For many years after the Civil War, much of the south lay in ruins. This was certainly true of Mississippi and few had money for a luxury like photographs. There are very few pictures of black Americans from this time. That alone would make the Mississippi Department of Archives and History’s Crowe Photographs interesting. The pictures, which are named for Milburn J. Crowe who donated the 90-photograph album to the state, are even more unique though.

According to the MDAH website: “Benjamin Thornton Montgomery, gifted engineer, businessman, and ex-slave, bought the Davis Bend, Mississippi, plantations Hurricane and Brierfield from his former owner, Joseph Emory Davis (brother of Jefferson Davis), in 1867 and hosted a colony of tenant freedmen farmers that survived until 1886, nine years after his death. Benjamin Montgomery’s son, Isaiah Thornton Montgomery, founded the town of Mound Bayou, one of the earliest self-governing black communities in the United States, with his cousin, Benjamin Titus Green, in 1887.”

The photos in the album were a little jumbled, so there is a disclaimer that some photos may not be accurately named.

This is only a small number of the photographs in MDAH’s Crowe collection. You can see the others on their website.