Isaiah Thornton Montgomery (May 21, 1847 – March 5, 1924) was founder of

Mound Bayou, Mississippi Mound Bayou is a city in Bolivar County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 1,533 at the 2010 census, down from 2,102 in 2000. It was founded as an independent black community in 1887 by former slaves led by Isaiah Montgomery. Mound ...

, an all-black community. A Republican, he was a delegate to the 1890 Mississippi Constitutional Convention and served as mayor of Mound Bayou. He participated in the 1890 Mississippi constitutional convention as a delegate from

Bolivar County Bolivar County ( ) is a County (United States), county located on the western border of the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 30,985. Its county seats are Rosedale, Mississippi, Roseda ...

and voted for the adoption of a state constitution that effectively disfranchised black voters for decades, using

poll tax A poll tax, also known as head tax or capitation, is a tax levied as a fixed sum on every liable individual (typically every adult), without reference to income or resources. Head taxes were important sources of revenue for many governments fr ...

es and

literacy test A literacy test assesses a person's literacy skills: their ability to read and write have been administered by various governments, particularly to immigrants. In the United States, between the 1850s and 1960s, literacy tests were administered t ...

s to raise barriers to voter registration. Montgomery promoted an accommodationist position for African Americans. The

I. T. Montgomery House The I. T. Montgomery House is a historic house on West Main Street in Mound Bayou, Mississippi, United States. Built in 1910, it was the home of Isaiah Montgomery (1847–1924), a former slave of Jefferson Davis who was instrumental in founding ...

in Mound Bayou is a National Landmark.

Early life and education

Born into

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

, Isaiah was the son of

Ben Montgomery Benjamin Thornton Montgomery (1819–1877) was an influential African-American inventor, landowner, and freedman in Mississippi. He was taught to read and write English, and became manager of supply and shipping for Joseph Emory Davis at Hurrica ...

, a slave whose owner, Joseph Davis, promoted him to overseer. The younger Montgomery learned to read and write due to his father's influential position on the

Davis Bend Davis Bend, Mississippi (now known as Davis Island), was a peninsula named after planter Joseph Emory Davis, who owned most of the property. There he established the 5,000-acre Hurricane Plantation as a model slave community. Davis Bend was about ...

plantation. Davis wanted to establish a more positive working environment for slaves and encouraged education. Following the end of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

, Isaiah began a business with his father. It lasted until Ben's death in 1877. His father had long dreamed of establishing an independent black colony; by the time of his death, the Reconstruction era had ended and African Americans struggled to maintain themselves against white supremacists.

Career

After his father's death in 1877, Isaiah Montgomery worked to realize his father's dream. With his cousin Benjamin T. Green, he bought property in the northwest frontier of

Mississippi Delta The Mississippi Delta, also known as the Yazoo–Mississippi Delta, or simply the Delta, is the distinctive northwest section of the U.S. state of Mississippi (and portions of Arkansas and Louisiana) that lies between the Mississippi and Yazoo ...

bottomlands to found Mound Bayou in 1887.

was the largest in area in the Delta. As farmers cleared land, they started cultivating cotton. Montgomery worked to gain freedmen protection of the law, and to keep their work and lives separate from supervision by whites. In what the ''Washington Post'' termed "A Notable Address Delivered by the Colored Statesman,"

Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 1817 or 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became ...

gave a speech in October 1890 before the

Bethel Literary and Historical Society The Bethel Literary and Historical Society was an organization founded in 1881 by African Methodist Episcopal Church Bishop Daniel Payne and continued at least until 1915. It represented a highly significant development in African-American society ...

of Washington, D.C.'s

Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church ("Metropolitan AME Church") is a historic church located at 1518 M Street, N.W., in downtown Washington, D.C. It affiliates with the African Methodist Episcopal Church. History The congregati ...

. He strongly condemned Montgomery's stance regarding suffrage in Mississippi. Douglass had spoken of Montgomery numerous times before and on the occasion cited his position as an act of "treason, to the cause of the colored people, not only of his own state, but of the United States," referring to the effect Montgomery's act would have in other states. He also lamented having heard in Montgomery "a groan of bitter anguish born of oppression and despair" and a voice of a "soul from which all hope had vanished."

Legacy

I. T. Montgomery Elementary School of the

North Bolivar Consolidated School District The North Bolivar Consolidated School District, formerly the North Bolivar School District is a public school district located in northern Bolivar County in the state of Mississippi. It is headquartered in Mound Bayou with an office in Shelby. ...

(formerly the

Mound Bayou School District The Mound Bayou Public School District was a public school district with its headquarters in Mound Bayou, Mississippi (USA). In addition to Mound Bayou, the district also served the town of Winstonville. On July 1, 2014 consolidated with the No ...

) is named after Montgomery.

References

External links

* 1847 births 1924 deaths 19th-century American businesspeople African-American mayors in Mississippi Mayors of places in Mississippi Mississippi Republicans People from Mound Bayou, Mississippi {{Mississippi-mayor-stub