The True Story of the'Free State of Jones'.
By Richard Grant; Photographs by William Widmer
Smithsonian Magazine
March 2016
Two rat terriers (Rat terrier) on the heels, holding a long wooden staff, JRGavin collar Walked me through the woods and came to an ancient swamp hideout. Gavin spoke a low and slow Southern accent. He had a firm appearance and a friendly attitude. He was a tall white man with contemplative eyes. At first I mistakenly thought he was a missionary, but in fact he was a retired electrical engineer who wrote and published novels about Rapture and Apocalypse at his own expense. One of them was called Sal Batree, which was named after the place he wanted to show me.
I'm in Jones County, Mississippi, breathing the historical atmosphere around me by Newton Knight, a poor white farmer who led an extraordinary rebellion during the Civil War. Together with a group of similar-minded whites in Southern Mississippi, he made a move that is unimaginable to many southerners today-launching a guerrilla war with the Confederacy and swearing allegiance to the Confederacy.
In the spring of 1864, Knight and his companions overthrew the Confederate authorities in Jones County and raised the United States flag in the county government in Ellisville. The county is known as the "Jones Free State", and there are also rumors that the county actually withdrew from the Confederacy. This little-known and counterintuitive history in American history is now on the big screen, directed by Gary Ross (directed by "Seabiscuit", "The Hunger Games"), played by Matthew McConaughey The muddy and exhausted Newton Knight.
Gavin used his wooden staff to sweep away a huge spider web and warned me to beware of snakes. He said: "Knight and his friends have many different hiding places. The older generations call this Sal Batree. Sal is The name of Newt’s shotgun was originally called Sal’s Fort, but it fell into disrepair. "
We came to a small headland, surrounded by a swamp lake on three sides. The headland is shaded by 12-foot-tall cattails and reeds. "I'm not sure, but a ninety-year-old man named Odell Holyfield told me that this is (Sal Batree)." Gavin said, "He said they opened a door on the reeds and people can ride in and out. He said they set up If you get the password, you will be killed if you answer the wrong password. I don’t know how many of these are real, but one day I will bring a metal detector to see what I can find.”
We walked along the lake. March, passing tree stumps gnawed by beavers and gloomy bushes. When he came to the higher ground, Gavin pointed out a few landmarks on the other side of the swamp, inserted the stick into the ground, turned around and faced me.
"Now I want to say something that might offend you," he said, and he did. He used racist terms to refer to the "descendants of Newt" living in neighboring Soso, saying that some of them were too light-skinned, "you can't be sure when you look at them (whether they are of black descent, translator's note) )."
I stood aside, while recording, thinking of William Faulkner. His novels were full of what appeared to be white but was subjected to Mississippi’s extreme “drop of blood principle” (that is, “as long as a drop of blood comes from a person of color, he will Not white." Translator's Note) The character judged to be black. In Jones County, a place where the life of a person born 179 years ago can still arouse controversy, this is not the first time I think of Faulkner’s famous dictum on history: "The past is never as good as the past, and it is not even the past."
After the Civil War, Knight married Rachel, who was a slave to his grandfather, and they had 5 children together. Knight also raised 9 children with his white wife Serena. The two families live in separate houses on the same 160-acre farm. After separating from Serena (the two never divorced), Newt Knight and Rachel entered into a secular marriage and proudly acknowledged their interracial children as their descendants. The scandal caused by this move is still lingering.
These children are known as the black species of Knight, and they are collectively rejected by whites and blacks. Unable to find a spouse locally, Newt encouraged them to intermarry with their white cousins (for example, Mat of Newt married the daughter of Rachel and another man, and Molly, daughter of Newt, married Rachel and another. The son of a man married). Near the small town of Soso, an inter-ethnic community began its journey and continued to marry within it.
"They are doing their own thing there." Gavin said as he strode back to his home, where canned food and muscat wine were stocked for the end of the world. "Many people think that it is easier for them to understand Newt's actions against the Confederacy than for mixed races."
