Proud To Take A Stand

The Proud to Take a Stand monument honors those Natchez-Adams County citizens who were wrongfully incarcerated in October 1965 for standing up for basic Civil & Voting Rights. The monument has more than 400 names engraved into the marble, and more than 150 of those are names of the young men and women forced to the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman in October 1965, where they were humiliated, punished, and abused for days. They became known as the survivors of what is called “The Parchman Ordeal.” This, Natchez’s first Civil Rights monument, helps tell part of the Civil Rights history of Natchez. The Proud to Take a Stand monument is located on the corner of Jefferson Street and North Canal Street where the event took place.