Skeletons In and Out of the Closet - Follow-up

The two researchers who were here flew back to Boston last night and I wanted to add a bit of information about their work and why they were here.

Professor Margaret Burnham and law student Brett Watson came here as part of the work of the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project at the Northeastern University School of Law. You can read about that program at this link:  Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project

The goal of the project is to resolve lingering issues from the Civil Rights era and to preserve and memorialize the victims of Civil Rights abuse. The reason for coming here are several in nature. The Jones case was one of a rash of killings of returned African-American war veterans in the Summer of 1946 and gained great attention in the national press, including a discussion in Time magazine that outraged local residents with its description of Minden. More importantly no one was ever convicted of any crime in this matter. The suspects were never indicted on state charges of murder and the Federal trial for violation of Civil Rights ended with acquittals. So, techincally this is an open case.

Some may be alarmed if you go to that link and see that Professor Burnham has an amazing track record of success in her legal career and has actually obtained convictions in some long-lingering Civil Rights cases. However, our case is somewhat different because of the age of the case.  The victim was killed, his only child died in 1978, his widow died at Meadowview in 2006. The victim who escaped the mob left Louisiana and is apparently dead. All of the men tried for the crime have died -- the first a victim of murder himself less than two years after the Jones murder. So there is no one left to try. In addition, Professor Burnham was very willing to not press the issue with the families of some of those involved in the case who are still living. Her major goal was to flesh out the record and fill in the blanks. I have not yet received their summary of what they learned, but yesterday we were able to confirm the burial site of John C. Jones, which had been somewhat of a question for years. They have indicated to me that they did learn much and recieved leads to more information. So, it was a useful trip.

Skeletons In and Out of the Closet

In the past I have indirectly discussed and/or referred to the 1946 lynching of John C. Jones here in Minden. About five or six years ago, Professor Chris Waldrep came to Minden to research the killing. Today, there are two more researchers in the community working on this case. I learned from them that Professor Waldrep has posted all the material he obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests with the FBI, the Department of Justice, and the National Archives to the website for one of his courses. I had been to the National Archives and seen that file before, but never the DOJ and FBI info, so I've been digging up local bones and opening local closets in that material this morning. I wanted to share the link with any local people who might be interested. I can tell you that there are thousands of pages, much of it boring, but the files do provide a fascinating tale of racism, self-preservation and gratefully some heroic behavior by local people of both races 65 years ago in our town.

Jones Lynching Files

If you tear it down, they won't come

Got another reminder today of that nasty habit Minden had of tearing historic structures down. I know that's always a controversial topic and at least one person who likes to pull my chain will probably post a sarcastic comment because in one recent high profile situation I was in favor of something being torn down. But as I said, I'll just need to learn to let folks comment and not try to engage when there's no point in replying.

Monday night at the Night for the Museum program about the Campbell family, Thad Andress asked me if I had ever been to Washington, Arkansas. Thad had visited recently and thought I needed to visit and also had a question relating to Minden history that learning about Washington had created in his mind. Now normally when Thad recommends a place to visit he has just returned from Greece, South America, Alaska or perhaps Jupiter -- places my pocket book will never allow me to visit. So, when he recommended a place I could afford to visit, I decided the trip has added to my itinerary. Plus, I was a little ashamed, particularly after I realized how close it was to home, that I hadn't visited.

So when I got out of classes today I set out for Old Washington. If possible I prefer to stay off the Interstate so you can see (stealing a line from Sarah Palin) the "real America." I did that today driving up La. 3 on to Arkansas 29 through my grandparents old stomping grounds of Lafayette County. Arriving in Washington I checked out some of the buildings and also purchased a book that answered the question Thad had posed. For many years I have explored all the historic figures that came close by Minden traveling on Military Road #11, cut through the North Louisiana wilderness in 1827 - 1828 between Fort Jesup and Fort Towson in what later became the Indian Territory.  Without a specific citation to prove the point, I am certain that future Presidents Zachary Taylor and Ulysses S. Grant traveled the road during their times at Jesup. I can verify that Col. George Armstrong Custer passed by when he was reassigned from occupation duty in Alexandria to fight the Indians on the Great Plains. (I'm not certain, but I don't think that turned out so well.) However, I had never considered the question that Thad raised. At Washington he had learned of a road connecting Fort Jesup to Washington and also found that Washington served as a main dispersion point for that tragic episode known as the Trail of Tears. I was so excited by the possibility that Thad had uncovered a place of Webster Parish in a significant era of American history when he asked, "did the Trail of Tears include the Military Road near Minden."

Today I discovered that it was "close but no cigar." The Trail of Tears, at least part of it, did come through Louisiana, in fact through Monroe. However, it turned north at Monroe and intersected "our" Military Road at Camden, Arkansas, so those Indians making the sad journey did reach Washington by the road that came by Minden, but did not traverse today's Webster Parish on the journey.

