{"id":19725,"date":"2026-08-06T06:37:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T06:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artjournalstg.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=19725"},"modified":"2026-08-04T21:40:44","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T21:40:44","slug":"franks-shoe-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/?p=19725","title":{"rendered":"Frank&#8217;s Shoe Service"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"alignnormal\"><div id=\"metaslider-id-19736\" style=\"max-width: 1000px; margin: 0 auto;\" class=\"ml-slider-3-19-1 ml-slider-pro-2-18-1 metaslider metaslider-flex metaslider-19736 ml-slider ml-slider-lightbox-1-11-3 lightbox-disabled has-thumb-nav\">\n    <div id=\"metaslider_container_19736\">\n        <div id=\"metaslider_19736\" class=\"flexslider\">\n            <ul aria-live=\"polite\" class=\"slides\">\n                <li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1.-Ingram-scaled-150x100.jpg\" style=\"display: block; width: 100%;\" class=\"slide-19737 ms-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1402\" height=\"2560\" src=\"https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1.-Ingram-scaled.jpg\" class=\"slider-19736 slide-19737\" alt=\"\" rel=\"\" title=\"1. Ingram\" style=\"margin: 0 auto; width: 41.07421875%\" srcset=\"https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1.-Ingram-scaled.jpg 1402w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1.-Ingram-274x500.jpg 274w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1.-Ingram-548x1000.jpg 548w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1.-Ingram-110x200.jpg 110w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1.-Ingram-841x1536.jpg 841w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1.-Ingram-1122x2048.jpg 1122w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1.-Ingram-657x1200.jpg 657w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1.-Ingram-560x1023.jpg 560w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1402px) 100vw, 1402px\" \/><\/li>\n                <li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2.-Ingram-scaled-150x100.jpg\" style=\"display: none; width: 100%;\" class=\"slide-19738 ms-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" src=\"https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2.-Ingram-scaled.jpg\" class=\"slider-19736 slide-19738\" alt=\"\" rel=\"\" title=\"2. Ingram\" style=\"margin: 0 auto; width: 100%\" srcset=\"https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2.-Ingram-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2.-Ingram-500x375.jpg 500w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2.-Ingram-1000x750.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2.-Ingram-200x150.jpg 200w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2.-Ingram-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2.-Ingram-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2.-Ingram-720x540.jpg 720w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2.-Ingram-560x420.jpg 560w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><\/li>\n                <li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/3.-Ingram--scaled-150x100.jpg\" style=\"display: none; width: 100%;\" class=\"slide-19739 ms-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1402\" height=\"2560\" src=\"https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/3.-Ingram--scaled.jpg\" class=\"slider-19736 slide-19739\" alt=\"\" rel=\"\" title=\"3. Ingram\" style=\"margin: 0 auto; width: 41.07421875%\" srcset=\"https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/3.-Ingram--scaled.jpg 1402w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/3.-Ingram--274x500.jpg 274w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/3.-Ingram--548x1000.jpg 548w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/3.-Ingram--110x200.jpg 110w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/3.-Ingram--841x1536.jpg 841w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/3.-Ingram--1122x2048.jpg 1122w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/3.-Ingram--657x1200.jpg 657w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/3.-Ingram--560x1023.jpg 560w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1402px) 100vw, 1402px\" \/><\/li>\n                <li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4.-Ingram-scaled-150x100.jpeg\" style=\"display: none; width: 100%;\" class=\"slide-19740 ms-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" src=\"https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4.-Ingram-scaled.jpeg\" class=\"slider-19736 slide-19740\" alt=\"\" rel=\"\" title=\"4. Ingram\" style=\"margin: 0 auto; width: 100%\" srcset=\"https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4.-Ingram-scaled.jpeg 2560w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4.-Ingram-500x375.jpeg 500w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4.-Ingram-1000x750.jpeg 1000w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4.-Ingram-200x150.jpeg 200w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4.-Ingram-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4.-Ingram-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4.-Ingram-720x540.jpeg 720w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4.-Ingram-560x420.jpeg 560w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><\/li>\n                <li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/5.-Ingram-scaled-150x100.jpeg\" style=\"display: none; width: 100%;\" class=\"slide-19741 ms-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" src=\"https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/5.-Ingram-scaled.jpeg\" class=\"slider-19736 slide-19741\" alt=\"\" rel=\"\" title=\"5. Ingram\" style=\"margin: 0 auto; width: 100%\" srcset=\"https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/5.-Ingram-scaled.jpeg 2560w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/5.-Ingram-500x375.jpeg 500w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/5.-Ingram-1000x750.jpeg 1000w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/5.-Ingram-200x150.jpeg 200w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/5.-Ingram-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/5.-Ingram-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/5.-Ingram-720x540.jpeg 720w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/5.-Ingram-560x420.jpeg 560w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><\/li>\n                <li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/6.-Ingram-scaled-150x100.jpg\" style=\"display: none; width: 100%;\" class=\"slide-19742 ms-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1402\" height=\"2560\" src=\"https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/6.-Ingram-scaled.jpg\" class=\"slider-19736 slide-19742\" alt=\"\" rel=\"\" title=\"6. Ingram\" style=\"margin: 0 auto; width: 41.07421875%\" srcset=\"https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/6.-Ingram-scaled.jpg 1402w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/6.