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The Rev. Clifton Marvel, second from right, leads the benediction before the unveiling of the Mississippi Freedom Trail marker for the Deacons for Defense. (Ben Hillyer / The Natchez Democrat)

Members in the pews at Zion Chaple AME Church in Natchez applaud for a musical presentation by Tony Fields during the service for the unveiling of the Mississippi Freedom Trail marker for the Deacons for Defense. (Ben Hillyer / The Natchez Democrat)

The Rev. Clifton Marvel leads the benediction during the service for the unveiling of the Mississippi Freedom Trail marker for the Deacons for Defense.(Ben Hillyer / The Natchez Democrat)

Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson offers concluding remarks during the service for the unveiling of the Mississippi Freedom Trail marker for the Deacons for Defense.(Ben Hillyer / The Natchez Democrat)

Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson offers closing remarks during the service for the unveiling of the Mississippi Freedom Trail marker for the Deacons for Defense.(Ben Hillyer / The Natchez Democrat)

The Rev. Dr. Robert James, President of the Mississippi NAACP, offers remarks during the service for the unveiling of the Mississippi Freedom Trail marker for the Deacons for Defense.(Ben Hillyer / The Natchez Democrat)

Georgia State University professor Akinyele Umoja was the guest speaker during the service for the unveiling of the Mississippi Freedom Trail marker for the Deacons for Defense. (Ben Hillyer / The Natchez Democrat)

Georgia State University professor Akinyele Umoja was the guest speaker during the service for the unveiling of the Mississippi Freedom Trail marker for the Deacons for Defense. (Ben Hillyer / The Natchez Democrat)

Georgia State University professor Akinyele Umoja was the guest speaker during the service for the unveiling of the Mississippi Freedom Trail marker for the Deacons for Defense. (Ben Hillyer / The Natchez Democrat)

Tony Fields offers a musical selection during the service for the unveiling of the Mississippi Freedom Trail marker for the Deacons for Defense.(Ben Hillyer / The Natchez Democrat)

From left, Alderwoman Felicia Bridgewater-Irving, Natchez NAACP President Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis, Akinyele Umoja, Zion Chapel minister the Rev. Bridon Mitchell, Mississippi NAACP President the Rev. Dr. Robert James, John Travis Spann, Donnan's Barbershop owner Willie Carter, the Rev. Clifton Marvel, Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson, Dr. Roscoe Barnes III (Ben Hillyer / The Natchez Democrat)

From left, Alderwoman Felicia Bridgewater-Irving, Natchez NAACP President Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis, Akinyele Umoja, Zion Chapel minister the Rev. Bridon Mitchell, Mississippi NAACP President the Rev. Dr. Robert James, John Travis Spann, Donnan's Barbershop owner Willie Carter, Janice Jackson Herbert, the Rev. Clifton Marvel, Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson, Dr. Roscoe Barnes III (Ben Hillyer / The Natchez Democrat)

(Ben Hillyer / The Natchez Democrat)

Willie Carter and Janice Jackson Herbert with the Mississippi Freedom Trail marker for the Deacons for Defense. The marker will be installed outside of Donnan's Barbershop, owned by Carter, on Martin Luther King Jr. Street. Herbert is the daughter of James Jackson who was the founding president of the Natchez Deacons for Defense and Justice. (Ben Hillyer / The Natchez Democrat)

Tony Fields offers a musical selection during the service for the unveiling of the Mississippi Freedom Trail marker for the Deacons of Defense.(Ben Hillyer / The Natchez Democrat)

NATCHEZ — Natchez’s second marker on the Mississippi Freedom Trail was dedicated Saturday, remembering and honoring the work of the Natchez Deacons of Defense and Justice.

The group Deacons for Defense and Justice was born in 1964 in Jonesboro, Louisiana, in response to the racism, police brutality, and Ku Klux Klan violence perpetrated against the Black community as they fought for civil rights and justice.

Professor Akinyele Umoja, who teaches Africana studies at Georgia State University and wrote “We Will Shoot Back,” a book about Blacks’ armed resistance during the Mississippi Freedom Movement, was the keynote speaker at the dedication and unveiling ceremony on Saturday afternoon at Zion Chapel Church.

