Friends Of Forks Of The Road

Friends Of Forks Of The Road Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Friends Of Forks Of The Road, Art Gallery, 232 Street Catherine St, Natchez, MS.

03/24/2024

Some dark spiritual energy person(s) has hacked my page and cause it to switch to this page. There are so many dark deceased spirits reincarnated upon this Divine Earth and causing so much injustice to manifest!

07/04/2023

My page been out of wack every since me clicked on friends of the Forks of the Roads page. Can’t get back to my regular page...frustrating!

https://youtu.be/7OhY3GB_2m0
12/14/2021

https://youtu.be/7OhY3GB_2m0

Since 2008 the annual Black and Blue Civil War living history program has highlighted the stories of self-emancipated enslaved people of the lower Mississipp...

11/21/2021

I

10/20/2019

Public Release!
Mississippi Ribber City’s Two Days of Commemorating “400 Years Anniversary of Africans-in-America Presence and Contributions!

October 20, 2010

Friends of Forks of Roads “(America’s Domestic Slave Trade Markets Sites including Franklin and Armfiled Company)” Society Inc Coordinator’s release!

Day 1…..

From Freedom, to Chattel Slavery a Historical Commemoration Happening at Natchez Mississippi October 25th 2019.

The AFRICANS ARE COMING! The AFRICANS ARE COMING!

In response to the U. S. CONGRESS’S HR 4539, HR1242 1619-2019 400 Years of African-American History Commission Act, The Fulani Prince Ibrahima and Isabella Freedom Foundation Inc's is making a Deep South Tour from Chicago Illinois to Natchez Mississippi and Houma Louisiana Reflecting on America’s “400 Years Commemoration” of Africans’ Presence in America via the Trans-Atlantic Chattel Slavery in the USA.
The Direct Descendants-Ascendants of the once enslaved Fulani Prince Abdul Rakhman Ibrahima Sori, his wife Isabella and their children quest for freedom in Natchez Mississippi saga is leading an October 22nd thru November 5th , 2019 Tour—COMMERMORATING “America’s 400TH Anniversary.” (See “Prince Among Slaves” book and movie)
The 400 Years Commemoration Tour is sponsored by Friends of Immigrants of St. Philip Lutheran Church & School and The Prince Ibrahima & Isabella Freedom Foundation of Chicago, in partnership with the Guinea Community Association of Illinois/Iowa, Finding Our Roots African American Museum and several African Diaspora organizations in the USA.
African Diaspora Organizations/Associations and Professionals Will Kick Off The Commemoration Tour With A Diaspora Conference In Chicago, Il Wednesday , October 23, 2019. Conference Theme: “Africa and Its Presence in North America.” Keynote speaker will be William Murphy, Historian.
Dr. Artemus Gaye, CEO of Prince Ibrahima & Isabella Freedom Foundation Inc states that he “welcome and thank you for your interest in joining us at the 400th Anniversary Commemoration of Slavery in the USA!
By attending this esteemed event you will be among those gathering to reflect and memorialize the past and build a new society where policies and positive solutions are formed in the promotion of social, economic, and political space while reflecting on the historical past.
The event is designed to unite international and local community organizations, professionals and individuals from around the globe as we host this unique event in the USA.
Furthermore, we will collaborate on the shared tasks of developing innovative strategies and programs that support and promote economic and social integration and to create close ties with the African Diaspora in finding self-direction to rebuilding a vibrant society for the greater common good of all.”
And

The Fulani Prince Ibrahima and Isabella Freedom Foundation Inc's 400th Anniversary Commemoration of Slavery in the USA! Tour Heads to the Deep South’s King Cotton City Of Natchez Mississippi And Queen Sugar City Of Houma Louisiana on October 24, 2019.

