Yesterday's Architect · 1847–1924
Isaiah T. Montgomery
Born enslaved at Hurricane Plantation, Davis Bend, Mississippi, he founded the all-Black town of Mound Bayou in 1887 with Benjamin T. Green, governed it, and raised outside capital for its Cotton Oil Mill. As the only Black delegate to the 1890 Mississippi Constitutional Convention he accepted provisions that disenfranchised Black voters.
Related architects
- Stephen Smith and William Whipper
Also connected to Frederick Douglass
- Elizabeth A. Gloucester
Also connected to Frederick Douglass
- Jordan C. Jackson Jr.
Linked through Booker T. Washington
- Mont Howell
Linked through Booker T. Washington
- Biddy Mason
Same theme: Institution building
- Edith Cumbo
Same theme: Politics and civil rights
- Jane Johnson Endsley
Same theme: Institution building
- Sally Seymour
Same theme: Institution building
- Wilson Ruffin Abbott
Same theme: Politics and civil rights
- Clara Brown
Same theme: Real estate and land
- Cyrus Bustill
Same theme: Institution building
- Eliza Allen
Same theme: Institution building
- Jacob Wilson Sey
Same theme: Politics and civil rights
- Jeremiah G. Hamilton
Same theme: Real estate and land
- Mary Ellen Pleasant
Same theme: Politics and civil rights
People
- fatherBenjamin MontgomeryBEJ profile
- cousinBenjamin T. GreenBEJ profile
- business partner ofBenjamin T. Greenbought the 840-acre town site together at $7 an acreBEJ profile
- business partner ofBooker T. Washingtonworked together to win Rosenwald's investment in the oil millBEJ profile
- documented byFrederick Douglasscondemned his convention stance in a speech to the Bethel Literary and Historical SocietyBEJ profile
- worked forJoseph Emory Davisenslaved by himBEJ profile
Institutions and enterprises
- worked forLouisville, New Orleans, and Texas Railroadland agentBEJ profile
- foundedMound Bayou Cotton Oil Millpushed for the mill and recruited its outside investors in New York and D.C.BEJ profile
Places
- born in · 1847Hurricane Plantationborn enslaved on May 21, 1847BEJ profile
- co-founded · 1887Mound Bayou, Mississippiwith Benjamin T. GreenBEJ profile
- held property in · 1887Mound Bayou, Mississippi840 acres of Delta wilderness at $7 an acreBEJ profile
- worked inDavis Bend, Mississippienslaved there; later part of family cotton enterpriseBEJ profile
- ledMound Bayou, Mississippiwrote the town's laws and governed their applicationBEJ profile
Events
- lived through · 1890Mississippi Constitutional Convention of 1890only Black delegate; accepted the 'understanding clause'BEJ profile
Themes
- Institution buildingbuilt a self-governing townBEJ profile
- Politics and civil rights1890 convention vote and accommodationismBEJ profile
- Real estate and landbought and settled the Mound Bayou landBEJ profile
Only relationships stated in a BEJ profile or a cited record are shown, each with its source.