Renaming Lowndes County
Divisiveness has reared its ugly head in our country for far too long. Some people lay the blame at Obama’s feet and others at Trump’s. The who, what, why, when and how is not really significant. What is important is the fact that the progress that had been made has been set back prior to the time Martin Luther King emboldened the citizens of this country to be unified as one nationality. There should never be a box to check to classify any American by their race or ethnicity.
As I watch the riots and damage done to monuments and statues that tell the visual story of the growing pains of our country I am stunned. How can people think that removing historical markers will somehow erase the past? If we don’t learn from the past we will be destined to repeat it.
Since COVID-19 has given me months of never ending weekends, I have used this time to educate myself on many different subjects that are relevant today.
When you look at our state it’s easy to surmise that many of our counties are named after Native American words. The history behind the names of many of our counties are seeped in rich historical facts and stories.
My curiosity was piqued about the county in which I live. I thought it might be interesting, like Possum Town being the nickname of Columbus. To my surprise it is a black eye to our state to have been named after William Jones Lowndes. He was well educated and politically minded. Like many men during this time period his father owned plantations that he farmed using enslaved labor. Like his father, William owned several plantations along South Carolina’s Atlantic coast which used enslaved labor. While he was a Legislator he helped negotiate the Missouri Compromise of 1820 which gave Missouri statehood while letting the state continue to use enslaved people. Congress had the right to limit slavery in the territories. Many feel this was his most important contribution in his political career. William Lowndes was elected to Congress in 1811.
In this climate of political correctness the logical action to take would be to distance ourselves from this Congressman. He and his father used enslaved people to work the fields of their plantations. Every time I list my county on different forms I will be reminded how he used enslaved people for his own personal gain. Since we’ve adopted the new Magnolia Flag to help heal and unify our state I think it only fitting to rename Lowndes County to Magnolia County.
As far as I can ascertain William Jones Lowndes never set foot in the state of Mississippi.
Candi Vezina
Columbus
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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