A TOWN OWNED BY NEGROES 9125

woman was doing full work again, but living necessity for it to be done again. It should
at the institution under the daily observation of mean a large increase of power throughout all
a physician. The patient should not return to the subsequent life of the individual. If his
his home life until correct habits as to hours of stomach is weak, he should discover how to
work, exercise, sleep, bathing, recreation, and handle it most wisely. Has he a weak heart?
so on, have been worked out satisfactorily and He should learn to work so as to get the most
have become thoroughly established. out of himself with the least danger. Has he a
We individuals all differ; no two persons are nervous system that is apt to play him false in
alike. Individual equations in each one of times of great pressure ? He must learn how
these cases should be solved, and then habits to get the very best work out of this defective
thoroughly established. It is not a thing that piece of machinery, unless indeed it be pos-
can be done suddenly. It needs long observa- sible to remove the cause within the nervous
tion on the part of a physician specially trained system itself, so that the weakness no longer
for such work. It involves a consideration of exists and he shall not, therefore, be obliged
the mental states, the emotional states, the to look after it.
methods of work, the temperament of the To know one^s limitations is the first step to
individual, his education and experience, his success. To know how far one can venture
age, and his financial resources. with safety is to be able to charge right up to
This health education having once been the danger line with the confidence and audacity
thoroughly done, there should not arise the that win out.

A TOWN OWNED BY NEGROES

MOUND BAYOU, MISS., AN EXAMPLE OF THRIFT AND SELF-GOVERNMENT

BY

BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

B
OLIVAR CO UNTY is noted among the The town itself has, at present, a population of
counties of Mississippi for two reasons: about 300. Of these, eighty-three are regis-
it contains the richest soil in the famous tered voters.
Yazoo Delta, and it possesses the only regularly Mound Bayou is a self-governing community.
constituted Negro town in the Southern States. That is one of the interesting things about it.
This town, called Mound Bayou, gets its name It has had, since it was incorporated in 1898,
from a large mound, a relic of the prehistoric a mayor, three aldermen, a constable, and a
inhabitants of the country, which marks the town marshal, all of them Negroes. This was
junction of two of the numerous bayous that necessarily so, because no white man has ever
make so important a part of the natural drain- lived in this community since it was established,
age system of this low and level land. except the man who introduced the telephone
Situated in the heart of the wide alluvial system, and he remained only long enough
plain between the Mississippi and the Yazoo to teach some of the townspeople how to
Rivers, Mound Bayou is the centre of a Negro manage the exchange.
population more dense than can be found any- The colony, of which Mound Bayou is, so
where else outside of Africa. The Negroes out- to speak, the capital, grew out of a correspond"
number the whites seven to one throughout ence and an interview between Maj. George
the Delta. There are whole sections of these W. McGinnis, land commissioner of what was
rich bottom-lands where no white man lives. known at that time as the Louisville, New
Mound Bayou and the territory for several Orleans, and Texas Railway, and Isaiah T.
miles around it on every side is one such section Montgomery, the man who founded the col-
—a Negro colony, occupying 30,000 acres, all ony. The railroad, now known as the Yazoo
of which is owned by Negroes, most of them and Mississippi Valley, wanted to settle the
small farmers who till 40 and 8o-acre tracts, vacant lands along its right-of-way. It was
9126 A TOWN OWNED BY NEGROES

