The Black Experience in Natchez, 1720-1880: Special History Study

Davis, Ronald

The following special history study of the black experience in Natchez, Mississippi, from 1720 to 1880, was undertaken at the request of the National Park Service to assist in the site interpretation of the Natchez National Historical Park. The author contracted with the Park Service in early 1991, with a deadline of six months for the completed report. Fifteen months later, in April 1992, a draft manuscript was submitted for review. The successful completion of "The Natchez Project," as it has come to be known among my graduate students, is but an introduction to the subject. The report can be no more than a sampling of the topic in the brief time devoted to its preparation. As a result, many questions raised are left unanswered. The report will hopefully serve as a foundation for future scholarship, including continued work of my own. As would be expected, a study of such complexity could not have been produced in the brief time allotted without the assistance of a number of people. Foremost among those to be acknowledged are several research assistants who did much of the scholarship upon which the report is based. Specifically, Linda Erdman and Cecie Shulman have been involved with the study from the start. Graduate students at California State University, Northridge, Ms. Erdman and Ms. Shulman transcribed and interpreted census materials, land records, and legal documents with painstaking care and attention. Most of the newspaper and census research in the study is their work. Ms. Shulman, moreover, did a final editing of the manuscript that greatly improved its style and coherence. A third graduate student, Ms. Joyce Hoggan, joined the team in August, 1991, assisting in detailed map and records analysis over the next several months.

The Black Experience in Natchez, 1720-1880: Special History Study

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