Mississippi Freedom Trail Marker – Natchez NAACP Headquarters

This house at 9 St. Catherine St., Natchez, Mississippi, was the home of Dr. John Bowman Banks (1862-1911), Natchez’s first black physician. During the 1960s, the house served as the headquarters for the Natchez branch of the NAACP.  It also served as a boarding house where NAACP President George Metcalfe (1911-1989) resided. Members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) briefly stayed at the house and referred to it as the “Metcalfe Boarding House.” Today it is the site of Natchez’s first Mississippi Freedom Trail marker, which was unveiled in April 2023. Metcalfe survived an assassination attempt in August 1965 when his car was bombed by members of the Ku Klux Klan.