“Natchez is under-represented and under-appreciated, not only in the history of our freedom struggle in the state and the country but around the world. The success of the Natchez movement is special,” Umoja said.

Natchez had already begun to organize in the 1960s, prior to what is called the Freedom Summer of 1964.

“It is the people who lived here who provided the backbone of the movement,” he said. “During that period of time when you get the activity from the movement, you get increased activity from the reaction. During that time, there were more Klansmen in Natchez per capita than anywhere else in the South.”

After World War II, manufacturing and factories came to Natchez, and Black and white folks followed the money, Umoja said.

“We wanted to feed our families. We wanted our children to go further in education and opportunities. But some people thought some jobs, like foreman, were just for white guys,” he said.

George Metcalfe was an Armstrong Tire and Rubber Co. employee and was president of the Natchez NAACP. On Aug. 27, 1965, he was severely injured in a car bombing in the Armstrong parking lot.

“Metcalfe was targeted not only because of his activism but also because of his promotion,” Umoja said at Armstrong Tire and Rubber Co..

Two years later, in February 1967, Wharlest Jackson, who had recently been promoted to a new job at Armstrong Tire and Rubber Co., was killed in a car bomb while leaving work and driving home. He was the secretary of the Natchez NAACP.

Attacks, kidnappings, and other violence and intimidation against Blacks were becoming more commonplace, and a group of Natchez Black men began secretly meeting at Donnan’s Barbershop on what was Pine Street in Natchez. Today, that street is named Dr. Martin Luther King Street.

“They were meeting even before they called themselves Deacons for Defense,” Umoja said. “They knew they needed to do something to protect our community, to protect our churches so their elders and their brothers could come together.”

Natchez was the birthplace of the Mississippi Deacons for Defense and Justice.

“Natchez became a model for how you make change, how you get representation, how you get rights,” he said.

“The title of my book, We Will Shoot Back, comes from a quote from Charles Evers. He did not see non-violence as being effective in the immediate sense. In light of the bombing and other violence, one of the things that happened was in Natchez, it was the first time we had leaders vocally saying we have guns up here, and in the words of Bernie Mac, if you at us, there will be consequences and repercussions,” Umoja said.

He said the presence and threat of action from the Deacons of Defense led to negotiations that led to civil rights.

Umoja said the effective Natchez boycott also became a model for other places.

“There were enforcer squads here, and if you broke the boycott, there would also be consequences and repercussions,” he said.

The original members of the Natchez Deacons for Defense and Justice included James “Big Jack” Jackson, the founding president, James Stokes, Otis Fleming, Richard “Dip” Lewis, Hugh Ransom, and Leroy Clay. Clifford M. Boxley, aka Ser Seshsh Ab Heter, assisted them with fundraising in California and acquiring firearms. He later joined the organization.

Their presence helped to deter intimidation and violence by the Ku Klux Klan.

The Rev. Dr. Robert James, who is president of the Mississippi NAACP, said many think the civil rights movement would have been wiped out if not for the protection of the Deacons for Defense against the Klan.

“Our 2024 theme, ‘All In,’ speaks of the past and the present struggle to fight for diversity and inclusion. Don’t think the struggle is over. For over a century, the NAACP has championed justice and equity. We will continue to uplift the Black and underserved communities,” he said.

John Spann, program and outreach officer of the Mississippi Humanities Council, thanked members of the Natchez Trail Marker Committee who did the work of putting together and presenting the story of the Deacons of Defense and Justice.

“There is something in the water here in Natchez. Earlier, it was stated that Natchez is under-represented. That won’t be for long. People here are on the ground doing the work of remembering to make sure Black, white and native Americans are represented, not only in this town, but that people around the world know what Natchez contributions to the world have been,” Spann said.

Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson said defense is important in securing freedom and peace.

“Defense is sometimes a result of being provoked,” Gibson said, citing times like Pearl Harbor when America had to join in World War II to defend freedom and peace.

“It is because of the attacks provoked upon Mississippians over a span of many, many years that groups like the Deacons of Defense had to come into being, and thank God they did.

“As we celebrate veterans this weekend, we should remember some who helped us secure our freedom didn’t wear the uniform of the armed services. Many were brothers in our community, who had to defend freedom and peace,” Gibson said.

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