-Ingram-274x500.jpg 274w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/6.-Ingram-548x1000.jpg 548w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/6.-Ingram-110x200.jpg 110w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/6.-Ingram-841x1536.jpg 841w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/6.-Ingram-1122x2048.jpg 1122w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/6.-Ingram-657x1200.jpg 657w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/6.-Ingram-560x1023.jpg 560w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1402px) 100vw, 1402px\" \/><\/li>\n                <li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/7.-Ingram-scaled-150x100.jpg\" style=\"display: none; width: 100%;\" class=\"slide-19743 ms-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1402\" height=\"2560\" src=\"https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/7.-Ingram-scaled.jpg\" class=\"slider-19736 slide-19743\" alt=\"\" rel=\"\" title=\"7. Ingram\" style=\"margin: 0 auto; width: 41.07421875%\" srcset=\"https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/7.-Ingram-scaled.jpg 1402w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/7.-Ingram-274x500.jpg 274w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/7.-Ingram-548x1000.jpg 548w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/7.-Ingram-110x200.jpg 110w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/7.-Ingram-841x1536.jpg 841w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/7.-Ingram-1122x2048.jpg 1122w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/7.-Ingram-657x1200.jpg 657w, https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/7.-Ingram-560x1023.jpg 560w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1402px) 100vw, 1402px\" \/><\/li>\n            <\/ul>\n        <\/div>\n        \n    <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On the night of December 10, 1964, in Ferriday, Louisiana, members of the Ku Klux Klan set fire to Frank\u2019s Shoe Service.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Frank Morris, a Black&nbsp;businessman&nbsp;and the owner of Frank\u2019s Shoe Service, lived and worked along the Ferriday-Vidalia Highway. For years he repaired soles and broken heels\u2014a vital service in rural Louisiana in the 1940s and 1950s. His shop was more than a business; it served as a community hub where Morris mentored young Black men. It was also one of the most successful Black-owned businesses in the area.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That night, when Morris&nbsp;heard the sound of&nbsp;breaking glass and tried to escape through the front door, a white man with a shotgun forced him back inside. The shop\u2014and Morris\u2019s adjacent home\u2014burned with him trapped inside. Four days later, at the age of fifty-one, Frank Morris died from third-degree burns.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today, the foundation of his store still rests beside the highway in Concordia Parish, a quiet reminder of what once stood there.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">No one has ever been convicted of the crime. Investigators&nbsp;identified&nbsp;several suspects at the time. In 2007, the FBI reopened the case as part of the&nbsp;Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act cold case initiative, closing it again in 2014 without charges. Morris is believed to have been murdered by members of the Ku Klux Klan, including Arthur Leonard Spencer and Coonie&nbsp;Poissot&nbsp;of the Silver Dollar Klan. Also implicated was Deputy Sheriff Frank DeLaughter, who was suspected in the disappearance of Joseph Edwards, a young Black man who vanished earlier that year from the same highway.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For twenty years, Frank Morris placed a small advertisement for Frank\u2019s Shoe Service in the weekly newspaper,&nbsp;<em>The Concordia Sentinel<\/em>. Week after week, the notice appeared among local announcements and headlines\u2014evidence of his steady presence in the town\u2019s life.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The week Morris was&nbsp;murdered,&nbsp;the advertisements disappeared.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.franks-shoe-service.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">project<\/a>&nbsp;returns to that absence. In December 2024, I began reprinting Morris\u2019s advertisements in&nbsp;<em>The Concordia Sentinel<\/em>, placing them back into circulation each week for one year. Through December 2025, the ads reappear within the shifting context of contemporary headlines, situating his life and death within ongoing conversations about race, memory, and justice.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Stanley Nelson, local investigative&nbsp;reporter&nbsp;and editor of&nbsp;<em>The Concordia Sentinel<\/em>&nbsp;in Ferriday learned of Frank Morris\u2019s murder when the Justice Department reopened the case. Nelson spent years reporting on Frank Morris\u2019s life and murder in the weekly paper, keeping the story alive in the public memory. Nelson died suddenly in&nbsp;2025&nbsp;and I memorialized his reporting as part of this project with a&nbsp;full page&nbsp;ad of his headlines.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In parallel, the project extends into the community. Working with the local NAACP, I was part of a small group who planned a memorial for Frank Morris in Ferriday on the 60th&nbsp;anniversary of his murder. I connected a website to the project and began collecting oral histories from community elders who remember Morris and who lived in Ferriday and nearby Vidalia during that time.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The work is grounded in acts of return\u2014of reappearance, remembrance, and record. The foundation beside the highway endures, as do the memories carried by those who&nbsp;remain. And the advertisements, re-placed in the local paper, bring Frank Morris\u2019s back into the present, and carried forward into the archive for the future.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:62px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jessingram.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Jessica Ingram<\/strong><\/a> is the author of\u00a0<em>Road Through Midnight: A Civil Rights Memorial\u00a0<\/em>(University of North Carolina Press, 2020), which includes the murders of Frank Morris and Joseph Edwards.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Artist and advocate Jessica Ingram restores, remembers, and records the legacy of a victim of Klan violence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":19732,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"kia_subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-projects",""],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19725"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19725\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19813,"href":"https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19725\/revisions\/19813"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}