The Mississippi enterprise. (Jackson, Miss.) 1938-current, 1944-02-26
BY OLIVER w. FORD

a charter to Anthony Crozart, Civ
ing him excessive rights to trade in
the colony (now MississippD for
fifteen years and in this same year,
according to an authority, October
rs, the first official record of a
Negro child born in Mississippi
was made. The child was born to
Marie, slave of Bienville The
child's father was declared to be
Francis Jaceman, slave of an
other Frenchman by the name of
Chateaquay. This child was named
Anthoine. There probably were
other Negro children born on the
Gulf Coast but this was the first
official record.
Not all of the slave holders were
white, but some were Indians and
some were Free Negroes.
Mr.. Calvin Dill Wilson in an ar
ticle entitled, "Blackmasters" a
sidelight on slavery in the North
American Review, No 1905, gives
an account of some Free Negroes
who owned slaves. "A white man
named Fitzgerald, a planter, own
ed plantation and slaves in the
vicinity of Natchez, Miss, and he
had as his wife very dark col
ored woman. They had two sons,
George and James Fitzgerald. At
the death of the father, the planta-
ton and slaves were inherited by
the children under a will The
slaves were held by the heirs I'M
til fred eby the warH"
Col. Woods filed papers as George
Fitzgerald's guardian, according to
the law which required that Free
Negroes should annually file pa
pers proving their right to free
dom. The mother of these men, old
Mrs. Fitzgerald, was somewhat kind
to her slaves"
Another extract from this same
article gives the following account:
Mr.. Stevenson Archer of Mississ-
ippi states that he knew a pure
blooded Negro, born free by the
name of Nori( a corruption of lie
Noir) who had before the Civil
War large plantation and owned
one hundred Negroes. He was ex-
acting, but not cruel and took great
care his slaves"
1t is to be understood that not
all Negroes were contented to be
slaves, but there were those who
did something about it. Laws
were passed to prohibit the free
ing of Negroes by their masters in
Mississippi, but these laws did
not hold back the increase in free
dom. Masters who realized that
human bondage was wrong invent
ed different ways to free their
slaves and yet remain in the bonds
of the law. Some planters gave
their slaves money to purchase their
freedom. An account of this kind
can be obtained from the Chan
Gerry Clerks office in Adams coun-
ty, at Natchez, and also from the
Monroe County Public records, at
Athens.
Limerick Higdon paid to his mas
ter six hundred dollars for his free
dom on March %, 1922. Five years
later he was given another deed
for the purchase of his wife, Suckey
and his son Orville Winans, from
his former master. Ezekiel New
man, for which he paid $3.50 on Dec
q, 1927 Not satisfied with merely
buying his wife and son as chattel
he went to the Chancery Clerks
office and had his deed made out
in the Clerks office as found in
Deed Book 3, Page 618.
Let us turn away to more mod
ern phase of Negro life in Missis-
sippi by reviewing some of the men
who were pioneers in business, pro-
fessional and religious life of the
state. We shall briefly speak of
the following persons: Atwood,
Rucher, Redmond and Sims:
Louis K. Atwood was known to
most people as Judge Atwood, and
was born in Wilcox county, Ala,
in 1871. He completed his high
school course in Ohio, attended
Lincoln University in Pennsylvania
and later taught school in Bolton,
Miss. He became interested in law