There are also 2 restaurants inside the casino. The Latest casino, the Lady Luck Casino & Hotel features 600 slot machines and 8 gaming tables including Roulette, Blackjack and Craps. You will find 5 restaurants in the complex! Jackson is a town in Hinds, Madison and Rankin Counties in Mississippi (MI). The population of this city is 172,000. ``(Martin) has from the beginning said that the people of Jackson County, not the Harrison County casinos, should make this decision and the tribe will abide by their decision,' Wilson wrote. ``The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians wants to continue and expand its partnership with the people of Jackson County.

• Jackson Mississippi Casinos And Hotels
• Jackson County Mississippi News

Mound Bayou is a city in Bolivar County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 1,533 at the 2010 census,^[3] down from 2,102 in 2000. It is notable for having been founded as an independent black community in 1887 by former slaves led by Isaiah Montgomery.^[4][5]

Mound Bayou has a 98.6 percent African-American majority population, one of the largest of any community in the United States. The current mayor of Mound Bayou is Eulah Peterson.

Geography[edit]

U.S. Routes 61 and 278 bypass Mound Bayou to the west and lead south 9 miles (14 km) to Cleveland, the largest city in Bolivar County, and north 27 miles (43 km) to Clarksdale.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city of Mound Bayou has a total area of 0.9 square miles (2.3 km²), all land.

Demographics[edit]

As of the 2010 United States Census,^[7] there were 1,533 people living in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 98.0% Black, 0.9% White, 0.1% Asian and 0.1% from two or more races. 0.9% were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

As of the census^[8] of 2000, there were 2,102 people, 687 households, and 504 families living in the city. The population density was 2,395.1 people per square mile (922.3/km²). There were 723 housing units at an average density of 823.8 per square mile (317.2/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 98.43% African American, 0.05% Native American, 0.24% Asian, 0.81% White, 0.05% from other races, and 0.43% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.38% of the population.

There were 687 households out of which 38.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 24.7% were married couples living together, 43.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.5% were non-families. 24.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.06 and the average family size was 3.66.

In the city, the population was spread out with 34.7% under the age of 18, 12.9% from 18 to 24, 23.5% from 25 to 44, 19.1% from 45 to 64, and 9.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 27 years. For every 100 females, there were 78.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 67.6 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $17,972, and the median income for a family was $19,770. Males had a median income of $21,700 versus $18,988 for females. The per capita income for the city was $8,227. About 41.9% of families and 45.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 58.5% of those under age 18 and 34.5% of those age 65 or over.

History[edit]

Mound Bayou traces its origin to freed African Americans from the community of Davis Bend, Mississippi. Davis Bend was started in the 1820s by planter Joseph E. Davis (brother of former Confederate president Jefferson Davis), who intended to create a model slave community on his plantation. Davis was influenced by the utopian ideas of Robert Owen. He encouraged self-leadership in the slave community, provided a higher standard of nutrition and health and dental care, and allowed slaves to become merchants. In the aftermath of the Civil War, Davis Bend became an autonomous free community when Davis sold his property to former slave Benjamin Montgomery, who had run a store and been a prominent leader at Davis Bend. The prolonged agricultural depression, falling cotton prices, flooding by the Mississippi River, and white hostility in the region contributed to the economic failure of Davis Bend.

Isaiah T. Montgomery led the founding of Mound Bayou in 1887 in wilderness in northwest Mississippi. The bottomlands of the Delta were a relatively undeveloped frontier, and blacks had a chance to make money by clearing land and use the profits to buy lands in such frontier areas. By 1900 two-thirds of the owners of land in the bottomlands were black farmers. With the loss of political power due to state disenfranchisement, high debt and continuing agricultural problems, most of them lost their land and by 1920 were landless sharecroppers. As cotton prices fell, the town suffered a severe economic decline in the 1920s and 1930s.

Shortly after a fire destroyed much of the business district, Mound Bayou began to revive in 1942 after the opening of the Taborian Hospital by the International Order of Twelve Knights and Daughters of Tabor, a fraternal organization. For more than two decades, under its Chief Grand Mentor Perry M. Smith, the hospital provided low-cost health care to thousands of blacks in the Mississippi Delta. The chief surgeon was Dr. T.R.M. Howard, who eventually became one of the wealthiest black men in the state. Howard owned a plantation of more than 1,000 acres (4.0 km²), a home-construction firm, a small zoo, and built the first swimming pool for blacks in Mississippi.