---------------Original dividing line--------- ------
Before I came to Jones County, I had read several good books about its history, but I didn't know much about its current situation. Even by Mississippi's standards, the county is known for extreme racism and conservatism, and has always been a breeding ground for the KKK. However, Mississippi has always been divided and contradictory, and this small rural county has also bred some creative and artistic geniuses, such as independent film queen Parker Posey, novelist Jonathan Odell, or both pop singer and gay aerospace. A member of Lance Bass, and another example is Mark Landis, a schizophrenic art counterfeiter and weird man. As of his arrest, he had donated counterfeit masterpieces to mainstream art museums in the United States for nearly 30 years before his arrest.
On the drive to Jones County, I passed by a place called Hot Coffee, which is the name of a town, not a drink. The land is full of rolling pastures and newly planted low pine trees. There are also independent farmhouses and neat country churches. Sometimes you can see abandoned trailers and disintegrated cars in the front yard. In the era of Newt Knight, there was only a virgin forest made up of huge long-leaf pine trees. The woods were so thick that it required three to four people to join hands. This area of Mississippi is called the Piney Woods, which means it is barren and hopeless. Giant trees are difficult to remove, sandy soil is not suitable for growing cotton, and riverside depressions are flooded with swamps and bushes.
There are only a few extremely simple cotton plantations and a small group of slave holders, including Newt Knight’s grandfather, but Jones County has fewer slaves than other counties in Mississippi, accounting for only 12% of its population. This point best explains the lack of loyalty to the Confederacy that has spread widely in the county, but at the same time, there is also a rough and exclusive spirit of independence that has caused this phenomenon, which is embodied in Newt Knight, which is an extraordinary phenomenon. An image of a firm and skilled leader.
When driving on the county road, I was a little expectant to see signs like "Welcome to Jones Free State" or "Newt Knight's Hometown", but nowadays, the Confederacy is admired by some white people in this area, and the local trade association adopts one. The less controversial slogan: "This is life!" Most parts of Jones County are rural, with low and medium income levels, and about 70% of the population is white. I drove past many small chicken farms, a large modern transformer and computer factory, and countless Baptist churches. Laurel, the county's largest town, is different. It is known as a beautiful city. It was laid by the midwestern forestry tycoons who flattened the long-leaf pine forests and built elegant houses. The streets were lined with oak trees. There is also a gorgeous world-class Lauren Rogers Art Museum in the city.
Ellisville, the former county capital and the core of the Jones Free State, is now a lush and pleasant town with a population of 4,500. There are some old brick buildings with wrought iron decorative balconies in the main city. Next to the magnificent, old-style, cylindrical county government, there is a Confederate monument, but there is no mention of the anti-Confederate rebellion that took place there. Today’s Ellisville is mainly the noisy Jones County college campus. In the entrance hall of the school, I was received by the semi-retired history professor Wyatt Moulds. He is a direct descendant of Newt Knight’s grandfather. He was deeply involved in the research of this film and ensured its historical accuracy. .
Wyatt Moulds is large, friendly and charming, with messy side-brushed hair, cowboy boots and fishing shirt made of crocodile leather. "I am one of the few liberals you can meet here, but I am a wild pine liberal." he said. "I voted for Obama, hunting, and love guns. This is part of the local culture, even liberals own shotguns."
He described Jones County as the most conservative area in Mississippi, but also said that race relations have been improving. This is evident from the change in attitude towards Newt Knight. "This is divided by generation." He said. "Many older generations see Newt as a traitor and villain. They don't understand why someone would want to make a movie for him. If you point out to them that Newt distributes food to people who are hungry and is called "Robin Hood of the Wild Pines" "They will tell you that he married a black man, as if it were more important than everything else. Moreover, they would not use the word'Black'."
On the other hand, his current group of students, Was "ignited" by Newt and this movie. "Nowadays blacks and whites date each other in high school. They don't think it's a big deal," Moulds said. "This is a huge change. Nowadays, some young people really agree with Newt as a symbol of Jones County's pride. He is a badass and there is no negative impact."