Now, in the words of Ron White, "I told you that story to tell you this one", which will explain my title. Today I visited the Hempstead County Courthouse built in 1836, it also served as the seat of government for Confederate Arkansas. Then I went to the Visitor's Center at Old Washington State Park, which is the Hempstead Country Courthouse that was used from 1874 - 1939. I was in such a rush to find the answer to Thad's question that my "light bulb moment" didn't hit me until after I had found my answer and was exploring the old courthouse. Something about that date, 1874, stuck in my mind. Then, as I was looking at the upstairs courtroom, it hit me. The first Webster Parish Courthouse that stood roughly on the site of today's Capitol One Bank downtown, was also completed and put into use in 1874. That meant that while Hempstead County still had both its 1836 and 1874 courthouses, Minden was in a completely different situation. The courthouse we built in 1874, the same year as the "new" Washington courthouse, was torn down in 1905. The building that replaced it, was torn down in 1970. So while that 1874 Hempstead County Courthouse stood "witness" Webster Parish built and destroyed two courthouses. As I stepped outside I suddenly realized something else, the 1874 Hempstead County Courthouse (pictured below) while not identical, resembles the 1874 Webster Parish Courthouse enough to be a "cousin." Hindsight is 20-20 and I don't think folks in Minden had evil motives, but it's a shame so much of our history died with the wrecking ball.

Starting Up Again

Well, since my column with the Press-Herald has ended, I know that there are going to be times when I want to share something interesting about local history that takes up more space than allowed on a Facebook status update. So, after more than a year I'm going to start using this blog again. My friend Chris Broussard started a great blog and it pushed me toward using the great tool of the Internet to share local history.

As I stated when I started -- and then proceeded to ignore -- I will try to stay as "apolitical" as possible. To my "friends" who I had nasty exchanges with in the comments section, you are certainly justified in pointing out what you see wrong with my views, when I insist on stating them. Arguing them is also fine, but I failed to keep myself in check and as a result perverted my intent in starting this blog. I don't apologize for my beliefs, but if I want to focus on them, I'll just start a political blog. On occasion, there will be a bleed over, it can't be prevented, but I will try to act as a moderater and not a "combatant" when that happens.

So, if anyone out there was still checking this, there will be posts again. If you're a Facebook friend, I'll be posting on Facebook when they are made.

Isn't It Ironic

I've promised myself I'm not going to use this blog to be political except in rare, significant occasions. I'm not sure if this really qualifies as significant, but it touches on an aspect of politics that has impacted me personally, deeply, in the past few months and an aspect that I have made a new focus of emphasis in my Poli Sci classes. That aspect is the prevalance of hate speech and demonization in our political discourse. More and more we have this mindset developing that anyone who disagrees with us is evil and out to destroy the United States. It's an offshoot off what Hofstader defined as the "paranoid style in American politics" back in the 1960s, but whatever the cause, it is the biggest threat I see to our nation's success. If one defines the "other side" as evil, that makes negotiation and working together impossible. Many "true believers" on both "sides" don't like to admit this, but the true genius of our nation has been our ability to take widely divergent points of views and work together to achieve a solution. I had accepted this concept for many years, one has to while teaching American History and teaching the many compromises that were crafted in that convention at Philadelphia that designed our Constitution. But it was really driven home by that old son of Mississippi, Shelby Foote, in Ken Burns' Civil War, when he drawled that our "real genius" was compromise and it failed us in the time of the Civil War.

I'm not coming from a "holier-than-thou" position, I get fired up at times and have called Dick Cheney, "Satan". But, as a rule I have tried to recognize the fact that people on both sides, almost without exception, in politics think they are doing the right thing. We may disagree with them, but attributing conspiratorial motives or simply calling them names is wrong. I pray every day that I won't fall pray to this again.

What prompted this rant?

This morning I awoke to find a wonderful Facebook message shared by one of my Facebook friends from one of her Facebook friends. This was the message:

"Before you talk about some one...THINK! T-Is it true? H-Is it helpful? I-Is it inspiring? N-Is it necessary? K-Is it kind?"

What a great idea!! Now for the kicker to me.

The person that made that post, was formerly a Facebook friend of mine. I had to delete that person because almost every day they bombarded my Facebook page with "Obama is a Muslim", "Obama hates America", "Pelosi is an idiot", "Democraps hate this country", "Demo-rats are trying to destroy this country."

Would that we all follow that simple warning before we talk or speak -- even on our Facebook pages.

Another One Bites the Dust

Sunday night I learned of another sad event for local historic preservation in Minden. Around 1870, four new homes were built in Minden. The Chaffe home on South Broadway, the Spann home on Pennsylvania Avenue, the Vance home on North Broadway and the Watkins home on College Street. These homes were very similar in style, in fact two of them – the Chaffe and Vance homes -- were almost identical. The Chaffe home was later purchased by the Wiley family. That house stood on the site of today’s Regions Bank in downtown. The home was first pulled back behind the “new” Minden Bank building constructed in the mid 1950s and then later was demolished by the bank. The Watkins home was severely damaged by an explosion and fire in the early 1940s and had to be torn down. Today the Minden Church of Christ is located on that property. The Vance home passed through marriage to the Sugg family and then suffered through years of neglect and vacancy until it was restored by the Christy family. The fourth house, the Sumpter Spann home, went through several owners including the Huckaby family before being owned by the Dickinson family, who still own it today.


