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About
Scott Ford Houses, Inc. is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving, interpreting, and activating one of Mississippi’s most significant African American historic sites. Located in Jackson’s Farish Street Historic District, the Scott Ford Houses are rare surviving examples of Black women’s leadership, caregiving labor, and property ownership in the post-Emancipation South.
The organization stewards the historic homes at 136 and 138 East Cohea Street, built between 1891 and 1892 by Mary Green Scott, a formerly enslaved woman, and later home to her daughter Virginia Scott Ford, a respected community midwife. Together, these women transformed their homes into places of care, survival, and community trust during an era when Black families were excluded from political power, economic opportunity, and formal healthcare systems.
A Site of Care, Not Just a House
The Scott Ford Houses were not simply domestic spaces. They were sites of care: places where babies were delivered, women’s knowledge was practiced, and families were supported across generations. Virginia Scott Ford was part of a long tradition of African American “granny midwives” who provided essential maternal and reproductive healthcare when hospitals and physicians refused to serve Black communities.
Preserving the Scott Ford Houses means preserving the history of Black women’s caregiving labor and recognizing its foundational role in Mississippi’s social, cultural, and health history. The organization approaches preservation not as nostalgia, but as a living practice tied to education, public dialogue, and health equity.
Stewardship and Dr. Alferdteen Brown Harrison’s Legacy
The survival of the Scott Ford Houses is inseparable from the work of Dr. Alferdteen Brown Harrison, a distinguished historian, cultural leader, and advocate for African American history in Mississippi.
Dr. Harrison, a former director of the Margaret Walker Alexander Center at Jackson State University and co-founder of the Smith Robertson Museum and Cultural Center, Mississippi’s first museum dedicated to African American history, recognized the extraordinary significance of the Scott Ford Houses at a moment when they were at risk of being lost.
She championed the site as a place where Black women’s history, midwifery, property ownership, and community care intersect, and helped ensure that both the structures and their contents were preserved. Scott Ford Houses, Inc. continues its work in the spirit of her vision: centering Black women’s knowledge, honoring everyday labor, and refusing erasure.
What We Do Today
Scott Ford Houses, Inc. works at the intersection of historic preservation, public history, education, and community engagement. Current and ongoing initiatives include:
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Preservation planning and stabilization of the Scott Ford Houses
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The Granny Midwives Oral History Project, documenting statewide memories of midwifery
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Public programs, story circles, and intergenerational gatherings
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Museum exhibitions, including a permanent installation at the Smith Robertson Museum and Cultural Center
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Digital archiving and educational partnerships
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Long-term planning for a Midwives’ Heritage Campus
Together, this work treats history as an active resource, one that informs present-day conversations about care, health, and justice.
Governance and Leadership
Scott Ford Houses, Inc. is governed by a Board of Directors committed to preservation, accountability, and community stewardship. The board brings together expertise in history, education, cultural leadership, public service, and community advocacy.
The organization works in close partnership with institutions including Jackson State University, the Smith Robertson Museum and Cultural Center, and national funders and collaborators supporting preservation, health equity, and public memory.
Board Members
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Connie Little, President; Chair, Property Committee
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Earlene Wheeler, Treasurer; Chair, Bylaws Committee
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Doris Sirgew, Secretary
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Detrice L. Roberts, Corresponding Secretary; Chair, Public Program, Advisory & Research Committee
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Geraldine Bender, Chair, Budget Committee
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Ada Miller-Robinson, Chair, Fundraising Committee
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Heather A. Denne’
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James M. Lott III
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Ann Moore
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Earline Strickland
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Darius U. Williams