Derrick Evans has spent the past two decades fighting to preserve historic buildings in Turkey Creek, Mississippi, a historically Black community that has been slowly erased by disaster and development.
BY NATE BERG7 MINUTE READ
When Derrick Evans paid $10,000 for a dilapidated, sinking house in Turkey Creek, Mississippi, he thought it was a modestly affordable way to help stop some of the loss in his hometown. A historically Black settlement founded in 1866 by formerly enslaved people, Turkey Creek had slowly seen its heritage watered down—by annexation into the nearby city of Gulfport, by redevelopment, and by the actual rising water and hurricanes of the Gulf Coast. For Evans, a history teacher who had left Mississippi to teach in Boston, the 2004 purchase was a small way to fight back. He didn’t realize it would set him on a two-decade crusade to preserve the architectural heritage of his community.
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