Plantation Owners Minted Their Own Coins and Money

Sharecropper's Coin 

Some larger plantations in the the South printed their own money and minted their own coins. The plantation owners would advanced the coins to their tenant farmers against next year's crop rather than give them real cash.  After working long hours in the blistering heat and the cold winters to earn money that wasn't even U.S. currency.  The sharecroppers coin could only be spent and used at the plantation stores and at their price. Most plantation stores always charged extremely higher prices.

If one of the tenant farmers decided to move away, they couldn't because they didn't have real U.S. currency.  Lumber towns generally emerged in isolated locations far removed from main route of commerce. Taking advantage of the scarcity of local merchants, timber companies often paid their workers in company script.

If the tenant farmer tried to leave the plantation he didn't have any money to move with, travel with or provide for him or his family. In all reality they had nothing after working hard all week long. When taking a deeper look into the study of poverty, we must the sharecropping that only benefited the plantation owners. Most tenants remained in debt and fell under at system called peonage.

Sharecropper's Coin

Natalbany Lumber

in Natalbany, Louisiana 

Hiram Brumfield of Kentwood, Louisiana

Hiram Brumfield

Hiram Brumfield was born in 1882 in Tangipahoa Parish. He was married to Dixie Brumfield. Dixie died on Jan 21, 1938. In 1910 he and his wife only had two children, Edcor and Daisy. Hiram is listed as a mulatto. Hiram couldn't read or write but he had sharp business skills and was self-employed. In the early 1900s he made regular rounds and was very dependable in his wagon that could have been  possibly the earliest garbage collector in Kentwood.  He raised pigs and he would gather discarded food and scraps to feed his pigs.  He  passed away on September 18, 1956 and was buried at the original Sweet Home cemetery according to his daughter Daisy Brumfield.

The Brumfield's has a long genealogical history in Kentwood, Louisiana and they are a large family. Names of Brumfield's in Kentwood included; Jim, Mattie, Melvin, Della Mae, James, Doris, Nathaniel, Mamie, Ira, Pecola, Irena, Arlie May, Walter, Hazel, Shellie, Doris, Dock, Lucinda, Oscar, Dixie, Minnie, Jim, Rosa, Eula, Collie, Lizzie, Chas, Merridth, Bailey, Robert, Lulsa, John, Fannie, Alma, Vernie, Selma, Kermit, Willie, Wessie, Bessie, and Laura are just a few names found in the U.S. Census.

WWII Registration Card

Hiram Brumfield

Towns and Incorporated Towns in Tangipahoa Parish

Here are the Unincorporated towns and towns that was Incorporated in Tangipahoa Parish, (* indicated incorporated). The name "Tangipahoa," is an Indian word meaning "ear of corn". The parish was formed from in 1869 form parts of St. Helena, Livington, St. Tammany, Washington parishes. Amite has always been the parish seat. The parish contains 500,000 acres of land.

Greenlaw
Kentwood *
Oak Hill
Tangipahoa *
Day
Newsom's
Fluker
Arcola
Roseland *
Graves
Amite*
Shiloh
Velma
Millards
Independence*
Tickfaw*
Genesee
Hammond*
Pumpkin Center
Natalbany
Torrego
Campbells
Ponchatoula*
Abel
Strader
Manchac
Loranger *

Source: Center For Southeast Louisiana Studies

The Obituary of Mrs. Verdie P. Dillon

Mrs. Verdie P. Dillion

Mrs. Verdie P. Dillon was born to Hilery and Laura Powell, Oct 15, 1885 in Mound Bayou, Mississippi.  She was married to the Mr. O.W. Dillion who preceded her in death. At an early age, Mrs. Dillon united with the Methodist Church and since then has been an active member of St. James United Methodist Church, Magnolia, Mississippi.

She was a faithful member of the choir, United Methodist Women Organization and a dedicated Sunday School teacher. Although Mrs. Dillon's public service to education was in Louisiana, she remained a loyal citizen of Magnolia and surrounding areas of Pike County.

Her interest in mankind, civic and educational organization were reflected in her active affiliations in the Lillie Mae Bryant Federated Club and the Local, State and National Retired Teacher's Association.

Even though Mrs. Dillon had no children of her own, she became a mother to countless of children in the surrounding areas of Louisiana and Mississippi, included among them is a devoted son, included among them is devoted son, Melburne Dillion, and his wife, Mrs. Louise Dillon. Other survivors are six grandchildren, nine great grandchildren, Mrs. Bonita Ratliff, Mr. Austine Dillon, brother-in-law; Mrs. Ollie Lawrence, sister-in-law; and a host of other nieces and nephews.

"Like a stalk of corn that ripen in its seasons, she enjoyed the spring of life, endured the toil of summer, culled the fruits of autumn and passed through the rigors of winter, all to embrace the joy and bliss of eternal years."

