March is Women’s History Month so we will be showcasing exceptional Mississippi women and related collections on the blog. This post was written by Marilynn Jones, director of the Manship House Museum.
Marble boot, given to Mrs. Luther Manship for her efforts toward construction of the Confederate Monument. Accession Number: 2009.6.29 (Museum Division Collection)
Mary Belmont Phelps Manship (1862-1898) was an instrumental force in the construction of the Confederate Monument in Jackson, Mississippi. Born in Huntsville, Alabama and educated at Whitworth College in Brookhaven, Mississippi, Mary Belmont Phelps and Luther Manship were married in 1881, in Magnolia, Mississippi. Luther Manship, the ninth of fifteen children of Charles Henry and Adaline Manship, was a prominent lecturer who served as Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi from 1908 to 1912. Both Luther and Belmont Manship were concerned for the welfare of Confederate veterans.
On June 16, 1886, Mrs. Luther Manship and several other concerned women met in the Senate Chamber at the Old Capitol and organized the Confederate Monument Association of Mississippi.1 Their mission was to raise funds for a monument honoring the Confederate dead of Mississippi, to be located on the south Capitol Green, an area that is now the front lawn of the Charlotte Capers Archives and History Building. The first funds for the monument resulted from a concert organized by Mr. and Mrs. Luther Manship that featured a variety of songs and recitations performed by local talent. For several more years, the ladies of the Confederate Monument Association continued their struggle to raise funds, and in 1888 the legislature passed a bill appropriating $10,000 to complete the monument.
Confederate Monument today.
The birthday of Jefferson Davis, June 3, 1891, was chosen as the date for the official dedication the Monument. A parade of Confederate veterans, the Mississippi National Guard, officers of the Ladies’ Monument Association, members of the family of the late Jefferson Davis, and other dignitaries, processed from the City Hall to witness the unveiling by Jefferson Davis Hayes, grandson of Jefferson Davis. It was estimated that twenty thousand people from fourteen states witnessed the unveiling of the Confederate Monument.2
For over one hundred years, the Monument has honored the Confederate dead of Mississippi and the efforts of the Ladies’ Monument Association.
Artifacts from the Museum Division collection that are not on exhibit are available for viewing by appointment. Please contact Nan Prince, Assistant Director of Collections, by email to schedule an appointment.
1 John Ray Skates, Mississippi’s Old Capitol: Biography of a Building (Jackson: Mississippi Department of Archives and History, 1990).
2The Daily Clarion-Ledger, June 3, 1891, Jackson, Mississippi.
March is Women’s History Month so we will be showcasing exceptional Mississippi women and related collections on the blog. This post was written by MDAH volunteer Jessica D. Kelly.
Bert White (seated at left) with the State Resolutions Committee, Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation Collection. Call Number: PI/2010.0002, sysid 110933 (MDAH Collection)
Continuing with the theme of Women’s History Month, “Women’s Education—Women’s Empowerment,” the inspirational story of Berta Lee “Bert” White (1914-2004) will be highlighted. As the former State Women’s Committee Chair of the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation, her legacy lives on through the Berta Lee White Scholarship. It is “awarded to a woman who is a member of a Mississippi Farm Bureau family seeking a degree in the field of agriculture at a state institution,” but before there was a scholarship created in her honor, Bert White lived the life of a farmer in Bailey, Mississippi.1 She was born in 1914, a time when American farmers were recognizing a need for more commodities due to World War I. Berta was just four years old when the increased demand ended in 1918 and surpluses began threatening the farm community.2 “Farmers needed fair market prices for their hard work and a secure source of quality supplies at reasonable prices.”3 Thus, efforts to organize county Farm Bureaus in Mississippi were underway and by 1922 the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation (MFBF) had effectively been formed.4
White would eventually become highly involved with the MFBF, until then she remained focused on the well-being of her family and neighbors. One year before the Great Crash of 1929, at the age of fourteen, Berta eloped to marry her eighteen year old school sweetheart, a union which joined two neighboring 100-acre farms. The couple soon gained responsibility for maintenance of the farm along with the responsibility of maintaining jobs off the farm in order to supplement their income.5 As the Great Depression took its toll on the nation, White recalled “We shared what we had and made the best of conditions.”6
We didn’t really think of ourselves as doing without. There was no electricity in rural Mississippi, so we weren’t forced to do without conveniences. We had food from our gardens. We had a milk cow and our own livestock and chickens. No one in our area went hungry. You knew what your neighbors had and what they needed. There was an understanding that your garden was there to be shared.7
White’s initiative, indomitable spirit, and love of community were reflected in the way she responded to this harrowing time in our nation’s history. Ultimately, it was her love of community that prompted her to join the Lauderdale County Farm Bureau as a volunteer. White’s volunteer activities included an appointment as the chairman of the county Farm Bureau membership committee as well as membership on several local boards.8 Her accomplishments as a volunteer became well-known throughout the state and in 1953 Bert White was elected MFBF’s Women’s Chairman. In 1964, she was elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives and then to the State Senate four years later, where she served until 1975.9
Bert White with the architectural model of the Mississippi Farm Bureau building, MFBF President Hugh Arant at far left, MFBF Collection. Call Number: PI/2010.0002, sysid 110805 (MDAH Collection)
Berta White’s many leadership roles, no doubt, shaped her views regarding the value of education. While serving as a State Senator, White’s ambition to complete her formal education was fulfilled after five years of study. She once stated that “college was one of the most interesting periods of my life.”10 White earned a Bachelor of Science and Arts degree in Political Science at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg. She enrolled as a full-time student when the legislature was in recess, but when it was in session she would still drive 100 miles to attend classes after the legislative session had closed.11 White’s drive and determination to gain knowledge that would ameliorate conditions in her state and in the lives of farmers around the world cannot be denied as her career consistently demonstrated these values.