Knight is 6 feet 4 inches tall, with black curly hair and a big beard—"bulky physique, moving like a rabbit" (original quick as a cat, translator's note), as one of his friends described him. He was a nightmare opponent in wrestling matches in the wilds and one of the main buried guerrilla fighters in American history. Too many people tried their best to kill him, so that perhaps his most extraordinary achievement was to live a long life.
"He's an old-school Primitive Baptist. He doesn't drink alcohol, doesn't swear, he spoils children, and he can reload and fire a double-barreled musket faster than everyone around him," Moulds said. "Even if he is old, if someone doesn't follow his path, he can put a knife on the other person's neck with a beat of his heart. Many people will tell you that Newt is just a traitor and selfish, but there is enough evidence to prove him. He is a very principled person, anti-separatism, anti-slavery, and support for the Union."
There is no lack of support for these views in Jones County. Newt's right-hand man, Jasper Collins, comes from a staunch Mississippi family that supports federalists. He later named his son Ulysses Sherman Collins, which came from his two favorite Union generals, Ulysses S. Grant and William T. Sherman. "Here, it's like naming your son Adolf Hitler Collins." Moulds said.
When separatist fanaticism swept the South in 1860, most of Jones County was immune to it. The separatist candidate here received only 24 votes, while the "cooperativeist" candidate John H. Powell received 374 votes. Nevertheless, when Powell attended the secession conference in Jackson, he panicked and voted for secession like almost everyone else. After the meeting, Powell was away from Jones County for a while, and his portrait was burned in Ellisville.
"In the "Lost Cause" myth, the South is united, and leaving the Union has nothing to do with slavery." Moulds said. "What happened in Jones County proved that it was a lie, so supporters of "failed cause" must portray Newt as an ordinary criminal, and most importantly, deny all traces of support for federalism. And the appearance of this film , So that they exert more force on this than ever before."
---------------Original dividing line---------------
Despite his opposition to secession, Knight voluntarily joined the Confederate Army at the beginning of the Civil War. We can only infer his reasons. He did not keep a diary, and only accepted an interview with New Orleans reporter Meigs Frost before his death. Knight stated that he wanted to join the army with a group of locals to avoid being called up and being divided into different companies. However, Victoria Bynum, the main scholar who studied the rebellion led by Knight and the author of the book "Jones Free State", pointed out that Knight joined the army in July 1861, and the civil war had just begun for a few months. At that time, he was not in danger of being drafted into the army.
In October 1862, after the defeat of the Confederate Army at Corinth, Knight and many other wild pinewoods fled the 7th Battalion of the Mississippi Infantry Regiment. The reason is not just insufficient supplies, arrogant and indiscreet leadership or appalling killings. They disliked the newly passed "Twenty Negro Law", which stipulated that for every 20 slaves in a plantation, a white man was exempted from the obligation to serve in the Confederate Army. Jasper Collins commented: "This law turns it into a war for the poor to fight for the rich." This statement resonated with many non-slavery southerners.
When they returned home, they found that their wives could barely maintain the livelihood of the farm and the food and clothing of their children. Adding fuel to the fire is that the Confederate authorities promoted an insulting and corrupt "tax in kind" system, in the name of combat — horses, pigs, chickens, corn, bacon, homespun cloth. A Confederate army colonel named William N. Brown reported that corrupt taxation officials "have a greater impact on the morale of Jones County than the entire Federal Army."
In early 1863, Knight was arrested for deserting and was likely to be sentenced for it. Some scholars believe that he was taken back to serve in the siege of Vicksburg (siege of Vicksburg), but there is no reliable evidence that he did participate in the war. After the fall of Vicksburg, in July 1863, the Confederate Army experienced a large-scale escape of soldiers, including many deserters from Jones County and its neighboring counties. In August of the same year, Confederate Army Major Amos McLemore arrived in Ellisville and began using soldiers and hounds to hunt down deserters. As of October, he had captured more than 100 deserters and sent threatening messages to Newt Knight who had returned to the destroyed farm on the border in Jasper County.
