Annual Gala for the Natchez Historical Society

Well, the annual Gala for Natchez Historical Society was one for the books. In spite of having to reschedule due to inclement weather, we had a huge crowd. The food was superb, as was the program about Virginia-born artist John Gadsby Chapman (1808-89), who painted the massive "Baptism of Pocahontas," installed in the Rotunda of the US Capitol in 1840.

Speakers Adam Erby and Lydia Mattice Brandt gave a fascinating program detailing Chapman's life and influences, and talked about Chapman's painting, Hagar and Ishmael Fainting in the Wilderness, which has hung in the Rectory at St. Mary's Basilica since the Civil War where it was taken to protect it from the invading Union army.

After the program, awards were distributed to several outstanding members of our community, some posthumously.

Receving awards were:

James F. Barnett Jr., historian and author for his work as site administrator of the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians, as well as many other contributions to Natchez and its history.

Ser SeshshAb Heter-Clifford M. Boxley, for his tireless efforts to research and advocate for The Forks of the Road Slave Market.

Dr. Thomas H. Gandy (posthumously) and the Reverend Doctor Joan W. Gandy, both Natchez history preservationists who helped found and lead the Historic Natchez Foundation, and are recognized for the preservation of Henry C. Norman photographs and of historic images by Henry’s son Earl and other early Natchez photographers.

The MacNeil Family: Grace M. S. McKittrick MacNeil (posthumously) and daughters Elizabeth “Beth” C. MacNeil Boggess, Ph.D.; and Anne W.S. MacNeil, (collectively, the MacNeil Family) are recognized for their promotion of historic preservation through public service and civic leadership, community involvement, and philanthropy.

If you've never attended one of our programs, you're really missing out.

https://www.natchezhistoricalsociety.org

The Tornado of 1840 in Natchez, Mississippi

We had quite the crowd for tonight's program on the 1840 Tornado and climatology presented by by Pam Knox, Director of the University of Georgia Weather Network and an agricultural climatologist in UGA Extension.

Pam Knox

Not only did we learn about the second deadliest tornado in US History, which occurred in 1840 here in Natchez, but we also learned the mechanics of what makes tornados form. We learned about how climate warming is affecting tornadic activity, and how they measure the wind speed of tornados, mostly by the type and amount of damage.

For more information on Dr. Knox, please refer to her linkedin page

https://www.linkedin.com/in/pam-knox-90818411/

Natchez Historical Society Annual Gala & Awards on Jan. 27

 Photo from The Natchez Democrat

History of Natchez and Mississippi railroads

 

Retired Archeologist and Local Historian, Mr. Smokye Joe Frank to discuss the history of the locomotive, “The Mississippi,” built in England in 1834 at the May 27, 2025 meeting of the Natchez Historical Society. 

“Tracking the Tracks: The Natchez & Hamburg Railroad and the Locomotive Mississippi”

Mr. Frank’s presentation will be given at the Historic Natchez Foundation, 108 Commerce Street, on May 27, 2025, beginning with a social at 5:30p.m.  

The locomotive, The Mississippi, was built in England in 1834. It was shipped to New York City and assembled.  From there it was shipped to New Orleans and up the Mississippi River to Natchez. It was pulled up the Natchez bluff by Yoke of Oxen. The Mississippi Railroad ran from 1836 to 1844 in southwest Mississippi. It went bankrupt in 1844. At that time, it was sold to the Grand Gulf to Port Gibson rail line. In 1863, the locomotive was used during the Civil War by both North and South. It was recovered from the river at Vicksburg in 1880 and shipped to Brookhaven, Mississippi, where it was used to haul gravel and lumber. It was acquired by Illinois Central and in 1893 it was overhauled at the McComb, Mississippi, rail yard and, under its own steam, made it to be on display at the Chicago World’s Fair. It remained in Chicago until 2015 and was sold to a company in Knoxville, Tennessee. It is presently for sale.

Joseph ‘Smokye Joe’ Frank is a retired Regional Manager with the State of Louisiana Rehabilitation Services. He has undergraduate and graduate degrees in Social Studies from Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana. He has taught Anthropology and Social Studies at two of Northwestern’s extension programs in DeQuincy and Jonesville, 

The program is free to the public.  It is part of a lecture series that is funded by a grant from the Mississippi Humanities Council through funding by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

For more information, call 601-431-7737 or send email to info@natchezhistoricalsociety.org.

 

Dr. Christian Pinnen to discuss Race and Slavery in Colonial Natchez on April 22

Dr. Christian Pinnen, professor in the Department of History at Mississippi College, is coming  to Natchez to talk about the colonial Natchez District in an attempt to resurrect the stories of the enslaved and the role Atlantic Africans played in shaping the region.  Dr. Pinnen will present his lecture, "Race and Slavery in Colonial Natchez” at the Tuesday, April 22 meeting of the Natchez Historical Society at 108 S. Commerce St. The program is free to the public.  It will begin with a social at 5:30 p.m. and the presentation at 6 p.m.

As European settlers began to explore the lower Mississippi Valley and displace Native American people to build settlements, the Europeans knew that they needed to generate profits to make it a worth while enterprise. Most, specifically in Natchez, believed that the key to success was rooted in the ability of settlers to purchase enslaved Africans and utilize their forced labor in their endeavor to build wealth. While the labor practice of racial slavery was well established in European colonial efforts, local settlers had to make sense of the African people among them in social and legal settings. Using Natchez as a lens, this talk explores how legal concepts around slavery create racial categories in Natchez.

Dr. Pinnen’s research focuses on the American borderlands and the legal landscapes that gave rise to definitions of blackness and whiteness in the face of maturing slave societies. He specifically investigates the colonial Natchez District in an attempt to resurrect the stories of the enslaved and the role Atlantic Africans played in shaping the region.  

He has published two books: Complexion of Empire in Natchez and Colonial Mississippi.  While Colonial Mississippi provides an exhaustive overview of Mississippi’s colonial past, Complexions of Empire in Natchez specifically investigates how the various definitions of race in Europe and the Americas influenced the way that slavery and the law developed in Natchez and, by extension, the colonial southern borderlands.

Dr. Pinnen has won national and international research fellowships from the German Historical Institute, the LSU and University of Texas Libraries, and has presented his research in Europe and the US. He was selected as the Mississippi Humanities Teacher of the Year in 2019, and Complexion of Empire in Natchez won the 2021 Book of the Year Award from the Mississippi Historical Society. In 2024, he was named the Humanities Scholar of the Year by the Mississippi Humanities Council and Distinguished Professor of the Year at Mississippi College.

The April 22 program is funded in part by a grant from the Mississippi Humanities Council, through funding by the National Endowment for the Humanities.  For more information, visit natchezhistoricalsociety.org or call 601-431-7737. Emails may be sent to info@natchezhistoricalsociety.org