At Natchez Mississippi, the Fulani Prince Ibrahima & Isabella Freedom Foundation Inc’s (PIFF) Reflecting on America’s “400 Years Commemoration” Tour will be welcomed with a local historical tour and public reception on to October 25, 2019.
In conjunction with the nation’s 400 Years Commemoration PIFF will be welcomed under the theme of Natchez and Adams County Commemorates and Salutes 300 Years of its African Descendants’ Presence and Contributions (1719-2019) “A Luta Continua” and the struggle continues!
PIFF Board Member and logistics organizer of the event Ser Seshsh Ab Heter-CM Boxley whose organization Friends of the Forks of the Roads (enslavement markets site) Society Inc is the sponsoring partner shares this information.
So far the hosts for the PIFF tour are as follows: Mayor of Natchez, Adams County Board of Supervisors, FOR Natchez, with requests to Natchez Visitor Convention Bureau, Natchez Community Development Corporation, “antebellum homes” owners and others.
On October 25, 2019 from the Parking Lot of the Natchez Visitors Center starting at ten O’clock a. m. a bus tour of local historical sites will be as follows:
Visit three land base sites where first family African Foreparents and Ancestors were enslaved;
Visit Fort Rosalie site where a coalition of the Natches Nation “(Indians)” and enslaved Bambara Nation Africans annihilated the French;
Ride along the Fulani Prince Ibrahima and Isabella enslavement and freedom trail that includes King’s Tavern, Greenwood Plantation grounds; approximate area of Dr. John Cox land base; the market land base where Cox discovered the Prince selling vegetables (Cox had met him in Africa) and Natchez Under the Hill Mississippi River landing where Ibrahima departed via steamboat destined for returning to his African homeland with his American born wife and children.
Visit “America’s Domestic Slave Trade” Selling Markets Sites Downtown and America’s Second largest deep southwest “domestic slave trade” selling markets sites at The Forks of the Road;
Travel along on chattel slavery Civil War freedom streets, freedom zones and freedom camps;
Visit The Two Ser Boxley’s Atlantic and America’s Domestic Enslavement Trade Exhibitions at the African American Museum & Natchez Visitors’ Center.
4 P. M. Starting on the corners of Franklin and Wall Streets, go on a walking procession on Ibrahima and Isabella Freedom Trail from the helper to secure his freedom agent Andrew Marscalk’s office site corners Franklin and Wall Street to the Mississippi River Landing at Natchez Under The Hill
5 to 8 P.M. public welcome Reception at Natchez Community Room 215 FRANKLIN STREET open to the public.
Traditional African Procession and Sitting in State
Program: Open forum and dialog reflecting on the 400th Anniversary (1619-2019) of African descendants’ presence and contributions in America beginning with chattel slavery in British America and 300th of 400th (1719-2019) in French Mississippi

A beautiful keepsake commemorative poster has been developed as a special souvenir for this event!
Refreshments and food prepared by Friends of the Forks of the Road Society Inc members Diane Brooks, Gerri Faniel, Doris Rice and PIFF Board member Kathy Moody.

Released by and Contact Person, Ser Seshsh Ab Heter-CM Boxley @

[email protected] www.forksyaroad.com 601-442-4719

October 20, 2019

Natchez Mississippi

Continuation of Commemorating “400 Years Anniversary of Africans-in-America Presence and Contributions!

Day 2…

Civil War Freedom How Self Emancipated “Slaves” Decisively Help
End Slavery and Aluta Continua Freedom Struggles in America!

12th Black and Blue Program will be conducted in conjunction with America’s Official Commemoration and Saluting “400 Years” (1619-2019) of Africans-in-America presence and development contributions! “A Luta Continua” and the struggle continues!

This is a positive public notice that Historic Jefferson College will be open for Our 12th Annual Black and Blue Civil War Living History Program on October 26, 2019