And Now She Rests




Source: Center for Southeast Louisiana Studies
              Irene Ried Morris Collection

The Wheat's Where Our Neighbors

Antoinette Harrell researching at the
Louisiana State Archives

Growing up in Amite, Louisiana at Rte Box 306, the Wheat's lived at Rte Box 303. Henry Wheat married my great uncle's Palmer Harrell's daughter Doris Harrell. Henry Wheat was a farmer, I remember him mostly in the field planting vegetables or picking and pulling them. He was a very quite man and enjoyed working on his farm. He was very kind and nice to our family. I remember him sharing vegetables from his garden with my family. Sometimes he would let the cows out in the pasture for grazing. I guess you can say we had a live lawn mower.

Henry was one of many children born to Saul and his wife Corrine;  Booker, Rosa, Beatrice, Melisa, Bernice, Mytrle, Bertha, Monore, Hattie, Mattie, Roy and Bertha. Saul was born in 1875 and died on Sept 5, 1954,  his wife Corrine was born in 1880 and died in on Sept 19, 1944. My mother use to say that cousin Henry was a good neighbor to have. He lived next door to his brother Roy Wheat and his son Bobby Ray Wheat and his family.

 My brothers and I spent long hot summer days playing with his youngest son Bruce. One of my childhood memories playing with Bruce is the time he, my brother and I busted watermelons in the field to see which one were the sweeties. When cousin Henry came out to the field and saw what we had done. He never raised his voice nor did we get a good whipping. I can't say my mother didn't want to give us a good whipping. Cousin Henry told her not to whip us because we were just being children. Not only having the Wheat's as neighbors but they were kind relatives as well.

His sister Melissa Wheat married my maternal grandmother's brother Alexander Richardson. My great uncle Theodore Harrell married Carrie Wheat. If you wasn't related directly, "perhaps one of your family members married into the many families in Amite." The Wheat still live in the same community up until this day. One of my cousin Ernest Wheat, Sr., still plant and grow food just like his father Henry Wheat and grandfather Palmer Harrell.

His wife Doris Harrell Wheat passed away before him. Henry was born on June 9, 1919 and died in April of 1992 in Tangipahoa Parish at the age of seventy-three.

Registration Card
Saul Wheat

Note: Saul Wheat couldn't read and he made his mark

The Genealogy of Ernest and Mary McKay Boykin of Fluker, Louisiana

Antoinette Harrell and her father
Walter Boykin

I woke up this morning thinking about my paternal ancestry and called my dad to get some information from him about his side of the family. Talking to my dad is like talking to a living history book. My dad can recall events that took place when he was just a child. Most of my genealogy research has focused on my mother side of the family.

The time has come for me to focus on my dad side of the family. In my last blog I said that I didn't know much about my paternal grandmother Mary McKay Boykins. My dad changed all that this morning in our conversation. He told me that his mother was born in Mississippi.

Jake and Martha Boykin

I went to the census on Family Search and found my grandmother Mary and her parents Charlie and Florence McKay. Charlie was born in 1884 and he was a mulatto, his birthplace was Mississippi. Florence was born in 1884. After Florence and Charlie were divorced, Florence moved to Tangipahoa Parish and later married a man named John Allen. According to the U. S. 1940 Census, John and Florence had two children living in the household at the time--a daughter named Jessie May who was twenty-year old and a son named Lonnie who was eighteen years old at the time this census of taken. In 1910 they lived in Beat 5, in Pike County, Mississippi, I have yet to trace the migration between 1910 and 1940.

My great grandmother Florence was born April 29, 1884 and passed away on June 1966 at age of eighty-two years old  in Tangipahoa, Louisiana.  My paternal grandparents Ernest and Mary Boykins had six children; Ernest, Jr., Florence, Francis, Walter, Lonnie, Jerry, and Ellis Boykins.  Grandmother Mary was born in 1913 in Pike County, Mississippi and she passed away in 1996.

I'm grateful to my dad for sharing our family genealogy with me. He's a true treasure besides being funny and most importantly motivating me to keep moving forward. I know he had so much more to share with all the Boykins offsprings.

The Registration Card
of Ernest Boykins, Sr.

Click on the link to hear the oral history of my father Walter Boykins http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f4evPVINl8

Slaves of Williams Boykin of St. Helena Parish

Williams Boykin,  1829   File B-3

July 30, 1829- Petition of late wife of Williams Boykin decd. He left property and the following heirs; Susan Boykin, wife of Simpson Hutchinson; with two minors James 19, Frank 17. She requests that here son John Boykin be appointed curator with petitioners, that and inventory be made.
July 10, 1851-In a suit Daniel Weston VS John Boykin et el: by s writ of geri facies issued, the sheriff J.J. Gormon has seized and will sell at the courthouse door at Greensburg on the first Saturday in Sept. 1851, all the title of John Boykin in the following: 540 acres bounded W. by Joiner Greek, N. by Mrs. Rachel Boykin, C. by Pearson Celis, S. by Leonard tract; also the interest of John Boykin in the succession of his decd father William Boykin, viz; the undivided interest in the following: 340.2. acres, being S.5. T 2, S 4, also slaves. (No further papers found.