Montgomery^ idea to establish on these wild until February, 1888, however, that the first
lands a Negro colony, and his plan was heartily permanent settlers moved in. A month later
seconded by the officers of the railroad. In the the ground was cleared sufficiently to set up a
spring of 1887, accompanied by a civil en- small store. Two dwellings were also erected.
gineer, he made a personal inspection of these A few of these early buildings may still be seen
lands and finally located a site for the present in remote corners of the community. They
town on the line of the railroad 104 miles south were constructed of the materials at hand,
of Memphis and 116 miles north of Vicksburg. walls of rough-hewn logs, roofed with a sort
Twenty years ago, this whole region was of shingle split with an axe from hardwood
wild and inaccessible. The country was cov- blocks.
ered with a heavy hardwood forest, which There was, of course, no land to be culti-
united with a dense undergrowth of briars vated when the first settlers arrived on the
and cane to make a dense jungle, through scene and no crop-lien system to provide in
which it was only possible to thread one^s advance for provisions until something could
way by the* use of a magnetic needle, be earned from the land. But the railroads
cutting the path as one proceeded. Through needed cross-ties for their constantly extending
this semi-tropical jungle, the railroad had lines. Timber agents came along in search
blazed a wide furrow for a distance of 200 of stave-bolts and spoke-material. This gave
miles from Memphis to Vicksburg, along the settlers a chance to earn something while
which were scattered a few straggling villages, they were clearing the land. In this way the
with here and there a larger town. colonists solved the problem of living off the
One morning in the fall of 1887, a north- wilderness while they were engaged in sub-
bound train stopped in the midst of this wilder- duing it. At the end of three years they had
ness, a party of Negroes stepped off, and the located and purchased 4,078 acres of land and
train went its way. The leader of the group, had cleared and made ready for cultivation
a small, slender man, with strongly marked some 1,250 acres. They had earned during
features and a deliberate and thoughtful man- this time $8,780 from their timber operations.
ner, held in his hand a plot, which he looked and had raised 379 bales of cotton and 3,045
at from time to time. This was Isaiah T. bushels of corn on the 655 acres of land which
Montgomery and the men with him were the they had cleared.
first contingent of prospective settlers. The wilderness had become the frontier. '
It was not easy, as I have often heard Mr. The colonists came in faster now. The ragged
Montgomery say, to find settlers in that early outline of the forest steadily receded in all
day. The task of taming this wild country directions and large areas were opened for
seemed hopeless to men with so few resources cultivation in the surrounding territory.
and so little experience. On this particular
THE GROWTH OF THE COLONY
morning, Mr. Montgomery thought it best to
make a little speech before proceeding with It was not the ordinary Negro farmer who
the work that had brought them thither. was attracted to Mound Bayou colony. It
"You see," he said, waving his hand in the was rather an earnest and ambitious class
direction of the forest, "this is a pretty wild prepared to face the hardships of this sort of
place." He paused, and the men looked pioneer work. The scheme was widely ad-
hesitatingly in the direction he had indicated, vertised among the Negro farmers thoughout
but said nothing. the state and drew immigrants from all parts
"But this whole country," he continued, of Mississippi, and a certain number from other
"was like this once* You have seen it change. states. Some of the most valuable settlers in
You and your fathers have, for the most part, the community came from the "white-capping"
performed the work that has made it what it is. counties in the southern part of the state. No
You and your fathers did this for some one else. doubt, the fact that the men who settled Mound
Can't you do as much now for yourselves?" Bayou are a select class has been an important
The men picked up their axes and attacked factor in its success.
the wilderness. The idea of the thing got After twenty years of existence, Mound Bayou
hold of the minds of some of them, so they colony numbers about 800 families, making
went back home and prepared to return and a total population of some 4,000 persons.
take up the work of pioneers. It was not Of the 30,000 acres of land owned by members
 A TOWN OWNED BY NEGROES g^T

