William Henderson Foote (Yazoo County)
State House: 1870-1871
Born: June 27, 1843 in Alabama
Died: December 29, 1883 in Yazoo City, MS
Born free to David & Millie Foote of Vicksburg and is listed with his parents and many siblings on the 1850 census. Attended Wilberforce University in Ohio from 1859-1860. Foote appeared on the 1865 census of Boston, working as a barber. He was advertising a barbershop in Vicksburg by 1866. Also served as a constable, circuit clerk, and tax collector. Recorded on the 1870 census of Yazoo County with the occupation “legislator,” with wife Mattie and two children. On the 1880 census, William, Mattie, and three children are listed at 243 Washington St. in Yazoo City.
In 1880, Foote was appointed to be the deputy collector of revenue from liquor sales. On Christmas Eve of 1883, Foote fired a warning shot during a street brawl between drunken white and Black men. Three white men were killed, and Foote and several other Black men were accused of inciting the violence and were locked in the city jail to await trial. A mob broke into the jail on December 29 to lynch the prisoners. Foote was shot to death, and the other three men were hanged. This newspaper account describes the events of the night in detail (contains graphic violence). Foote’s name was added to the ATF Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C. in 2012, with several of his descendants and their families present.
Albert T. Morgan would later describe Foote: “He went everywhere – into the most violent and blood-thirsty crowds of whites – with head erect, brave words of cheer for friends, and only defiance for enemies” (Yazoo: Or, on the Picket Line of Freedom, 1884).
Foote’s daughter, Mattie (1877-1960), married Levi J. Rowan, the future president of Alcorn University. Mattie Foote Rowan was one of the organizers and leaders of the Mississippi Federation of Colored Women Clubs.
Links:
Memorial on Find A Grave
ATF: A Buried Injustice
Video: The William Henderson Foote Story
The Rowan photograph collection at Jackson State
Find A Grave memorial for Mattie Foote Rowan
This page was last updated on May 18, 2026.