The new Audible version of The Free State of Jones–with Mahershala Ali (who plays Moses Washington in the movie of the same name) narrating the text and me narrating the preface and afterword—debuts on May 3, 2016. Can’t wait to hear Mahershala’s beautiful speaking voice!
For Mahershala’s reflections on the experience, click here and listen to his own words.
Marvin T. Jones, Executive Director of the Chowan Discovery Organization, is the author of one of Renegade South’s most popular essays, “The Chowan Discovery Group,” a history of the mixed-race origins of North Carolina’s Winton Triangle.
The Rock Creek Civil War Roundtable group will host the talk between 9:30 am and 11:00 am at the U.S Park Service’s Rock Creek Nature Center in Washington, D.C.
Here’s an overview of the event by Marvin T. Jones:
On June 24, the release of the movie THE FREE STATE OF JONES will present to the public perhaps the best known story of Southern resistance to the Confederacy. In anticipation of the movie’s release, Marvin T. Jones of Chowan Discovery will present an overview of loyal Southern groups, ranging from the Winton Triangle of North Carolina, to Jones County, Mississippi—where Newt Knight’s “Knight Company” held sway—to the Big Thicket of East Texas, where the infamous “jayhawkers” hid out during the war.
Very little has been told and much has been suppressed about Southerners who defended the Union during the Civil War. In and north of the Winton Triangle, the unruly Jack Fairless Buffaloes operated in several counties along the Chowan River. South of the Winton Triangle, the more soldierly Buffaloes of Bertie County co-ordinated with Union forces along the lower Chowan River.
If you’re in the D.C. area, I hope you attend Marvin Jones’s talk! Many attendees will join Mr. Jones afterward for a fun lunch at Ledo’s Pizza at 7435 Georgia Avenue, NW in Washington, D.C.
As announced in an earlier post, on March 4, 2016, I had the pleasure of delivering the keynote address before the annual meeting of the Mississippi Historical Society. William “Brother” Rogers, president of the Mississippi Historical Society and associate director of the John C. Stennis Center of Public Service, had invited me a year earlier in hopes it would be fun as well as informative to have me discuss the Free State of Jones in light of the upcoming movie.
At that meeting, I was honored to meet William Winter,* the former Mississippi governor (1980-84) for whom the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation is named. Gov. Winter personally expressed to me his interest in learning more about Newt Knight, Rachel Knight, and the Jones County’s Civil War uprising.
At breakfast the next morning, I learned from Brother Rogers that Gov. Winter was not only interested in the Free State of Jones, but wanted to visit the area in person. And so, Brother promised to take him there. Accompanying the two on this learning adventure would be Andy Mullins, Mississippi’s preeminent educational reformer, and assistant to Gov. Winter in 1982 when the governor successfully pushed for passage of Mississippi’s landmark Education Reform Act.
In preparation for the trip, Brother wondered if I could provide them with the necessary contacts to visit a few sites—especially Newt Knight’s interracial cemetery and the Amos Deason home in historic Ellisville. After putting Brother in touch with the appropriate Jones County people, I recommended that he contact Joseph Hosey for what I was certain would be the best tour imaginable. Joseph, who will soon be seen hoisting a federal flag up over the Ellisville courthouse in the movie, Free State of Jones, has made it his mission to visit relevant “Free State” sites and graveyards throughout the area.
True to his reputation, on April 4, 2016, Joseph showed his visitors more than they’d ever imagined. Putting together a small entourage of friends involved in both the history and movie about the Free State, he treated Gov. Winter, Brother Rogers, and Andy Mullins to what Brother described to me as an absolutely “fabulous” day. The photos below tell the story!
Brother Rogers, Andy Mullins, Gov. Wm Winter at Amos Deason Home, Ellisville, MS. Photo courtesy of Brother RogersAndy Mullins and Gov. Wm. Winter, Ellisville, MS. Photo courtesy of Brother RogersAndy Mullins, Gov. Wm. Winter, Florence Knight Blaylock, Dorothy Knight Marsh, Eunice Smith, Brother Rogers, Soso, MS. Photo courtesy of Brother Rogers.Brother Rogers, Andy Mullins, Gov. Wm. Winter, Gravesite of Jasper and Gatsy Powell Collins, Union, MS. Photo courtesy of Brother Rogers.Joseph Hosey, Brother Rogers, Kyle Baughman. Photo courtesy of Brother RogersJoseph Hosey, Kyle Baughman, Brother Rogers, Gov. Wm. Winter, gravesite of Jasper and Gatsy Powell Collins. Union, MS. Photo courtesy of Brother Rogers.
*From Charles Bolton’s biography of Gov. William Winter:
A voice of reason and compromise during the tumultuous civil rights battles, Winter represented the earliest embodiment of the white moderate politicians who emerged throughout the ‘New South.’ His leadership played a pivotal role in ushering in the New Mississippi: a society that moved beyond the racial caste system that had defined life in the state for almost a century after emancipation. In many ways, Winter’s story over nine decades is also the story of the evolution of Mississippi in the second half of the twentieth century.
Renegade South 