of the community, about 6,000 acres are and is preparing to issue bonds for the con-
already under cultivation. This land pro- struction of waterworks and the erection of a
duces annually about 3,000 bales of cotton and system of electric lighting. It is an indication
from one-half to two-thirds of the corn and of the progress of the town that a well-kept
fodder consumed by the community. The cemetery—an institution too often neglected
original site of the town has been extended by Negroes—has been established on one side
until, including the thirty acres in the original of the town, and a public park of five acres
plot and the several additions that have been has been laid out on the other. Mound Bayou,
made since, it embraces a tract of ninety-six though an exclusively Negro town, keeps up its
acres. connection with and interest in the outside
With the influx of population, the value of world. The post-office business amounts to
land in the town and the surrounding country between $400 and $500 a quarter. Fifty.
has greatly increased in value. Property Memphis papers are sold every day in the
inside the town that formerly cost from $7 town and there are a number of subscribers
to $9 an acre sells at present, in the form of to the magazines of general information.
building lots, at prices ranging from one to The business interests of Mound Bayou
three cents per square foot. This land, which town and community centre in the Bank of
was assessed at one time at two dollars an acre, Mound Bayou, organized March 8, 1904, with
has now an assessed valuation of $23,073.55. a capital stock of $10,000. The earnings of
The business of the town has grown with the the bank during the first eight months of its
growing population. There are thirteen stores existence amounted to 17 per cent. In 1906,
and a number of small shops in the town it paid a dividend of 16 per cent. and set aside '
which do an annual business of something like a considerable sum as a surplus. The follow-
$600,000. The express business at Mound ing statement indicates the condition of the
Bayou amounts to $250 per month. The bank on Feb. 12, 1907:
railroad station is the tenth in importance
between Memphis and Vicksburg, according LIABILITIES
Capital paid in .................. p8,300.oo
to a writer in the Planters Journal, and the Deposits for capital account ...... 2,500.00
railroad traffic amounts to $40,000 a year.
There are six churches and three schools in Total $10,800.00
the town. One of these, the Mound Bayou Undivided profits ...... ...... 645.41
Deposits subject to check ...... 29,545.33
Normal and Industrial Institute, conducted
by B. F. Owsley, has a building which, with Total $40,990.74
the seven acres of land belonging to and ad-
ASSETS
joining the school, is valued at $3,500. This Loans and discounts ... $26,394.36
school was started by the American Missionary Building ............. 4,ooo.oo
Association before the town was incorporated. Fixtures ............. 2,004.02
The expenses of maintaining it, about $1,500 Overdrafts secured .... 1,054-65
a year, are met in part by the society that Cash and sight exchange 7»537«7i
founded it, but in part by a tuition fee of $i
Total $40,990-74
a month from its pupils. A second school,
established and maintained by what are known As practically all of the business of the colony
familiarly as the "Sister Workers of the Col- centres in the bank, it is natural that nearly all
ored Baptist Church of Bolivar County," has the prominent business men of the town should
a large two-story building for recitations, and be represented on the board of directors.
plans are now being made for the building of Charles Banks, the founder and cashier of the
a dormitory to provide accommodations for bank, was a successful business man at darks-
pupils who come in from the surrounding dale before he came, in 1903, to Mound Bayou.
farms to get the advantages of better schools He became interested at that time in the suc-
than the county can provide. cess of the enterprise, sold out his business
The town is gradually increasing its facilities interests at Clarksdale, and cast in his fortunes
for doing business and is acquiring all the with the colony. He is the youngest and most
machinery of a highly organized community. aggressive business man in the town. John
Mound Bayou has a bank, three cotton gins, Francis, the president of the bank, came to
a telephone exchange, a weekly newspaper, the settlement in an early day from New
9128 A TOWN OWNED BY NEGROES