Our 2019 program will focus on raising public awareness about the not-so surprisingly forgotten history of self-emancipated (runaways) enslaved civil war freedom fighting Union veterans’ and the Department of Mississippi and Louisiana Grand Army of the Republic and its Women Relief Corps Auxiliary.
“The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union military who had served in the American Civil War.
As an auxiliary in support of the GAR called “Women’s Relief Corps (WRC) was officially chartered in 1883.”
It is still very much active today and is said to be the “oldest national women's patriotic organization in America.”
“The WRC began as a group intended to serve as auxiliary to the GAR, and we still maintain that identity.
Our mission is to keep alive the memory of the ones who sacrificed themselves for the preservation of the Union.
We now understand we are to also honor all veterans of all wars of the USA.
All the things that we did then we still do, but we are always able to modify and modernize” said the current Secretary to the National Woman’s Relief Corps in a recent email.
Local Miss-Lou Grand Army of the Republic posts once operated throughout Mississippi and Louisiana and also in Natchez and Vidalia as well as the Women’s Relief Corps auxiliary which is still active in Vidalia attached to the Parson Brownlow No. 23 GAR Post’s building located at 604 N. Magnolia Street.
The members of the Vidalia Louisiana based Woman’s Relief Corps is believed to be the only active Woman’s Relief Corps in the Miss-Lou region.
It was organized on June 13, 1898 under the “Department of Louisiana and Mississippi Grand Army of the Republic by vote of the 24th National GAR Convention.”
Vidalia WRC was officially chartered April 16, 1907. In April 2019 it was 121 years old.
“In 1868 The GAR established the 30th of May, officially called Decoration Day, as the Day to go to the cemetery in remembrance of their Civil War comrades. It was eventually dovetailed into what is now called Memorial Day.”
In a mock GAR encampment meeting our 12th Black and Blue Civil War Living History program will bring alive local Miss-Lou Union Civil War veterans who fought for freedom, built the “Black Community” after the war as we know it today.
They were builders of our “Africans in America Communities.” They were the first Black leaders and developers of family, citizenship, churches, schools & colleges, an agrarian economy, participatory politics, social structures, fraternal orders and benevolent societies. They were the first students, teachers, educators and agriculturists and more!
They were once enslaved but self emancipated men like William Rochester who was a co-founder of Beulah Baptist Church along with two other members of the Sixth U. S. Colored Heavy Artillery. There was Wilson Brown a Union navy Medal of Honor recipient who was a co-founder of Clermont Church. Henry Bell once enslaved on the Stampley Plantation out in Jefferson County who after the war became a Natchez Policeman. These and thousands of other civil war veterans were the contemporaries of Congressman John Lynch, U. S. Senator Hiram Revels, Mayor Robert Wood, and Councilman Louis Winston and so on.
Our Keynote presenter will be Cheryl Wilkinson, a public historian, a history graduate of University of California at Los Angles and California State University Northridge. She has done extensive research about and is the expert on African descent Union veterans who were members of the Grand Army of the Republic Posts in Natchez Mississippi and Vidalia Louisiana.
Starting at 10 a. m. on October 26th, the public is encouraged to attend our 12th annual Black and Blue Civil War program and help all of us Remember Why We Have Forgotten Them!
Learn where were the “Black Department of Louisiana and Mississippi GAR Posts” were located other than in Natchez and Vidalia and the names of the Black Veterans’ GAR Posts.
Come to know where are “U. S. Colored Troops” Veterans buried in Mississippi and Louisiana.

Come meet the Ascendants of the African Fulani Prince Ibrahima and Isabella who were once enslaved in the Washington Mississippi area of Greenwood Plantation and Foster Mound.

Come Rain or Shine! Admission is Free! Bring Children and Chairs! Food and Drink Vendors on site!

Historic Jefferson College is located just off U. S. Highway 61 north, just east of Natchez, Mississippi

Released by and Contact Person, Ser Seshsh Ab Heter-CM Boxley @

[email protected] www.forksyaroad.com 601-442-4719

October 20, 2019

Natchez Mississippi

Adrinka Proverb; Se wo were fi na wo sankofa a yenkyi = It is not taboo to return and fetch it when u forget.

SANKOFA = Go back into the past and fetch it.

(Translation-If u don't know where you've been, you won't know where you're going).

08/21/2019

Seeking Dormant Grand Army of the Republic Posts (GAR)/Women’s Relief Corps (WRC) Delegates!

A NOTE ABOUT SER SESHSH AB HETER-CM BOXLEY, COORDINATOR OF FRIENDS OF FORKS OF ROADS SOCIETY INC’S FOCUS FOR 12th ANNUAL BLACK AND CIVIL WAR LIVING HISTORY PROGRAM 2019

