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131-725: The Mississippi Delta, also known as the Yazoo–Mississippi Delta , or simply the Delta , is the distinctive northwest section of the U.S. state of Mississippi (and portions of Arkansas and Louisiana ) that lies between the Mississippi and Yazoo rivers. The region has been called "The Most Southern Place on Earth" ("Southern" in the sense of "characteristic of its region, the American South "), because of its unique racial, cultural, and economic history. The Delta
262-500: A household in the county was $ 20,636, and the median income for a family was $ 25,394. Males had a median income of $ 23,571 versus $ 16,993 for females. The per capita income for the county was $ 10,817. About 28.60% of families and 33.10% of the population were below the poverty line , including 43.10% of those under age 18 and 30.60% of those age 65 or over. Quitman County has the fifth-lowest per capita income in Mississippi and
393-465: A nation. Gussow (2010) examines the conflict between blues musicians and Black ministers in the region between 1920 and 1942. The ministers condemned blues music as "devil's music". In response, some blues musicians satirized preachers in their music, as for example in the song, "He Calls That Religion", by the blues group Mississippi Sheiks . The lyrics accused Black ministers of engaging in and fomenting sinful behavior. The Black residents were poor, and
524-417: A new state constitution in 1890 specifically to "eliminate the nigger from politics", according to the state's Democratic governor, James K. Vardaman . It erected barriers to voter registration and instituted electoral provisions that effectively disenfranchised most black Mississippians and many poor whites. Estimates are that 100,000 black and 50,000 white men were removed from voter registration rolls in
655-485: A place that was only a long day’s journey away." In this view, Southern Blacks were the agents of the Great Migration and not passive objects. Instead, they actively fled oppression and sought freedom, especially in the years between World War I and World War II. A slow mechanization of Delta agriculture during the first phase of the Great Migration was the effect of the migration of a workforce, not its cause. It
786-449: A reputation in the 1960s as a reactionary state. After decades of disenfranchisement, African Americans in the state gradually began to exercise their right to vote again for the first time since the 19th century, following the passage of federal civil rights legislation in 1964 and 1965, which ended de jure segregation and enforced constitutional voting rights. Registration of African-American voters increased and black candidates ran in
917-654: A rich cultural heritage, especially in music, being the birthplace of the blues and contributing significantly to the development of the music of the United States as a whole. The state's name is derived from the Mississippi River , which flows along and defines its western boundary. European-American settlers named it after the Ojibwe word ᒥᓯ-ᓰᐱ misi-ziibi (English: great river ). Near 9500 BC Native Americans or Paleo-Indians arrived in what today
1048-455: A source of labor. In the early years of European colonization, enslaved African laborers brought critical knowledge and techniques for the cultivation and processing of both rice and indigo. Hundreds of thousands of Africans were captured, sold and transported as slaves from West Africa to North America. The invention of the cotton gin in the late 18th century made profitable the cultivation of short-staple cotton. This type could not be grown in
1179-781: A trading network spanning the continent from the Great Lakes to the Gulf Coast. Their large earthworks, which expressed their cosmology of political and religious concepts, still stand throughout the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys. Descendant Native American tribes of the Mississippian culture in the Southeast include the Chickasaw and Choctaw . Other tribes who inhabited the territory of Mississippi (and whose names were honored by colonists in local towns) include
1310-405: A train of mules to Washington, D.C. to protest about economic conditions. According to wagonmaster Willie Bolden, white citizens of Marks harassed the mule train on its way out of town. Bolden stated that they "would drive by blowing their horns, purposely trying to spook the mules and us." More recently, Quitman County residents have made an effort to promote tourism based on the county's role in
1441-511: Is 200 miles (320 km) long and 87 miles (140 km) across at its widest point, encompassing about 4,415,000 acres (17,870 km), or, almost 7,000 square miles of alluvial floodplain . Originally covered in hardwood forest across the bottomlands, it was developed as one of the richest cotton -growing areas in the nation before the American Civil War (1861–1865). The region attracted many speculators who developed land along
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#17327659685781572-597: Is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States . It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the southwest, and Arkansas to the northwest. Mississippi's western boundary is largely defined by the Mississippi River , or its historical course. Mississippi is the 32nd largest by area and 35th-most populous of the 50 U.S. states and has
1703-610: Is almost entirely within the east Gulf Coastal Plain , and generally consists of lowland plains and low hills. The northwest remainder of the state consists of the Mississippi Delta . Mississippi's highest point is Woodall Mountain at 807 feet (246 m) above sea level adjacent to the Cumberland Plateau ; the lowest is the Gulf of Mexico. Mississippi has a humid subtropical climate classification. Mississippi