Souces: St. Helena Conveyance Book

Slaves in George W. Fluker Family

James Fluker Kent

James Fluker Kent was born on January 17, 1843, he was the second child of twelve children and the oldest son of Amos and Susan Fluker Kent of Kentwood, Louisiana. He died August 18, 1886. James Fluker Kent grew up in Kentwood, and worked in his father’s brick factory. In 1860, his father sent him to Alexandria, Louisiana, to attend the Louisiana Seminary for Learning, a military-style college founded in 1860, which later became Louisiana State University. Fluker Kent was in the first class. The Superintendent was an ex-army Major named William Tecumseh Sherman.

He settled there on Cool’s creek, and built a sawmill and brick factory in an area which became known as Kent’s Mill. Later, when the town was developed, it was named Kentwood, in honor of old Amos Kent.

File  F-2

George W. Fluker, 1854

Dec. 8, 1854- Mrs. Martha A. C. Collinsworth represents that she is the surviving widow of George W. Fluker who died leaving minor children: Robert Fluker, Anna J. Fluker, Amos Kent Fluker, Elizabeth C. I. Fluker, and Georgiana Fluker. She is appointed natural tutrix with Robert Fluker under tutor. 

Inventory: Separated property, $174.50: Community, 224 acres bounded W by 700 acres on Amite River bounded W by the river, S. by land of the estate of C.W. Fluker decd, C by B. Pipkin, N by Mrs. Nettles: slaves, cattles, etc. Total $3649. 

March 8, 1856-224 acres purchased by Robert Fluker $100

July 30, 1858-Mrs. Martha A.C. McCoy, adm, of the estate of her decd husband Georege W. Fluker, filed her final account.

Richard Amacker Kent was born at Kentwood, Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, June 28, 1871, a son of James Fluker Kent and Delilah Amacker Kent, and a grandson of Amos Kent. He comes of fine old Colonial American stock, originally from Scotland (sic) and the founder of the family in Louisiana was his grandfather, many generations later. Amos Kent was born in Massachusetts (sic), probably about 1811, and engaged in lumbering and brick manufacturing in New England until about 1840 (sic), when he came to Louisiana and married Susan Fluker, who was born at Clinton, Louisiana, in Feliciana Parish. In 1850 he came to Tangipahoa Parish, and recognizing great business opportunities here, founded the town of Kentwood, where he engaged in lumber and brick manufacturing and lived to be ninety-four years old.

R.A. Kent Merc. Co. Inc. Fluker, LA

Sharecroppers Coin

Sources: File-2, St. Helena Parish, Louisiana Conveyance Book B

               thoseflukerkents.com/RichardAKentSr.htm

               thoseflukerkents.com/kenhomes.htm

The Boykin Family History of Fluker, Louisiana

Jake and Martha Boykins
Photo Courtesy of Linnie Walls

Today my colleague Leonard Smith lll of L3S Studios and I decided to conduct genealogy research on my father's side of the family. I searched the Louisiana Statewide Death Index at the Louisiana State Archives and found my 2nd great grandfather Jake Boyins death record. On the death records, they called him "Jack" Boykins. Leonard searched the U.S. Census from 1940 back to 1870. He found Sam Boykins, wife and children living in St. Helena Parish.

Grandfather Jake died in Fluker, Louisiana. He was born in 1860 according to the 1870 census. According to his death record, he was born July 3, 1868, and died on March 29, 1941, at the age of 72. Jake is the son of Sam and Catherine (Elleneria), Boykin.

Jake and Martha were the parents of my grandfather Ernest Boykins and Johnnie Boykins according to the 1930 census. There may be other children, I haven't yet found on the census.

One day while talking with a man named Roy Curtis and his brother J.C. Curtis from Fluker-- they both told me that Jake was the kind of man that stood up for himself and the community. According to the 1930 census, Jake could read and write. His wife Martha couldn't read or write.  Jake's occupation was a truck farmer in Fluker, Louisiana. Records show that Jake didn't fight in any war. The Boykins always lived in Fluker, Louisiana up until recent years. Many of my father's siblings moved to California.

My father's brother Lonnie Boykins was elected to the City Council as Councilman of District A. Lonnie Boykins, Sr., died Saturday, Jan 31, 2004, at St. Tammany Hospital.  He was survived by his wife, Paulette Boykins; one daughter Shellean Daniels of Covington; three sons, Lonnie Boykins, Jr., John and Malcolm. Two sisters, Florence Basby of Gardenia, California., and Frances Sibley of Gardenia, California who is now deceased; 15 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Walter  Boykins

Uncle Lonnie was preceded in death by his father, Ernest; his mother Mary; and two brothers Ernest Jr., and Jerry. Many Boykins are buried in Community Baptist Church Cemetery in Fluker, Louisiana.

Jake and Martha are buried on the Kent property in Fluker. My father told me where they were buried. I tried to access the cemetery but because it's on private property I couldn't get to their graves. Most of the older people who lived in Fluker in the late 1800s and early 1900s is buried in this cemetery.

