and children were left to die of starvation and disease. Natchez, MS had around 4000 black refugees in the summer of 1863, but just a few short months later, that number would be down to 2000. The majority of those deaths would be of children from smallpox and measles.
The men were forced to work long hours in the fields until they died. From malnourishment, starvation, the toll that brutal working conditions had on their bodies or a combination of all three. Men who would literally drop dead where they stood, and whose bodies were not allowed to be removed from the field. Instead, the Union soldiers would simply throw a shovel to the workers and instruct them to bury the dead men where they lay.
Conditions were so bad, that it has been recorded, the women would beg the Union soldiers to let them return to their former plantations. Anything to be free of the camp. Imagine the type of pain and anguish you have to be in that you would rather go back to a plantation. Beg to go back. But their cries would fall on death ears. Within one year of establishment of the camp in The Devil’s Punchbowl, over 20,000 freed black men, women and children would die. Tens of thousands buried without ceremony, whose blood and DNA fertilize the soil that is now covered in wild fruit and lush bushes and trees. Almost like it never happened. But it did. From one bondage to another. Finally free of the plantations, only to find yourself in another more brutal one. At least on the plantation, they knew where they stood. They were slaves. But to see a war being fought in your name, giving you hope for a life free of fear, abuse. That you will be able to raise your children as free children, only to have the heartbreaking realization that the white man in the South and the white man from the North, looked and treated you just the same.
While Natchez, MS is one of the most known of the unknown and buried encampments of freedmen, it wasn’t the only one. In 1863, a Union Run camp in Young’s Point, Louisiana recorded between 30-50 deaths a day of black refugees from dehydration, starvation and disease.
The Mississippi Delta Flood of 1927
Fast forward 64 years to Greenville, MS. Nine years after the end of WWI, and six years after the Tulsa massacre. Before he was overwhelmingly elected President of the United States, Herbert Hoover was Secretary of Commerce. Because of this position, he was named Head of Flood relief after the Mississippi River’s levees broke and displaced over 637K people in the Delta. Over 100K homes were destroyed and people needed to be housed. Before FEMA, the Red Cross was the go-to organization used to assist victims of natural disasters.
Hoover was a master of rhetoric and propaganda, and in congruence with the Red Cross would go on a fundraising blitz to raise the money necessary to begin rebuilding the area. Though there were refugee camps throughout the state, that housed both black and white refugees, the camp set up in Greenville, MS was approximately 90% black. It didn’t take long to notice the inequitable treatment of black and white refugees. With blacks being tasked with doing the hard labor, and solely responsible for repairing the broken levees, and cleaning up the cities. Wading through knee-high polluted flood waters carrying heavy materials.
Not only were they doing all the work, they did so under force. National Guard troops would be placed at the camp to make sure none of the blacks tried to leave. 12-16 hour days under the barrel of a rifle of a National Guardsman. Guardsmen under a ‘shoot to kill’ and ‘show no mercy’ order when it came to dealing with black refugees, they considered to be causing trouble. Either by complaining about the workload, not working hard enough or attempting to leave. Anyone from the outside attempting to persuade the refugees to leave or assisting them were met with hostility and refused entry into the camp.
While the white refugees lived in hotels, and abandoned store buildings, were served cooked meats and fresh fruit, they also received new clothes and priority medical attention while awaiting a move to a new camp. Black refugees on the other hand, after a hard day’s labor, returned to sleep on straw, wet grounds and to live among the livestock. Their only food…bread. An attempt was made to remove all the refugees from Greenville and distribute them at other camps throughout the state, but it was met with resistance by the plantation owners who said if the blacks were allowed to leave, they would lose the workforce on which they were dependent. William Percy, who was contractor in charge of the camp, relented. White men, women and children were allowed to leave and go to nearby Vicksburg, but the blacks had to stay behind. Soon the blacks left at the camp faced increasingly violent behavior from those overseeing them. More than 13,000 blacks were forced to live in the flood zone, on the levees while whites were housed on the second floor of buildings.
Hoover and the Red Cross were successful in suppressing the atrocities going on in Greenville and at other camps. Instead painting a picture of happy refugees doing their duty to rebuild without complaint. This enabled them to raise millions upon millions of dollars to feed, house these refugees. But notable black newspaper The Chicago Defender was becoming increasingly aware of what was really going on at the camps. They tried to educate the public and bring awareness. But Hoover’s propaganda machine was too great. Those in the North were so far removed, they had no idea of the truth. Letter after letter started pouring into the offices of The Chicago Defender from Greenville. Tales of brutality, starvation, death and fear. But the more they revealed, and the more attention they started to receive, the more Hoover went on to weave an enlightening story of unity and interracial efforts to rebuild the Delta. And America fell for it. He couldn’t have done this without the help of the mainstream media, particularly The New York Times who would paint a picture of harmony. Painting Hoover as a humanitarian.
Blacks would unload food and supplies but were the last to receive any. If at all. Their rations continued to be decreased, with new rules that refused rations to any women or children who didn’t have a male in their household. And no black male would receive a ration if he didn’t do a full day’s work. They were forced to wear numbered patches on the outside of their clothes to identify them. Pretty soon signs could be seen throughout the city that said ‘Black refugee labor is free to all white men.’ All donations sent on behalf of black refugees were confiscated and redistributed among white refugees. Millions of dollars was donated on behalf of the black refugees, but the Red Cross would never let them see a dime.
Unrest was imminent. As black refugees began to protest; the workload, poor living conditions, lack of rations, they were met with incarceration and human rights abuses. The penalty for stealing clothes or money was death. Even asking to rest would get one beaten.
Hoover and the Red Cross continued to deny. The media continued to whitewash the truth and spread propaganda. Eventually the press moved on altogether, including the black press. A year later would see over half of Washington County’s (where Greenville resides), black population flee North. Many to Chicago. Hoover would coast to a resounding victory. Overwhelmingly winning the Presidency when he ran. Mostly on the reputation he garnered for how he handled the Mississippi River flood. But now you know the truth. One anyway.
History is important. Facts are important. Acceptance is important. Acknowledgment is important. Our history is a painful one, but it is ours and needs to be faced. Without which, we will never truly understand what we are capable of as humans and a country and how close we still are to seeing these types of things happen again. A politician who spins a narrative, a media that enhances and spreads that narrative. A public’s willingness to believe the narrative instead of accepting the truth. Sound familiar. It is how we got kids in cages, babies ripped from their mother’s arms, migrant women having forced hysterectomies, The Greenville, MS camp was run by an outside contractor. Today we have migrant camps and prisons run by for profit contractors. We have not come so far, that we can’t go back. The public needs to know the truth. Needs to be shocked. Needs to be horrified. Needs to be shaken to their core and out of the coziness of their bubbles.
There are countless stories like these. Thousands if not millions of stories that will never be told. Voices that will never be heard. Tears that will never be wiped away. Did you know that even today, when it rains in the Devil’s Punchbowl, skeletal remains still rise to the surface? The soul of someone’s ancestor. Almost a century and a half later, those who perished during that time are still reminding us that they existed. Still trying to get their story told. Never forget.
Check out Ty’s book THE POWER OF PERSPECTIVE. It’s a collection of affirmations she wrote to get her through a difficult time in her life. Words of wisdom that apply to anyone, and everyone, to get through the hard times. If you’re questioning yourself, and need a reminder that you are in control… Click HERE to order your copy.
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