Locals Witness History
We are surrounded by eyewitnesses to history, if only we take the time to listen. As president of the Mississippi Historical Society, I have had the privilege of making presentations on history recently. The most interesting outcome is when audience members come up to tell me afterward about historical events they saw firsthand.
For example, last week at the Starkville Kiwanis Club, we recalled that Vicksburg did not celebrate the Fourth of July holiday after 1863 because that was the day Confederate General John C. Pemberton surrendered that strategic city to Union General Ulysses S. Grant after a prolonged siege. The holiday was not officially observed again until 1947, after World War II, when General Dwight Eisenhower was the grand marshal of a parade in Vicksburg.
Bascom Allen, a longtime Starkville resident who grew up in Vicksburg, recalled that as a 10-year-old boy, he watched General Eisenhower ride past the Old Warren County Courthouse. How amazing that someone was present who had witnessed that bit of history! (When accused by Gaddis Hunt of being present at the 1863 surrender, he vigorously denied it.)
We also discussed Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidential message on July 4, 1942, the first observance of the holiday after Pearl Harbor. Independence Day was not celebrated with fireworks that year because nighttime blackouts were observed in cities and towns across America. Jim Henson, who grew up in Birmingham, told me that he remembers his father being responsible for the blackout in his neighborhood. Jim recalled walking beside his father at night in complete darkness in the middle of Alabama’s largest city.
Bobbie Higgins, another local Kiwanian, remembers attending the funeral of country music legend Hank Williams in 1953. She grew up in Montgomery, Alabama and her family knew the Williams family. Bobbie said what made the memory so vivid at such a young age was the fact that her grandmother reached inside the casket to touch the body of the deceased singer. Bobbie was holding her grandmother’s other hand, so in a way, she touched history.
I will never forget the time a few years before he died, when Dr. Bryan Baker, who spent his career in animal science at MSU, delivered a riveting account of his landing on the beach at Normandy on June 12, 1944, only six days after D-Day. He described in detail the carnage, the challenge and the ultimate triumph he experienced.
The Starkville Civil Rights Project, a digital oral and public history project involving the faculty and students at MSU’s History Department and Libraries, has posted online their oral interviews with more than a dozen local individuals who were active in promoting civil rights in Starkville, particularly regarding the integration of public education.
My longtime colleague Rex Buffington has had numerous brushes with history. He was in Washington, D.C. on 9/11 when American Airlines flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon. With the airports closed, he caught the last Amtrak train headed out of the city.
On a lighter note, be sure to ask Rex about the day he spent with movie star Elizabeth Taylor while her then-husband, Senator John Warner, and Senator John Stennis were inspecting a military facility.
The point is that history is not dull. History is exciting, and many of those who are around us on a regular basis have lived through historic moments and met historic figures. Just ask your neighbors and friends, and who knows what you’ll discover.
For example, last week at the Starkville Kiwanis Club, we recalled that Vicksburg did not celebrate the Fourth of July holiday after 1863 because that was the day Confederate General John C. Pemberton surrendered that strategic city to Union General Ulysses S. Grant after a prolonged siege. The holiday was not officially observed again until 1947, after World War II, when General Dwight Eisenhower was the grand marshal of a parade in Vicksburg.
Bascom Allen, a longtime Starkville resident who grew up in Vicksburg, recalled that as a 10-year-old boy, he watched General Eisenhower ride past the Old Warren County Courthouse. How amazing that someone was present who had witnessed that bit of history! (When accused by Gaddis Hunt of being present at the 1863 surrender, he vigorously denied it.)
We also discussed Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidential message on July 4, 1942, the first observance of the holiday after Pearl Harbor. Independence Day was not celebrated with fireworks that year because nighttime blackouts were observed in cities and towns across America. Jim Henson, who grew up in Birmingham, told me that he remembers his father being responsible for the blackout in his neighborhood. Jim recalled walking beside his father at night in complete darkness in the middle of Alabama’s largest city.
Bobbie Higgins, another local Kiwanian, remembers attending the funeral of country music legend Hank Williams in 1953. She grew up in Montgomery, Alabama and her family knew the Williams family. Bobbie said what made the memory so vivid at such a young age was the fact that her grandmother reached inside the casket to touch the body of the deceased singer. Bobbie was holding her grandmother’s other hand, so in a way, she touched history.
I will never forget the time a few years before he died, when Dr. Bryan Baker, who spent his career in animal science at MSU, delivered a riveting account of his landing on the beach at Normandy on June 12, 1944, only six days after D-Day. He described in detail the carnage, the challenge and the ultimate triumph he experienced.
The Starkville Civil Rights Project, a digital oral and public history project involving the faculty and students at MSU’s History Department and Libraries, has posted online their oral interviews with more than a dozen local individuals who were active in promoting civil rights in Starkville, particularly regarding the integration of public education.
My longtime colleague Rex Buffington has had numerous brushes with history. He was in Washington, D.C. on 9/11 when American Airlines flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon. With the airports closed, he caught the last Amtrak train headed out of the city.
On a lighter note, be sure to ask Rex about the day he spent with movie star Elizabeth Taylor while her then-husband, Senator John Warner, and Senator John Stennis were inspecting a military facility.
The point is that history is not dull. History is exciting, and many of those who are around us on a regular basis have lived through historic moments and met historic figures. Just ask your neighbors and friends, and who knows what you’ll discover.