My father's mother Mary was a McKay from Mississippi. Not much is known about her side of the family. My father remembers staying with his grandmother Martha as a little boy. I can't wait to interview him again. It's very important to document our own family history. If we don't who will?

State of Louisiana 

Bureau of Vital Statistics 

Certificate of Death

Jack (Jake) Boykin

"United States Census, 1930," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XMT4-326 : accessed 06 Apr 2014), Ernest Boykin in household of Jake Boykin, Police Jury Ward 3, Tangipahoa, Louisiana, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 0008, sheet 18A, family 336, NARA microfilm publication T626, roll 822.

Grant Chapel A.M.E. Church Black History 2014 Event

You and your family are invited to Celebrate Black History Month at Grant Chapel A.M.E. Church in Amite, Louisiana. In honor of Black History, Vera Wheeler has invited Antoinette Harrell to be the keynote speaker, an activist, author, and community organizer will address the issues that African Americans face today in their communities. History will be brought alive by re-enactment of  Slavery, Jim Crow and Affirmative Action by the church youth. Mark your calendar to attend this upcoming event.

New Book Released by Author Antoinette Harrell " Department of Justice"

Antoinette Harrell has spent counting of hours in the National Archives in Washington, D.C., conducting peonage research in Class 50 (Peonage) Litigation Case Files, 1907 - 1973. The cases and documents in the book is directly from these files. 

These Class 50 litigation case files were created or accumulated by the Civil Rights Division in carrying out the Department of Justice's (DOJ) responsibilities in matters arising under statutes implementing the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution. 
This series consists of litigation case files that cover matters arising from violations of statutes implementing the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which outlaws slavery and certain forms of involuntary servitude. The files pertain to complaints made by persons (victims) who were being held against their will or forced to work off debts through threats and intimidation by employers or others (subjects). Most of the victims were Negroes who were physically forced or sometimes beaten to return to former employers to work off their debts. 

The files contain correspondence, memorandums, telegrams, newspaper clippings, transcripts of testimonies, FBI reports of investigations, and indictments.So why don't you know anything about slavery in the 20th Century. The U.S. Government knew, the FBI knew, the NAACP knew, Governor Earl Brewer of Mississippi knew, President Calvin Coolidge, President Franklin D. Roosevelt knew, local sheriffs, elected officials knew, and the Supreme Court knew. You didn't know because the truth of this American nightmare--for those who lived it--has been buried in an unnamed darkness in dusty courthouse attics and the National Archives "Department of Justice" files in Washington, D.C.

I am available for speaking engagements, lectures, and open discussions. Hundreds of thousands of African Americans were held in slavery by chains, gunpoints, and beatings. Some where even murdered on some plantations in the south. This book will expose some terrible atrocities that took place. 

Antoinette Harrell conducting peonage research at the National
Archives in Washington, D.C.
Photo Credit: Walter C. Black, Sr.

Real Taste of NOLA with Chef Bergeron A Native of Amite, Louisiana

Chef Bergeron was born to Catherine Harrell and George Cheree' Bergeron in 1973 in New Orleans, LA., he came from a large family, seven girls and seven boys. His mother wanted to remove her sons from the violent streets of New Orleans by returning back to her hometown of Amite, Louisiana., where she knew her sons would be safe.

She passed away within the first six month. "I returned back to New Orleans," said Bergeron. My siblings went their separate ways and had their own families to raise. Bergeron said that he found  family in the streets. I did things that I am not proud of to this day. Life was hard on the streets "I played the hand that was dealt to me,"said Bergeron.

Like most of the African American men in the United States, Bergeron had a dream, a dream of becoming successful. Bergeron father was a chef, he decided to spend as much time as he could with his father to learn all about the art of creole cooking. Creole cooking is a part of Bergeron's heritage. On my maternal side of the family no one couldn't tell him that his mother Catherine wasn't the best cook in the State of Louisiana. The legacy of cooking was given to Chef Bergeron by both of his parents.

A man of many skills and talents, before following his dream of becoming a chef after abandoning the street life, he started his own plumbing and heating company. Although he mastered the skills he wasn't content because his hopes and dreams of becoming a chef was calling him. He shut his business down and moved to South Florida to be with his girlfriend.  After proposing to her and getting married with her support, he enrolled in a culinary arts program at one of the local colleges

where he  received by A.S. degree in culinary science.

Bergeron hosted many parties and events that displayed his culinary skills and good cooking. Presently he is working on his first book is be released this fall with some of his tasty recipes. He opened his first restaurant in Tampa, Florida called the "The Real Taste of New Orleans," he is also the owner of Bergeron's Catering and Vending company.

His plans for the future is to start a multiple sclerosis foundation for help others who has been diagnose with this disease. Bergeron was recently diagnose with the disease himself. He's grateful to God for all the many blessings he has blessed him with.

Black History Month " Civil Rights in Tangipahoa & St.Helena Parishes"

Jo-Ann Lewis Frazier
Pioneer for change in Amite, La.