Over a dozen or so years ago my person was able to add an amendment to the by-laws of Friends of the Forks of the Roads Society Inc addressing the hidden history of enslaved and non-enslaved Afrodescendants who served in the United States military and or supported the Union cause in the interests of striking a blow to end chattel slavery and gain their and others’ freedom (mission is to honor/commemorate the historical legacy of those who served in the United States Colored Troops in what was and those who supported what was the greatest enslaved/non-enslaved rebellion in the history of the United States).
This has meant resurrecting, rescuing, reconstructing, preserving, presenting and interpreting the denied, omitted, left-out, white-out and hidden history and humanity of enslaved and non-enslaved Foreparents and Ancestors of today’s American Afrodescendants of the Mississippi Valley states. (1)
Thus my person created the Black and Blue Civil War Living History “Theater without Walls” vehicle as a method for showing and telling this half that should have been publically told decades ago by the various institutions and agencies that educate the public in the Mississippi Valley.
Each year many local persons volunteer as living history role actors on stage and in period clothing to show and tell stories about African descent sailors, nurses, soldiers, cavalrymen and civilians who either officially served in the Union military and or supported the Union in a variety of capacities of which “without such support the Union would not have won the American Civil War.”
Our annual Blacks in Blue Civil War programs and events have touched thousands of people over the years.
We have brought alive via living history untold numbers of local self-emancipated (runaway) enslaved persons who were Union soldiers, sailors, artillerymen, cavalrymen, nurses, spies, scouts, guides, pioneer-men (engineers), fortress builders, cooks, washers, ironers and so on.
We have presented them as freedom fighters in life or death (no surrendering) battles, skirmishes, guerilla engagements and the likes.
These self-emancipated freedom fighters were the key to the Union army’s defeat of the confederate army from Memphis to the gulf of Mexico in the Tennessee Valley, the Mississippi Valley and the Gulf and on out to Texas.
Self-emancipated enslaves in Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas were part of the reportable 209,000 plus African descent soldiers from other southern states, the northern states, Canada and beyond who achieved the “double victory” of the Civil War.
They helped preserve the Union of the United States and won their and other enslaved peoples’ freedom. They made it possible for the first civil rights for the masses of African descent people to happen in the history of the United States.
They made it possible for enactment of the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments into the U. S. Constitution.
So while my person has focused on the military history of Blacks in blue exclusively over the past years, I’ve decided to dedicate our 2019 program to focus on the surprisingly forgotten history of Black civil war Union veterans’ involvement in the Department of Mississippi and Louisiana Grand Army of the Republic and its Women Relief Corps Auxiliary.
“The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union military who had served in the American Civil War” (1861-1865).
“Many national organizations of Union veterans sprouted-up after the Civil War ended.
The Grand Army of the Republic (G. A. R.) was the largest and most powerful of these groups of Union veterans in the United States.
Founded on April 6th, 1866, at Decatur, Illinois, by former army surgeon Benjamin Franklin Stephenson, its proclaimed purpose was Fraternity, Charity, and Loyalty, and its basic unit was the local posts, with membership theoretically open to any honorably discharged Union veteran.
The 30th of May officially called “Decoration Day” was established by the G. A. R. in 1868 as the Day to go to the cemetery in remembrance of their Civil War comrades. It was eventually dovetailed into what is now called Memorial Day.”
Decoration Day known in the Mississippi-Louisiana Region as “the 30th of May” by African descendant Union Military veterans was celebrated and commemorated for decades dating back to the 19th century.
Since Decoration Day aka 30th of May was changed to the "fourth Monday in May nationally as “Memorial Day,” in Mississippi and Louisiana memory of the Union Civil War soldiers, particularly the African Americans, has faded into forgotten memory.
No they did not come marching home! No there were no welcome home parades! There were no homes to come home to!
But those heroic Union military African descent freedom fighting veterans were the builders of the “Africans in America Community” as it has come to be known today.
They were leaders, developers of churches, schools, colleges and family. They created an agricultural economy. They became participatory politicians and organizers of social structures, fraternal orders, and benevolent societies. They were the first educators and citizens that brought today’s Afrodescendants “up from chattel slavery.”
“The National Woman's Relief Corps (WRC- or NWRC) was OFFICIALLY chartered in 1883, after the Union veterans' organization named the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) finally convinced the many small women's organizations to unify under one name. We are the oldest national women's patriotic organization in America. Our organization officially pre-dates all other patriotic organizations by official national charter except for the SUVCW (Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War).
The WRC began as a group intended to serve as auxiliary to the GAR, and we still maintain that identity. However we added over the decades more to our mission statement. We now understand we are to not just keep the memory of the "Boys in Blue" alive but we are to also honor all veterans of all wars of the USA. All the things that we did then we still do, but we are always able to modify and modernize” said Kathy Bower, current Secretary to the National Woman’s Relief Corps in a recent email to Ser Boxley.
Affected by faded memory of Mississippi-Louisiana African descent Civil War Union military veterans is the local still active Women’s Relief Corps based in Vidalia, Louisiana.
Here is an extract from an amended role play script my person prepared for a past Black and Blue Civil War Living History event:
We are members of the Woman’s Relief Corps Auxiliary to the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) Parson Brownlow Lodge #23. Our Grand Army of the Republic Lodge is located at 604 North Magnolia Street in Vidalia, Louisiana.
We are the only active Woman’s Relief Corps in the Miss-Lou region.
Our Woman’s Relief Corps was organized on June 13, 1898 under the Department of Louisiana and Mississippi by vote of the 24th National Convention.
We became a chartered Relief Corps April 16, 1907. This past April of 2019 our Relief Corps was one hundred and twenty-one years old.
We are authorized and empowered to perform all acts necessary to conduct our organization within the rules and regulations of the Woman’s Relief Corps.
The Woman’s Relief Corps is a patriotic organization whose express purpose is to perpetuate the memory of the Grand Army of the Republic.

