Natchez, Mississippi: How Far Has It Really Come?
Natchez Mall's Regal Cinema 4
Why should you visit the Natchez Mall's Regal Cinema 4? The answer starts with the past. Natchez, Mississippi has long been known for its racism. During the Civil Rights Era, Natchez was the hub of the Ku Klux Klan effort to violently dissuade Martin Luther King Jr. from his purpose. Even with a population split, with around 44% white and 54% black, the segregation behaviors have been ingrained and tensions are not as high as expected. Activities such as white/black formals and proms are not uncommon and it has become commonplace for white students to simply have "another option." So, why this cinema specifically? It is just the most recent in the examples of continuing racism in Natchez , Mississippi. In May of 2012, the cinema's owners and workers discovered that the letters used to form the titles of "Men In Black 3 in 3D," "Marvel's The Avengers," and "Dark Shadows" were rearranged to spell Nigers 3D, Dark Black Men (Savali).
What should this teach you? What should visiting this controversial place tell you about Natchez and the enduring beliefs of the slavery time period? From this visit, you will come face to face with commonplace racial attitudes and will be shown the effects of century old beliefs on current society. It will show you that racism and ideas of racial superiority still exist, that a town, a city, a populace can never truly separate themselves from their past. The past is a scar on the future and no matter how adamantly one claims they have changed, they are still a product of it. While you're in Natchez, consider visiting the intersection where the slave market would have been held. Maybe even visit the location before the Regal Cinema 4 and then truly ask yourself if the city has moved beyond the horrors of their past.
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Natchez In The Antebellum Era
In the slavery time period, the city of Natchez was the home of the Forks of the Roads slave market, the state of Mississippi's most active slave trading post, making Natchez the most active slave trading city. The nineteenth century slave trading increase was linked to the growing textile industry in England, which led to a voracious cotton marker, which was only expanded by the technological advances of the 19th century (cotton gin, steam boat, etc.). Natchez played a crucial role in the movement of the slave population into the deep south and the Fork of the Roads slave market, located at the intersection of Liberty Road and Washington Road about one mile east of downtown Natchez, eclipsed all of the other slave markets held in Natchez, Mississippi. The city was also home of two of the most active slave traders in the United states, Isaac Franklin and John Armfield ("The Forks of the Road Slave Market at Natchez"). This economic dependency on the slave trade led to a dependency on slavery itself and a belief in its institution. The prevalence of the slave trade in a city such as Natchez verified beliefs of racial superiority and persecution and culminated in the violent ideals that would define the deeps south for the century to come. With a history such as this, racial division and persecution are to be expected, but what does this mean for the city as it moves forward? Will it acknowledge the past as merely a scar in Mississippi history or will it actively seek to demonstrate the how far it has come from the days of the slave trade.
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