Reconstruction Era Visuals Project

Posted by Thomas Wallison in African American History - Jonas - E on

amessagetoopressednegroes
​My work is a letter to black people feeling oppressed during this time. The letter is written from the viewpoint of Isaiah Montgomery. Montgomery was one of the founders of Mound Bayou, an all black town. He also became mayor of the town. This letter is meant to be an advertisement from Montgomery urging blacks feeling oppressed to move to Mound Bayou since it has more opportunities than other places blacks could live in the South. An important point is this letter was not written from the viewpoint of myself if I was alive during this time. The letter is from Isaiah Montgomery, and should be treated as such. The letter is also not meant to be personal. This would be something that hundreds of would be printed and handed out to many people. The letter isn't really a letter as it is more of a flyer. You wouldn't get this in the mail. You'd be handed it by some sort of advertiser. As well as that, try to keep in mind as this is being read that you should pretend you are one of these people alive during this time. Try to role play a little and think like you were one of the people being asked to move to Mound Bayou, and see if this would have convinced you.

Comments (4)

Anthony McDonnell (Student 2018)
Anthony McDonnell

I liked the signature as well. It did indeed feel as if it was from the time period, and even if the phrase ¨African-American¨ was not widely used in this time period, no one ever said that the project had to follow the past to the letter. On a whole, it was endearing and smootly worded.