In 1952, Medgar Evers moved to Mound Bayou to sell insurance for Howard's Magnolia Mutual Life Insurance Company. Howard introduced Evers to civil rights activism through the Regional Council of Negro Leadership which organized a boycott against service stations that refused to provide restrooms for blacks. The RCNL's annual rallies in Mound Bayou between 1952 and 1955 drew crowds of ten thousand or more. During the trial of Emmett Till's killers, black reporters and witnesses stayed in Howard's Mound Bayou home, and Howard gave them an armed escort to the courthouse in Sumner.

Author Michael Premo wrote:

Mound Bayou was an oasis in turbulent times. While the rest of Mississippi was violently segregated, inside the city there were no racial codes ... At a time when blacks faced repercussions as severe as death for registering to vote, Mound Bayou residents were casting ballots in every election. The city has a proud history of credit unions, insurance companies, a hospital, five newspapers, and a variety of businesses owned, operated, and patronized by black residents. Mound Bayou is a crowning achievement in the struggle for self-determination and economic empowerment.^[9]

Education[edit]

From its earliest years, Mound Bayou has struggled.with inadequate educational infrastructure. According to a 1915 report in the Cincinnati Labor Advocate, Mound Bayou's school was attended by more than 300 students who were forced to make use of equipment held to be 'inadequate for 50 pupils.'^[10] Teachers at the school were 'poorly paid' and the school year limited to only five months.^[10]

Today the city of Mound Bayou is served by the North Bolivar Consolidated School District, which operates L.T. Montgomery Elementary School and John F. Kennedy Memorial High School in Mound Bayou.

On July 1, 2014, the North Bolivar School District consolidated with the Mound Bayou Public School District to form the North Bolivar Consolidated School District.^[11]

Cultural references[edit]

The 8-minute 1994 film Letters from Mound Bayou, directed by Betsy Cox, which opened the first afternoon session of screenings at the 2006 Langston Hughes African American Film Festival, depicted the return of midwife sister Mary Stella Simpson to Mound Bayou.^[12][13] Mound Bayou's legacy in blues and rhythm & blues extends from the earliest Delta blues to 21st century southern soul.^[14][15]Ed Townsend wrote the Marvin Gaye hit song 'Let's Get It On' in Mound Bayou.^[16]

Notable people[edit]

Born in Mound Bayou:

• Mary Booze, first African-American woman to sit on the Republican National Committee, 1924 to her death in 1948; born in Mound Bayou in 1877
• General Crook, musician
• Lorenzo Gray, baseball player
• Katie Hall, U.S. Representative from Indiana from 1982 to 1985
• Michael Harris, professor and Associate Dean of Engineering for Undergraduate Education and Engagement at Purdue University.^[17]
• Kevin Henry, football player
• Russell Holmes, Massachusetts state representative (6th Suffolk)
• Melvin 'Mel' Reynolds, disgraced politician
• Kelly Miller Smith, Sr., preacher, author, and civil rights leader
• Darryl R Johnson Sr., pastor, mayor, community leader, philanthropist

Lived or worked in Mound Bayou:

Jackson Mississippi Casinos And Hotels

• Isaiah Montgomery, town founder
• Medgar Evers, civil rights leader
• Myrlie Evers-Williams, widow of Medgar Evers; civil rights leader, journalist, NAACP Chair; delivered invocation at Barack Obama's second inauguration
• Fannie Lou Hamer, civil rights leader
• T.R.M. Howard, leader of civil rights and fraternal organizations, entrepreneur and surgeon
• Harold Robert Perry, first African-American to serve as a Catholic bishop in the 20th century; former pastor at St. Gabriel's Church in Mound Bayou
• Lewis Ossie Swingler, journalist, editor, and newspaper publisher
• Ed Townsend, singer, songwriter, producer, and attorney

Sources[edit]

• Hermann, Janet (1981). The Pursuit of a Dream. New York: OUP.
• Beito, David and Linda (2009). Black Maverick: T.R.M. Howard's Fight for Civil Rights and Economic Power. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. ISBN978-0-252-03420-6.

