In 1877, Reconstruction ended, and “Redeemer governments” in the South enacted wicked Jim Crow laws against Black people. However, three Black crusaders wouldn’t let them get away with it.
#1: Isaiah Thornton Montgomery - Bursting with Black economic and social power, Mound Bayou was the Mississippi Delta’s first Black town. This was largely thanks to Montgomery. In 1887 he purchased the land and made Mound Bayou a refuge for our people.
#2: James T. Rapier-One of the three Black Congressmen from Alabama during the 1870s, Rapier advocated for Black education and land ownership. He encouraged Black people to move west of the Mississippi out of the Jim Crow South. At the time of his death, he was planning to establish a Black community in Kansas.
#3: Ida B. Wells - She got fired from her teaching job, a mob trashed her newspaper office, and her life was regularly threatened. However, that didn’t stop Wells’ fearless journalism. She told the world about the lynchings that terrorized Black people.
These activists broke the foundation of post-Reconstruction racism. Resistance is so much more than protesting and marching. How can you contribute to our liberation?