Orleans and worked fora time as a clerk. The ists had borrowed money for improvements.
Bradstreet and Dun mercantile agencies assess There was, therefore, a constant danger that
the value of his property at $20,000 to $2 5,000. farmers who were not able to discharge the
His neighbors say that he and his wife are mortgages when they came due would lose their
worth $50,000. W. T. Montgomery—who is holdings. To provide against this, the Mound
the postmaster, the brother of the founder, and Bayou Loan and Investment Company was
vice-president of the bank—is a man of in- formed, with a capital stock of $50,000. W.
dependent means. He owned and conducted T. Montgomery was made president of this
for twelve years a farm of 640 acres near Fargo, company and Charles Banks secretary and
N. D., which he sold at the time of the rise in treasurer. The plan of this company was to
Dakota lands at an advance of from $20 to $25 sell stock to the farmers in the community.
per acre over what he paid for it and invested The price of shares was fixed at $50, payable
in other lands in the neighborhood of Winnipeg, in monthly instalments of one dollar. By
Canada. this means, a capital was secured to take over
Among the directors of the bank are R. M. the mortgages of those members of the com-
McCarthy, who owns 450 acres of land in the munity who were not able to pay the loans as
colony and runs a cotton gin. T. C. Jordan they fell due, and at the same time provide a
has a bakery and meat market. He started way by which the owners of the land might
in the colony as a farmer. He is now said to accumulate a sum sufficient to pay off the
be worth something like $8,000 or $9,000. indebtedness for which the mortgage was issued.
J. Barker is the town marshal. C. R. Stringer It is expected that the capital accumulated
is treasurer of the town. H. A. Godbold, in this way will eventually be used to assist
who came into the settlement as a farmer settlers coming into the colony to acquire and
about 1895, runs a general store. The bank pay for lands, and in this way extend the hold-
and its directors, because they represent and ings and the influence of the colony.
are so completely identified with the interests
THE TOWN'S LOCAL GOVERNMENT
of the town, have come to have the position of
a sort of chamber of commerce, guarding the Mound Bayou has been from the first, at
credit of the various enterprises and directing least in the minds of the men who founded it,
and inspiring the economic and business more than a business enterprise. As a matter
development of the colony. of fact, its most conspicuous success has been
There are some special difficulties in the its local government.
financial direction and development of a town The records of the mayor's court show that,
and colony like Mound Bayou. For instance, as Delta towns go, Mound Bayou is a remark-
it has been the constant aim of the men who ably quiet and sober place. There have been
founded the colony to preserve it as a dis- but two homicides in twenty years. Both of
tinctively Negro enterprise. Separated from, these were committed by strangers—men who
yet intimately bound up with the commercial drifted into the community in the early days
and political interests of the other communities before the local self-government and the tradi-
about it, the problem of preserving this isola- tions of the town had been established. One
tion has often been a perplexing one. A dif- of the men killed was Benjamin T. Green, who
ficulty arose a few years ago when the Louis- was the partner of Isaiah T. Montgomery in
ville, New Orleans, and Texas Railway was the early days of the town. The man who
sold to the Yazoo and Mississippi. Practically committed this crime was afterwards identified
all the lands purchased from the railroad as a fugitive from justice, who was wanted for
company had been subject to a lien for deferred some desperate crime committed in the vicinity
payments. With the change of ownership in of Mobile. The murder was the result of a
the railroad, a wholesale foreclosure of these trivial altercation in regard to a box of tacks.
mortgages seemed imminent. Charles Banks During the whole twenty years of the town's
and his associates in the bank managed, how- existence, only three persons have been sent to
ever, to have the loans renewed and upon terms the circuit court for trial. Two of these were
by which the mortgages were to bear 6 per men convicted of theft. Since the town
cent. interest instead of 8 per cent. obtained its charter in 1898, there have
In time, all of the original purchase money been, up to February, 1907, but 163 criminal
for these lands was paid, but many of the colon- cases tried in the town. Of these, fifty were
 A TOWN OWNED BY NEGROES 9129