On the evening of October 5th, Major McLemore was shot and killed by someone who broke into the house of his friend Amos Deason in Ellisville—almost certainly Newt Knight. Soon after, deserters from the four counties in the Yesonglin area held a large-scale rally. They formed a company called "Jones County Scouts" on their own, and unanimously elected Knight as their company commander. They vowed to resist arrest, confront tax collectors, defend each other's homes and farms, and assist the Federation as much as possible.
Neo-Confederate historians deny Jones County Scouts' allegiance to the Confederation in various ways, but this was accepted by the local Confederateists at the time. "They are essentially Union soldiers." Major Joel E. Welborn, their commander in the 7th Battalion of the Mississippi Infantry Regiment, recalled afterwards. "They worked hard to be included in the Federal Army system." Indeed, several of the Jones County Scouts later succeeded in joining the Federal Army in New Orleans.
In March 1864, Lieutenant General Leonidas Polk informed Confederate President Jefferson Davis that Jones County was in a state of "public rebellion" and that the guerrilla fighters "proclaimed themselves the Southern Yankees." They were in Jones County and the entire southeast of Mississippi. The Ministry destroyed the taxation system, seized and redistributed Confederate supplies, killed and expelled Confederate officials and Confederate supporters. Confederate Army Captain Wirt Thompson reported that it had more than a thousand people and raised the flag of the United States in Jones County—"They preached to fight for the Union." He added.
In the spring of that year, the rebellion against the "rebels" (ie the Confederacy, Translator's Note) reached a climax. Polk dispatched Colonel Robert Lowry from Wild Pinewood to lead two battle-tested regiments into southeastern Mississippi. With noose ropes and a large number of ferocious hounds, they suppressed the surrounding counties and then entered the Jones Free State. Several people in the Knight Company were bitten by hounds, and at least 10 people were hanged, but Lowry failed to capture Knight or his core members. They were hidden deep in the swamp, receiving food assistance and intelligence support from local supporters and slaves, the most notable of which was Rachel.
After Lowry declared victory and left, Knight and his men emerged from their hideout, again threatening Confederate officials and their agents, burning bridges and destroying railways to hinder the Confederate army and looting food supplies for the army. On January 10, 1865, they carried out the last small-scale operation at Sal's Battery, also known as Sallsbattery, and repelled a mixed infantry unit. Three months later, the Confederacy was defeated.
---------------Original dividing line---------------
In 2006, when film producer Gary Ross was discussing possible projects at Universal Pictures , A development director handed him a short, one-page opinion about Newton Knight and Jones Free State. Ross immediately became interested in this character and the disclosure of facts about the Federalist movement in Mississippi, the deepest southern state.
"I was attracted and kept going deeper and learning more about him and the fact that the South was not monolithic during the Civil War." Ross said over the phone in New York. "I didn't expect to spend two years doing research before starting to write the script."
The first thing he did was to kayak down the Leaf River and get a sense of the area. feel. Then he began to read, starting with 5 (now 6) books on Newton Knight, expanding to a wider range of readings on other branches of Federalism in the South, and then the period of reconstruction.
"I am not a fast-student, nor a scholar," he said. "But I think I have become an amateur scholar." He has been a teacher of several major academic authorities in the field, including John Sauffer of Harvard University and Steven Hahn of the University of Pennsylvania. (At the urging of Ross, Stauffer and co-author Sally Jenkins published their own "On the Jones County Rebellion" in 2009). When talking about these scholars, Ross speaks with admiration and flattery, as if they are like rock singers or movie stars-and among them, the most respected is Eric Foner of Columbia University, an expert in reconstruction period research experts (Note: this The original text is the dean of Reconstruction experts, the translator did not find the relevant department or research project, so I made this translation).
