Port Gibson is a city in

Claiborne County, Mississippi Claiborne County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2020 census, the population was 9,135. Its county seat is Port Gibson. The county is named after William Claiborne, the second governor of the Mississippi Territo ...

, United States. The population was 1,567 at the 2010 census. Port Gibson is the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

of Claiborne County, which is bordered on the west by the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

. It is the site of the Claiborne County Courthouse. The first European settlers in Port Gibson were French colonists in 1729; it was part of their '' La Louisiane''. After the United States acquired the territory from France in 1803 in the

Louisiana Purchase The Louisiana Purchase (french: Vente de la Louisiane, translation=Sale of Louisiana) was the acquisition of the territory of Louisiana by the United States from the French First Republic in 1803. In return for fifteen million dollars, or app ...

, the town was chartered that same year. To develop cotton

plantations A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

in the area after

Indian Removal Indian removal was the United States government policy of forced displacement of self-governing tribes of Native Americans from their ancestral homelands in the eastern United States to lands west of the Mississippi Riverspecifically, to a de ...

of the 1830s, planters who moved to the state brought with them or imported thousands of enslaved African Americans from the Upper South, disrupting many families. Well before the Civil War, the majority of the county's population were enslaved blacks. Several notable people are natives of Port Gibson. The town saw action during 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 ...

. Port Gibson has several historical sites listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

( National Register of Historic Places listings in Claiborne County, Mississippi). In the twentieth century, Port Gibson was home to

The Rabbit's Foot Company The Rabbit's Foot Company, also known as the Rabbit('s) Foot Minstrels and colloquially as "The Foots", was a long-running minstrel and variety troupe that toured as a tent show in the American South between 1900 and the late 1950s. It was establi ...

. It had a substantial role in the development of

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

in Mississippi, operating taverns and juke joints now included on the Mississippi Blues Trail. With the decline in agricultural jobs since the late twentieth century, because of industrial agriculture, and a lack of other jobs, the city and surrounding rural county have suffered from reduced population and long-term poverty. The peak of population in the city was in 1950. The last major employer, the Port Gibson Oil Works, a cottonseed mill, closed in 2002.

History

Port Gibson is the third-oldest European-American settlement in Mississippi. Its development began in 1729 by French colonists and was then within French-claimed territory known as '' La Louisiane''. The British acquired this area after the French ceded their colonies east of the Mississippi River in 1763, following their defeat in the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754� ...

. Following the U.S. acquisition of former French territory through the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, more Americans entered the area. Port Gibson was chartered as a town that year on March 12, 1803. The federal government carried out

in the 1830s, pushing the Five Civilized Tribes, including the Choctaw and Chickasaw peoples, west of the Mississippi River to

Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United St ...

. It took over their lands in the Southeast for sale and development by European Americans. Planters developed cotton plantations in the fertile river lowlands of the Mississippi Delta and other riverfront areas, dependent on the labor of enslaved African Americans, initially brought from the Upper South. The African Americans comprised a majority in the county before the Civil War, and this continued. With international demand high for cotton, such planters prospered. As the planter population increased, they founded the Port Gibson Female College in 1843 to educate their daughters. The college later closed and one of its buildings now serves as the city hall. Similarly, they founded

Chamberlain-Hunt Academy Chamberlain-Hunt Academy was a boarding school in Port Gibson, Mississippi. The school was founded in 1830 as Oakland College and closed in 2014. The campus, with its buildings in brick Georgian Revival style, is listed in the National Registe ...

in 1879, a military boarding school for white male youths. It operated into the early twenty-first century. Port Gibson was the site of several clashes during the

and figured in Union General

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...

Vicksburg Campaign The Vicksburg campaign was a series of maneuvers and battles in the Western Theater of the American Civil War directed against Vicksburg, Mississippi, a fortress city that dominated the last Confederate-controlled section of the Mississippi Riv ...

. He was attempting to gain control over the Mississippi River. The Battle of Port Gibson occurred on May 1, 1863, and resulted in the deaths of more than 200

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

and

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...

soldiers. The Confederate defeat resulted in their losing the ability to hold Mississippi and defend against an

amphibious attack Amphibious warfare is a type of offensive military operation that today uses naval ships to project ground and air power onto a hostile or potentially hostile shore at a designated landing beach. Through history the operations were conducted ...