References[edit]

1. ^'2017 U.S. Gazetteer Files'. United States Census Bureau. Retrieved Jan 6, 2019.
2. ^ ^ab'Population and Housing Unit Estimates'. Retrieved January 15, 2020.
3. ^'Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (G001): Mound Bayou city, Mississippi'. U.S. Census Bureau, American Factfinder. Retrieved January 21, 2014.
4. ^Wormser, Richard (October 18, 2002). 'Isiah Washington'. Jim Crow Stories: The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow. Educational Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on October 18, 2002. Retrieved October 18, 2002.
5. ^Educational Broadcasting Corporation (December 28, 2002). 'Williams v. Mississippi (1898)'. Jim Crow Stories: The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow. Public Broadcasting Service. Archived from the original on December 28, 2002. Retrieved April 5, 2003.
6. ^'Census of Population and Housing'. Census.gov. Archived from the original on April 26, 2015. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
7. ^'American FactFinder'. United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2016-10-14.
8. ^'American FactFinder'. United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on 2013-09-11. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
9. ^Premo, Michael (November 10, 2007). 'Mound Bayou, Mississippi – The Jewel of the Delta'. storycorps.org. Archived from the original on April 15, 2013.
10. ^ ^ab'Hustling Town of Negroes Only Built in Mississippi,'Labor Advocate [Cincinnati, OH], July 17, 1915, pg. 2.
11. ^'School District Consolidation in Mississippi.' Mississippi Professional Educators. December 2016. Retrieved on July 2, 2017. Page 2 (PDF p. 3/6).
12. ^'LHAAFF Program.indd'(PDF). Langstonarts.org. Retrieved 2017-05-02.
13. ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 2014-09-05. Retrieved 2014-09-04.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
14. ^'Mound Bayou Blues'. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
15. ^'Mound Bayou Blues historical marker'. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
16. ^J. M. Martin (15 August 2016). 'Natural Resources'. Oxford American, Issue 93, Summer 2016. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
17. ^'A Distinguished Role Model'(PDF). The Future is Now. University of Tennessee. Archived from the original(PDF) on 18 June 2010. Retrieved 3 January 2016.

External links[edit]

Levi Colbert (1759–1834), also known as Itawamba in Chickasaw, was a leader and chief of the Chickasaw nation. Colbert was called Itte-wamba Mingo, meaning bench chief.^[1] He and his brother George Colbert were prominent interpreters and negotiators with United States negotiators appointed by PresidentAndrew Jackson's administration to gain cession of their lands and arrange for removal to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River. They were under considerable pressure from the Mississippi state government, white interlopers in their area, and the federal government.

Levi Colbert (Itawamba) worked most closely with US Indian AgentJohn Dabney Terrell, Sr. of Marion County, Alabama. The Chickasaw negotiated hard; after their representatives initially surveyed the lands offered in the West, they returned saying it was unacceptable. The Chickasaw worked to gain more approval over their future lands.^[2]

Early life and education[edit]

Levi Colbert was born in 1759 ^[3]as one of six sons of James Logan Colbert (1721 - 1784), a North Carolinian of Scots ancestry, and his second wife Sopha Minta Hoye, a Chickasaw. Colbert, known as Itawamba, was born in Muscle Shoals, Alabama in a settlement along the Tennessee River.^[3][4][5] He and his mixed-race siblings grew up bilingual and were educated in both Chickasaw and European-American traditions.^[6] According to the entry in the Chickasaw Hall of Fame, he was born in the Chickasaw Nation, in what is now Alabama, in 1759. ^[3][7] When Levi Colbert assumed the title of head chief of the Chickasaw Nation, he was living at that time on the bluff west of the Chickasaw Indian trading post known as Cotton Gin Port, established near the old cotton gin and where there was a large spreading oak known as the council tree.^[8]

As the Chickasaw had a matrilinealkinship system of descent and inheritance, children were considered to belong to the mother's clan. They gained their status through her, and hereditary leadership for males was passed through the maternal line.

