Honoring the Natchez Deacons for Defense and Justice

Unveiling of Mississippi Freedom Trail marker set for Nov. 9

James "Big Jack" Jackson  Founding president of the Natchez Deacons for Defense and Justice. Photo courtesy of Janet Herbert and Dr. Lance Hill

NATCHEZ, Miss. -- Mississippi Freedom Trail marker honoring the Natchez Deacons for Defense and Justice will be unveiled Saturday, November 9, with a ceremony at 2:30 p.m. at Zion Chapel A.M.E. Church at 228 North Dr. M.L. King Jr. St. 

The ceremony will be followed by the unveiling of the marker at 319 North Dr. M.L. King Jr. St., which is the site of the two-story building that was home to Donnan's Barbershop, the meeting place for the Deacons. This event is free to the public. It is organized by the Natchez Civil Rights Trail Committee.

Speakers will include Dr. Akinyele Umoja, author of “We Will Shoot Back: Armed Resistance in the Mississippi Freedom Movement” (NYU Press, 2013); Willie Carter, owner of Donnan's Barbershop; Alderwoman Felicia Bridgewater-Irving, Ward 4; Rev. Dr. Robert James, president of the Mississippi NAACP; Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis, president of the Natchez NAACP; John Travis Spann, program and outreach officer for Mississippi Humanities Council; and Mayor Dan Gibson.

Other program participants include Dr. Neifa Hardy, community liaison to the Mayor; Rev. Birdon Mitchell, pastor of Zion Chapel A.M.E. Church; Dr. Roscoe Barnes III, culture heritage tourism manager for Visit Natchez; Rev. Clifton Marvel, pastor of Greater Macedonia Baptist Church; and Tony Field and the Zion Chapel AME Ensemble.

The Deacons for Defense and Justice was a paramilitary organization that provided armed protection for the civil rights workers and the Black community in the 1960s.

The new Freedom Trail marker will be the second one erected in Natchez. The first one, which recognized the NAACP Headquarters at 9 St. Catherine St., was unveiled in April 2023.

The Mississippi Freedom Trail markers are approved by Visit Mississippi and Mississippi Humanities Council. The markers serve to commemorate the people and places in the state that played a pivotal role in the American Civil Rights Movement.

For more information on the November 9 unveiling ceremony, call 601-492-3004.