T. J. Huddleston Sr. facts for kids

Thomas Jefferson Huddleston Sr. (born June 1, 1876 – died October 1959) was a very important African American businessman and community leader in Mississippi. He owned many funeral homes. He was the grandfather of Mike Espy, who used to be the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, and Henry Espy, who was the mayor of Clarksdale, Mississippi. He was also the great-grandfather of Chuck Espy, the current mayor of Clarksdale.

His son, Leon Finney Sr., started a famous barbecue chain in Chicago. Leon Finney Jr., who was a well-known minister and leader in Chicago, was T.J. Huddleston Sr.'s grandson. The families in Chicago and Mississippi still have strong connections, especially in politics.

Early Life and Work

T. J. Huddleston Sr. was born on June 1, 1876. He grew up to become a successful businessman.

In 1924, Huddleston started a special group called the Afro-American Sons and Daughters in Yazoo City, Mississippi. This was a fraternal organization, which means it was a group of people who joined together to help each other, especially with health care and community support.

Four years later, in 1928, he built and ran the Afro-American Hospital in Yazoo City. This hospital was very important because it was the first hospital in Mississippi owned and operated by Black people.

During the Great Depression, a time in the 1930s when many people lost their jobs and money, T.J. Huddleston Sr. helped others. He loaned a large sum of money, $50,000, to the Mississippi General Baptist Convention. This loan saved the organization from going bankrupt.

Huddleston had several children with his wife, Patience, including:

• Carrie Huddleston
• Fontaine Huddleston
• Ethel Huddleston
• Lula Huddleston
• Thomas Jefferson Huddleston Jr. (born March 2, 1909 – died May 10, 1990)
• Toledo Huddleston
• Willie Jean Huddleston (born October 22, 1914 – died September 1985), who was the mother of Mike Espy.

He also had a child named Blanche Huddleston with Georgiana Colvin, and a child named Christopher Columbus Huddleston (born April 18, 1896 – died December 12, 1982) with Jennie Parker.

The Afro-American Sons and Daughters Hospital

During a time called "Jim Crow," there were laws that separated Black and white people and made it hard for Black people to get good health care. For almost 40 years, the Afro-American Hospital in Yazoo City was a main place for Black people in the Mississippi Delta to get medical help.

The hospital was started in 1928 by the Afro-American Sons and Daughters, the group T.J. Huddleston Sr. founded. It offered many different medical services. This group eventually grew to have 35,000 members. T.J. Huddleston, a successful Black businessman, believed in helping his community stand on its own feet.

The hospital was known for having a low death rate compared to other hospitals that served Black people in the South during that time. It stopped operating as a fraternal hospital in 1966. This happened because new rules made things harder, and people started having other choices for health care. Also, many younger Black people moved away to the North.

Restoring the Hospital Building

The hospital building closed completely in 1972. After that, the building sat empty and started to fall apart in Yazoo City. But for 60 years, it was a very busy place, helping the Black community. It was the first hospital for African Americans in Mississippi when it was built. Before it opened, there were no health care places that Black people could easily use. T.J. Huddleston Sr. changed that in 1928.

Mike Espy, T.J. Huddleston Sr.'s grandson, explained that his grandfather was a very important person. At one point, he owned more land than any other Black person in Mississippi. But he always wanted to help people. So, he started the Afro-American Sons and Daughters Grand Lodge. Mike Espy shared that his grandfather said, "I'm tired of our women having our babies in cotton fields, and we need to build us a hospital. Give me a dollar for a brick and I'll build us a hospital."

If you were a member of the organization and paid 50 cents a month, you could get any care the hospital offered. Over 30,000 operations were done there, and countless babies were born. People finally had a safe place to go for medical help and were not helpless when they needed hospital care.

In the 1960s, new civil rights laws meant that anyone could go to any hospital for treatment. This made the Afro-American Hospital less needed. However, a new group called the Afro-American Sons and Daughters Hospital Association is now trying to raise over a million and a half dollars. Their goal is to fix up the old building and turn it into a museum, a day care center, and maybe even a small clinic for out-patient care.