Mound Bayou
Historic District · Mound Bayou, Mississippi
A small Delta town founded in 1887 by Isaiah Montgomery and Benjamin Green, both of whom had been enslaved on Jefferson Davis's brother's plantation at Davis Bend, as a self-governing settlement owned and run entirely by Black citizens. It became one of the most important such towns in the country — Theodore Roosevelt called it the Jewel of the Delta — and its hospital, its newspaper and its people run straight through the civil rights history that this state's museums tell. Very little of that is standing today. What is here is markers, a few buildings, and the fact of the place itself.
Main Street, Mound Bayou, Mississippi, 38762, United States
A town, accessible at all times. THERE IS NO VISITOR CENTRE, NO TICKET AND NO STAFFED ATTRACTION. Interpretive and Mississippi Freedom Trail markers are outdoors and always accessible. The Taborian Hospital building has been through restoration efforts and changes of use and public access to it is uncertain — enquire locally before travelling if going inside matters. Guided Delta civil rights tours that include Mound Bayou are the practical way to visit.