1834-456: Is common to fried catfish plates in the Delta. Chow Mein arrived to the Delta as it did in many different parts of the United States, with Chinese immigrants arriving around the turn of the century. Hoover Sauce is a twist on traditional Cantonese duck sauce introduced by the Hoover family in the mid-20th century. The sauce is usually served with meat such as locally hunted duck or steak. It
1965-442: Is known for its deep religious roots, which play a central role in its residents' lives. The state ranks among the highest of U.S. states in religiosity . Mississippi is also known for being the state with the highest proportion of African-American residents. The state's governance structure is based on the traditional separation of powers, with political trends showing a strong alignment with conservative values. Mississippi boasts
2096-626: Is referred to as the American South . Paleo-Indians in the South were hunter-gatherers who pursued the megafauna that became extinct following the end of the Pleistocene age. In the Mississippi Delta , Native American settlements and agricultural fields were developed on the natural levees, higher ground in the proximity of rivers. The Native Americans developed extensive fields near their permanent villages. Together with other practices, they created some localized deforestation but did not alter
2227-514: Is related in part to economics, as few African American parents in the poor region can pay to send their children to private schools. Suzanne Eckes of The Journal of Negro Education wrote, "Although de facto segregation in schools exists throughout the country, the de facto segregation that exists in the Mississippi Delta region is somewhat unique." During the years of segregation, public school systems did not know how to classify
2358-436: Is unique to the Delta. Soul Food broadly is found sold and cooked throughout the Delta. The region's large African American population and historical roots make this cuisine of the Delta's truly endemic food traditions. Many dishes such as fried okra , mashed potatoes , black-eyed peas , fried chicken , cornbread , and others are associated with soul food in the Delta. The Mississippi Department of Corrections operates
2489-512: The 20th state admitted to the Union. By 1860, Mississippi was the nation's top cotton -producing state and slaves accounted for 55% of the state population. Mississippi declared its secession from the Union on January 9, 1861, and was one of the seven original Confederate States , which constituted the largest slaveholding states in the nation. Following the Civil War , it was restored to
2620-780: The 51st lowest in the United States. The Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) operates the Quitman County Community Work Center (CWC) in an area near Lambert. In addition MDOC operates the Mississippi State Penitentiary (Parchman) in an unincorporated area in Sunflower County , in the area. Camp B, an inmate housing unit, was a satellite complex located away from the main Parchman prison property in unincorporated Quitman County, near Lambert . Camp B
2751-771: The African Methodist Episcopal Church (established in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the early 19th century) and the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (established in New York City), sent missionaries to the South in the postwar years. They quickly attracted hundreds of thousands of converts and founded new churches across the South. Southern congregations brought their own influences to those denominations as well. During Reconstruction ,
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#17327659685782882-557: The Civil Rights Movement and gaining passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 . The Delta is strongly associated as the place where several genres of popular music originated, including Delta blues and rock and roll . The mostly Black sharecroppers and tenant farmers had lives marked by poverty and hardship but they expressed their struggles in music that became the beat, rhythm and songs of cities and
3013-542: The Confederate Army . Around 17,000 black and 545 white Mississippians would serve in the Union Army . Pockets of Unionism in Mississippi were in places such as the northeastern corner of the state and Jones County , where Newton Knight formed a revolt with Unionist leanings, known as the "Free State of Jones". Union General Ulysses S. Grant 's long siege of Vicksburg finally gained the Union control of
3144-567: The Confederate battle flag . Mississippi became the last state to remove the Confederate battle flag as an official state symbol on June 30, 2020, when Governor Tate Reeves signed a law officially retiring the second state flag . The current flag, The "New Magnolia" flag, was selected via referendum as part of the general election on November 3, 2020. It officially became the state flag on January 11, 2021, after being signed into law by
3275-743: The French and Indian War ( Seven Years' War ), the French surrendered the Mississippi area to them under the terms of the Treaty of Paris (1763) . They also ceded their areas to the north that were east of the Mississippi River, including the Illinois Country and Quebec. After the Peace of Paris (1783) , the lower third of Mississippi came under Spanish rule as part of West Florida . In 1819
