Why This Site Matters: History of Prospect Hill Plantation

In Honor of Black History Month, Our Regional Director from the Southeast wanted to share one of our amazing Preserves of Archaeology and History: Prospect Hill Plantation. Here we share several videos of this unique location and its place in American history, including a recent CSPAN interview with author Alan Huffman at our Prospect Hill plantation preserve in Mississippi. He wrote the book, Mississippi In Africa: Saga of the Slaves of Prospect Hill Plantation detailing much of this history and the history of the former Slaves who founded Liberia. We Have protected and preserved the archaeology of Prospect Hill. It has been opened it to the public several times. We have hosted some very special gatherings that were attended by descendants of slaves and the family that owned the plantation, coming together to preserve history. We are in the process of searching to find someone or an organization to partner with us to preserve the house while the Conservancy preserves the archaeology there.

In this video “Hear the story of Prospect Hill Plantation and the slaves that migrated to Africa from Alan Huffman author of “Mississippi in Africa.” Revolutionary War Veteran Isaac Ross moved to the Mississippi Territory in 1808 with a large group of slaves and free blacks and established Prospect Hill. Once there, he helped the free blacks purchase land and ran the plantation with an egalitarian mind set. As he approached the last few years of his life, Ross wanted to free all of his slaves, however, that was illegal under Mississippi law. So instead, Ross arranged it so that at the time of his daughter’s death, Prospect Hill would be sold and the money was to be used to pay the way for the slaves to migrate to Liberia where a free colony was being established by the American Colonization Society during the 1840s. “Mississippi in Africa” tells the story of the group of slaves that migrated to Liberia, the life they lead while there and the connection to the civil war that broke out in Liberia during the 1990s.” From CSPAN.

Here is a beautiful visit to the site from Mississippi Roads and Interview with our SE Regional Director Jessica Crawford.

News Report on the Site and Gatherings from 2013 ” Taking A Chance on Prospect Hill”