"He is like a god. I walked into his office and said, "My name is Gary Ross, and I shot Seabiscuits." I asked him a bunch of questions about the reconstruction period, and he just gave He gave me a book list. He didn't give me any special treatment. I'm from Hollywood, you know, and he wants to see if I can do this hard work."
Ross read the book list slowly and carefully. , And return with more questions. Foner didn't answer a single one, just opened another book list for him. Ross also finished reading those books, and returned with stronger questions. This time Foner looked at him sincerely and said, "No bad. You should consider studying this."
"This is the highest level of compliment others can give me." Ross said. "I remember walking out of his office and walking through the steps of Columbia University Library. It felt like floating. The first time, learning for learning, not for producing scripts, this experience is so intoxicating. Now I still Reading history books at any time. I told others that this movie is my academic midlife crisis."
In Hollywood, he said that executives strongly supported his research and the script he eventually made from it, but when it came time to fund the film, they hesitated. "This was before "Lincoln" and "12 Years a Slave" appeared, it was difficult to make this kind of film shoot. So I went to shoot "The Hunger Games", But he has been paying attention to this project."
Matthew McConaughey thought that the script of "Jones Free State" was the best civil war story he had read, and he immediately realized that he wanted to play Newt Knight. Through Knight's deepest taboo challenge to the Confederate Army and Southern culture, McConaughey saw a firm and moral leader. He is "a man who lives according to the teachings of the Bible and lives on the barrel of a shotgun." McConaughey said in an email. "If someone—regardless of their skin color—is mistreated or exploited, if the poor are used by others to obtain wealth, it is a simple and straightforward error that needs to be corrected in Newt's view... He does it intentionally, and doesn’t care about it. What are the consequences?” In a nutshell, McConaughey called it “a ray of light in the bloodiest war in this country. I was a little surprised by it.”
The third act of the film shows Mississippi after the Civil War. State. At the beginning of the reconstruction period, there was a period when black people could vote and black officials were elected for the first time. Then the former Confederate violently regained control of the state and re-imposed a certain degree of second slavery on African Americans. African-Americans were once again deprived of their citizenship, threatened by the KKK, exploited by the tenant farming system, and legally segregated. "The third act is what makes this story feel so true." McConaughey said. "It has a connection with today's reality. Reconstruction is a verb in progress."
Ross believes that Knight's personality and beliefs have been most clearly manifested through his post-war actions. He was hired by the government during the reconstruction period to liberate black children from slave owners who refused to emancipate slaves. "In 1875, he accepted an appointment, and the subjects under its jurisdiction were essentially all blacks," Ross said. "His mission is to defend the rights of liberated African Americans during one of the bloodiest elections in Mississippi. His commitment to this mission has never faded." In 1876, Knight signed a deed of assignment 160 The acre of land was given to Rachel, making her one of the few African Americans who owned land in Mississippi at the time.
Although Ross really wanted to shoot this movie in Jones County, neighboring Louisiana has an irresistible filming tax incentive, and there are some amazing scenery of the parkland, but the digital film crew members have also become famous here. It is the tiny mites of chiggers. Nevertheless, Ross and McConaughey spent a lot of time in Jones County, persuading many local residents to appear in the film.
"I love Leaf River and the whole area," Ross said. "I am definitely slowly falling in love with Mississippi. This is a very interesting, real and complicated place."
---------------Original dividing line------ ---------
On the website of Jones County Rosin Heels, the local chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, a notice warned that the movie would portray Newt Knight as a civil rights activist, A hero. The author then inadvertently switched to the normal present tense: "In fact, he is a thief, murderer,
adulterer, and a deserter." Doug Jefcoate, a registered veterinarian in Laurel, was on the list of barracks commanders, and I went to him. Call, saying that I am interested in his views on Newt Knight. He sounded a little impatient, and immediately said, "Well, I am a history lover, and there are three generations of ancestors dating back three generations. I will come to the veterinary hospital tomorrow."