3406-675: The Indian Removal Act of 1830 extinguished Native American claims to these lands. The Five Civilized Tribes and others were mostly removed west of the Mississippi River, and European-American settlement expanded at a rapid rate in Georgia , Alabama , Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas . In the areas of greatest cotton cultivation, whites were far outnumbered by their slaves. Many slaves were transported to Delta towns by riverboat from slave markets in New Orleans , which became
3537-521: The Mississippi Delta . Many musicians carried their music north to Chicago, where they made it the heart of that city's jazz and blues. So many African Americans left in the Great Migration that after the 1930s, they became a minority in Mississippi. In 1960 they made up 42% of the state's population. The whites maintained their discriminatory voter registration processes established in 1890, preventing most blacks from voting, even if they were well educated. Court challenges were not successful until later in
3668-467: The Mississippi State Penitentiary (Parchman, MSP) in unincorporated Sunflower County , within the Mississippi Delta. John Buntin of Governing magazine said that MSP "has long cast its shadow over the Mississippi Delta, including my hometown of Greenville, Mississippi ". As of 2005, the majority of students in public schools in the Mississippi Delta are Black, and the majority of private school students are White. This de facto racial segregation
3799-485: The Natchez area and indigo in the lower Mississippi. French yeomen settlers, supported by extensive families, had begun the back-breaking process of clearing the land to establish farms. European settlers in the region attempted to enslave local Native Americans for labor, though this proved unsuccessful as they frequently escaped. By the 18th century, the settlers had switched to importing enslaved Africans instead as
3930-632: The Natchez , the Yazoo , and the Biloxi . The first major European expedition into the territory that became Mississippi was that of the Spanish explorer, Hernando de Soto , who passed through the northeast part of the state in 1540, in his second expedition to the New World. In April 1699, French colonists established the first European settlement at Fort Maurepas (also known as Old Biloxi), built in
4061-658: The Poor People's Campaign to start in Quitman County because of the intense and visible economic disparity there. On March 18, 1968, King visited the town of Marks, Mississippi . He watched a teacher feeding black schoolchildren their lunch, consisting only of a slice of apple and some crackers, and was moved to tears. After King's death, the Southern part of the Campaign began in Quitman County. Participants rode
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4192-513: The census of 2000, there were 10,117 people, 3,565 households, and 2,506 families living in the county. The population density was 25 people per square mile (9.7 people/km ). There were 3,923 housing units at an average density of 10 units per square mile (3.9 units/km ). The racial makeup of the county was 68.62% Black or African American , 30.47% White , 0.13% Native American , 0.17% Asian , 0.01% Pacific Islander , 0.08% from other races , and 0.52% from two or more races. 0.54% of
4323-430: The tamale . It is up for debate as to their origins, but it is strongly suggested they arrived in the Delta with migrant Mexican laborers in the early twentieth century and are attested to around that time period in blues music centering around the dish. While their most common filling is pork they differ from the traditional tamale in that they are made from corn meal rather than masa and boiled rather than steamed. Today
4454-466: The 1967 elections for state and local offices. The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party fielded some candidates. Teacher Robert G. Clark of Holmes County was the first African American to be elected to the State House since Reconstruction. He continued as the only African American in the state legislature until 1976 and was repeatedly elected into the 21st century, including three terms as Speaker of
4585-446: The 19th century to satisfy demand. They quickly moved out of field labor, saving money as communities in order to establish themselves as merchants, often in the small rural towns. During the 1920s and 1930s, in the aftermath of the increasing mechanization of Delta farms that reduced the need for labor, displaced whites and African Americans began to leave the land and move to towns and cities. Tens of thousands of Black laborers left
4716-609: The 20th century and is a Federally recognized tribe. Many slaveholders brought enslaved African Americans with them or purchased them through the domestic slave trade, especially in New Orleans . Through the trade, an estimated nearly one million slaves were forcibly transported to the Deep South , including Mississippi, in an internal migration that broke up many slave families of the Upper South, where planters were selling excess slaves. The Southerners imposed slave laws in
4847-738: The Choctaw, together with other southeastern tribes removed as a result of the Act, became known as the Trail of Tears . When cotton was king during the 1850s, Mississippi plantation owners—especially those of the Delta and Black Belt central regions—became wealthy due to the high fertility of the soil, the high price of cotton on the international market, and free labor gained through their holding enslaved African Americans. They used some of their profits to buy more cotton land and more slaves. The planters' dependence on hundreds of thousands of slaves for labor and