committed by strangers or by men who had come have become respectable citizens. To my
into town from the surrounding community. mind, the interesting fact in regard to these
Twenty-eight cases were either never tried or prosecutions is that they served not merely to
were 'of so trivial a nature that no fine was correct a public abuse but to reform the men
imposed. Sixty-four were cases of disturbing who were prosecuted. In most cases, these
the peace. men went back to the farms and became useful
It is interesting to read the records of the members of the community.
mayors court. They are an index to the life It seems to be pretty well agreed that the
of the village and reflect the changing current moral conditions of the Mound Bayou colony
of public opinion in regard to the moral dis- are better than those in other Negro settle-
cipline and order of the town. ments in the Delta. Some years ago, when
In July, 1902, the records show that fourteen the question was an "issue" in the community,
persons were arrested and fined for failure to a committee was appointed from each of the
pay the street tax. Every citizen of the town churches to make q, house to house canvass of
is required to do $3 worth of work on the the colony, in order to determine to what extent
streets every year. Some had neglected to pay loose family relations existed. The report of
this labor tax and allowed the streets to fall this committee showed that there were forty
into a condition of neglect. As a result of a families in the colony where men and women
discussion of the matter in the town council, were living together without the formality of
a number of the delinquents were arrested and a marriage ceremony. As a result of this
compelled to pay fines amounting to $3.30 report, the people of the town gave notice that
and costs amounting to $1.40, each. these forty couples would have to marry within
Again, in 1904, a man was arrested for a certain length of time or they would be pros-
gambling. He had established what is known ecuted. Nearly all of them acted upon this
in sporting parlance as a "crap" game, and suggestion; the others moved away.
on Saturday nights a number of the young men "Since then,57 said Mr. Montgomery, in
of the village were accustomed to gather at his speaking about the matter, "we have had no
place to gamble. He was repeatedly warned trouble of this kind. Upon occasions, the
and finally the town marshal and some of the women who are conspicuous in towns and
more substantial citizens made a raid upon the cities and who travel in the Delta, making the
place and arrested fifteen persons. The cases various camps on pay-days and who more or
were dismissed after each man had paid a fine less infest the larger plantations, have tried to
of $2. A year later, another man was arrested get a footing here, but have never succeeded.
for running a "blind tiger," selling liquor with- They can get no place to stay and have to leave
out a license. He formerly owned a store in on the next train. This is now generally
the town but began selling liquor, then com- known and we have no trouble on that score."
menced to drink, and was rapidly "going to the When I asked Mr. Montgomery how he
dogs." After his place had been closed, he explained the fact that they had been able to
went out into the country and took up farming obtain such good results in the way of order
again. It is reported that he is doing well and morality among the people of the colony,
there. he said: "I attribute it to the force of public
During the year 1905, there were several opinion. The regulations that we enforce
disturbances in the town which were traced have public sentiment behind them. The
directly to the illicit liquor sellers. Men people recognize that the laws, when they are
would come into town on Saturdays to do their enforced, represent the sentiment of the com-
marketing, fall to drinking, and end in a fight. munity and are imposed for their own good.
Things became so bad at last that a public It is not so easy for them to realize that where
meeting was held in regard to the matter. As the government 'is entirely in the hands of
a result of this meeting, the town marshal, white men."
the mayor, and the treasurer were appointed One thing that has helped to maintain order
to get evidence and secure the conviction of in the colony is the fact that Bolivar County
those who were guilty. Six persons were prohibits the sale of liquor. More than once
convicted and fined at that time. One of the liquor men have attempted to pass a law
these, a woman, left town. Another is still that would license the selling of liquor in the
under suspicion and the rest, now on their farms, county. Some years ago a determined effort
9130 A TOWN OWNED BY NEGROES

