In the 1940s, Simmons controlled approxmately 270 acres or more of debt-free land, some of which had been owned by the family since 1887. He and other relatives farmed the property and lived on it in relative peace.
In 1941, rumors about oil spread across Southwest Mississippi, and a few white men, thinking there might be oil on it, began to make claims on the Simmons land.
Concerned that his family might lose the property, Simmons contacted an attorney. A few weeks after he hired the lawyer, two men approached Simmons and ordered him to stop cutting timber on his property.
The men also wanted the medicinal formula that Simmons, who served as the local medicine man, had created to treat a livestock disease. Simmons refused to comply with the men.
A few weeks later a group of six men dragged Simmons from his home, beat him and then shot him to death.
According to Simmons' son, who was abducted and beaten at the same time but survived, the men called Simmons a "smart n——r" because he had consulted a lawyer.
They drove both Simmons men further onto the property and ordered Rev. Simmons out of the car, then killed him brutally-shooting him 3 times and cutting out his tongue. The men let Eldridge Simmons go, but told him he and his relatives had ten days to abandon the family property.
•••
En los 1940, el reverendo Simmons controlaba aproximadamente doscientos setenta hectáreas de tierra o más. La mayoría de estas le pertenecían a su familia desde el año 1887.
En 1941, comenzaron los rumores de que había petróleo esparcido en el suroeste de Mississippi y unos hombres blancos comenzaron a reclamar la tierra de los Simmons.
Simmons se contactó con un abogado, ya que le preocupaba que su familia perdiera la propiedad. Un par de semanas después de que contratara al abogado, dos hombres se le acercaron y le ordenaron que dejara de cortar madera en la propiedad.
Los hombres también querían la fórmula medicinal que Simmons creó para tratar las enfermedades de los animales. Él se rehusó a cumplir lo exigido.
Un par de semanas después, un grupo de seis hombres arrastró a Simmons fuera de su casa, lo golpearon y le dispararon.
De acuerdo con el hijo de Simmons, quién había sido secuestrado y golpeado al mismo tiempo pero sobrevivió, los hombres llamaron a Simmons un “negro inteligente” porque había consultado a un abogado.
Llevaron a ambos hombres más adentro de la propiedad y le ordenaron al Reverendo Simmons que saliera del auto, luego lo mataron brutalmente, disparándole tres veces y le cortaron la lengua. Los hombres dejaron que Eldridge Simmons se fuera pero le dijeron que él y sus familiares tenían diez días para abandonar la propiedad familiar.
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The Great Flood of 1924 or 1927?aka, a bored trivia post
s1e05 has become the boogeyman of this fanbase for events that largely occur toward the very end of it, but the flood that leads to claudia’s makeshift burials being exposed is very fascinating in terms of chronology. it speaks to how amc iwtv only slightly shifts around history to situate its immortal characters deeply within the environment of a city thats largely viewed by many, including the source material itself, as an ahistorical pleasure garden with no past or present worth caring about.
from @diasdelfuego’s s1 timeline, we have already seen an example of how the show moves with its environment, altering the release date/place of jelly roll morton’s wolverine blues from 1923 indiana to 1917 new orleans [and it be a record the fictional lestat played a role in creating — lestat aiding in a notorious trickster’s story, one of the most oblique lies on louis’s end to make lestat look more sympathetic or one of the funniest historical movearounds on the showrunners’ end, who knows].
this great flood that brings the living situation in rue royale to a head for claudia is another one of them. when lestat and louis read claudia’s diaries, they discover how shes kept careful record of the people shes buried, killed, and mutilated. they interrogate her to ask where the bodies are, and only toward the end of the confrontation does she reveal where she buried them all.
LOUIS: Where are the bodies?
CLAUDIA: Chalmette. Now get out of my room!
LOUIS: Chalmette's three feet below the river line—
CLAUDIA: So what, get out of my room!