4978-459: The Civil War. Both Black and White migrants flowed into Mississippi, using their labor to clear land and sell timber in order to buy land. By the end of the 19th century, Black farmers made up two-thirds of the independent farmers in the Mississippi Delta. In 1890, the white-dominated state legislature passed a new state constitution effectively disenfranchising most blacks in the state. In
5109-502: The Deep South and restricted the rights of free blacks. Beginning in 1822, slaves in Mississippi were protected by law from cruel and unusual punishment by their owners. The Southern slave codes made the willful killing of a slave illegal in most cases. For example, the 1860 Mississippi case of Oliver v. State charged the defendant with murdering his own slave. Mississippi became the 20th state on December 10, 1817. David Holmes
5240-731: The Delta region were absorbed by large corporate-owned agribusinesses , and the smallest Delta communities have stagnated . One company that served the agricultural industry in the region was an aerial crop dusting service that eventually became Delta Air Lines , which is currently a major U.S. based passenger air carrier. Since the late 20th century, lower Delta agriculture has increasingly been dominated by families and nonresident corporate entities that hold large landholdings. Their operations are heavily mechanized with low labor costs. Such farm entities are capital-intensive, where hundreds and thousands of acres are used to produce market-driven crops such as cotton, sugar, rice, and soybeans. Remnants of
5371-403: The Delta's economy, particularly in the areas of Tunica and Vicksburg. A large cultural influence in the region is its history of hunting and fishing. Hunting in the Delta is primarily for game such as whitetail deer, wild turkey, and waterfowl, along with many small game species (squirrel, rabbit, dove, quail, raccoon, etc.) For many years, the hunting and fishing have also attracted visitors in
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5502-497: The Delta, which has many black-majority state legislative districts. Much of the Delta is included in Mississippi's 2nd congressional district , represented by Democrat Bennie Thompson . Chinese immigrants began settling in Bolivar County and other Delta counties as plantation workers in the 1870s, though most Delta Chinese families migrated to the state between the 1900s and 1930s. Most of these immigrants worked to leave
5633-608: The Delta-style tamale , also known as the hot tamale . For more than two centuries, agriculture has been the mainstay of the Delta economy. Sugar cane and rice were introduced to the region by European settlers from the Caribbean in the 18th century. Sugar and rice production were centered in southern Louisiana , and later in the Arkansas Delta . Early agriculture also included limited tobacco production in
5764-692: The House. In 1966, the state was the last to repeal officially statewide prohibition of alcohol . Before that, Mississippi had taxed the illegal alcohol brought in by bootleggers . Governor Paul Johnson urged repeal and the sheriff "raided the annual Junior League Mardi Gras ball at the Jackson Country Club, breaking open the liquor cabinet and carting off the Champagne before a startled crowd of nobility and high-ranking state officials". The end of legal segregation and Jim Crow led to
5895-648: The Jim Crow south for better opportunities in the Northeast and Midwest in the Great Migration , settling in cities such as St. Louis , Chicago , Cleveland , and New York City . It was not until the Great Depression years of the 1930s and later that large-scale farm mechanization came to the region. The mechanization of agriculture and the availability of domestic work outside the Delta spurred
6026-547: The Mississippi Delta brought with them elements of Italian cuisine to the region, and possibly most importantly, elements of Southern Italian music such as the mandolin, which became a part of the music of the Mississippi Delta Blues. Mexican immigrants to the Mississippi Delta greatly influenced the cuisine of the Mississippi Delta, leading to the development of one of the Deltas most famous culinary inventions,
6157-540: The Mississippi River, notably in 1927 and 2011 . Despite the name, this region is not the delta of the Mississippi River . The shifting river delta at the mouth of the Mississippi on the Gulf Coast lies some 300 miles south of this area in Louisiana , and is referred to as the Mississippi River Delta . Rather, the Mississippi Delta is part of an alluvial plain , created by regular flooding of
6288-436: The Mississippi and Yazoo rivers over thousands of years. The climate is humid subtropical, with short mild winters, and long, hot and wet summers. The land is flat and contains some of the most fertile soil in the world as part of the Mississippi embayment . It is two hundred miles long and seventy miles across at its widest point, encompassing approximately 4,415,000 acres, or, some 7,000 square miles of alluvial floodplain. On
6419-611: The Mississippi coast, killing 248 people and causing US$ 1.5 billion in damage (1969 dollars). Mississippi ratified the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution , in March 1984, which had already entered into force by August 1920; granting women the right to vote. In 1987, 20 years after the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled in 1967's Loving v. Virginia that a similar Virginian law
