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The Natchez Garden Club hosted its annual Royalty Announcement Christmas Party on December 10, 2022, at Elms Court, home of Anne MacNeil in Natchez. Club members, royalty participants, and their families were entertained with a cocktail buffet prior to the royal presentation of 2023 King Ryan Skates and Queen Blair Smith. Their reign will run through April 1, 2023, when they formally will be presented during the Magnolia Festival Ball at Magnolia Hall in downtown Natchez. Photos by Lisa Whittington and Torri Webber

Karen Foster, Klydell Johnsey, and Susan Bonnette

Dr. Fred, May, and Bert Emrick

Christine Jenkins, Sarah Lindsey

Laukhuff, and Catherine Beasley

2023 Junior Royalty: Front—Kylie Emrick, Stella Devereaux, Anna Leigh Jordan, and Anita Maria Jordan / Back—Mason

Navarro, Douglas Smith, Gibson Hillyer, Theron Blalock, and Jacob DePaula

2023 Senior Royalty: Front—Sophie

Webber, Queen Blair Smith, King Ryan Skates, and Faith Ann Brown / Back— Dow Hairston, Mary Catherine Gray, and Ethan Huff

2023 Royal Pages: Steve Jenkins, Braxton Zerby, Linden Hughes, Vivian Bass, Caroline DePaula, Ann Parker Warren, John Graham Laukhuff, and Wesson Farmer

NGC Queen Blair Smith and King Ryan Skates

Vivian, April, Dallas, Elijah, and Brody Bass

Front: Diane Sloan, Jacob DePaula, Caroline DePaula, Anna Grace DePaula, Kathy King, and Melton King / Middle: Sloan, Amy DePaula, Mary Katherine Gray, Kristyn Gray, and Jack Gray / Back: Robert DePaula, Seth Mosley, and Jason Gray

Doug, Douglas, and Katie Smith

Stori, Stephanie, Wesson, and Jordan Farmer

John Graham and Sarah Lindsey Laukhuff

4710 Queen Blair Smith, Stella Devereaux, Mary Ann Foggo-Eidt, Cheryl Rrinehart, Caroline Devereaux, and Michael Rinehart

Clark and Susan Smith, Queen Blair Smith, and Lydia and David Moncrief

Queen Blair Smith and Donnie Smith

Michelle, Ryan, Ella, and Jeremy Skates

Bertha Drew, Barbara Coldwell, NCG

President Donna Sessions, and Carol Jones

Torri Webber, Joseph Ellis, Sophie Webber, Faith Gremillion, Connie Webber, Trey

Webber, and Clyde Ray Webber

Brenda Zerby, Connie Webber, Clyde Ray Webber, and Blair Zerby

“Changing the Narrative”

The 34th Annual Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration

ARTICLE | Betty Jo Harris

Among the primary goals of the Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration, held annually in Natchez, Mississippi, for thirty-four years, is to educate its audience on a variety of topics within the humanities and to serve the local community. The 2023 conference met these goals in many ways, including the inspiring presentation featuring Dr. Jodi Skipper and Dr. Elizabeth Bronwyn Boyd. Skipper’s book Behind the Big House: Reconciling Slavery, Race, and Heritage in the U.S. South and Boyd’s book, Southern Beauty, Race, Ritual, and Memory in the Modern South, inspired the panel discussion— “Changing the Narrative and Telling a More Complete Story”— led by Dr. Roscoe Barnes of Visit Natchez.

Reading these books lays a sound foundation or awareness on how to start such a process which could positively address some of the steps toward racial reconciliation and gender equality in our communities. Please take a moment to read them. To quote Kathleen Bond of the Natchez National Historical Park Service, “The mission is to preserve and tell the stories of all the ‘peoples of Natchez,’ and it is not enough to acknowledge the lavish lifestyles and surviving beautiful architecture of our communities . . . we must dig deeper.”

Behind the Big House explains how historical sites can also serve as sites of intervention by prioritizing the story of enslaved people and providing a new type of roots tourism for that person coming to Natchez in search of an authentic experience in a genuine place. The antebellum homes here in Natchez, many of which include historical outbuildings, can serve as ground zero toward a better understanding of African American history and help us engage in meaningful dialogue about racism and its effects. Heritage tourism involves telling the story of these structures that in many cases are hidden in plain view. Dr. Skipper’s book shows a clear path for shifting the tourism narrative from the lost cause to a narrative that includes the rich stories of the individuals who performed the tasks at these homes, thus filling the gap in the historical narrative of Mississippi history.

In her book, Southern Beauty, Race, Ritual, and Memory in the Modern South, Dr. Boyd attempts to explain why the ideal of the nineteenth-century female has continued to inspire certain gender rituals in the Deep South. Chapters include such topics as college sorority rituals, beauty pageants, garden clubs, the Junior League, and a chapter on the Natchez Historical Tableaux. She asks some tough questions of the reader by presenting research on certain gender rituals in the American South which continue to define many of us. Do these rituals serve to perpetuate racism, sexism, and classism?

Reading this book had me examining myself. Do I still “do” white southern womanhood? Born in the 1960s, I was encouraged to participate in all these white, southern female traditions down to the Little Miss Pageant held across the Mississippi River at Ferriday (Louisiana) High School. The memory is vague because I was five years old, but recollection of walking across the stage in my uncomfortable patent leather Mary Janes and holding a red rubber ball in sportswear is still clear. I did not win; and as a child, I wondered what was wrong with me. Reading this book has inspired me to reflect both on my cheerleader days and on my adult life when at times I not only enjoyed some of these activities but also led them as president. As I have aged, they do not appeal to me as much anymore.

These books have inspired me to take a closer look at the place I call home and to see how my thinking has changed, to recognize there is much work to be done, and to continue to update the scripts both personally and professionally with the work I do for this community.