About Us

Our Mission

Scott Ford House, Inc., is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization established in 1995. We are dedicated to restoring and operating the site as the Scott Ford House museum complex (two houses, wash house, chicken coop and gardens) in the Farish Street Historic District.

Located at 136 and 138 East Cohea Street in Jackson, Mississippi, a descendant of the houses’ original owners, Mrs. Dorothy Dobbins (daughter of Lula Ford) donated the houses to Scott Ford House, Inc., in 1996.

We envision preserving, interpreting and presenting these landmarks as catalysts for a dynamic tourist experience in the District. We are dedicated to the complete restoration and maintenance of the properties, chronicling the accomplishments and contributions of Mississippi midwives to the health care of African Americans, and telling the story of the Civil Rights struggle in the Farish Street neighborhood. 

During the past three years, Scott Ford House, Inc. has presented the following interpretative projects:  

  1. Five Mississippi Humanities Council funded midwife public forums;
  2. Three Greater Jackson Arts Alliance sponsored neighborhood folk festivals; and
  3. A Gospel Explosion Fund Raiser
  4. In 2019, Scott Ford House, Inc., is planning the following events:

Downtown Gospel Explosion honoring African American judges. March 23

Scott Ford House Folk Festival. October 12

Our goals include hiring professional museum staff to oversee, collect and curate displays and artifacts. After restoration the Scott Ford Houses will tell untold stories using multimedia projects to be publicized in mailings, brochures, website and social media. The projects include:   

  • A major interactive video and exhibit of the Mississippi midwife story from l00 oral histories already collected, and including the impact of Civil Rights legislation;
  • Oral histories of mid-wife memories during the Civil Rights Era in the Farish Street Historic District;
  • A taped walking tour from Lula Ford’s front porch through the historic neighborhood to Collins Funeral Home where she worked. In 1963, slain civil rights icon Medgar Ever’s funeral recessional route started at the Masonic Temple on John Roy Lynch Street and ended at Collins from where his body went to Arlington National Cemetery for burial. The recessional sparked a street riot;
  • Interactive display and recording of Lula Ford’s “memory” of the May 31, 1963 student march ending with students being arrested and loaded into garbage trucks;                          

Scott Ford House, Inc. Photos

Dr. Freda Bush (with mic) shares stories of her midwife experience at the 2016 Folk Festival.
Faye Harmon (in pink) shows her handmade quilts to a participant at the 2016 Folk Festival at the Scott Ford Houses on East Cohea Street.
Among the five public educational programs funded by the Mississippi Humanities Council was the September 17, 2016 program honoring Nurse Midwife Minta Uzodinma, who was Director of the Nurse Midwifery Education Program at the University of Mississippi. That same day the first of three interpretative folk festivals were held in the street in front of the houses.
Dr. Ivory Phillips and Mr. Lee Bush at the 2016 Scott Ford House Folk Festival.
Blues and jazz singer Amanda Bradley performs at the 2016 Scott Ford House Folk Festival.
Johnnie Mae Maberry, Associate Professor of Art at Tougaloo College, begins a painting honoring Mississippi midwives at 136 E. Cohea Street, September 2018.