With the entire above background introduction let my person say that with the help of this year’s Black and Blue program’s keynote presenter Cheryl Wilkinson of California I have a list of various GAR Posts that were once active in the Department of Mississippi and Louisiana.
Thus my person is seeking to recruit volunteer persons both males (GAR) and females (WRC) who will commit to be delegate representatives from each GAR/WRC locations shown below. As delegate representatives your persons are to attend the 12th Annual Black and Blue Civil War Program’s GAR/WRC encampment round-table reenactment on October 26, 2019 at Historic Jefferson College rain or shine. The College is located just off U. S. Highway 61 north, just east of Natchez, Mississippi.
Agreeing to be a delegate representative from a particular GAR/WRC Post location should inspire ya to do a bit of research in search of information about that GAR Post and or the GAR/Women Relief Corp history.
Your persons along with all the others of us are to do the best we can do to educate each other and those in attendance and the general public by remembering why we have forgotten them!

My person will be calling ya’ll, but why not help and call my person first or email: 601-442-4719 [email protected]
A List of Grand Army of the Republic Department of Louisiana and Mississippi Posts Names and Locations

Organized as the Department of the Gulf, May 15, 1884 and changed to: Department of Louisiana and Mississippi, June 13, 1888

Louisiana

McDonoghville = Jefferson = Algiers = Orleans Parish
Morgan City = O P Morton = St. Mary Parish
New Orleans La: = Orleans Parish= Joseph A. Mower, Andre Cailloux….Al Jackson potential delegate
C. J. Bassett, U. S. Grant, J. H. Crowder, Phil Sheridan, Ellsworth, R. W. Shaw, Oscar Orrillion
Carrollton = Farragut
St. Bernard Parish = Martin R. Delaney
Houma = Gen. Canby = Terrebonne Parish
Bayou Goula = Fairchild = eastern Iberville Parish
Plaquemine = Plaquemine = Iberville Parish
Thibodaux = Abraham Lincoln = Lafourche Parish
Lafayette = Gen. Phelps = Lafayette Parish
Baton Rouge = Cyrus Hamlin = East Baton Rouge Parish
Port Hudson = Custer = East Baton Rouge Parish, maybe Dennis Dahmer a delegate
Port Allen = William Kinley = West Baton Rouge Parish
Jesuit Bend = Gen. Steel = unincorporated community in Plaquemines Parish
Jennings = Jennings = Jefferson Davis Parish
Water Proof = R. B. Hayes = Concordia Parish
Vidalia = Parson Brownlow Post #23, organized November 26, 1892 in Vidalia, LA = Concordia Parish = Vidalia La. Women Relief Corps Auxiliary Parson Brownlow No. 23 Post /The Parson Browlow G. A. R. Lodge no. 23 building still stands at 604 N. Magnolia Street in Vidalia. The annual “30th of May” or “Decoration Day” march across the Mississippi River to Natchez and joined by those waiting at the old toll bridge columns then on out to the National Cemetery starts from this G. A. R. lodge).
Shreveport = James A. Garfield = Caddo Parish
Lake Providence = Lake Providence = East Carroll Parish = Baba Kahan & Porter Johnson potenials

Mississippi

Natchez = John A. Logan Post #24, organized December 2, 1892 in Natchez, MS,
Natchez, Brigadier General Thomas E. Ransom # 16 Post organized in late 1891
Port Gibson = James Lynch = Mayor Reeves & Milton Chambliss delegates = Claiborne County
Warrington = Fred Douglas = Warren County
Vicksburg = Warren County Brig-Gen. (Army ret.) Rober Crear delegate
Vicksburg, R. B. Elliot, E. D. Edwards
Bovina = T. W. Stringer = = Warren County
Jackson = Charles W. Cady = Hinds County = ask Norman Fisher, Eldridge Henderson,
Duncansby = Duncansby = Issaquena county
Chatham = Dan Ullmann = Washington County
Greenville = Greenville = Washington County
Shelby = W. T. Sherman = Bolivar County

(1) “Ignorance or concealment of major historical events constitutes an obstacle to” Equal History Memory, preservation, presentation and interpretation, thus “constitutes an obstacle to mutual understanding, reconciliation and cooperation among peoples” ….UNESCO “Slave Route Project” email narrative

Dress for Males = four button black suit and or two button with a black vest, my person have replica Union kepi cap. Females: White dress or two piece white outfit, white hat. Let’s talk about this!

Address

232 Street Catherine St
Natchez, MS
39120

Telephone

(601) 597-2112

Website

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