Jeremiah M. P. Williams

Jeremiah M. P. Williams (Adams County)

State Senate: 1870-1874, 1878-1880

Died: June 24, 1884 in Minorville, MS

Baptist minister, formerly enslaved.

“In a widely circulated speech in 1871, State Senator Jeremiah M. P. Williams addressed the conflicting themes of factionalism, democracy, and black office holding. He warned of the growing power of the southern Democratic Party and implored his fellow citizens in Natchez to remain ‘true to one another.'”
(Justin Behrend, Reconstructing Democracy: Grassroots Black Politics in the Deep South after the Civil War, 2015)

Signature of Jeremiah M. P. Williams
Signature of Jeremiah M. P. Williams from an 1871 petition supporting Blanche K. Bruce as a trustee of Alcorn University
Weekly Mississippi Pilot, May 7, 1870
Vicksburg Daily Times, July 16, 1870
Petition to support Blanche K. Bruce as a trustee of Alcorn University
Petition supporting B. K. Bruce, May 13, 1871
Letter from J. M. P. Williams to Governor Alcorn, June 8, 1871
Letter to Governor Alcorn, June 8, 1871
Letter to Governor Powers, June 3, 1872
Letter to Governor Powers, June 3, 1872
Petition signed by 8 legislators, Mar 21, 1874
Petition of legislators, Mar 21, 1874
Vicksburg Herald, July 31, 1875
Weekly Democrat-Times, June 24, 1876
Natchez Democrat, June 25, 1884