Stick your proverbial spoon in the melting pot that is culture in the Miss-Lou and you’ll find a few distinctive flavors and some interesting ingredients.

Some of the cultures in the Miss-Lou are strong and thriving. Others are here out of a determination to survive. And still others are more a memory of what once was.

Jewish

At one time, Natchez had a thriving Jewish community, one large enough to build Temple B’Nai Israel on North Commerce Street in 1905 and fill it with more than 250 congregants. The congregation itself was organized in 1843.

According to the Institute for Southern Jewish Life, the sizeable Jewish community — most of which were merchants — began to shrink after the cotton economy of the south began to shift to other commodities, and in recent years, the community has dwindled down to only 12 faithful souls.

But being few in number has driven the community together.

“It’s fairly close-knit because it’s so small,” Temple B’Nai Israel President Jay Lehmann said.

While they don’t do a lot of things together outside of their shared religious experience, the congregation does intermingle outside of the Temple for Jewish festivals such as Passover and Hanukkah, Lehmann said.

The realization that there aren’t that many of them has helped the local Jewish community become more involved in Jewish life.

“I think there is more of a sense of obligation to keep the Temple open and functioning because there are so few of us,” Lehmann said. “Those who are active do more than we might if there was a larger congregation.”

Scottish

Unlike the Jewish community, there is no enclave of Scots in town.

There is, however, a sizeable contingent of Scottish-descended Natchezians who aren’t afraid to wear their hearts on their tartans.

The Scottish Heritage society meets once a month at First Presbyterian Church — the Presbyterian church’s roots are in Scotland — to discuss their shared cultural and historical heritage, and to don their clan’s traditional garb.

“Southwest Mississippi is full of people with Scottish ancestry who don’t know it,” society member Beverly Aldridge said. “Mostly the people who operated the stands along the Natchez Trace were Scottish, and a lot of them married Indians.”

When the Scots first arrived in the United States, the English — who the Scots were notorious for not getting along with — had already settled along the seaboard, Aldridge said.

“The English were having problems with the Indians and told the Scots to settle over the mountains,” Aldridge said. “They had spent their entire lives fighting and farming, and so they said, ‘We know how to do that.’”

And while most of the Scottish Heritage Society isn’t fighting or farming, they are proud of their heritage.

“We enjoy just getting together and talking about all things Scottish,” Aldridge said.

Scottish Heritage Society co-founder Bobby Scott said his 12-year involvement with the group has influenced both his religious and political views.

“If you study the Scottish Presbyterian church and the beliefs of the Scottish Presbyterian church of the 1700s, it greatly influenced the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution,” Scott said.

But it is understanding his ancestral past that has helped Scott develop his identity, he said.

“It is the history, it is your heritage — what your ancestors were influence what you are today, what you think and what your inspirations are,” Scott said. “It helped us broaden our understanding of the world.”

African-American

Standing in the Natchez Association for the Preservation of African-American Culture museum, Darrell White sees many reasons why people should learn about the history of Natchez’s black culture.

Of course — as with the rest of the south — there is a legacy of slavery, but that is just a small part of the community’s overall legacy, White said

“There were so many accomplishments made by the African-American community, and that information has been systematically suppressed,” he said.

But White is not one to forget, and he rattled off a list of names of black people from Natchez who went on to do great things — the first black U.S. Senator, the first black U.S. Congressman from Mississippi, the first black man to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.

“Natchez had the biggest free African-American population in the state,” he said. “They had economic power and political power, so much so that if they had been left alone the history of the state would have been different.”

Even when it comes to the legacy of slavery, White said he can find something to be proud of.

“I know a lot of African-Americans look at the plantation homes with distaste because they see them as symbols of oppression,” he said. “I look at those houses with pride, because they show the craftsmanship within the enslaved community. You see what they had to do with the materials that were used to build slave shacks, but when you put the tools for artisanship in their hands, just look what they accomplished.”

That pride is why White is involved with the NAPAC museum.

“It’s hard for people to be excited about things they don’t know anything about,” he said. “This is our opportunity to tell the rest of our story.”

Scottish Heritage Society co-founder Bobby Scott said his 12-year involvement with the group has influenced both his religious and political views.

“If you study the Scottish Presbyterian church and the beliefs of the Scottish Presbyterian church of the 1700s, it greatly influenced the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution,” Scott said.

But it is understanding his ancestral past that has helped Scott develop his identity, he said.

“It is the history; it is your heritage — what your ancestors were influence what you are today, what you think and what your inspirations are,” Scott said. “It helped us broaden our understanding of the world.”

African-American

Standing in the Natchez Association for the Preservation of African-American Culture Museum, Darrell White sees many reasons why people should learn about the history of Natchez’s black culture.

Of course — as with the rest of the south — there is a legacy of slavery, but that is just a small part of the community’s overall legacy, White said

“There were so many accomplishments made by the African-American community, and that information has been systematically suppressed,” he said.

But White is not one to forget, and he rattled off a list of names of black people from Natchez who went on to do great things — the first black U.S. Senator, the first black U.S. Congressman from Mississippi, the first black man to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.

“Natchez had the biggest free African-American population in the state,” he said. “They had economic power and political power, so much so that if they had been left alone the history of the state would have been different.”

Even when it comes to the legacy of slavery, White said he can find something to be proud of.

“I know a lot of African-Americans look at the plantation homes with distaste because they see them as symbols of oppression,” he said. “I look at those houses with pride, because they show the craftsmanship within the enslaved community. You see what they had to do with the materials that were used to build slave shacks, but when you put the tools for artisanship in their hands, just look what they accomplished.”

That pride is why White is involved with the NAPAC museum.

“It’s hard for people to be excited about things they don’t know anything about,” he said. “This is our opportunity to tell the rest of our story.”