History :

Historic excavations of what is today Wilcox County, Alabama indicates that the area has been occupied by indigenous groups of people since pre-historic eras. Other evidence demonstrates that Native Americans had extensive communications with the first Europeans that came to the area. The Native populations later fell under attack. By the end of the 1814 Creek Wars, most of the original inhabitants were killed or captured. European settlements began to replace the Native American villages along the Alabama River.

Wilcox County was named for Lieutenant Joseph M. Wilcox, a graduate in 1812 of the United States Military Academy at West Point. Wilcox was named First Lieutenant in the 3rd Infantry and was dispatched to the territories in the South.

Ancient Slave burial grounds are located on the Alabama River at the Millers Plantation and at a location called the Slaughter Field in the Coy section of Wilcox County. The Millers place was among the last to have slaves in Wilcox County and many of the Sharecroppers who remained on the Miller's Place post-slavery still live in various communities in the County today. The Slaughter Field was where unruly slaves were taken and publicly slaughtered in front of others slaves as a way of instilling fear and submission. Mass un-marked graves were dug and the Slaughter Field later became the public Negro cemetery in the late 1870's.

Later the Colored farmers of Gee's Bend became a serious force in the Civil Rights struggle of Wilcox County. The economy of Wilcox County had dwindled with the collapse of the cotton industry and Whites were desperate to hold on to power and the segregation laws that were known as Jim Crow. To date, the "Colored Only" fountain remains outside of the Historic Courthouse in Wilcox County (1859). The sign that used to hang from the fountain is likely to be tucked away in an old cabinet. According to many African Americans who were interviewed during this research, that water pipe was one of the only places for a Colored person to drink in Camden. Whites would often let their dogs drink from the Colored fountain as well.

Most of the Colored civil rights supporters from the Gee's Bend area lead the movement since the threats of being evicted off of White landowner's land did nothing to harm them. To prevent the Gee's Bend freedom fighters from being able to reach Camden, the then Camden City Judge, ordered that the river ferry that the people in Gee's Bend used to cross the water be sent to Monroe County. That same ferry is still in Monroe County today and is still operational. Sending the ferry to Monroe County effectively removed the Colored landowners from the Gee's Bend Community from the boycotts, protests and other demonstration of the Civil Rights movement.