The members of the Browning community are what make it a special place to reside, according to Reginald Moore, a lifelong resident of Browning and president of the Leflore County Board of Supervisors.
“The people — that’s what’s most important; that’s the thing that I love about this community,” said Moore, a member of the Browning Progressive Civic League.
The annual celebration of the community and its residents will be held Monday.
The Robert E. Moore Labor Day Festival is sponsored by the Browning Progressive Civic League and the Leflore County Board of Supervisors.
In 2019, the Labor Day festival was named after the late District 2 supervisor and Reginald Moore’s father. Robert E. Moore was a lifelong resident of Browning and served as a county supervisor for almost 30 years.
Similar to last year, the 2021 festival will be modified.
“For this year’s Labor Day, unfortunately, we are not able to give the community and the surrounding communities the full effect,” said Niqua Graham, president of the Browning Progressive Civic League. “Due to the spike in numbers of COVID-19, we want to be extremely careful for families and children, especially those children who can’t get vaccinated due to their age.”
The Labor Day festival will kick off at 10 a.m. Monday with a parade.
“We’ll start at Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church,” said Graham.
The parade will be led by Leflore County supervisors, constables and other officials. Anyone can join the parade, which will travel through the Browning community.
Following the parade, a fish plate giveaway will be held. The fish plates are free to the public and will be available at the Browning park. The fish plates will be given away on a first-come, first-served basis until all are gone. The plates will include fish, french fries and hushpuppies.
“It’s not what people are accustomed to nor is it what we’re accustomed to, but we still want to let them know that the Labor Day festival still exists,” said Graham.
Prior to the event, the Labor Day festivities will begin at 4 p.m. Sunday at Morning Star M.B. Church. A Founders Day program will be held featuring speaker the Rev. Olivia Herron Booker.
“She will bring the message, and she is also a member of the Browning community,” said Graham.
The event is also a way “to let the community know the Browning Progressive Civic League is still here,” said Graham. “We’re still in full effect. We are growing in numbers.”
Members of the Browning community who are interested in becoming a member of the league are invited to attend the event to learn more information.
“We would also like to extend an invitation for new members to come out, who are in the Browning community or other areas, and learn our history and learn what we are all about,” said Graham. “We would like for people of the Browning community to come out, to fellowship with us and become a part of our organization.”
Graham added that those participating in the event will be practicing social distancing and wearing masks.
The Labor Day festival also serves as a way to keep the community’s identity alive.
The Browning community was formed over several years shortly after the Civil War. Extending from Mississippi 7 to the edge of Carroll County, Browning is one of the oldest historically African American communities in the area. About 90% of its first occupants were landowners. Most of its residents now are descendants of the community’s founders.
Upon its settlement, Browning was on the western edge of then Carroll County, bordered on the north by Big Sand Creek, lying in the basin of Pelucia Creek. African American families bought land in Browning and took on the task of developing a community out of a cypress and willow swamp infested with mosquitos, lamprey eels and poisonous snakes.
“Our families have been settled here since 1898,” said Reginald Moore, whose great-great-grandfather settled in Browning in the late 1890s and was one of the community’s first occupants. “You’re talking about well over 100 years of residing in the Browning community and developing the community.”
By the 1920s, the community included Browning School, a post office and an artesian well that allowed access to drinking water.
The Browning Progressive Civic League was later established in 1976 to keep the community thriving after the Browning Vocational School was closed and students began attending school on the Amanda Elzy campus.
After the closure of the Browning school, which was a vital part of the community, it was important to the residents of Browning to keep their community going. Along with the formation of the Civic League, the annual Labor Day festival, which became open to the public in 1990, was a way to keep the community together.
One of the Labor Day festivals in the 1990s celebrated the re-dedication of the community’s artesian well. The well continues to run and is located across from the park on Browning Road.
The Browning Progressive Civic League charter members include Claudine Brown, Thelma Sims, the late Georgia Moore and the late Laura Graham.
What Niqua Graham said she enjoys most about being part of the Browning community is, “We’re able to see from whence we came up to present day.
“We’re able to see what our foremothers set in place and where they brought us to, to where we are now.”
No longer swamp land, Browning is now comprised of scenic views and many families who are proud to call the historic community their home.
Browning remains a close-knit community today, continuing the sense of togetherness that was established in the 1890s.
Charles Moore, a member of the Browning Progressive Civic League, holds up a sign for the Robert E. Moore Labor Day Festival, which was named after his brother, the late Robert E. Moore. He is standing at the Browning artesian well.
“We’re mostly on one page,” said Charles Moore, the brother of the late Robert E. Moore and a member of the Browning Progressive Civic League. “You have a degree of unity that’s already pretty well in place that you don’t have to work at.”
The Browning Progressive Civic League is selling bricks to be placed around the artesian well. Anyone interested in purchasing a brick should call Kathleen Graham at 662-453-0311 by Sept. 15.
- Contact Ruthie Robison at 581-7235 or rrobison@gwcommonwealth.com.
COMING UP
What: The Browning community’s annual Labor Day festival will be held.
When: A parade will begin at 10 a.m. and a fish plate giveaway will follow.
Where: Browning Park
Details: This event is being sponsored by the Browning Progressive Civic League and the Leflore County Board of Supervisors.