Before I can actually think about "Civil Rights in America" I must first think about "Civil Rights in Tangipahoa Parish." Chronicling the important milestones by African Americans in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana. This past August, we commemorated the 50th anniversary March on Washington, D.C., It was pioneers like Jo-Ann Lewis Frazier,  Adam Gordon, Deloris Harrell-Washington, Dr. Willard Vernon, and Kingsley Garrison who stood up against the forces of hatred and racism. 

They protest for change in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana. But somehow I think we have forgot about that part of our history. I am a child from the 60s and can remember segregation and the conversation about the lynchings, KKK, and other racism acts against people of color. 

On, 23 August 1967, After the march, A.Z Young president of the Bogalusa Civic and Voters League announced plans for a second march. The first march, a 10 day trek from Bogalusa to Baton Rouge to present a petition of grievances to Governor John McKeithen supposedly drew over 500 participants.
source: 23 August 1967 p. 10-A, no byline

The 1953 bus boycott in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Baton Rouge was the site of the first successful bus boycott of the 1950s. This event became a blueprint for the more publicized boycott to take place two years later in Montgomery, Alabama, and it set the stage for desegregation in the Deep South.

This month everyone should reflected on a family member, neighbor, community leader who fought and stood up for change. This month I chose to celebrate family members who had the courage to make a difference and change the course of history.

Jim Crow Segregated Water Fountains

Just how many people in Tangipahoa and St. Helena Parishes know that in 1963, what was suppose be a summer project to register blacks voters in Iberville, Pointe Coupee, St. Helena, Tangipahoa and East and West Feliciana parishes turned into something that would change the voting history for African Americans. More than 300 people was jailed, most of them were teenagers. 20 Children was injured during this demonstration. 

Yet, we forgot about the moments and time in our history, we soon forget about the struggles of our ancestors and family members who experience the Jim Crow south. We forgot about the strange fruit hanging for the trees that whispered during the night. We forgot about the times that we couldn't walk on the sidewalks in town. These are history lessons that can help us better shape our presence and future, if we only take a moment to remember. 

http://crdl.usg.edu/collections/batonrougeboycott/?Welcome

http://www.examiner.com/article/louisiana-civil-rights-legends-bogalusa-s-deacons-of-defense

http://theadvocate.com/home/6834219-125/plaquemine-civil-rights-drive-remembered-50

Tangipahoa African-American News

http://tangipahoaafrican-americannews.com

Sharecroppers Contracts or Lease Agreements

My great grandfather Robert Harrell was determined not to spend his life working as a sharecropper or tenant farmer. He and his son Alexander Harrell purchased two hundred acres of land in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, to farm and work their own land. I often heard some of the elderly people in our communities talking about horror stories associated with tenant farming. Some said that you couldn't get out of debt no matter how hard you worked. At the end of the year you still owed the landlord.

I researched the "Freedmen Contracts" in the National Archives in Washington, D.C., and found contracts of many newly freed slaves who signed the contracts my making their mark (x) to work on plantations in exchange for shelter, clothes, tools and money. In many cases tenant farmer didn't received what they were promised according to the contract. "Children as young as five years old made their mark bonding themselves to an agreement that they couldn't read or understand just like their parents and other newly freed slaves on the plantation who signed the contract."

Many had no idea that they was entering into a new form of slavery called peonage and involuntary servitude. A new system of credit was created and some of your family members had to borrow against the crops. Crop liens was a system equal to that of sharecropping.

Freedmen Bureau Contract/Yazoo, Mississippi

Crop Lien of Jasper and Emma Harrell

My grandfather Jasper Harrell, Sr., and his mother Emma Mead Harrell borrow $110.00 dollars from Amite Strawberry Company 1938 against their crops, using their land to secure the loan. They worked hard to repay the loan to keep from losing the family land. My great uncle Palmer Harrell couldn't say the same. He borrowed some money to purchase a mule and was told that he defaulted on his loan, he lost his land. This wasn't unusual for many blacks and white who was cheated out of their land and money.

2 Mississippi Museums in Jackson, Mississippi Opening 2017

The site of the 2 Mississippi Museums
Photo Credit: Walter C. Black, Sr.

After attending a morning meeting, my colleague Walter C. Black, Sr., and I decided to go over to the Mississippi State Archives to conducted genealogy research, we soon learned that the Department of Archives and History is overseeing construction of the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum and the Mississippi History. The doors will open in 2017.

 I wanted to research the sharecropping period dating back to 1866. We looked at plantation records, bill of sales, and rent receipts. Although my family left Amite, County, Mississippi and moved over to East Feliciana Parish in Louisiana. Part of me is still connected to the State of Mississippi. Governor Phil Bryant and other elected officials, civil rights leader Myrlie Evers and other movement veterans, educators, and volunteers from across the state lifted shovel on Thursday, Oct 24 to break ground on the 2 Mississippi Museums projects.

The Museum of Mississippi History will tell the story of the state from prehistory to current today. The Mississippi Civil Rights Museum will be the nation's first state-sponsored civil right museum. I am very excited for the opening of both of the museums.

