Carrollton, Mississippi: The 1886 Courthouse Massacre That History Forgot

January 1886, Carrollton, Mississippi, a Saturday afternoon. Two brothers are hauling jugs of molasses from a wagon into a saloon. Heavy earthenware vessels, maybe 20 pounds each, slick with condensation. Ed and Charlie Brown, part African American, part Native American, working men making a delivery. The doorways narrow, someone's coming out as they're going in. Bodies shift, a jug tilts, and thick brown molasses drips down a white man's sleeve. The brothers stop, apologize.

TIMELINE
1834: Founded in 1834 and named for Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Maryland.
1860: By 1860, just before the Civil War, the county's population was about 22,000 people.
1865: Between 1865 and 1950, historians suggest there were dozens of mass racial terror events in the American South.
1880: By 1880, Carroll County was still roughly 56% black.
2019: In 2019, Mississippi Freedom Trail installed a historical marker on the courthouse square.

WHY THIS MATTERS
The story of Carrollton is a reminder that the events that shaped America didn't always happen in the biggest cities. What unfolded here left marks on the community that are still visible today. The full story is more complicated, and more human, than the version most people know.

Episode 198 | Hometown History | Hosted by Shane Waters

Hometown History explores forgotten stories from small-town America. The overlooked events, hidden triumphs, and buried tragedies that shaped the country we live in. New episodes every Tuesday. Find every episode at mythsandmalice.com/hometown-history

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