was made to repeal the prohibition law. In Isaiah T. Montgomery was born on the planta-
order to secure the vote of Mound Bayou, tion of Joseph E. Davis, a brother of Jeffer-
which seems to have the balance of power in son Davis, the President of the Confederate
the county on this question, a "still hunt" States. The plantation where he was born,
was made among the voters in the community. in 1847, was known as "The Hurricane" and
A plan was arranged by which a saloon was to was situated in Warren County, Miss. His
be established in the town and one of the father, Benjamin Thbrnton Montgomery, came
citizens made proprietor. originally from Virginia. He was purchased
??
"This scheme came very near going through, in Vicksburg by Mr. Davis, while he was still
said Mr. Montgomery. "The plan was all a boy. He had picked up a little education
arranged before we heard of it. Then we from his young master in Virginia before he
called a meeting and I simply said to the people was sold South. After he came into the pos-
that experience in our own town had taught us session of Mr. Davis, he managed to acquire,
that a saloon was a bad tiding to have in the in some way that Isaiah could never account
community., I said that if the law was passed, for, a very good practical education, so that he
a colored man might run the saloon here, but was able to make surveys and draw plans for
in the rest of the county they would be in the buildings, and for years he was in practical
hands of white men. We would pay for control of the plantation upon which he was
maintaining them, however, and we would be employed. There were four children, all of
the ones to suffer. We voted the law down whom received the rudiments of an education
and there has been no serious attempt to open from their father.
the county to the liquor traffic since." When he was nine years of age, Isaiah was
In a certain sense, it may be said that the set to work sorting and filing letters and papers
Mound Bayou town and colony have been a in Mr Davis^s office, and from that time he
school in self-government for its colonists. lived in his masters home. He had a great
They have had .an opportunity there, such as deal of copying to do for Mr. Davis and it
Negro people have rarely had elsewhere, to was in this way that he gained a practical
leam the real meaning of political institutions knowledge of written English that has stood
and to prepare themselves for the duties and him in good stead ever since. As he grew
responsibilities of citizenship. older he became the special attendant of Mr.
It is interesting to note, in this connection, Davis, having charge of all his public and priv-
that this is one of the few instance in which ate papers, and he worked steadily in his office
Negroes have ever organized and maintained until the breaking out of the Civil War. In
in any Southern state a government which has 1863, Mr. Davis retired, upon the approach
gained the entire respect of the Southern people. of the Federal armies, to the interior of the
A writer in a recent number of the Planters state, taking with him his slaves. Young
Journal, published in Memphis, says: Montgomery was left behind with his father,
"Will the Negro as a race work out his own salvation
however, to assist in taking care of the planta-
along Mound Bayou lines? Quien sabe? These have
tion.
worked out for themselves a better local government than After the destruction of the Federal gun-
any superior people has ever done for them in freedom. boat Indianola, at Hurricane, and the passage
But it is a generally accepted principle in political economy of the Federal gunboats under the batteries
that any homogeneous people will in time do this. These of Vicksburg, Isaiah entered the service of the
people have their local government, but it is in consonance United States as a cabin-boy for Rear-Admiral
with the county, state, and national governments and inter- Porter. He was present, in his capacity as
national conventions, all in the hands of another race. cabin-boy, at the battle , of Grand Gulf,
Could they conduct as successfully a county government accompanied the first expedition up Red River,
in addition to their local government and still under the
and was a witness of the operations at the siege
state and national governments of another race? Enough
Negroes of the Mound Bayou type, and guided as they
and capitulation of Vicksburg. In the winter
were in the beginning, will be able to do so." of 1863, he lost his health and was discharged
from the navy at Mound City. From there
The story of Mound Bayou would not be he went to Cincinnati, where, through the
complete without some account of the man who kindness of Admiral Porter, his parents had
founded the colony and to whose patience and been able to precede him.
wisdom it owes the greater part of its success. Immediately after the war, Isaiah's father
 A T O W N OWNED BY NEGROES 9131

A GENERAL VIEW OF MOUND BAYOU, SHOWING THE RAILROAD STATION

In the foreground, on the right, are Isaiah T. Montgomery and the town constable

returned to the plantation and in 1866 put to the Montgomerys that unless there was a
himself in communication with Mr. Davis. modification of the terms upon which the pro-
Very soon they had perfected plans with him ject had been left to them after Joseph Davis^s
for the purchase of the Hurricane and Brier- death, it would be impossible to succeed. The
field plantations, containing something like heirs could not agree to an alteration in
4,000 acres of land, upon which the elder terms, and so the scheme was finally "aban-
Montgomery and his sons, under the name of doned.
Montgomery & Sons, conducted the third It was with the same notion of carrying out,
largest plantation in the state. under new conditions, the plan which his
It was the desire of Joseph Davis, after the father and his former master had formed
war, to keep together as far as possible the years before, that, in 1887, Mr. Montgomery—
slaves who had grown up on his plantations. as he says in a brief autobiography—"sought
His notion was, no doubt, that the interests to begin anew, at the age of forty, the dream
of all concerned demanded that there should be of lifers young manhood,55 the dream of doing
just as little break in the old relations as something to build up the fortunes of his race.
possible and that the transition from slavery It thus appears that the history of Mound
to freedom should be made gradually, with Bayou is deeply rooted in the past, and is,
the idea that the freedmen should, however, in a certain sense, a carrying out of the scheme
eventually become the owners of the land formulated by the elder Montgomery and his
upon which they had previously been slaves. former master for the welfare of that masters
The plantations were conducted with this end former slaves. Others than were intended
in view until 1880, when it became -apparent have become heirs to the plans of these men,