To learn more about the upcoming museums, please visit the website below.

http://www.2mississippimuseums.com

The Civil Rights Movement in the East Florida Parishes

When addressing the matters of Civil Rights, is it paramount that certain assumptions are inherent. "That assumption is that all men be created equal." With is this in mind, one must measure how important it was to leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Sr., to advocate for people who were denied human and civil rights. Local civil right leaders such A.Z Young, Pat Morris, Rev. Willard Vernon, Kingsley Garrison, etc. 

Today we are still struggling with some high levels of poverty in many communities across the United States. According to The Washington Post, the long term unemployment rate has not been as high as it is now since World War II. 4 million Americans have been out of work for 27 weeks are longer.

In Tangiphaoa Parish there are few black owned businesses in the entire parish.  According to the Tangipahoa Parish QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau. African-American alone, 2013 (a) make up 32.4% population. The total number of firms in 2007,  African-American owned firms in 2007 15.9. The Median Household Income is $14.969.

On seven occasions, the American Civil Liberties Union has sued the Tangipahoa Parish School Board along with other defendants, for having allegedly sponsored and promoted religion in teacher-led school activities.

Reflecting back on the civil rights movement in Tangipahoa Parish, my three brothers and I were retained in the first year of integration in Tangiphaoa Parish in 1969. My childhood best friend Doris Lloyd who was an A and B student was retained with many of our other classmates. Her father went to talked with the white principal at Natalbany Elementary School in 1969 to see why his daughter was retained. After her father talked with the principal concerning Doris being retained, she was placed in her right grade.

Smith Robertson Musuem
Jackson, Mississippi

I remember being screamed at, talked too in a degrading way by my first white teacher named Mrs. Dedrick at Amite Elementary. All of the black students was scared to death in her class. We were the "Ruby Bridges" in Amite, Louisiana. We did not get the protection of the U.S. Marshals, as kids, we had to learn how to cope with the mistreatment. 

 In 1967 black's march from Bogalusa throughout the Florida Parishes to the steps of the state capitol in Baton Rouge organized by A.Z. Young, leader of the Bogalusa Negro Voters League. The 106-mile  trek was twice the distance of the famed Selma to Montgomery, Ala., march of the same period. 

A group of 90 marchers began a 105 mile march from Bogalusa to Baton Rouge to complain to Gov. John McKeithen of continued discrimination against African-Americans within the state. McKeithen's initial statement to the media regarding A.Z. Young's march was one of arrogant indifference: "Most of the stuff out of Bogalusa is hot air," said the Governor. At that point H. Rap Brown, new leader of the Student Nonviolent Committee Congress was slated to be the keynote speaker. Attempts to interview Brown were fruitless, on account of his standing policy not to speak with or acknowledge white reporters. When asked about the expected influence of Brown on the rally, McKeithen replied that "When I see chaos in our urban, Northern areas, it makes me prouder and prouder to be a farmer way down here in Louisiana.

Tangipahoa African-American Newspaper

http://tangipahoaafrican-americannews.com

Tangipahoa Parish Youth Civil Rights Tours to Memphis, TN and Washington, D.C.

Amite Summer Camper in Mark, Mississippi, The Home of
Wagon Mule Train
Photo Credit: Walter C. Black, Sr.

Amite,LA--This pass summer the Tangipahoa Youth Ambassadors and the Amite Summer Campers had an opportunity to learn more about the civil rights struggles by touring some of the civil rights historical landmarks from Mark, Mississippi the birth place of the Wagon Mule Train to Memphis, Tennessee, were Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated on April 4, 1968. When Dr. King announced the Poor People's Campaign, to address poverty in America. He envisioned caravans of poor people of color from all over the United States gathering on the mall in Washington, D.C., with hopes to eradicate poverty. The wagon Mules Train would be comprised of mule-drawn wagons rather than buses, vans and cars. The Mule Train set off from Marks, Mississippi on May 13, 1968 and headed east across northern Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. On June 13 after several delays and mishaps along the way the Mule Train arrived in Atlanta. From Alexandria VA, crossing the Potomac River and on in to Washington, D.C.

Sponsored by Nurturing Our Roots Fine Arts Gallery and TCOJC Apostolic Ministries with Pastor Junious Buchanan, the youth took to the road to learn about their history. It was the first visit to National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee for some of the campers. They actually stood on the balcony were Dr. King was murdered. Once inside the museum they learned about civil rights activists like Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks and other women pioneers who changed the course of history for African Americans.

Summer Campers on the Civil Rights Tour
Photo Credit: Walter C. Black, Sr.

While riding on the bus to tour the historical places the youth campers and Tangipahoa Youth Ambassadors, listened to Dr. King speeches. They was taught by tour guide Antoinette Harrell the importance of their civil rights. They learned the difference between civil rights and human rights. They also read and discussed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The campers watched the movie "Roots" on the tour. They saw the cotton gins, and shanties in the Mississippi Delta. 

