"[2] The enslaved were encouraged to learn trades that interested them, and Davis allowed them to keep extra money they made in their chosen skilled work, rare among Southern slave owners.
Impressed by the talent Montgomery displayed, Davis gave him the responsibility of managing purchasing and shipping for the entire plantation.
[8][9] Montgomery learned a variety of skills, including reading, writing, land surveying, flood control, architectural design, machine repair, and steamboat navigation.
[4][10] Montgomery developed proficiencies in many areas; he became a skilled mechanic, not only repairing the advanced agricultural machinery acquired by the Davis brothers, but eventually applied for a patent for his design of a steam-operated propeller to provide propulsion to boats in shallow water.
After Jefferson Davis later was selected as President of the Confederacy, he signed into law the legislation that would allow slaves to receive patent protection for their inventions.
[2] Joseph Davis allowed captive Africans on his plantation to retain money earned commercially, so long as they paid him for the labor they would have done as farmworkers.
[2] Following the end of the American Civil War, Joseph Davis sold his plantation and property to Montgomery, in 1866, for the sum of $300,000 (~$4.9 million in 2023) as part of a long-term loan.
He purchased 840 acres (3.4 km2) between the Vicksburg and Memphis railroad lines in northwest Mississippi for the purpose of establishing the community of freed slaves his father dreamed of.
Along with other former slaves, Isaiah Montgomery established the town of Mound Bayou, Mississippi; in 1887 and developed it as a majority African-American community.