Jackson, Miss. (WLBT) – During the month of black history, we visit the origin of the Farish road, a once staggering business community, where African -Americans could buy, eat and dreamed freely.
Two black visionaries laid the bases for the area while fighting against racism and for increasing mobility.
From 1930 to the 1970s African -American doctors, Dr. SD Redmond and Dr. Ah McCoy owned many of the buildings on Farish road.
McCoy buildings and buildings are where 20 government agencies operate, the Federal Building of Dr. Ah McCoy.
“He was the spokesman of the people who were afraid to speak for themselves,” said Dr. Roslind McCoy Sibley.
McCoy was a renowned and native dentist of Jackson, who graduated from Tugaloo College and Meharry Medical College, returning to buy a building in 100 Farish Street block for his practice and other businesses.
“He was a humanitarian and tried to do whatever he could do to promote the interests of black Americans,” said his only child, a radiologist living in Virginia.
Community leader and activist participated in the trial of Emmett Till’s murder, discussing the case with Mrs. Mamie Till Mobley.
“I was told by Dr. Ej Stringer, the first President of the state of NAACP, that my father was the one who called the national service of Teli and informed them that Emmett had been killed. That was before his body left Mississippi,” said McCoy sibley.
He would blaze a path of civil rights.
“He stratezed from his office along with other community members who were also involved in NAACP,” McCoy Sibley said. “When my father was President Medgar Evers was the secretary of the field.”
Over the four decades, the activist and entrepreneur bought more property throughout Farish, building Ritz theater, the first black drink store in Jackson, and rented space for civil rights advocates, restaurants, nightclubs and other professional services .
Immediately after he died in 1970, his wife Dr. Rose Embly McCoy, was announced by the city of Jackson that their properties on the streets of Farish and Capitol were dealing with the prominent domain for the new federal building.
Over the next 12 years, his wife and a committee demanded that the government offices be named his name. In 1984 it was signed in law by then President Ronald Reagan.
“I think they really would say they show for a success and that things can be better, and we can all function as first -class citizens in the United States,” the locals said Jackson.
“Dr. McCoy, he owned the first building we occupied, ”said Maati Primm.
She is the owner of the third generation of Marshall’s Music and Book Store, an 87-year-old business on Farish Street.
“Dr. McCoy was a wonderful man. We would call him again a race man, a black nationalist. A person who believed in raising black people, “Primm said.” He bought a number of different properties in Farish Street. He and Dr. Redmond and so black businesses could come in. “
Primm, a native of Minnesota, spent wine in the business of her family.
“It’s Black Wall Street. No matter what his situation is, “the business owner said.” She anchors us politically. She anchors us in terms of trade. He anchors us in terms of a living experience. “
There have been decades of efforts to revive the honorable road and a quarter of a century to millennia, those efforts continue.
“I mean tell you the truth. I occasionally feel my father’s presence on Farish road, “said McCoy Sibley, who returns to Jackson several times a year.
“It is our sanctuary. It is holy land, “Primm added.
Dr. McCoy died in April 1970, two weeks before he turned 68 years old.
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