They experience holding up signs to protest for justice. They held up signs seeking justice of Trayvon Martin, the young man who was murdered by George Zimmerman in Florida. On the bus you see their little minds working and thinking about this entire experience. Some of them asked questions.

Several of the Tangipahoa Youth Ambassadors went on to Washington, D.C. to commemorate the 50th Anniversary March on Washington, D.C., While traveling on bus for more than eighteen hours they read books and took notes about the civil rights movement. Discussing what they thought it was like to have too ride on the back of the bus and being discriminated against because of the color of their skin. They learned about peonage and sharecropping and what these two words meant and how it affect the lives of many poor people both black and white throughout the deep south.

Katelyn Jones standing up for her voting rights
Photo Credit: Walter C. Black, Sr.

They had the opportunity to meet civil rights activist Julian Bond. Bond later served as the head of he Southern Poverty Law Center and of the NAACP.  The youth ambassadors also met  Marc Morial, an American political and civic leader and current president of the National Urban League. To their surprise they met Roland Martin an American journalist and syndicated columnist with Creator Syndicate and author. He was the commentator for TV One and the host of News One Now. He was also a CNN contributor and later he joined the Tom Joyner Morning Show as senior analyst.  The ambassadors got an interview with BET News to talk about the project that they are work on in Webb, Mississippi.

A very special thanks to Glyniss Vernon Gordon, Pastor and Mrs. Chante Buchanan, Bobby J. Ginn, Antwan Blossom and all the other volunteers, a very warmhearted thank you House on Rock Church in Amite, La., for donating the bus.

Tangipahoa Youth Ambassador reading the Life

Story of Martin Luther King, Jr. 

The Original Civil Right Bus

in Washington D.C.

Marc Morial, President of the National Urban League

Tangipahoa Youth Ambassadors with Roland Martin

LaDesha Lee being interviewed by Joyce Jones 

BET Correspondent 

Tangipahoa Youth Ambassadors with

Civil Right Activist Julian Bond

Photo Credit: Walter C. Black, Sr.



http://www.bet.com/news/national/2013/08/29/we-are-the-dream-faces-of-the-future.html

http://tangipahoaafrican-americannews.com

Elder Frank Harrell, Sr." Daughter Keeping His Legacy Alive"

Terri Harrell Jackson and her grandson

Elder Frank Harrell, Sr., was a man who really love serving the All Mighty Heavenly Father. He and his lovely wife aunt Sadie are the proud parents of seven beautiful girls and one son to carry his name on. As a child I spent a week or two in the summer with my first cousins in New Orleans. One week with my aunt Catherine  and family and a week with uncle Frank and his family. I enjoyed spending time with all of my cousins. 

Spending time with my uncle Frank and aunt Sadie left me with fond memories of the good old days. Uncle Frank taught me so many value lessons that I apply to my life too this very day. In my home I only had brothers to play with, so being in a house full of girls was so exciting to me. I really enjoyed being around Terri, their third daughter,  because she laughed a lot just like me. She was kind of a daddy's girl I would say. "Wherever her daddy went she wanted to be there in his footsteps."

Terri is a person who really cares about family and she practice living the lessons her father taught her. She is not only beautiful on the outside, but she is also beautiful on the inside. Just recently she and her husband became the proud grandparents of a handsome grandson. I don't have to say anymore,  they are spoiling him with love.

It's the way she carry herself that makes me proud of her.  She is admired by so many people who know her.  She works hard to stand on the foundation that her father taught her in his teaching. Her dad and our grandparents would be very proud of her. Just recently she shared some family photographs of our grandmother's brother Alex Richardson and his family. She posted pictures of our grandmother's sister Rosabell Richardson Moore as well. Some of those photographs that she posted uncle Alex and aunt Rosa grandchildren and children had never seen before.

Terri lights up a room with her radiance of beauty and smile. Her love for her three children, grandson, mother, sister, brother, nieces and nephews is never-ending. 

The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow in Amite, Louisiana During the 60's

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Amite,LA--All over the United States people are preparing to celebrate the life works of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., by hosting a weekend of services and events on Monday; January 20th. For some who fought, protest and march for social change, it's about remembrance. In 1968, I was living in Amite, Louisiana when Dr. King was assassinated. I remember my grandmother Josephine crying when she got word that Dr. King was assassinated, she turned on the television and we watched the news. At that time we had what you called a party phone line, which meant that you could easily pick up the phone to make a call and someone was on the lines. The phone lines were tied up with people talking about Dr. King being assassinated. 

During that time in Amite, Louisiana, Jim Crow was live and well. I hated going to town with my grandmother because she was made to say "yes mam", and "no sir" to white people and sometimes to young white people younger than herself. We were not allowed to go in certain places and had to wait  until all the white people was served first.

I remember the older people talking about the KKK and how they were burning crosses in the yards of African American people in Amite, La and surrounding areas. Up to this day people in Amite, Louisiana doesn't like to talk about the racism that they experienced. Places like "Nigger Alley" the "Nigger Window" and the Jim Crow Theater.

