Walking Mississippi’s Freedom Trail – And A Look At America’s Future…
The unprecedented recent political events in America inspired me to share this story again – trips to two parts of the US that seem left in the past – and have turned bright red politically.
This virtual ghost town is one of many I saw when driving in Oklahoma – and I guarantee these people vote Trump – because his message of an America turning its back on them resonates. Yet it’s also important to note that one of their complaints: that immigrants are taking their jobs, fails to hold up under scrutiny since these communities lean on the federal government for more assistance than other communities.
I also visited Jackson, Mississippi in late 2015 for a business meeting: and as I always do, I added a few days to my trip to have time to check out the city…and got an up-close look at our civil rights past.
The city is named after General Andrew Jackson, who was honored for his role in the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812 and later served as U.S. President.
I chose to stay in the historic downtown area, where the state capital was located…
I chose the historic King Edward Hotel downtown, which was declared a Mississippi landmark in 1990. It was also closed and vacant for nearly forty years before being completely renovated in 2006 – and it is now a Hilton Garden Inn…
Frank Sinatra! The Rat Pack! Jackson’s Racial Divide!
My visit began with a sobering note…
When I arrived at the Jackson-Medgar Evers International Airport, I grabbed a cab and headed to my hotel. The airport was small, and there was an older Yellow Cab sitting out front. My driver was a 75-year old black man who told me he’d lived his entire life in the city.
This was my first trip to the “deep south”: I grew up in Seattle, so I had never “walked through” the history of segregation in this part of the country in person.
As we drove to my hotel, the Cab driver told me a story, involving Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr and my iconic hotel: in the 60’s, when the rat pack came to town to perform, they stayed at The King Edward.
My Cab driver told me that when they arrived, Frank demanded that the entire entourage, including Sammy Davis Jr, be housed at the hotel.
He paused for a moment in case I didn’t understand the implication.
“So the hotel was segregated at the time?” I asked, and he nodded.
“Yes”, he told me, “but Frank got what Frank wanted, so Sammy stayed with the rest of the Rat Pack at the hotel.”
At this point, my 75-year told black Cab driver paused again before he continued with the devastating punchline to the story:
“After they left town”, he told me, “the entire hotel closed up…”
He paused again as if remembering the pain of what he was about to say….then added:
“the entire hotel closed so that they could wash it down to get rid of any evidence of Sammy staying there.”
Wow. I was, indeed, in the deep south – a south that has terrible history of racial injustice, violence, and segregation.
I am glad that I am too young to have lived through this shocking period on our country’s history: it’s impossible to imagine that signs like this were everywhere in the south – hard to imagine that segregation ever existed.
I was to see many more examples of this past when I took a walk around the downtown area…
Jackson’s “Freedom Trail!”
There are plenty of opportunities to put yourself in history here: there are many signs like this that showcase important locations in the fight for civil rights and desegregation.
As wikipedia reports:
“the mass demonstrations of the 1960s were initiated with the arrival of more than 300 Freedom Riders on May 24, 1961. They were arrested in Jackson for disturbing the peace after they disembarked from their interstate buses.”
The Greyhound station is still there, and the sign gives an in-depth history of the events that took place there in the 60’s…
Remember that I arrived at Jackson-Medgar Evers Airport? As wikipedia reports:
“In Jackson, shortly after midnight on June 12, 1963, Medgar Evers, civil rights activist and leader of the Mississippi chapter of the NAACP, was assassinated by Byron De La Beckwith, a white supremacist associated with the White Citizens’ Council.”
So here was another reprehensible piece of civil rights history – a great Civil Rights leader murdered simply because he wanted equal rights.
Walking further, I came across this historic spot as well:
The Woolworth’s Counter Sit-In!
The building is gone now, but this was the site of a crucial moment in civil rights history: can you even imagine a time when black students would be attacked for daring to sit down with white customers? It’s sobering to read these signs and realize the violence that surrounded the struggle for civil rights.
As wikipedia notes:
“Segregation and the disfranchisement of African Americans gradually ended after the Civil Rights Movement gained Congressional passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965. In June 1966, Jackson was the terminus of the James Meredith March, organized by James Meredith, the first African American to enroll at the University of Mississippi.”
As I wandered through downtown Jackson, I thought about the history that I had seen up close, and it was surprising to see that the state flag had a confederate symbol on it:
There have been attempts to have it removed, but when I was there, it still flew. It was a Saturday, and most of the state capital buildings were closed….in fact, the entire downtown seemed closed up:
The more I walked around, the more desolate and abandoned the downtown area felt to me…here are some of the images I captured on this bright, sunny and deserted day in Jackson:
I was struck by how dead the downtown area was…while it was a Saturday, and was the state capital, there was no one there.