LOUIS: What happens when the next storm comes out the Gulf?
and sequenced near immediately, in classic amc iwtv didactic fashion, the next storm comes out the gulf and unburies the bodies claudia buried on very low-lying ground.
now, temporarily exiting the show and into reality, the true flood of southern louisiana in this period occurred in 1927, when the missisippi river valley experienced heavy rainfall.
where disaster stops, and where segregationist city engineers enter, is that bankers and business leaders in new orleans lobbied the governor to intentionally broke the levee outside of new orleans proper, and so he did, ensuring that the city itself would not be flooded, but flooded out much of the low-lying areas in st. bernard parish. remember chalmette? it is in st. bernard parish.
the subsequent conversation lestat + louis have with tom anderson confirm this even more, with tom describing the number of bodies, the 56 ‘floaters’ from the ninth ward [a neighborhood in new orleans that borders chalmette], all people who have been mutilated in some fashion.
tom anderson notes this as well:
Most of the poor fools they hooked out of the bayou are former inhabitants of the Quarter, so don't be too startled if the police come knockin' on your door.
indicating that most of the people claudia killed, mutilated, and buried there were the wealthy, white neighbors of the rue royale mansion and not residents of low-lying parishes that were seen as fodder by the state of louisiana. now why didnt lestat, who was able to hypnotize an entire room of soldiers in episode 3, hypnotize the 3-4 officers that came to inspect their mansion? questions, questions… (that have very obvious answers but are secondary to this post)
referring back to the s1 timeline linked, this great flood of 1927 was either moved up to 1924, matching the decision to move up + alter the creation of the wolverine blues in episode 3 for narrative reasons, and/or refers to the odyssey of recollection, aka., how keeping exact dates and recalling the numerous historical events u have lived under after 145 or so years of misery become difficult. this post is just a fun little trivia bit + something i found to be interesting
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Harringrove- The Book
Made the second chapter for the @harringrovestorychallenge
Here you can find the first chapter
tw: blood, injuries
CHAPTER 2
Billy opened his eyes, driving back from sleep by an ache in his shoulder.
He also felt the dull pain on his face and back, for his father’s hits, and the dry tears on his face.
He indulged a little in the snuggle on Steve’s chest, and then he started hearing the life noises in the house.
“Harrington,” he whispered, shaking him a little.
Steve started protesting. Billy shushed him
“Quiet, Harrington,” he closed his mouth with a hand. “You have to go,” he kept whispering with urgency.
Steve blinked, confused. He hugged a crying Billy last night, watching him falling asleep, and finally he let the sleep win on himself too and fell asleep holding Billy.
“Go away, quick!” said Billy again, more agitated. He cocked an ear again to the house and breathed frantically. “If he finds you here… if he sees your car…” he whimpered, a point of fear in his voice.
Steve collected his shoes. “He does it… often?” he stupidly asked, and Billy’s face crumbled when he nodded.
“He likes to… check his work,” he said again, hopelessly.
Steve couldn’t find something else to say. He climbed the window, but before jumping he leant to kiss Billy again.
Billy pecked him and smiled.
“Can I call you? To see you later,” whispered Steve. Billy shook his head.
“No… but you can call Hagan. I… sort of hung out with him later. At the arcade, maybe”.
Steve sighed. “Tommy and I aren’t friends anymore, but… I’ll figure it out”.
Billy nodded and Steve jumped off the window in the still dawn air, running to his car. He saw Billy turn back and close the window.
His heart sank while he went away, while a sharp fury and a hot rage were growing into him.
He planned to swallow his pride and call Tommy Hagan, but luckily he had not to. Lucas called him to drive the party to the arcade, naming Max among other things, so he agreed to drive them to the Palace.
Billy, Tommy and Carol were already there, casually chatting, and sat on a bench in the parking lot.
“You in for the movie tonight?” said Carol, chewing her gum. Popping.
“‘M kind of grounded,” muttered Billy. “Except for driving shitbird,” he sighed, and whatever Tommy was about to say, died on his tongue as he saw the Beamer parking slowly at the other side of the lot, after passing slowly in front of them. He was sure Harrington glanced at them before stopping.
Billy gulped, unnoticed by the other two, when the kids stormed out of the car, and Steve came out too looking casually around, fidgeting nonchalantly with something, and then, as he was doing it all the time, he walked to them, lighty waving a hand. He was playing cool, but Billy’s heart started to run wildly when he looked furtively and saw him chewing his lips nervously. Tommy muttered something.
