The barber of Natchez, William Johnson

February 7, 2013

I really enjoyed this National Historic Park about the life of William Johnson and his family. Known as the “barber” of Natchez, Johnson began his life as a slave. His freedom at age eleven followed that of his mother, a mulatto slave woman. William was emancipated by his white slave owner, also named William Johnson, who is presumed to be his father.

After working as an apprentice to his brother–in-law, Johnson bought the barber shop in 1830 for three hundred dollars and taught the trade to free black boys. Shortly afterward he began to keep a diary. The diary was a mainstay in Johnson’s life until his death in 1851.

Johnson eventually owned three barbershops and a bath house in the city. He employed free blacks and he owned slaves. Slave ownership was a signal of economic and social status.

Little in Johnson's diary provides his thoughts about slavery or race. An exception is a young, alcoholic slave, "poor Steven", who caused Johnson trouble. "I got up this morning early and took Steven with me down to the Ferry Boat and gave him up to the Overseer of Young & Cannon... I felt hurt but Liquor is the Cause of his troubles." January 1, 1844

This pamphlet was found in William Johnson's library.

 

In 1851 Johnson was ambushed and shot in the back by his neighbor, Baylor Winn. Prior to his death the next morning, Johnson identified the murderer. Under Mississippi law, a black man, slave or free, could not testify in court against a white man, and the only witnesses to the crime were Johnson's son, a slave, and a mulatto boy. Winn was jailed but then freed two years after the crime.

After that visit, I drove outside of town to the site of the second largest 19th century slave market in the USA (after New Orleans). The Ranger at Melrose said that this site will be developed in the future.