I’m Sharon Gerald, and I’m an English teacher in Mississippi. I’m also a writer, a photographer, a vegetarian, a cat person, a reader, an introvert, a Scorpio, a believer, a doubter, a dieter, a zombie freak, and an amateur everything. If you want to know more about my interests in any of these things, you might visit some of my other sites. For this site, the main thing that matters is that I’m a Mississippian. Way down deep, for generations back, I am a Mississippian. I was born here. I live here. I work here. My family is here. I am a Mississippian, and as such, I have a great interest in all things Mississippi.

One story that has really struck my fancy is the story of Newt Knight and the Free State of Jones.

I was working in Jones County the first time I heard about this Civil War Era legend in which Jones County supposedly (but not really) seceded from the Confederacy and fought for the Union. That’s the way it was always told to me: “They say Jones County seceded from the Confederacy, but that’s not really what happened.”

This is how legends work, right? They say, but…

The legend centers around a man by the name of Newt Knight. He was a farmer and a Confederate deserter. He is believed to have led a band of deserters from Jones County and Jasper County and the Piney Woods region of Mississippi in a resistance against the Confederacy. He was, by all accounts, a larger-than-life character, the stuff of legends.

They are about to make a move about Newt Knight, which is at least one reason my interest in his story has perked up to the point that I’ve created this site at this particular time.

The movie is Hollywood’s version of the story (or Gary Ross’s to be more specific). I am not privy to Gary Ross’s intentions, but I do know that people in this area generally anticipate that the movie will show us a glamorized, heroic version of Newt in which his story is both an action/adventure war story and an epic romance. In addition to deserting the Confederacy, you see, Newt shacked up with a black woman named Rachel who had been his family’s slave. Some say he loved Rachel, and some say he was just a ne’er-do-well and an old reprobate.

All of this is controversial. I’m aware of that, but I’m not necessarily here to take a side. I’m here to learn and explore and ask questions and consider possibilities.

I eagerly anticipate the movie, while at the same time recognizing that the movie will only present one way of seeing the person of Newt Knight out of many possibilities. I imagine that people will argue against it from many different directions, while the movie itself banks a few hundred million dollars, and wins a few awards. I have no investment in this either way other than the fact that I’m hoping to see a good movie. I’m not working for Gary Ross, and I haven’t been out drinking beer with Matthew McConaughey (who will play Newt in the movie). I’m just a Mississippian with an interest in a topic I’ve lived around for a long time.

I wanted to say that because this is a fan site that I have created in anticipation of this movie coming out. At least, it is in part a fan site. It is also my own personal research site. I plan to use it to explore the story of Newt Knight but also the story of Jones County and Mississippi from the time of Newt Knight to the current day. This is a story with many parts and many ways of seeing each part, and I want to spend some time digging around in all of those puzzle pieces.

I am not a historian. I am an English teacher.

I am not an expert on Newt Knight, though I do plan to become one in the coming year(s). For now I am just a person who is avidly interested in the topic due to being surrounded by it for so long.

I know that in both local circles and in scholarly circles, I am poking a hornet’s nest by choosing to write about this. Whatever people believe about Newt Knight, they tend to believe with religious fervor, and I have personally known both black and white descendents of Newt Knight who all grew up together in segregated towns, so the topic touches on everything that divides our small-town Mississippi culture, and it touches on everything that is violent and divisive about our Southern past.

I happen to think there are a few hornet’s nests that need to be stirred. Bring it on.

Welcome to my project site. I am in the process of building this now for the purpose of exploring my scholarly, personal, and artistic interests in this topic. This blog will be devoted to my research and personal musings. I am connecting it to another blog that is more of an artistic endeavor.

The Free State of Jones and Sharon Gerald is written by me as me.

The Free State of Marley Jones is written by a fictional character of my creation.

Marley Jones (not her real name) is a 21-year-old student living in Hattiesburg, MS. She was raised by her mother, a poet and free spirit, and her grandfather, a Civil War buff and good ole boy. Marley has a Matthew McConaughey obsession, thanks to True Detective, and a whole lot of questions about where she belongs in the world. She is going to tell her story of growing up in Mississippi in serial form on the blog over the course of the next year or so.

This site is an experiment in both scholarship and fiction.

I hope you will visit from time to time to find out what’s going on in The Free State of Sharon Gerald and Marley Jones.