After serving in World War I, Dickson remained in France where he served, and began to host boxing matches. In 1924, he became the owner of the Palais De Sport in Paris which held many boxing fights. Heavyweight champion Primo Carnera and Len Harvey fought at the Palais De Sport and Dickson is credited with building them up. Dickson would also host other sports such as bike races, hockey, bullfighting, and figure skating. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2000. In America, he was called the “Tex Rickard of France” (Tex Rickard is the founder of the New York Rangers and the National Hockey League). |
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Jefferson Davis was known for financing and promoting attractions in his hometown of Natchez, Mississippi such as Devil’s Punch Bowl and Fort Rosalie. Devil’s Punch Bowl is remembered as a concentration camp to eradicate Black slaves located in Natchez. Fort Rosalie is a French colonial bulkhead and is the oldest permanent settlement on the lower Mississippi River. In the 1940s, Dickson had constructed the White Apple Village Museum in Natchez, Mississippi which is an archaeologic site for the Natchez Tribe. The museum was built around three “sun mounds” that were also known as the Mazique Archaeological Site. However, by the mid-1940s, the state of the Mazique had significantly deteriorated due to Dickson’s ambition to make the site bigger. When Dickson left to go fight in WWII, the museum had closed its doors. Since he had never returned from WWII, the museum remained closed, and all the structures were abandoned.
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Jefferson Dickson Jr. was also popular in the Natchez community for joining different clubs in Natchez. He wanted to join the Women’s Garden Club. In March 1940, he noticed that the antebellum houses and the gardens were garnering the attention of many tourists, and he wanted to exploit it. “It was going to be a million-dollar business,” he told The Delta Democrat-Times Newspaper. He also told this newspaper that he wanted to do something in his town before he left for Paris again, but something that would not tie him down. |
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