Seeing the signs of Mississippi’s Freedom Trail, it was a sad reminder of a bygone era, even in the historic Mayflower cafe:
This restaurant has been in the same spot for decades, and I can only imagine the history that surrounds it.
I ordered a Shrimp Po’Boy, then headed back out – and it didn’t take long to discover another symbol of America’s troubled past – I came across another historical site: The Greenwood Cemetery.
Read the sign to understand what I was looking at: more troubling history that is still with us today:
That seemed to sum up my excursion around town that day…I changed my ticket and left the next day – there was nothing else for me to see.
I had another encounter with our country’s past when I travelled to Atlanta for filming:
This is Stone Mountain, and carved into one side is a mural honoring the Confederate Leaders of the Civil War! It’s really unsettling, especially when nearby is a replica of a Southern Plantation, complete with slave quarters:
You can read more of this story here:
I am glad that Jackson has put up so many reminders of its troubled past, since we are entering a chapter in our country’s history when hatred, racism, sexism and intolerance are once again prevalent in many parts of our country.
I was also in Oklahoma in 2016, and I shared the story of dying towns everywhere – and why that helped explain the desperation many Americans feel at being left behind – and how it helped fuel a Donald Trump presidency..here is that story:
That is the underlying tone of a terrific new book, which involved a road trip through the deep south:
“Deep South” by Paul Theroux!
Paul Theroux is the legendary Travel Writer who has a keen eye for detail, and a sense of perspective that is terrific.
Here are a few pictures from the book…see how similar they are to what I saw?
Theroux is a great Writer, and he captures the voices of a part of America that also feel overwhelmingly left behind, with no help on the way. One of the great insights from Theroux is that the Clinton Foundation spends hundreds of millions to help impoverished African nations, but nothing here.
This is not to indict the Democrats – I AM ONE. I am just pointing out that there are people in our country who think that our country has left them behind – and Donald Trump’s message has resonated with them. Sadly, it is a message of hate and grievance, which is designed to tear us apart and not build us up.
Click here for more great insight from Paul Theroux about people in the “Deep South”:
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Categories: Books / Media, Memoirs, Pop Culture, Travel, Travel Adventures, Travel Memoir
johnrieber 
Very important poignant, and informative post.
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sobering to say the least is spot on, John. powerful, devastating, and lots of shameful history. so much blame flying all around and we need to make the change to support all places, big and small, all people and stop blaming and hurting each other in so many ways, we need a leader who will unite and not divide, seek positive actions and not revenge.
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You stated it perfectly. We can and have made great strides when working together, not tearing apart.
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National policy on how to deal with economic problems is the major thing the election is about. Polls show the most important issue in the election is the economy. Most of our division and lack of unity is on what our national solution should be. The country will make that decision by Tuesday night.
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Hi John, a very interesting post. Thank you for sharing your experiences in Jackson.
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The poorest states are Mississippi, New Mexico, West Virginia and Louisiana. There are also pockets of poverty in New York, Kansas, and many other states. There are economic problems widespread over the country. The question is what to do about it, or whether anything can be done about it.
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Thank you for sharing that. Yes, it is a nationwide problem, and it calls for a national solution, because when we leave certain parts of our country struggling, it helps to ferment discord and we should all be helping each other no matter where we live…every state has unique wonder – I feel like if we all went to different parts of the country we might open our minds to the idea of national unity more, which to me is sorely lacking right now
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A sobering experience indeed, John, and a timely reminder that it was not that long ago. (In my lifetime, certainly) It’s a shame to see the centre of the city so deserted and run down, but on an unrelated matter, there is some very nice Art Deco architecture there. I hope that survives.
Best wishes, Pete.
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I lived in Jackson during segregation it was a horrifying place in those days….good well rounded post….kudos chuq
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Good post, John. And I wish they would be honest with themselves and do things like joining unions to help them develop better lives. I was stationed in NC in the late 60’s and was saddened and shocked at the South.
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I wrote this originally to offer a point of view about why people would vote for someone like Trump – the resentment for what they think is a country leaving them behind and giving away their tax dollars to illegal immigrants. Always people of color of course being targeted and these are attitudes that are hundreds of years in the making…Theroux’s book was fascinating as he spoke to people of all races, colors and creeds in the south and it was sobering to say the least…thank you for your comment.
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