Creator: Mound Bayou (Bolivar Co., Miss.) collection.
Collection number: 5009-z
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Abstract: Mound Bayou, located in Bolivar County, Miss., was founded on 12 July 1887 as an African-American colony by Isaiah T. Montgomery and Benjamin T. Green. In 1994, Milburn Crowe, of the Ad Hoc Committee on Mound Bayou’s History, began working with members of the Southern Historical Collection and the Southern Oral History Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in an effort to better preserve Mound Bayou’s historical documents and launch an oral history initiative. Materials consist of a 1928 pamphlet for the 42nd anniversary of the founding of Mound Bayou; two issues of The Voice, a Mound Bayou newsletter, July 1971 and 10 November 1994, which discuss the history of Mound Bayou, provide biographical information on its founders, and document the current political, educational, and communal activities of Mound Bayou and the surrounding area; a 30 April 1994 flyer for an annual banquet sponsored by the Bolivar County section of the National Council of Negro Women; Matthew Preston’s 1995 report, “Economic Development Assessment for the City of Mound Bayou, Mississippi”; a videotape entitled, “Mound Bayou–An Oral History”; and two audiocassettes: “Passing it on: Mound Bayou” and “Willie A. Woodley, 10 July 1995.”
Repository: Southern Historical Collection
Collection Highlights: Of particular interest in Folder 1 are the two issues of the The Voice, a Mound Bayou newsletter (July 1971 and 10 November 1994) which discuss the history of the town and includes biographical information about the town’s founders. There is also a video entitled Mound Bayou—An Oral History (See Videotape VT-5009/1).