Removal[edit]

Levi Colbert and his brother George were prominent among the negotiators for the Chickasaw when they met with US government officials related to treaties and removal.^[9] A written report given to the US Senate on January 15, 1827 noted that US commissioners assigned to negotiate a treaty with the Chickasaw Nation had met in parley on November 1, 1826 with members of that tribe. It reported that Levi Colbert, on behalf of agents of that nation, said that 'there was not a man in the nation who would consent to sell either the whole or part of their lands.' Although opposed to the Indian Removal Act of 1830,^[10] the Chickasaw chiefs of the council signed a treaty, based on the tribe's removal, in a treaty meeting with General John Coffee and other United States representatives in November 1832. They wanted to keep peace, and they were suffering from the agrressive and hostile behavior of the Mississippi state government, as well as white settlers in their territory. Their removal was to west of the Mississippi River to Indian Territory. This treaty promised 25 cents per acre for their land, less than half of what the government had initially promised.

In a long letter to President Andrew Jackson in November 1832, Colbert noted the many complaints the chiefs had with the resulting Treaty of Pontotoc Creek. He restated their position, and noted their belief that General Coffee had ignored their comments and viewpoints. They had wanted the tribe to keep control of the money resulting from sale of their lands, they were not ready to choose land in Indian Territory, they did not want to share a reservation in Indian Territory with 'half breeds' (mixed-race persons they did not consider members of their people), and they were dismayed at the way they had been treated by General Coffee. More than 40 chiefs who had attended the treaty council signed the letter with Colbert. They were chiefs of the clans and leading villages.^[11]

Colbert had been ill during the meeting and was unable to attend all the sessions.^[11] He died in 1834, two years after the final treaty was signed and Chickasaws were preparing to remove to Indian Territory.

Some of Colbert's goals were achieved in a treaty of 1837, which enabled the tribe to control monies resulting from the sale of their homesteads and ensured they would be compensated for improvements.

Intra-tribal conflict[edit]

Colbert did not want conflict; he wanted peace with the US government, even if it meant giving up his people's land. He wanted to try to preserve his people's rights during negotiations, as they were pressured by increasing conflict with encroaching European-American settlers and governments. He was very concerned that the federal government was treating equally with mixed-race men he called 'half-breeds.' Although Colbert was of mixed descent, he had grown up identifying with the Chickasaw culture and his mother's clan.^[11]

He believed some white men were marrying into the tribe just to try to get control of land. By the 1830s, he felt such men were ignoring traditional practices and the tribe's recognized chiefs in seeking personal gain.^[11]

Family[edit]

'He married three times. He married Ishtimmarharlechar. She was listed as a resident in the census report in Chickasaw Roll, Chickasaw Nation, MS, 1818. He married Temusharhoctay 'Dollie' (Schtimmarshashoctay) before 1795. Temusharhoctay was born before 1780. She was listed as a resident in the census report in Chickasaw Nation, MS, 1818. He married Mintahoyo House of Imatapo before 1799. Mintahoyo was born before 1799. Mintahoyo died after 1839.'^[12] Most of the younger children were educated at Charity Hall school, a mile and a half from their home, (also called Bell Indian Mission).^[9] It has been described as 'a mission school ... established in 1820, near Cotton Gin Port, Mississippi, by Rev. Robert Bell, under the auspices of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, for the education of Chickasaw children.'^[13]

Death[edit]

Colbert died June 2, 1834, at Buzzard Roost, Alabama,^[3] His brother George Colbert succeeded him as leader of the Chickasaw.^[14]

Legacy[edit]

Several places were named after him:

• Itawamba County, Mississippi^[15]
• Colbert's Spring, Alabama ^[16]
• Colbert County, Alabama was named after him and his brother George Colbert.^[17]

See also[edit]

Jackson County Mississippi News

• George Colbert, his brother
• Holmes Colbert, his nephew and writer of the Chickasaw Constitution

References[edit]