So, of those four “post-war” houses, two remain standing. However, soon only one will remain. The First Baptist Church is in the process of purchasing, with plans to demolish, the Dickinson home at 315 Pennsylvania. I am sorry to learn this is happening, to be frank, having gone to First Baptist for almost all my 52 years and having been a member for 43 years, I am sad we are once again going to put the wrecking ball to part of Minden’s history. However, no one even raised a question when the topic was presented at the Church Conference Sunday night, and there’s no point in fighting against the powers that be. I understand the church’s need for room to grow and I also recognize that the house has structural problems that make it a liability risk so long as it stands. The church doesn’t need the house; they need the land and the space. In addition, I probably vacated the moral high ground on this issue when I supported the proposal to sell the property at 100 Homer Road for the site of a Walgreen’s.

Just to explain my “hypocrisy” by supporting that change and opposing this development, I need to explain my reasoning. In the case of the property at 100 Homer Road, the true historical significance of that site was not the current home on the land. That house was built in the first years of the 20th Century, about 40 years after the end of the Civil War. The true historical significance of the land was that it served as the campground for the 61st United States Colored Troops when they occupied Minden from May through December 1865. As part of the proposal of the sale to Walgreen’s, a historic park would have been created on a portion of the land to tell the story of that occupation. So, from a historic standpoint, the gain would have been greater than the loss of the house, since there are quite a few homes from the same period standing in Minden. In the case of the Spann/Dickinson home, the house and the role of Sumpter Spann in local education and politics made the dwelling the most significant history on the site. Even though the house has had substantial alteration over the years, it remains the dwelling of a man who influenced generations of local boys as a teacher at the Minden Male Academy and played a role in some of the most colorful and contentious politics of the Reconstruction and Redemption era in Minden. At times like these I truly wish I had money, or power, or influence to change things. But, I don’t , and progress is necessary, so another old home will disappear from the Minden landscape.

Back from Commercial Break With Requests

Okay, now that I've gotten my ad for my book out of the way, I want to talk a little bit about a project I'm working on and see if anyone that reads this might have some helpful information. In conjunction with a local artist -- I didn't get permission to use this person's name or talk about the project so I'll be somewhat vague -- I've been researching the construction of the old Community House that stood in Victory Park. Saturday I went to Baton Rouge and completed my newspaper research about the story and will be publishing an upcoming Echo about that building by the first part of September.

In this process I've had several of the usual twists that come in doing research. The first was realizing how I lose track of changes, even though I'm conciously aware of when they take place. When I was first asked about writing this article for a brief moment I had forgotten that the old building was gone. Then, after bringing myself back to reality, it took me a few days to realize just how long it had been gone. At the 80th birthday reception for Blanchard Youngblood I had the chance so speak to an old friend, Blanchard's son Wayne, for the first time in nearly 30 years. Wayne mentioned that when he heard his Dad's reception was being held in the Community House he immediately thought of the old building. He then asked me how long it had been gone. I was stunned when I realized I chaperoned a high school dance at the "new" building over 17 years ago, and the building was not "brand new" at that time. So, it was a little startling to realize not only was the old Community House "gone" but it is "long gone."

That building was the site of so many civic events and particularly dances for teenagers over the years. Many great musicians played at that venue, starting with Joe Stampley and including many others. In researching I also discovered at least two new pieces of information. 

First, for years I had repeated a story I had been told by a "reliable" source that the plans for the building had been drawn by Minden's mayor at the time, David Thomas. Mr. Thomas was an amazing man, a lawyer, journalism professor, poet and Bible scholar. But apparently he did not draw up the plans, all contemporary sources give credit to two other people, one of them a local lady.

The second new revelation involved the actual construction of the building. I had always known that the building was partially funded by the NYA (National Youth Administration) of the New Deal. I did not know until the last few days that the construction workers hired on the job were unemployed local teenagers following the New Deal Keynesian strategy of putting the unemployed to work building needed infrastructure projects for the country.

So, for those of you that read this blog, I've got two questions I hope some of you will be able or willing to answer.

The first is I would like to hear any "Community House" memories you have -- particularly memorable bands that played there. I was a "non-dancing" Baptist, who was too shy to date, so I only went to one dance there, but I know many of you had great times you might want to share.

The second is more of a longshot, but it's worth a try. If any of you know of anyone who actually worked on building the project, please let me know. The building was constructed in 1937-38, so the youngest possible workers would be around 86 or 87 years old, most probably older. So, if you know of someone that's told stories about this project, I'd appreciate learning about their experiences.

If you have some input, you can add it in the comments section of the blog or e-mail them to me directly at jaagan@bellsouth.net

Thanks in advance.