Later nineteenth century to present

Reportedly, many of the historic buildings in the town survived the Civil War because Grant proclaimed the city to be "too beautiful to burn". These words appear on the sign marking the city limits. Despite postwar economic upheaval, the city continued as a center of trade and economy associated with cotton. In 1882, the Port Gibson Oil Works started operating, established as one of the first cottonseed oil plants in the United States.. This historic industrial building was listed on the

in 1979.. The mill finally closed in 2002. PortGibsonSynagogeExxon

'' Gemiluth Chessed'' synagogue, built in 1892, had an active congregation when the town was thriving as the county seat and a trading center. It had attracted nineteenth-century Jewish immigrants from the German states and Alsace-Lorraine. After starting as peddlers, the later generations of men became cotton brokers and merchants. This is the oldest

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...

and the only

Moorish Revival Moorish Revival or Neo-Moorish is one of the exotic revival architectural styles that were adopted by architects of Europe and the Americas in the wake of Romanticist Orientalism. It reached the height of its popularity after the mid-19th centur ...

building in the state. It is topped by a Russian-style dome. As the economy changed, the Jewish population gradually moved to larger cities and areas offering more opportunity, and none remain in Port Gibson.

was established in 1900 by

Pat Chappelle Patrick Henry Chappelle (January 7, 1869 – October 21, 1911),Lynn Abbott, Doug Seroff''Ragged But Right: Black Traveling Shows, Coon Songs, and the Dark Pathway to Blues and Jazz'' University Press of Mississippi, 2009, pp. 248-268.

, an African-American theatre owner in

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

. This was the leading traveling

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

show in the

southern states Southern States may refer to: *The independent states of the Southern hemisphere United States * Southern United States, or the American South * Southern States Cooperative, an American farmer-owned agricultural supply cooperative * Southern Stat ...

, with an all-black cast of singers, musicians, comedians, and entertainers. After Chappelle's death in 1911, the company was taken over by

Fred Swift Wolcott Fred Swift Wolcott (May 2, 1882 – July 27, 1967) was an American entertainment businessman and cotton planter who was the owner and manager of the Original Rabbit's Foot Company from 1912 to 1950. He bought the business after the death of i ...

, a white planter. After 1918, he based the touring company at his plantation near Port Gibson, with offices in town. He continued to manage it until 1950, when he sold it. The Rabbit's Foot Company remained popular, but as some white performers joined and used

blackface Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used predominantly by non-Black people to portray a caricature of a Black person. In the United States, the practice became common during the 19th century and contributed to the spread of racial stereo ...

, it was no longer considered "authentic".Lynn Abbott, Doug Seroff, ''Ragged But Right: Black Traveling Shows, Coon Songs, and the Dark Pathway to Blues and Jazz''
University Press of Mississippi, 2009, pp.248-268 In 2002 the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' characterized Port Gibson as 80 percent black and poor, with 20 percent of families living on incomes of less than $10,000 a year, according to the 2000 Census. It also had an "entrenched population of whites, many of whom are related and have some historical connection to cotton".PETER T. KILBORN, "A Vestige of King Cotton Fades Out in Mississippi", ''New York Times'', October 18, 2002.

Legacy

A Mississippi Blues Trail marker was placed in Port Gibson to commemorate the contribution the Rabbit's Foot Company made to the development of the

in Mississippi, in its decades of operation after the founder's death. In 2006, an exhibition, ''The Blues in Claiborne County: From Rabbit Foot Minstrels to Blues and Cruise'', was shown in Port Gibson, exploring the history of the show, with artifacts and memorabilia."Rabbit Foot Minstrel Exhibit in Port Gibson Until September 30, 2006". ''h-southern-music''
Retrieved 10 July 2014

Other National Register of Historic Places buildings and sites

Van Dorn House The Van Dorn House is a historic hilltop residence in Port Gibson, Mississippi built circa 1830 for Peter Aaron Van Dorn and his wife. He was a lawyer from New Jersey who made his fortune in this area, having a practice, gaining political appoin ...

, completed c. 1830, built by Peter Aaron Van Dorn, a lawyer, planter, and judge *

McGregor McGregor may refer to: People * McGregor (surname) * Clan MacGregor, a Scottish highland clan * McGregor W. Scott (born 1962), U.S. attorney Characters * Mr. McGregor, a fictional character from Peter Rabbit Places in Canada: * McGregor Lake, ...

, house designed in

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but ...

style by Van Dorn (above) for one of his daughters, completed 1835 *

Windsor Ruins Windsor Ruins are in Claiborne County, Mississippi, United States, about southwest of Port Gibson near Alcorn State University. The ruins consist of 23 standing Corinthian columns of the largest antebellum Greek Revival mansion ever built in ...

, 23 columns of a plantation house that burned c. 1890, located about ten miles southwest of the city that have been featured in two motion pictures *

Wintergreen Cemetery Wintergreen Cemetery is a historic cemetery in Port Gibson, Mississippi. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 22, 1979. It is located at East Greenwood Street. Notable burials * Samuel Reading Bertron (1865–1938), b ...

, historic cemetery with burials of notable residents

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...

, the city has a total area of , all land.

Demographics

2020 census

As of the

2020 United States Census The United States census of 2020 was the twenty-fourth decennial United States census. Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2020. Other than a pilot study during the 2000 census, this was the first U.S. census to of ...

, there were 1,269 people, 554 households, and 290 families residing in the city.

