Vicksburg natives from left, Bobbie Bingham Morrow, Tillman Whitley, Jeanne Middleton Hairston, Brittany Shelton the Rev. Richard Temple Middleton III and Yolande Robbins admire the African-American mural unveiled at City Front floodwall Friday evening. Hairston and Middleton’s grandfather, the Rev. Richard Temple Middleton I, and Robbins’ mother, Effie Lillian Robbins, are just two of the many Vicksburg ancestors painted in the mural.(Melanie Duncan Thortis The Vicksburg Post)

[5/8/04]About 70 people gathered along Levee Street Friday afternoon for the unveiling of the ninth historic riverfront mural dedicated to black historical figures from Vicksburg.

“New Beginnings and Lasting Legacies,” the African-American mural sponsored by the City of Vicksburg and the Mississippi Arts Commission, depicts a wedding party standing outside the former Bethel AME Church with notable black people of Vicksburg including Hiram Revels in the street scene. Revels was the first black U.S. senator from Mississippi during Reconstruction, the first president of Alcorn State University and also a preacher for the Bethel Church.

Founded in 1864, Bethel was the first AME church in Mississippi. It was built in 1828 as a Presbyterian church and stood on the site at First East and Monroe streets until a new church was built in 1912.

The mural also depicts Campbell College, the first college founded by blacks in the state.

North Ward Alderman Gertrude Young told the crowd, which included descendants from people represented in the mural, that the painting and learning more about Vicksburg’s black history gives her pride in her heritage.

“When I look back at this, I can see that I came from a great foundation and a great history,” Young said.

Other historical figures in the mural include educators such as Rosa A. Temple, J.G.H. Bowman, William Demby and Dr. Jane McAlister, the first black woman to receive a Ph.D. in education in the U.S.; religious leaders R. T. Middleton, Dr. John J. Morant, and Rev. Kelly Ricks, and businessmen Dr. D. D. Foote, a leading dentist at the turn of the century, and W. E. Mollison, who helped organize Lincoln Savings Bank and practice law.

Vicksburg’s first black alderman, Wesley Crayton, and Mississippi’s first black embalmer, William Henry Jefferson and his wife, are also featured in the mural.

Tillman Whitely, one of the founders of the Jacqueline House African American museum, helped research the history of blacks in Vicksburg for the mural.

“I’m very excited about this,” Whitely said. “These citizens have been brought forward from obscurity and misunderstanding to stand in the spotlight they deserve.”

In all, plans call for 14 murals along the foodwall at Levee Street. A mural depicting trains and the importance of the railroad in Vicksburg will be unveiled at 4 p.m. Thursday.

A mural featuring Jefferson Davis is scheduled for unveiling on June 3.

The mural and the previous work is by Louisiana artist Robert Dafford.