The receptionist led me into a small examination room and closed both doors of the room. I stood there for a long few minutes. There was a shiny iron table in the room with Bible quotes hanging on the wall. Then Jefcoate came in, a middle-aged man with sand-colored hair, glasses, and a distant smile. He holds two huge, leather-bound family genealogy.
It took him 10 minutes to introduce his genealogy to me, and when I interrupted him to ask questions about Rosin Heels and Newt Knight, he stopped, looked a little confused, and started to giggle. "You found the wrong Doug Jefcoate," he said. "I'm not that person." (It turns out that he is Doug Jefcoat, without the "e".)
He laughed loudly, then calmed down and told me what he thought. "I am not a racist, okay, but I am a segregationist," he said. "The old Newt can be regarded as swimming naked in the wrong pool."
Rosin Heel commander Doug Jefcoate was not available, so I turned to Carl Ford's law firm, a member of Rosin Heel, in 1998, Sam Bowers, an imperial wizard of the White Knights of the 3K Klan, was tried for his murder of civil rights activist Vernon Dahmer in 1966. Ford defended Bowers but was unsuccessful. Ford is not in the office, but he has arranged for his friend and colleague John Cox, who is also a member of Rosin Heel, to have an open talk with me about Newt Knight.
Cox, 71 years old, with a long white beard, is an energetic radio and television broadcaster. He received me in a small office filled with video equipment and Confederate memorabilia. He is making a film called "Jones Free State: A Republic That Never Existed", which aims to refute Gary Ross's film. So far he has only the cast and crew (executive producer Carl Ford) and the opening banjo soundtrack.
"Newt is what we call trailer trash," he said slowly with a rumbling baritone. "I will not let him in my house. Like all poor, ignorant white garbage, he does it for himself. Some people are too obsessed with the idea that he is Martin Luther King, this It’s the same group of people who believe that the War Between the States is related to slavery, and this is the opposite of the truth.” It
seemed that there was no need to argue with him, and it was almost impossible to intervene, so I sat Then, while scribbling, while listening to his long monologue, the topic covered defending slavery. The 3K Party came to life for the first time, digging deep into the vague details of civil war battles, denying all accusations of racism, and constantly coming back to condemn. Newt Knight and the fools who smirked and tried to achieve the liberal agenda through him.
"There has never been a Jones Free State," he concluded. "It never existed."
---------------Original dividing line ---------------
Joseph Hosey is a Jones County Forester The official and wild mushroom collector, at first only appeared as an extra, but eventually played a core role in Knight's company. Looking at him, I knew that there was no need to ask why. With disheveled clothes, skinny, blue eyes, sharp eyes, and a big beard, he looked like someone who lived on squirrels that were fed and occasionally captured by the Confederate Army.
He hopes to meet me at Jitters Coffeehouse & Bookstore in Laurel, so he can show me an old map hanging on the wall. The map describes Jones County as Davis County and Ellisville as Leesburg. "After 1865, Jones County was so infamous that local Confederateists were ashamed of being associated with it," he said. "So they used Jefferson Davis as the new county name and renamed it with Robert E. Lee Ellisville. A few years later, a vote was held for this matter and the name was changed back. Thank God, otherwise it would be really shameful. It's dead."
Like his grandfather, Hosey is a great admirer of Newt Knight. Long before the movie came out, when asked where he came from, he would say: "Jones Free State." Now he has a dog named Newt and calls it a "Federal Blue Doberman." .
Participating in the film, starring in and interacting with Matthew McConaughey is a profound and moving experience, but not because of the actor's reputation. "It's like Newt himself standing in front of me. It really makes me wish that my grandfather is still alive, because we always say that someone should make a movie for Newt." During filming, Hosey and other Knights company actors established Made close contact, and still called them by the company’s name. "We set up a party in Jones County, and I think we will keep partying," he said.