2000 census

As of the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

of 2000, there were 1,840 people, 692 households, and 447 families residing in the city. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...

was 1,048.0 people per square mile (403.7/km²). There were 787 housing units at an average density of 448.2 per square mile (172.6/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 19.40%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

, 80.00%

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 0.05% Native American, 0.22%

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

, 0.05% from other races, and 0.27% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...

Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...

people of any race were 0.71% of the population. There were 692 households, out of which 30.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 31.9% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...

living together, 27.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.3% were non-families. 30.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.64 and the average family size was 3.33. In the city, the population was spread out, with 29.3% under the age of 18, 10.5% from 18 to 24, 24.7% from 25 to 44, 20.9% from 45 to 64, and 14.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 80.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 76.2 males. The median income for a household in the city was $24,848, and the median income for a family was $28,958. Males had a median income of $28,036 versus $21,115 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the city was $12,928. About 26.0% of families and 31.3% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...

, including 41.9% of those under age 18 and 26.3% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Port Gibson is served by the Claiborne County School District.

Port Gibson High School Port Gibson High School is a public high school in unincorporated Claiborne County, Mississippi, with a Port Gibson. It opened in 1924. It is part of the Claiborne County School District. The student body is 99 percent African American. The old Por ...

is the comprehensive high school of the district. The

, a private military boarding school, has operated in Port Gibson since 1879. It was promoted as a Christian school in the late twentieth century. Nonetheless, it suffered declining enrollment and closed in 2014.

Notable people

* Samuel Reading Bertron, banker * Cleo W. Blackburn, educator *

Pete Brown Peter Ronald Brown (born 25 December 1940) is an English performance poet, lyricist, and singer best known for his collaborations with Cream and Jack Bruce.Colin Larkin, ''Virgin Encyclopedia of Sixties Music'', (Muze UK Ltd, 1997), , p. 80 Bro ...

, golfer, first

to win on the PGA Tour *

Jay Disharoon James Dudley "Jay" Disharoon (March 10, 1949 – June 10, 2014) was an American lawyer and politician. Born in Jackson, Mississippi, Disharoon grew up in Port Gibson, Mississippi and went to Port Gibson High School. He served in the United Sta ...

, lawyer and Mississippi legislator *

Constance Cary Harrison Constance Cary Harrison ( pen name, Refugitta; April 25, 1843 – November 21, 1920), also referred as Mrs. Burton Harrison, was an American playwright and novelist. She and two of her cousins were known as the "Cary Invincibles"; the three sewed ...

, author * Henry Hughes, lawyer, sociologist, state senator, and

colonel * Yolanda Moore, former professional basketball player and girls basketball coach * Irwin Russell, poet * Bob Shannon,

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

coach, known for his work in East St. Louis, Illinois * V. C. Shannon, born in Port Gibson in 1910, one-term member of the

Louisiana House of Representatives The Louisiana House of Representatives (french: link=no, Chambre des Représentants de Louisiane) is the lower house in the Louisiana State Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. This chamber is composed of 105 repr ...

from

Shreveport Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population o ...

, serving from 1972 to 1974 * J. D. Short,

Delta blues Delta blues is one of the earliest-known styles of blues. It originated in the Mississippi Delta, and is regarded as a regional variant of country blues. Guitar and harmonica are its dominant instruments; slide guitar is a hallmark of the s ...

guitarist, singer, and harmonicist *

James G. Spencer James Grafton Spencer (September 13, 1844 – February 22, 1926) was a U.S. Representative from Mississippi. Biography Born near Port Gibson, Mississippi, Spencer attended private schools and Oakland College in 1861. During the Civil War enlist ...

, U.S. Representative from 1895 to 1897 * Clement Sulivane, Confederate officer, politician, and member of the Maryland Senate from 1878 to 1880 *

Earl Van Dorn Earl Van Dorn (September 17, 1820May 7, 1863) started his military career as a United States Army officer but joined Confederate forces in 1861 after the Civil War broke out. He was a major general when he was killed in a private conflict. A g ...

, Confederate Civil War general *

Peter Aaron Van Dorn Peter Aaron Van Dorn (1773–1837) was an American lawyer, judge and cotton planter in Mississippi. Born and raised in New Jersey, with a law degree from Princeton, as a young man he migrated to the Mississippi Territory, where he made his ca ...

, lawyer, judge, plantation owner, and one of the founders of

Jackson, Mississippi Jackson, officially the City of Jackson, is the Capital city, capital of and the List of municipalities in Mississippi, most populous city in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city is also one of two county seats of Hinds County, Mississippi, ...

* F. S. Wolcott, minstrel show proprietor

References

External links

*
Southern Lagniappe site - many architectural images

(from the

Institute of Southern Jewish Life The Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life (ISJL) is a non-profit Jewish organization serving a thirteen-state southern region. Based in Jackson, Mississippi, the ISJL provides programming throughout the South. Overview Mission: ...

)
Archive

{{Authority control