6550-538: The Mississippi state legislature passed a new constitution which effectively disenfranchised most blacks by use of such devices as poll taxes , literacy tests and grandfather clauses , which withstood court challenges. If one method was overturned by the courts, the state would come up with another to continue exclusion of blacks from the political system. Unable to vote, they could not participate on juries. The state passed legislation to impose racial segregation and other aspects of Jim Crow . This system of oppression
6681-453: The North. The convention adopted universal suffrage; did away with property qualifications for suffrage or for office, a change that also benefited both blacks and poor whites; provided for the state's first public school system; forbade race distinctions in the possession and inheritance of property; and prohibited limiting civil rights in travel. Under the terms of Reconstruction, Mississippi
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#17327659685786812-566: The Pacific Ocean. The Mississippi Territory was later twice expanded to include disputed territory claimed by both the United States and Spain. From 1800 to about 1830, the United States purchased some lands ( Treaty of Doak's Stand ) from Native American tribes for new settlements of European Americans. The latter were mostly migrants from other Southern states, particularly Virginia and North Carolina, where soils were exhausted. New settlers kept encroaching on Choctaw land, and they pressed
6943-466: The Poor People's Campaign. According to the U.S. Census Bureau , the county has a total area of 406 square miles (1,050 km ), of which 405 square miles (1,050 km ) is land and 1.4 square miles (3.6 km ) (0.3%) is water. It is the fourth-smallest county in Mississippi by land area and third-smallest by total area. Reflecting the decreased need for farm labor after mechanization and
7074-568: The Union on February 23, 1870. Mississippi's political and social landscape was dramatically shaped by the Civil War, Reconstruction era , and civil rights movement , with the state playing a pivotal role in the struggle for civil rights. From the end of the Civil War to the 1960s, Mississippi was dominated by socially conservative and segregationist Southern Democrats dedicated to upholding white supremacy . Despite progress, Mississippi continues to grapple with challenges related to health, education, and economic development, often ranking among
7205-674: The United States completed the purchase of West Florida and all of East Florida in the Adams–Onís Treaty , and in 1822 both were merged into the Florida Territory . After the American Revolution (1775–83), Britain ceded this area to the new United States of America. The Mississippi Territory was organized on April 7, 1798, from territory ceded by Georgia and South Carolina to the United States. Their original colonial charters theoretically extended west to
7336-403: The alluvial soils of the region would always renew, the agricultural boom from the 1830s to the late 1850s caused extensive soil exhaustion and erosion . Lacking agricultural knowledge, planters continued to raise cotton the same way after the Civil War. Plantations before the war were generally developed on ridges near the rivers, which were used for transportation of products to market. Most of
7467-409: The area. By the end of the century, two-thirds of the independent farmers in the Mississippi Delta were Black. But, the extended low price of cotton had caused many to go deeply into debt, and gradually they had to sell off their lands, as they had a harder time getting credit than did White farmers. From 1910 to 1920, the first and second generations of African Americans after slavery lost their stake in
7598-662: The ballot box and more access to credit, white planters bought out such farmers, expanding their ownership of Delta bottomlands. They also took advantage of new railroads sponsored by the state. Blacks also faced violence in the form of lynching, shooting, and the burning of churches. In 1923, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People stated "the Negro feels that life is not safe in Mississippi and his life may be taken with impunity at any time upon
7729-518: The century. After World War II, African-American veterans returned with renewed commitment to be treated as full citizens of the United States and increasingly organized to gain enforcement of their constitutional rights. The Civil Rights movement had many roots in religion, and the strong community of churches helped supply volunteers and moral purpose for their activism. Mississippi was a center of activity, based in black churches, to educate and register black voters, and to work for integration. In 1954
7860-676: The development of agricultural societies, rise of the Mound Builders , and flourishing of the Mississippian culture . European exploration began with the Spanish in the 16th century, followed by French colonization in the 17th century. Mississippi's strategic location along the Mississippi River made it a site of significant economic and strategic importance, especially during the era of cotton plantation agriculture, which led to its wealth pre-Civil War, but entrenched slavery and racial segregation. On December 10, 1817, Mississippi became
7991-530: The development of industrial farms, the population has declined by more than two thirds since its peak in 1940. As of the 2020 United States census , there were 6,176 people, 3,027 households, and 1,833 families residing in the county. As of the 2010 United States Census , there were 8,223 people living in the county. 69.6% were Black or African American , 29.0% White , 0.2% Native American , 0.1% Asian , 0.3% of some other race and 0.8% of two or more races . 0.7% were Hispanic or Latino (of any race). As of