THE BANK OF MOUND B A x O J ONE OF TJE PRINCIPAL STORES

 9132 A T O W N OWNED BY NEGROES

community becomes more complicated, new

problems present themselves to the men
who are still planning and directing its
future.
The success of the present community has
suggested the. formation of others similar to
this one. Already there are the beginnings of
such communities at other points above and
below Mound Bayou. Mr. Montgomery be-
lieves that the success of these new communi-
ties, as well as the future of the Mound Bayou
colony, depends largely upon the ability of the
new generation, now growing up, to profit by
the experience of the older. It is with this
idea that he and his associates are even now
studying out a scheme by which the work of
the schools can be brought into closer touch
with the actual work of the colony.
"What we need," said Mr. Montgomery,
"is an agricultural school, something that
will teach the young men to be better farmers
than their fathers have been. But, more than
that, we need here a system of education that
will teach our young men and women the
THE FOUNDER OF MOUND BAYOU underlying meaning of the work that is being
Isaiah T. Montgomery, who was once a slave belonging to the done here. In some way they must be taught
brother of Jefferson Davis . the importance of carrying forward this experi-
ment in the spirit in which it was begun.
but their good will and their forethought have The problem of education is at present the
made the success of Mound Bayou possible. most important which the town and the colony
As the colony grows older and the life of the of Mound Bayou have to solved

THE MAYOR OF MOUND BAYOU AT HIS DESK

 A TOWN OWNED BY NEGROES 9i33
Some time ago, Mr, Montgomery was asked
by a newspaper writer what he thought of
the future of the colony, "What he wrote in
reply
•. ' shows
L
'"' his confidence
:
— in ffie
." -.. outcome:-
•••'?. ^•... ,..t;-^.;
"What Mound Bayou is n^w^Mid what it has already
accomplished is largely proph^ic" of its future. Situated
in the great alluvial Delta district, lands whose produje||ve
qualities are.not surpassed by, any in civilization, timbered
by hardwood that finds ready sale at almost fabulous prices,
no part of this great section lias yet reached its full develop-
ment. The thriving, hustling towns dotted here and there
throughout the Delta, with their factories, waterworks,
electric lights and other :modern improvements, have"
become what they are with the Delta only partially devel-
oped. What may we expect when practically all the lands
have been cleared, properly drained, with a full supply of
contented and efficient labor to do the necessary work ?
In proportion as the whole Delta approaches these con-
rH^'ons, Mound Bayou will progress also.
"There is another distinction that is more than likely
to come to Mound Bayou as the years go by, and our
schools and churches improve in power and capacity; as
our streets are drained and paved, our oil lamps replaced
by electric lights, and the old, antiquated, characteristic
Delta pump is replaced by clear streams of artesian water.
Negroes will begin to make this their resident home, even
though they are engaged in business or make their liveli-
hood elsewhere. There will be an atmosphere in which to
raise their children, and they will find here social con-
ditions for their wives and daughters very much/to their CHARLES BANKS, THE CASHIER OF THE BANK OF
liking. There are those who ask, 'Are you not afraid that MOUND BAYOU
some day the whites will be moved to wipe out Mound
Bayou by violence ?' Knowing the controlling force
among the whites in this section, as I do, gathered by a
stay of thirty-three years among them, I say, 'No, we are
not afraid.' The Negroes who have shaped and controlled
the destiny of Mound Bayou understand conditions too
well to allow any radical or indiscreet policy to prevail
here. On the one hand, there are too many white men
around us. or in .easy reach who are our friends and willing

GATHERING GRAPES IN A COTTAGE YARD A FARMER IN HIS FIELD OF GERMAN MILLET

 9 34
I
A TOWN OWNED BY NEGROES

THE FIRST COTTAGES WERE PRIMITIVE THE LATER COTTAGES ARE MORE PRETENTIOUS

to see that no impediment is thrown in our way, or undue takes an active part in every movement that
advantage is taken of us by irresponsible parties. This has relates to the upbuilding of the colony which
been - demonstrated on several occasions."
he founded. He believes that his work at
:
Isaiah Montgomery is hopeful and confident Mound Bayou is only just begun and his
y ^pf the future. He is now sixty years old, but townsmen share that belief.

THE HOME OF ISAIAH T. MONTGOMERY, THE FOUNDER OF MOUND BAYOU