![Midnight News People Talk logos: circular 'MIDNIGHT NEWS / PEOPLE TALK' emblem and stylized 'PEOPLE Talk' text](https://www.talknatchez.love/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Midnight-News.png")
Main Slider
“Transforming the Forks to Freedom Corridor:Natchez Begins $24.57 Million Federal Grant Project”
Natchez, MS – The City of Natchez, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Mississippi Department of Transportation, has announced the launch of the Transforming the Forks to Freedom Corridor project. This initiative, funded by a $24,570,000 federal BUILD grant, will address infrastructure and business-lifestyle connectivity needs within the Devereux Drive, St. Catherine, and East Franklin corridors, as well as Downtown areas. The Forks to Freedom Corridor project builds upon the City’s official 2018 Downtown Master Plan, which reflects both professional planning and extensive community visioning and engagement. The project will improve transportation and pedestrian safety and accessibility; enhance quality of life and aesthetics for residents and visitors; streng...
Host Your Business Convention in Natchez
Interactively procrastinate optimal manufactured products via backward-compatible networks. Dramatically innovate B2C human capital rather than effective services. Holisticly grow premium e-markets vis-a-vis virtual scenarios. Assertively engineer standardized e-markets before collaborative portals. Assertively revolutionize client-centered best practices with pandemic models. Efficiently network resource sucking innovation with 24/7 intellectual capital. Objectively unleash innovative experiences whereas cooperative ROI. Compellingly evolve future-proof web services vis-a-vis.
: Claire of Natchez — The Legend, The Evidence, The History
Your donations keep this site going A popular modern retelling claims an enslaved woman named Claire (often “Clara”) poisoned an entire plantation household in Natchez. Extensive searches of major local archives and institutional histories turn up no clear primary-source evidence for this specific event. The legend fits broader documented patterns — enslaved women accused of poisoning and acts of covert resistance — and has been amplified by modern true-crime and folklore channels. Read on for the archival search, the folklore trail, and what we can say with confidence. mdah.ms.gov+2Historic Natchez Foundation+2 Why this matters Natchez is a city with a deep and complicated history: it was a major slave-trading center and a wealthy antebellum town. Stories about resistance, violence...
Woodlawn Historic District: A Tapestry of African-American Legacy in Natchez
Introduction Tucked in northern Natchez, Mississippi lies the Woodlawn Historic District—a 97-acre, 360-contributing-building neighborhood that stands as a powerful emblem of African-American resilience, community development, and architectural heritage from Reconstruction through World War II. Recognized on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995, Woodlawn’s story spans emancipation, education, civil rights, and artistry—all woven into the very fabric of its streets.WikipediaLiving Places A Post-War Subdivision of Promise What once was the Woodlawn estate of the Beaumont family was subdivided in 1867 into building lots purchased by newly freed African-Americans. This subdivision, bounded by North Union Street, Bishop Street, Martin Luther King Jr. Road, and Woodlawn Street,...
Unveiling of Anne Moody’s Freedom Trail marker set for September 15
By: Roscoe Barnes, III, Visit Natchez The late Anne Moody, author of “Coming of Age in Mississippi,” will soon be honored with a Mississippi Freedom Trail marker in her hometown of Centreville. The marker will be unveiled in a ceremony at 10 a.m. Monday, September 15 at Mount Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church, 8755 Highway 24 East. The event is free to the public. Frances Jefferson, Moody’s sister, said she and her family are elated about the marker. “I’m very excited for the unveiling of the Freedom Trail marker on September 15, Anne’s 85th birthday,” she said. “I’m grateful to everyone involved in securing this honor for my sister.” The Freedom Trail markers are administered by the Mississippi Humanities Council, in partnership with Visit Mississippi. The markers honor the courage and d...
Film Review: Natchez
On August 21, 2025, I had the privilege of attending the screening of Natchez, a new documentary directed by Susannah Herbert. Having met Herbert and members of her crew during production, I was immediately curious about how she would approach a city as layered and complex as ours. Natchez is not simply the oldest settlement on the Mississippi River—it is a place where cultures collided and reshaped one another: French, English, and Spanish influence paving the way to American identity. It is also a city marked by both resilience and trauma, where the lives of enslaved Africans and the destruction of Native Americans are essential to the story of its development. The challenge of any filmmaker is how to tell this history truthfully—without distortion, simplification, or erasure. Too often,...
Education Through History: Preserving the Past to Empower the Future
The Natchez Museum of African American Culture has launched its 2026 programming with a powerful and timely focus: the progression of education through history and its lasting impact on our young people today. Education has never existed in isolation. For African American communities, learning often took place under extraordinary challenges—limited resources, social barriers, and periods of profound injustice. Yet, despite these obstacles, dedicated educators guided their students through uncertainty, believing deeply in the transformative power of knowledge. Throughout 2026, the Museum is committed to presenting programs that explore these challenges while honoring the instructors, mentors, and community leaders who helped shape generations of learners. Our goal is to ensure that today’s ...