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#17327659685788122-438: The dish is associated mainly with African American chefs despite originating from different cultural foodways. Fried Catfish is a staple of the Mississippi Delta. There exist a number of catfish farms throughout the region which supply fresh and local fish to kitchens across the Delta. The meal consists of catfish filets which are breaded and fried. Many sides exist for the dish and are nonessential. One such side, hushpuppies ,
8253-499: The early days the French and Spanish colonists were chiefly men. Even as more European women joined the settlements, the men had interracial unions among women of African descent (and increasingly, multiracial descent), both before and after marriages to European women. Often the European men would help their multiracial children get educated or gain apprenticeships for trades, and sometimes they settled property on them; they often freed
8384-539: The east, it is bounded by bluffs extending beyond the Yazoo River. The Delta includes all or part of the following counties: Washington , Western DeSoto , Humphreys , Carroll , Issaquena , Western Panola , Quitman , Bolivar , Coahoma , Leflore , Sunflower , Sharkey , Tate , Tunica , Tallahatchie , Western Holmes , Western Yazoo , Western Grenada , and Warren . In the 21st century, about one-third of Mississippi's African American population resides in
8515-487: The ecology of the Mississippi Delta as a whole. After thousands of years, succeeding cultures of the Woodland and Mississippian culture eras developed rich and complex agricultural societies, in which surplus supported the development of specialized trades. Both were mound builder cultures. Those of the Mississippian culture were the largest and most complex, constructed beginning about 950 AD. The peoples had
8646-497: The entire area of present-day Florida . The British assumed control of the French territory after the French and Indian War . During the colonial era , European (chiefly French and Spanish) settlers imported enslaved Africans to work on cash crop plantations . Under French and Spanish rule, there developed a class of free people of color ( gens de couleur libres ), mostly multiracial descendants of European men and enslaved or free black women, and their mixed-race children. In
8777-405: The falling cotton prices of the difficult years of the late 19th century. Cotton prices fell throughout the decades following the Civil War. As another agricultural depression lowered cotton prices into the 1890s, numerous African-American farmers finally had to sell their land to pay off debts, thus losing the land which they had developed by hard, personal labor. Democrats had regained control of
8908-614: The federal government to expel the Native Americans. On September 27, 1830, the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek was signed between the U.S. Government and the Choctaw . The Choctaw agreed to sell their traditional homelands in Mississippi and Alabama, for compensation and removal to reservations in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). This opened up land for sale to European-American migrant settlement. Article 14 in
9039-538: The fields, becoming merchants in the small rural towns. As these have declined, along with other Delta residents ethnic Chinese have moved to cities or other states. Their descendants represent most of the ethnic Asian residents of the Delta recorded in censuses. While many descendants of the Delta Chinese have left the Delta, their population has increased in the state. The Mississippi Delta received waves of immigration from three areas which have provided many of America's immigrants: China, Mexico, and Italy. The Italians of
9170-461: The first Mississippi constitutional convention in 1868, with delegates both black and white, framed a constitution whose major elements would be maintained for 22 years. The convention was the first political organization in the state to include African-American representatives, 17 among the 100 members (32 counties had black majorities at the time). Some among the black delegates were freedmen , but others were educated free blacks who had migrated from
9301-603: The first half of the 20th century, African Americans became rapidly urbanized and many worked in industrial jobs. The Second Great Migration included destinations in the West , especially California , where the buildup of the defense industry offered higher-paying jobs to both African Americans and whites. Blacks and whites in Mississippi generated rich, quintessentially American music traditions: gospel music , country music , jazz , blues and rock and roll . All were invented, promulgated or heavily developed by Mississippi musicians, many of them African American, and most came from
9432-508: The fourth largest city in the country by 1840. Other slaves were transported downriver from slave markets at Memphis and Louisville . Still others were transported by sea in the coastwise slave trade . By this time, slavery had long been established as a racial caste. African Americans for generations worked the commodity plantations, which they made extremely profitable. In the opinion of Jefferson Davis , typical of that of Mississippian whites of his day, Africans being held in slavery reflected
9563-599: The integration of some churches, but most today remain divided along racial and cultural lines, having developed different traditions. After the Civil War, most African Americans left white churches to establish their own independent congregations, particularly Baptist churches, establishing state associations and a national association by the end of the 20th century. They wanted to express their own traditions of worship and practice. In more diverse communities, such as Hattiesburg , some churches have multiracial congregations. On August 17, 1969, Category 5 Hurricane Camille hit