1. ^'Natchez Trace to Meriwether Lewis'. Natchez Trace Parkway. Archived from the original on 2013-04-13. Retrieved 2013-02-05.
2. ^John Mitchell Allman III, The Heritage of Lamar County, Alabama. A written report dated November 2, 1827 and presented to the US Senate on January 15, 1827, mentions the failure of the Choctaw negotiations in that month, and the unsuccessful Chickasaw negotiations the previous month. 'The special agent, Colonel John D. Terrell, seems to have been active and zealous in communicating with the chiefs and leading men of the nation, endeavoring to prepare their minds for a cession of their lands. But it seems to have no other effect than to prepare them for an organized opposition to the views of the Government, through the influence before observed...' The report was signed by Generals Thomas Hinds and John Coffee.
3. ^ ^abcd'Levi Colbert'. Chickasaw Nation Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 2013-02-08. Retrieved 2013-02-05.
4. ^'James Logan COLBERT 1721-1784, about 1721 - 7th Jan 1784, Trader, Chickasaw Nation, Mississippi'. Archived from the original on 2013-04-12. Retrieved 2013-02-05.
5. ^'Sopha Minta HOYA 1721-1836'. Retrieved 2013-02-05.
6. ^'Levi Colbert', Oklahoma Encyclopedia of History and Culture, accessed 3 Nov 2009
7. ^'Chickasaw Chiefs and Prominent Men'. Mississippi Genealogical & Historical Research. Retrieved 2013-02-05.
8. ^Dr. W.A. Evans, Aberdeen Examiner July 2, 1932 (taken from The Heritage of Lamar County, Alabama, by John Mitchell Allman III)
9. ^ ^ab'Cotton Gin Port/ Chickasaw Indians at the Port'. Mississippi Crossings. Retrieved 2013-02-05.
10. ^'History of the Shoals'. Roots Web, Lauerdale County, Alabama History. Retrieved 2013-02-05.
11. ^ ^abcd{{cite web|url=http://www.chickasawhistory.com/CHICL_32.htm |title='Letter: Levi Colbert to President Andrew Jackson, 22 NOV 1832'|publisher=Chickasaw TV| work=History] Archived 2011-10-25 at the Wayback Machine, Chickasaw Letters -- 1832, Chickasaw Historical Research Website (Kerry M. Armstrong), accessed 12 December 2011
12. ^'Levi Itawamba Minco Colbert (1759 - 1834)'. Geni. Retrieved 2013-02-05.
13. ^Carolyn Thomas Foreman. 'Charity Hall, an Early Chickasaw School'. Chronicles of Oklahoma. 11 (3): 912. Retrieved 2013-02-05.
14. ^'Col George Colbert (1744 - 1839)'. Find A Grave Memorial. Retrieved 2013-02-05.
15. ^'Welcome to Itawamba County!'. Itawamba County Mississippi Genealogy & History Network. Retrieved 2013-02-05.
16. ^Owen, Thomas McAdory; Owen, Marie (1921). History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography. S.J. Clarke Publishing Company. p. 235.
17. ^McAdory (1921), p. 302

Further reading[edit]

• 'Refusal of the Chickasaws and Choctaws to Cede Their Lands in Mississippi: 1826', Avalon Project, Yale University
• Kerry M. Armstrong, compiler, Chickasaw Historical Research Website, includes numerous primary sources, including some dating to before Removal
• Owen, Thomas McAdory; Owen, Marie (1921). History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography. S.J. Clarke Publishing Company. p. 302.

External links[edit]

• Levi Colbert Profile and Videos - Chickasaw.TV
• Natchez Trace Parkway - Buzzard Roost Spring, near Cherokee, AL, Home place and site of inn run by Chickasaw chief Levi Colbert
• 'Maj Levi It-a-wam-ba Mingo 'Setting King' Colbert (1759 - 1834)'. Find A Grave Memorial. Retrieved 2013-02-05.
• 'Levi Colbert b. 1759 Muscle Shoals, Colbert County. Alabama d. 2 JUN 1834 Buzzard Roost Spring, Colbert County. Alabama: Lest Our Past Be Forgotten'. Lawrence Stanley Family Genealogy. Retrieved 2013-02-05.
• 'Levi Colbert'. Viki's Little Corner of the Web : A Resource for Chickasaw Native American History and Genealogy. Archived from the original on May 9, 2008. Retrieved 2013-02-05.