Bert White at a groundbreaking, with MFBF President Hugh Arant (with shovel) and William F. Winter (third from left), MFBF Collection. Call Number: PI/2010.0002, sysid 110806 (MDAH)
In 1981, White was elected chairman of the American Farm Bureau Federation’s Women’s Committee, a role she held for 10 years. During this time, she served as chairman of the Country Women’s Council, USA, and vice president of Associated Country Women of the World.12 She was also a delegate at eight world conferences. White’s goal to enhance public understanding of agriculture is well documented and reflected in the following statement: “We, [as farmers], have a responsibility to get involved and to relate to the public in terms they can understand.”13 White’s passion for agriculture, education, and the farming community as a whole, induced farmers from around the globe to get involved in shaping public opinion and the future of agriculture. Berta Lee White was a truly remarkable Mississippi woman.
1 “Member Benefits: Scholarships,” Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation: The Voice of Mississippi Agriculture, accessed March 13, 2012, http://www.msfb.com/Member_Benefits/scholarships.aspx. 2 “About Us: A Brief History of Farm Bureau in Mississippi,” Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation: The Voice of Mississippi Agriculture, accessed March 13, 2012, http://www.msfb.com/About_Us/History.aspx. 3Working Together . . . Works (Jackson, MS: MFC Services, 1976). MDAH Subject File “Farm Bureau Federation.” 4 “About Us: A Brief History of Farm Bureau in Mississippi.” 5 Jack King, “Berta White: A Lifelong Dedication to Agriculture,” Rural Development Publications Collections, Yearbook of Agriculture (1990): 51-52, http://naldc.nal.usda.gov/catalog/IND20402073, accessed March 13, 2012. 6 King, “Berta White: A Lifelong Dedication to Agriculture,” 51. 7 Ibid. 8 Ibid. 9 Edward L. Blake, Farm Bureau in Mississippi, Vol. II (Jackson, MS: Cain Lithographers, 1996), 146. 10 King, “Berta White: A Lifelong Dedication in Agriculture,” 51. 11 Ibid. 12 Blake, Farm Bureau in Mississippi, 146. 13 King, “Berta White: A Lifelong Dedication in Agriculture,” 52.
March 22- April 29 at the Old Capitol Museum. A Walk Through History. From the Clarksdale Bell used for trade by Spanish explorers in the 1500s to the flip flops worn by a female Freedom Rider incarcerated at the Hinds County jail in 1961, thirty-six iconic objects from the MDAH museum division collection will be on display in this limited-time exhibit. Many of the artifacts have not been seen since Hurricane Katrina forced the closure of the Old Capitol in 2005 and won’t be seen again until the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum and the Museum of Mississippi History open in 2017. For more information call 601-576-6920 or email Old Capitol.
Thursday, March 22, 6-9 p.m. at the Old Capitol Museum. A Walk Through History. The fundraising gala will offer a sneak preview of thirty-six iconic objects from the MDAH museum division collection featured in a limited-time exhibit. Also featured will be a private viewing of the rare twenty-star flag that flew over the United States only in 1818, the year after Mississippi became the twentieth state. The black tie optional event is sponsored by the Foundation for Mississippi History. Tickets are $100 per person. For tickets or more information call 601-576-6885.
Tuesdays–Fridays, April 10–December, 9 a.m.–5 p.m. at the Eudora Welty Education and Visitors Center. The Shoe Bird. This special exhibit highlights Eudora Welty’s only children’s book The Shoe Bird and the ballet and musical interpretations it inspired. Artifacts on display include the colorful vest worn by Arturo the parrot in the ballet and the musical composition written by Samuel Jones, Mississippi native and Seattle composer-in-resident, for the Mississippi Boychoir. For more information call 601-353-7762 or email Eudora Welty House.