9694-477: The land and selling timber, and eventually advance to ownership. The new farmers included many freedmen, who by the late 19th century achieved unusually high rates of land ownership in the Mississippi bottomlands. In the 1870s and 1880s, many black farmers succeeded in gaining land ownership. Around the start of the 20th century, two-thirds of the Mississippi farmers who owned land in the Delta were African American . But many had become overextended with debt during
9825-405: The land. They had to resort to sharecropping and tenant farming to survive. Sharecropping and tenant farming replaced the slave-dependent plantation system. African American families retained some autonomy, rather than working on gangs of laborers. As many were illiterate, they were often taken advantage of by the planters' accounting. The number of lynchings of Black men rose in the region at
9956-504: The late 19th century, and population continued to increase as the frontier was cleared and cultivated. The county reached its peak population in 1940. Agricultural mechanization reduced the need for farm labor, and workers were recruited to northern and midwestern industrial cities. Thousands of African Americans left in the Great Migration , many going upriver to St. Louis and Chicago . Martin Luther King Jr. originally wanted
10087-501: The lower Delta. Shifts away from the river as a main transportation and trading route to railroads and, more significantly, highways, have left the river cities struggling for new roles and businesses. Due to the growth of the automobile industry in the South, many parts suppliers have opened facilities in the Delta (as well as on the Arkansas Delta side of the Mississippi River, another area of high poverty). The 1990s state legalization of casino gambling in Mississippi has boosted
10218-506: The lowest in the United States in national metrics for wealth, health care quality, and educational attainment. Economically, it relies on agriculture , manufacturing, and an increasing focus on tourism, highlighted by its casinos and historical sites. Mississippi produces more than half of the country's farm-raised catfish , and is a top producer of sweet potatoes , cotton and pulpwood . Others include advanced manufacturing, utilities , transportation , and health services . Mississippi
10349-453: The lowest per-capita income. Jackson is both the state's capital and largest city. Greater Jackson is the state's most populous metropolitan area , with a population of 591,978 in 2020 . Other major cities include Gulfport , Southaven , Hattiesburg , Biloxi , Olive Branch , Tupelo , Meridian , and Greenville . The state's history traces back to around 9500 BC with the arrival of Paleo-Indians , evolving through periods marked by
10480-498: The majority of white students had been moved into newly established private academies. This situation has continued; in 2007 the Mississippi Department of Education found that the students in the district were 97.92% African American, 1.81% White, and 0.27% Hispanic. Schools in Quitman County remain effectively segregated by race. White students almost exclusively attend private schools while Black children attend
10611-416: The migration as a flight for freedom from the political terror of lynchings and the hardening of Jim Crow restrictions on Black freedom: "They did what human beings looking for freedom, throughout history, have often done. They left." Nicholas Lemann notes the onset of the Great Migration coincided with the passage of immigration restrictions that throttled the supply of immigrants who had been willing to take
10742-509: The migration of Delta residents from the region. Farming was unable to absorb the available labor force , and entire families moved together, many going north on the railroad to Chicago. People from the same towns often settled near each other. The view that mechanization sparked the Great Migration—both Black and White—has been challenged by two of the most prominent recent chroniclers of the event. Isabel Wilkerson characterizes
10873-498: The minority Chinese students, initially requiring them to attend schools with blacks. Their socioeconomic status affected their classification and, as their parents became merchants and filed legal suits, in some areas they gained entrance for their children to White schools, before the schools were integrated beginning in the late 1960s. Newspapers, magazines and journals Mississippi Mississippi ( / ˌ m ɪ s ə ˈ s ɪ p i / MISS -ə- SIP -ee )
11004-489: The mothers and their children if enslaved, as part of contracts of plaçage . With this social capital , the free people of color became artisans, and sometimes educated merchants and property owners, forming a third class between the Europeans and most enslaved Africans in the French and Spanish settlements, although not so large a free community as in the city of New Orleans , Louisiana. After Great Britain's victory in
11135-505: The musicians and ministers competed for their money. The Great Migration to northern cities, beginning before World War I, seriously depleted Black communities and churches, but the musicians sparked off each other in the industrial cities, with blues in Chicago and St. Louis . Following is a list of various festivals in the Delta: Hot tamales are a Delta-endemic derivation of
