Incorporated on January 29, 1825, the city of Vicksburg was named for Newitt Vick, a land speculator and methodist minister who died in 1814, 11 years before the actual incorporation of the city. Vick is credited with the founding of Vicksburg in 1811.
The city of Vicksburg has entrusted a number of community organizations and civic groups with the responsibility of planning and developing the 200th celebration of Vicksburg’s founding.
How representative and accurate a celebration the Vicksburg Bicentennial will be remains unclear. Nevertheless, a number of activities on a scale rarely seen in the Mississippi heartland has been promised.
Toni Williams, a member of the Vicksburg Bicentennial Planning Committee, says a broad range of outstanding events will be presented.
The Bicentennial kicks off at 2 p.m,. January 29, 2025, with the Mayor’s Proclamation. The Bicentennial Parade begins at 5:00 p.m. the same day.
In April 2025, music and cultural events including theatrical presentations and a variety of local music are on tap, with the Alcorn State University Jazz Festival highlighting the month.
On July 4-6, 2025, the city will hold its annual Independence Day fireworks and music display, but this time with something that promises to be the longest and most spectacular fireworks display to mark the holiday locally.
The Vicksburg 200 Committee composed of city officials, and business and community leaders has the overall responsibility of pulling together the various strands of sights and sounds that will run throughout the bicentennial.
Vicksburg Mayor George Flaggs urged the citizens of his city to get on board with the 2025 Bicentennial because there won’t be another chance in 200 years.
“The bicentennial represents the spirit of resilience and progress that defines Vicksburg,” Flaggs said.
WHOSE HISTORY?
Vicksburg’s local historians tend to focus on the white, Anglo-Americans who moved into the area after England won the French and Indian War in 1763. Their approach to history downplays the dominant roles that both Native American and African American inhabitants quite often played in the city’s history.
The question was raised about whether the present effort to commemorate Vicksburg’s legacy – its Bicentennial – will focus chiefly on the descendants of the white settlers, or if an honest and more or less equal focus will be directed toward Vicksburg’s historic Black majority population and the earlier Native Americans, many of whom were absorbed by both the Black and White ethnic lines.
Joint archaeological excavations by Harvard University and Mississippi State showed a “significant French presence in Vicksburg” a full century before Vick and his successors arrived in the area.
The French outpost of Fort St. Pierre was established slightly north of current-day Vicksburg in 1719. The heritage of the dominant Native American tribes there – the Natchez and the Yazoo – deserve a legitimate place in Vicksburg’s history beyond merely having their names enshrined in the nearby river and the city 70 miles south of Vicksburg.
One authority says: “Although the modern city of Vicksburg was founded in 1811, it proudly traces its history back to Colonial French Louisiana.”
HISTORY DENIED
The dynamic role of Black troops in the Civil War victory is another major historical landmark, unique to Vicksburg because of the 7,240 Black troops buried in Vicksburg’s National Cemetery. Just as important to the city’s history was Black majority rule in Vicksburg and Warren County politics in the Black and Tan era (1868-1885). Why are the names of such important historic Black political leaders of Vicksburg as Thomas W. Cardozo, I. D. Shadd, William T. Montgomery, and Sheriff Peter Crosby never shown in a favorable light, if mentioned at all? The Civil Rights Era (1955-1975) in Vicksburg also cries out for an accurate representation in any history forum that takes place in Vicksburg.
Many meetings and planning sessions lie ahead for the Bicentennial Committee, said Williams. To stay abreast of the Vicksburg 2025 Bicentennial Celebration, go to: Vicksburg, MS Bicentennial (vicksburg200.com).