I asked him what he admired the most about Knight. "If you grew up in the South, you would always hear your'tradition' as if it were the greatest thing ever," he said. "When I heard that word, I thought of grits and sweet tea, but most of the time I thought of slavery and racism, which made my heartache. Newt Knight gave me the tradition of being a southern white man to join Some things to be proud of. We don’t all agree with those.” After the
reconstruction period was over, as the former Confederate regained power, the KKK continued to watch, and Jim Crow’s segregation law passed, Knight learned from public life. He retired and returned to his homeland on the border of Jasper County. The property was shared by him and Rachel. After Rachel's death in 1889, it continued to be shared by him and Rachel's children and grandchildren. He led a self-sufficient life as a farmer in the wild pine forest, loved his expanding children and grandchildren, and completely withdrew from the white society.
In 1921, he accepted that single long interview, showing a simple sense of humor and a strong view of right and wrong. He died the following year, February 1922, at the age of 84. Joseph Hosey took me to Newt's granddaughter's cabin, where it is rumored that he suffered a fatal heart attack while dancing on the porch. Hosey wanted to go to Newt Knight's cemetery for me, but the sacred ceremony of the hunting season is going on, and the landowner does not want visitors to disturb the deer on the site. So Hosey drove the car to the constricted gate and called up the relevant photos on his phone.
On Newt's tomb there is a badge of Sal, his beloved shotgun, and a statement: "He lives for others." He left a will and asked Rachel to be buried here. "It is illegal for blacks and whites to be buried together in the same cemetery," Hosey said. "Newt is no bird. Until he died, he was defying them."
---------------Original dividing line---------------
in During the time in Jones County, I wandered a few times.
During the last interview, across the brightly colored plastic table in a McDonald's in Laurel, my brain suddenly stopped several times, and I just sat so dumb, unable to capture what I heard. Across the table, the two sisters were slightly amused by my reaction. They have seen this scene many times. In fact, this is a normal reaction they get when they try to explain their genealogy to outsiders.
Dorothy Knight Marsh and Florence Knight Blaylock are great-granddaughters of Newt and Rachel. After living abroad for decades, they returned to Soso, Mississippi, and faced prejudice from all sides. The worst of them comes from their expanded family. "Some close relatives don't even want to see us," said sister Blaylock, who was often mistaken for Mexicans while living in California.
"Oh privately they are nice to us, but in public they pretend not to know us," Marsh added, who has lived in Washington, DC for decades. She said that, in short, posterity can be divided into 3 groups. "The White Knights" (the White Knights) are descendants of Newt and Serena. Most support the Confederacy and are proud of their pure white blood. (In 1951, one of them, Ethel Knight published a mean complaint. , Calling Newt a traitor to the Confederacy). "The Black Knights" (the Black Knights) is the offspring of Newt's cousin Dan, who has children with one of his slaves. "The White Negroes" (also known as "the Fair Knights" or "Knight Negroes") is a descendant of Newt and Rachel. "They all have their own family gatherings," Blaylock said.
The "white-skinned black" group is more complicated because of Georgeanne, the daughter of Rachel and another white man. After Rachel died, Newt and Georgeanne had children. "Well, he is a great father!" Marsh said. "I guess that's why he formed three families. At the same time, he is committed to marrying people of different races, so that our skin color will become lighter and lighter. We must tell our younger generation not to be in the Soso area. Dating. But we are all okay, we don't have any...problems. The Knight family are hardworking and very capable people." In the
movie, Marsh and Blaylock appeared briefly in the court scene. For both of them, the legend of the Knight family continued into the 20th century and continues. Their cousin, Davis Knight, who appeared to be white, also claimed to be white, was tried in 1948 on suspicion of interracial marriage after he married a white woman. The trial of this case is a case worthy of study on the absurdity, paradox, contradiction, and racial obsession in Mississippi. A white man was convicted and sentenced for being black; the sentence was overturned; he became white again in law.
"We have compromised on who we are," Blaylock said. "I'm proud to be a descendant of Newt and Rachel, and I respect them both."
"Absolutely," Marsh said. "We can't wait to see this movie."
View more about Free State of Jones reviews
