Before integration forced Black businesses to close, brought in police brutality, and intentionally created poverty, these three historic Black communities thrived.
#1: Farish Street, Jackson, Mississippi. Once considered the “Black Mecca of Mississippi,” Farish Street was established during Reconstruction by Black Mississippians. Serving as a cultural and business hub, it was the state’s largest economically independent Black community.
#2: Scotland/Scotlandville, Louisiana. A former entry point for the slave trade, Scotlandville became the largest majority Black town in Louisiana in the early 1900s, with thriving Black businesses. It’s also home to the Southern University system, the only historically Black university system in the U.S.
#3: Hayti, North Carolina. What started in 1869 as a church-centered community, by the 1920s, Hayti was a prosperous Black community with businesses, theaters, and restaurants.
These communities serve as reminders of what is possible when we work together, and they caution us to remain vigilant and active in our local neighborhoods. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.