Mrs. Alma Harrison Vernon at a School Board Meeting

My brothers and I was part of the first integration of the schools in Amite, La.,  all four of us was retained that first year like so many other African American students in 1969. I can speak first hand of the mistreatment that I received from my white teacher. Like so many other African American students we had no one to tell or talk too. 

Although my uncles and cousins were fighting in Vietnam, we were fighting back home for equality and our civil rights. As a child I never visit the public library, movie theaters and other public places that was segregated by the Jim Crow laws. I remember my mother coming home from work  very angry and upset that she was called a "nigger" by a man named Mr. Cobb who owned a second hand store. My great uncle Alex Richardson came out to my mother's home to help address that matter.  

Protest and March in Washington, D.C.

My cousin Adam and his friends were walking home from a football game and when a car with young white men came along and tried to run over them. They had to hide out in the ditch to keep from being attacked or run over by them. 

Several people in my family organized to protest for jobs at several of the local stores, Jo-Ann Frazier, Deloris Harrell-Washington, and Adam and Glyniss Gordon protest for jobs at some of the local stores in Amite, La.  During a conversation with my childhood friend Doris Lloyd she shared with me some of the racist acts that took place in Holden, LA.  She said that one of her friend's Mrs. Albin who lived in Holden, LA told her that when African Americans marched and protest in Holden, white men would lay down on the  buildings in town with assaults weapons ready to  shoot the protestors.

The civil rights movement was the first of the 1960s-era social movement produced one of the most important American social activists of the 20th century. African Americans had to sit on the back of the public buses, they were refused services in hotel and restaurants, and still went to racially segregated schools. Even in the segregated schools we got the hand me down books from the Tangipahoa Parish School Board.

I still get the feeling that both African Americans and white people people in Tangipahoa Parish don't want to embrace a conversation, lectures or discussion on this topic. To this very day this conversation is avoided even in our own homes. 

Many of our parents was working as house maids, nannies, and handy men, drivers and gardeners in many of the white homes in Amite, LA., Life was difficult in many of the rural towns in the 50s and 60s. Up until now, many things still haven't changed. 

After returning home in 2005, although somethings has changes, there is still a lot of things that remains the same. There is a social and economic segregation in Tangipahoa Parish. Although we have several African American elected officials, African American working in clerical positions on a local level. We are still social and economically disfranchised. There are a very few black owned businesses in the entire parish from the south to north end of the parish.

The Northshore Black Elected Officials Coalition and Association of St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, and Washington Parishes, had taken on the task of identifying and addressing critical needs including, economic development, criminal and civil justice, education, youth leadership, transportation and faith-based outreach.

Karran Harper Royal an Education Advocate in New Orleans with Ancestral Roots in Amite, LA.

Karran Harper Royal

Karran Harper Royal works as an Education Advocate in New Orleans. She is the Assistant Director of Pyramid Community Parent Resource Center and the Training Coordinator for the New Orleans Parent Organizing Network.  Her work at Pyramid involves providing one to one support to parents of children with disabilities and conducting workshops to help parents understand their rights under federal special education law.   In addition to working with Pyramid and New Orleans Parent Organizing Network, Mrs. Harper Royal is a contributor to Research on Reforms and provides a parent voice to the work at Southern Poverty Law Center.  Mrs. Harper Royal currently serves as the Chair of the Steering Committee of the Greater Gentilly High School as well as the chair of the Gentilly Civic Improvement Association’s (GCIA)  Education Committee.  Her work on the GCIA Education Committee lead to the creation of the Greater Gentilly High School, one of five new schools to be rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina.

1870 United States Census

Karran is the great grand daughter of Shelton Harrell, Sr., of Amite, Louisiana. My grandfather Jasper Harrell, Sr., and Shelton were brothers. It was in 2000 when I first published the Harrell Family History book that I met Karran.  She read about the genealogy research that I did on our Harrell family, she purchased a copy to learn more about her Harrell family lineage. Although Karran didn't travel to Amite, Louisiana as a little girl growing up, but her paternal grandmother Marion Harrell Harper and her siblings did visit with their parents uncle Shelton and aunt Ada on the weekends.

Shelton Harrell, Sr. (Sitting)

"Cousin Marion was a city girl and the country life didn't set so well with her". She was the kind of girl that loved her makeup, long finger nails and she enjoyed dressing up. So the country life wasn't the life she wanted. Although her father Shelton Harrell, Sr., made sure that cousin Marion and her sisters and brothers visit Amite, Louisiana to visit their grandmother Emma Mead Harrell, their aunts, uncles and cousins. 

It was a pleasure meeting one of the great grand daughter of uncle Shelton. The Harrell's are proud to have Karran as a family members. Once again the offsprings of Robert Harrell, Sr., is making a difference in the lives of others. Karran will be a guest on "Nurturing Our Roots Blog Talk Radio with host Antoinette Harrell on Tuesday: January 7, at 8:00 CST. Please tune into the show tomorrow night. 

                 http://www.blogtalkradio.com/antoinette-

harrell/2014/01/08/karran-royal-improving-the-new-orleans-public-schools