“Hagan. Carol,” he tilted his head, without answers. “Hargrove,” his voice pitched a little higher. “Do you have light?”
Tommy and Carol, a cig hanging on their lips, didn’t move. Billy forced himself to count three Missisippis before waving his Zippo in front of him.
“... and a cig?” added Steve, trying without success to unlock his eyes from Billy’s. Billy scoffed and took his packet, giving him one.
“Fuck, it’s the last,” he complained, ligthing it for Steve. He took a drag.
“I’ll buy you more,” Steve tilted his head to the store, and Billy jumped up.
“Will be better,” and he followed him through the park.
He felt the sting of Tommy's glance on his shoulders, but didn’t look back. He tried to avoid looking at Steve, though.
“Wanna kiss you,” Steve whispered when they were alone.
“Don’t”.
“Wanna hold your hand,” insisted Steve.
“Don’t,” Billy blushed a little and smiled at him, clinching his hand. He fucked up all the discretion and looked him in the face.
Steve bought the cigs. “Movie tonight?” he tilted to the Family video.
“I’m kind of grounded,” he repeated and sighed, sinking his hands in his pockets.
Steve sighed too. “He… did something again…?”
Billy shook his head. “Don’t wanna talk about it now”.
Steve stared at the scratches Billy had on his hands, because he didn’t want to risk staring at his very face, and felt again the fury and the rage.
“Take the bat,” he whispered.
“What?”
“I have a… a nailed bat in the trunk,” Billy raised an eyebrow really suddenly, but Steve waved a hand. “Long story. I’ll tell you another time,” and then he moved again to Tommy and Carol.
He tried to be natural, and Billy too, but it wasn’t easy. When they finally went away and the kids started to come out of the arcade, Steve hid the bat in the trunk of a baffled Billy, grabbing his hand with a soft glance.
They tried to be discreet at school. Only talking casually in public, coldly, and fighting in the court. Kissing and touching and taking off clothes in their car after school.
“I’ll have house free this weekend,” said Steve next Thursday, cuddling under the blanket in Billy’s car. They’re freezing their ass and couldn’t properly snuggle anymore in the car. They couldn’t even be completely nude that week.
Billy whined for pleasure and expectancy.
“You’re in for the movie tonight?” Hagan stopped him in the desert hallway, a half grin on the face.
Billy jumped a little, surprised. He blinked trying to think of a good excuse.
“Or you’re still grounded?” continued Tommy. Billy started to nod, relieved. “With the cute ass you’re fooling around?”
Billy’s heart skipped a beat. They had been suble, cautious… he panicked and couldn’t hide his pale look to Tommy.
“Don’t worry,” said Tommy, nodding lightly.
“How do you…”
“Come on, dude. You two are going away together from Tina’s, Steve appeared from nowhere around us and you two are chirping like love birds all week… we first thought you two fistfighted, but it was pretty clear that you have another kind of fight”.
Billy blushed furiously.
“But don’t worry. I knew you’re not really into bitches. I wouldn’t bet on Harrington, but he’s hot. Count on me for anything”. Tommy smirked, blinked an eye and went away to Carol. Billy had to lean a little to the wall, sweating and breathing heavily.
Steve looked out the window. The sky was gray and heavy with rain, and Billy was already a little late. He had popcorn and some treats, some movies, a blanket on the sofa, and he changed the sheet on his bed, he shaved and combed his hair and put a new polo and his best jeans on. He was nervous, and he kept looking at his watch.
He heard the noise of the car screeching while it started raining. He jumped at the door as he saw the car coming at a crazy speed and almost crashing against the wall with a terrible brake noise. It was dented and broken on the front, and Billy crawled to the open door wielding the bat, covered in blood.
He had half of his jacket ripped, his hair glued for sweat and blood, his face also covered in blood, and the tears he was crying made a clean path on his cheeks.
“I… I tried to… I had to… I don’t know… I don’t know…”, he whispered frantically, before collapsing in his arms, whining and staining him with blood too.
The howling broke the silence, while the rain soaked them, in the cold, freezing wind.
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