On a quiet page of a 1910 Newton County newspaper lies a remarkable glimpse into a world that had nearly disappeared from living memory. Titled “Reconstruction Days in Newton County,” the article is far more than a recollection of political turmoil. Between its lines are some of the earliest surviving accounts of how formerly enslaved African Americans in Newton County began building independent lives after emancipation.
Like many historical sources written decades after the events they describe, the article reflects the memories and perspectives of those interviewed—primarily longtime white residents T. M. Scanlan and Eugene Carleton. Their recollections should not be accepted uncritically. Yet despite its limitations, the article preserves invaluable details that might otherwise have been lost forever, including the names of early Black leaders, teachers, ministers, and institutions that helped shape Newton County’s African American community.
Rather than focusing solely on the political conflicts of Reconstruction, the article quietly reveals something far more enduring: how freedom was transformed into community.
Freedom Meant More Than the End of Slavery
When slavery ended in 1865, freedom did not come with land, schools, churches, or financial security. Newly freed families were expected to build new lives while navigating poverty, political violence, and widespread uncertainty.
Everything that sustained a community had to be created.
Churches had to be organized.
Schools had to be established.
Teachers had to be found.
Families had to acquire land.
Children had to learn to read.
Leaders had to emerge.
The Reconstruction generation carried the enormous responsibility of building institutions that had never before belonged to them.
The First Shepherds of a New Community
Among the most significant statements preserved in the 1910 article is one that deserves far greater attention:
“Abram Donald was the first colored man to preach in the county after the freedom of the slaves.”
In a single sentence, the newspaper identifies Abram Donald as one of Newton County’s earliest African American religious leaders after emancipation.
That statement raises important historical questions. Where did Abram Donald preach? Which congregation did he organize? Did his ministry help lay the foundation for later churches such as Altare, St. John Missionary Baptist Church, Jerusalem Baptist Church, or other Black congregations that emerged during Reconstruction?
While the article does not answer those questions, it reminds us that every historic church in Newton County began because someone first gathered people together in faith.
Before there were church buildings, there were believers.
Before there were organized congregations, there were ministers willing to lead them.
Building Churches Meant Building Independence
The newspaper recalls that before emancipation, enslaved African Americans generally attended church alongside their enslavers or worshipped in secret.
Freedom changed that almost immediately.
According to the article, independent Black churches spread rapidly throughout Newton County after the Civil War. Baptist and Methodist congregations quickly became the largest denominations among African Americans, while Presbyterian churches also established a presence.
These churches served purposes that extended far beyond Sunday worship.
They became schools before schoolhouses existed.
They hosted community meetings.
They organized mutual aid.
They supported widows and orphans.
They preserved family records.
They trained future ministers and civic leaders.
For newly freed people, the church became the first institution they truly owned.
Learning to Read Was an Act of Freedom
Perhaps the most surprising section of the article concerns education.
According to Eugene Carleton, between forty and fifty schools had already been established in Newton County around 1870.
Whether that figure is exact or approximate, the statement reveals something extraordinary: formerly enslaved families possessed an overwhelming determination to educate their children.
Carleton observed that African Americans showed “a greater eagerness to attend” school than many white residents.
That single observation confirms what historians have long documented across the South.
Education represented freedom.
Reading represented independence.
Literacy represented opportunity.
Parents who had been denied education during slavery were determined that their children would inherit something different.
The article also introduces several early teachers whose names deserve to be remembered.
Howard Harvey, a white teacher, reportedly taught near Lawrence.
Miss Lynch, described as a relative of prominent Reconstruction leader James Lynch, taught in the southern part of Newton County and was remembered favorably by Carleton.
The article also notes that teachers frequently accepted county warrants that had depreciated significantly in value because there simply was not enough money available to pay them properly.
Despite meager compensation, schools continued.
The desire for education proved stronger than the financial obstacles standing in its way.
Freedom Was Harder Than Anyone Imagined
The article also reminds readers that emancipation did not bring immediate prosperity.
The Confederate currency became worthless.
Cotton prices fluctuated.
Tools were scarce.
Livestock had been destroyed or confiscated.
Families lacked seed to plant crops.
Federal cotton taxes reduced already limited profits.
Many freedmen entered labor contracts with little bargaining power, while land ownership remained beyond the reach of most families.
Freedom meant opportunity, but it also meant beginning almost from nothing.
Yet generation after generation continued moving forward.
Many eventually purchased farms.
Others established businesses.
Some became ministers, teachers, craftsmen, and community leaders.
The foundations of today’s African American communities in Newton County were laid during those difficult years.
Political Violence Cast a Long Shadow
The article also describes the intense political conflict that accompanied Reconstruction.
It recounts the activities of the Robinson Club, a secret organization associated with opposition to Reconstruction, and describes meetings, passwords, intimidation, arrests, and violence intended to suppress Black political participation.
Because these accounts come from recollections recorded decades after the events, historians should approach specific details with appropriate caution.
Even so, the article reflects an undeniable historical reality.
Across Mississippi, Reconstruction was marked by organized efforts to intimidate African Americans and their political allies.
Despite those dangers, Black citizens continued registering to vote, organizing churches, educating their children, and building communities that would outlast Reconstruction itself.
Remembering the Builders
Today, when we visit historic churches, family cemeteries, or century-old African American communities throughout Newton County, it is easy to admire what remains.
It is harder to imagine the first generation who built them.
The men and women who organized the earliest churches.
The parents who sacrificed so their children could attend school.
The teachers who accepted nearly worthless pay because education mattered.
The ministers who preached without established congregations.
The families who cleared land, planted crops, and created homes despite overwhelming uncertainty.
Their names rarely appear in history books.
Yet their work shaped every generation that followed.
Their Greatest Legacy
The true legacy of Reconstruction in Newton County is not found only in elections or political debates.
It lives in the churches that still worship.
It lives in the cemeteries where generations now rest.
It lives in the schools that opened doors once closed by slavery.
It lives in the farms purchased through sacrifice.
And it lives in families who continue telling these stories more than 150 years later.
The 1910 newspaper article offers only a brief window into that remarkable period.
But even through the imperfect memories of those who looked back across four decades, one truth shines clearly:
Freedom did not simply happen in Newton County.
It was built—one church, one school, one family, and one act of faith at a time.
1. “Reconstruction Days in Newton County,” The Newton Record (Newton, Mississippi), 1910, article prepared by Ruth Watkins for State University, based on recollections of T. M. Scanlan and Eugene Carleton.
2. Eric Foner, Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863–1877 (New York: Harper & Row, 1988), 77–119.
3. Steven Hahn, A Nation Under Our Feet: Black Political Struggles in the Rural South from Slavery to the Great Migration (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003), 163–239.
4. James D. Anderson, The Education of Blacks in the South, 1860–1935 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1988), 1–32.
5. Leon F. Litwack, Been in the Storm So Long: The Aftermath of Slavery (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1979), 286–371.
Editor’s Note: This article is based primarily on a 1910 Newton Record newspaper feature titled “Reconstruction Days in Newton County.” The feature relied heavily on the recollections of longtime Newton County residents T. M. Scanlan and Eugene Carleton, who were describing events that occurred approximately forty years earlier. As with all memoir-based historical sources, individual statements should be evaluated alongside other documentary evidence. Where possible, the broader historical context presented in this article has been compared with established scholarship on Reconstruction in Mississippi.
Leave a Reply