Briscoe Center Co-Sponsors 2013 Historic Natchez Conference,
April 17-20, 2013
Conference Sponsors:
California State University, Northridge
Dolph Briscoe Center for American History,
The University of Texas at Austin
Historic Natchez Foundation
Louisiana State University Libraries,
Special Collections
Mississippi Department of Archives and History
Natchez National Historical Park
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The Briscoe Center is proud to co-sponsor From Civil War to Civil Rights, the 2013 Historic Natchez Conference, April 17-20, 2013. The program offers presentations on centuries of Natchez and the Lower Mississippi Valley’s history, narrowing to a particular focus on the civil war and civil rights periods.
The keynote speaker, William C. Davis, will speak on the Civil War at its sesquicentennial. Setting the stage for the antebellum era, scholars will discuss the archeology of the Natchez area, steamboat transportation on the Mississippi River in the early 18th century, and empire in the Colonial Natchez period. Additional presentations examine political violence and armed conflict during the Civil War and post-bellum era, occupation of Natchez by federal troops, African American sailors serving in the Mississippi Squadron, merchants and the rebuilding of Natchez after the war, and plantation life. Additional program highlights explore the 1965 Natchez boycott, the Mississippi Freedom Movement, and social and religious aspects of civil rights activism in Natchez. The conference will also feature a screening of the documentary film When I Rise.
The Historic Natchez Conference fosters the study, preservation, and appreciation of the Natchez region by providing a forum for established scholars, graduate students, archivists, and the general public to share research, resources, and ideas. The Briscoe Center’s Southern History Collections feature the Natchez Trace Collection, with extensive materials related to the region and its history.
The conference takes place at the historic Natchez Eola Hotel, which offers a special conference rate of $89/night: (601) 445-6000/www.natchezeola.com. Admission to the conference and related events is free, with exceptions noted on the program below. Continuing education units are available.
For registration information and more details, contact the Historic Natchez Foundation:
(601) 442-2500, hnf@natchez.org, www.natchez.org. Register online at www.natchez.org/registration.htm.
The Program
All events take place at the Natchez Eola Hotel unless otherwise indicated. Approved for Continuing Education Credit.
3:00 p.m. Registration
Opening Program
6:00 p.m. Pre-Conference Session
Two Museums … One Mississippi
Museum of Mississippi History and Mississippi Civil Rights Museum
H. T. Holmes, Director, Mississippi Department of Archives and History
Jacquelyn Dace, Project Coordinator, Mississippi Civil Rights Museum
Cindy Gardner, Project Coordinator, Museum of Mississippi History
Thursday, April 18
10:00 a.m. Registration
1:00 p.m. Welcome
Historic Natchez Foundation President Robin Punches
1:30 p.m. Session 1
Moderators: Ralph Vicero, Dean Emeritus, California State Northridge
Builders of the New South: Merchants, Capital, and the Remaking of Natchez, 1865–1914.
Aaron Anderson, Alcorn State University
The Continuity of War: Rethinking Violence in the Civil War Era.
Justin Behrend, SUNY Geneseo
3:00 p.m. Break
3:30 p.m. Session 2
Moderator: Tara Zachary Laver, Louisiana State University Libraries, Special Collections
The Goat Castle Murder, Jim Crow Justice, and the Saga of Emily Burns.
Karen L. Cox, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
The Library of Rosedown Plantation: A Case Study in Researching Nineteenth-Century Private Libraries.
Michael Taylor, Louisiana State University Libraries, Special Collections
6:00 p.m. Keynote Address
Temple B’Nai Israel, 213 South Commerce St.
America, the Civil War, and Natchez at 150
William C. Davis, Virginia Tech University
7:00 p.m. Cocktail Reception
The Historic Natchez Foundation
108 South Commerce St.
Special exhibit: St. Catherine Street: Cross-cultural Gateway to the City
Friday, April 19
9:00 a.m. Session 3
Moderator: Stephanie Malmros, Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin
Slaves, Dons, and American Planters: Issues of Slavery and Empire in Colonial Natchez, 1779-1808.
Christian Pinnen, Mississippi College
The Boyce Decision and the Responsibility of Common Carriers Toward Slave Cargoes (1829).
Kristen Vogel, Texas A&M University
10:30 a.m. Break
Moderator: Jim Wiggins, Copiah-Lincoln Community College
The 1965 Natchez Boycott and its Impact on the Mississippi Freedom Movement.
Akinyele Umoja, Georgia State University
Nothing Less Than an Activist: Marge Baroni, Catholicism, and the Natchez, Mississippi Civil Rights Movement.
Eva Walton, Alabama Poverty Project, Birmingham, Alabama
2:00 p.m. Session 5
Moderator: Kathleen Jenkins, Natchez National Historical Park
“One of the prettiest places on earth”: Yankees in Natchez, 1863–1865
Jefferson Mansel, Natchez National Historical Park
Black Men in Navy Blue: African American Sailors in the U.S. Navy’s Mississippi Squadron during the Civil War.
Joseph P. Reidy, Howard University
3:30 p.m. Break
4:00 p.m. Session 6
Moderators: Don Carleton and Alison Beck, Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin
When I Rise
Documentary Screening and Discussion
6:30 p.m. Booze and Barbeque
Bontura, 107 South Broadway Street
Ticketed event ($30)
Saturday, April 20
9:00 a.m. Session 7
Moderator: Julia Marks Young, Mississippi Department of Archives and History
Student Session:
Kashia Arnold, California State University, Northridge
Chyna Bowen, University of Texas at Austin
Adrian Brettle, University of Virginia
Nicholas Rowland, University of Texas at Austin
10:30 a.m. Break
11:00 a.m. Session 8
Moderator: Jim Barnett, Grand Village of Natchez Indians
On the Banks of Second Creek: The Prehistory and History of the Mazique Mounds (22Ad502).
Daniel LaDu, University of Alabama
The Mississippi Mound Trail.
John W. O’Hear, O’Hear Consulting, LLC
Vincas P. Steponaitis, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Natchez Archaeology in the 1840s: Montroville Dickeson and the Egan Panorama.
Vincas P. Steponaitis, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
1:30 p.m. Session 9
Moderator: Joyce Broussard, California State University, Northridge
Cheryl Wilkinson, California State University, Northridge
Terra A. Palewicz, California State University, Northridge
Elizabeth A. Sadler, California State University, Northridge
6:00 p.m. Cocktail Buffet
Longwood, 140 Lower Woodville Road
Ticketed event ($30)