11266-433: The next three decades, most blacks lost their lands due to tight credit and political oppression . African Americans had to resort to sharecropping and tenant farming to survive. Their political exclusion was maintained by the whites until after the gains of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. The majority of residents in several counties in the region are still Black, although more than 400,000 African Americans left
11397-401: The number of members as their white Baptist counterparts. The African-American call for social equality resonated throughout the Great Depression in the 1930s and World War II in the 1940s. The Second Great Migration from the South started in the 1940s, lasting until 1970. Almost half a million people left Mississippi in the second migration, three-quarters of them black. Nationwide during
11528-559: The offenders, and the board of supervisors shall furnish transportation to and from the Parchman facility for offenders." On July 24, 1969, federal judge William Keady found that Quitman County school officials were maintaining an unconstitutional de jure racially segregated school system, and he placed the school board under the supervision of United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi . As of 1993, this order had not been set aside. In March 1991,
11659-427: The population was 6,176, making it the third-least populous county in Mississippi. Its county seat is Marks . The county is named after John A. Quitman , Governor of Mississippi from 1835 to 1836 and from 1850 to 1851. Quitman County is located in the Mississippi Delta region of Mississippi. The county was developed for cotton cultivation. Much of the bottomlands behind the riverfront were not developed until
11790-451: The population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. In 2000, there were 3,565 households, out of which 34.40% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 37.60% were married couples living together, 26.80% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.70% were non-families. 26.90% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.30% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size
11921-399: The region's agrarian heritage are scattered along the highways and byways of the lower Delta. Larger communities have survived by fostering economic development in education , government , and medicine . Other endeavors such as catfish , poultry , rice, corn , and soybean farming have assumed greater importance. Today, the monetary value of these crops rivals that of cotton production in
12052-591: The regional tourism economy. The Delta is one of the top waterfowl destinations in the world because it is in the middle of the Mississippi Flyway (the largest of all the migratory bird routes in America). Delta politics was dominated by Democrats during the post-Civil War era, though areas of resistance from blacks and whites remained throughout the era. Some of these Southern Democrats resorted to using fraud, violence, and intimidation to regain control of
12183-459: The right to vote, relative freedom from discrimination, and better living. In the migration of 1910–1940, they left a society that had been steadily closing off opportunity. Most migrants from Mississippi took trains directly north to Chicago and often settled near former neighbors. Cotton crops failed due to boll weevil infestation and successive severe flooding in 1912 and 1913, creating crisis conditions for many African Americans. With control of
12314-619: The river in 1863. In the postwar period, freedmen withdrew from white-run churches to set up independent congregations. The majority of blacks left the Southern Baptist Convention , sharply reducing its membership. They created independent black Baptist congregations. By 1895 they had established numerous black Baptist state associations and the National Baptist Convention of black churches. In addition, independent black denominations, such as
12445-399: The riverfronts for cotton plantations; they became wealthy planters dependent on the labor of people they enslaved, who composed the vast majority of the population in these counties well before the Civil War, often twice the number of whites. As the riverfront areas were developed first and railroads were slowly constructed, most of the delta's bottomlands remained undeveloped, even after
12576-536: The same year as the federal Civil Rights Act , but ruled unconstitutional in 1967 by federal courts. Republican Governor Haley Barbour signed the bill into law. On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina , though a Category 3 storm upon final landfall, caused even greater destruction across the entire 90 miles (145 km) of the Mississippi Gulf Coast from Louisiana to Alabama. The previous flag of Mississippi , used until June 30, 2020, featured
12707-645: The school board asked the district court for permission to close Crowder elementary and junior high school, a majority-white school. The court gave permission, and a group of parents sued for an injunction to prevent the closing. The district court denied them an injunction, and this decision was affirmed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit . By 1975, the majority of African-American students in Quitman County were attending public schools, which had earlier been segregated. But
12838-520: The second state to declare its secession from the Union , and it was one of the founding members of the Confederate States . The first six states to secede were those with the highest number of slaves. During the war, Union and Confederate forces struggled for dominance on the Mississippi River, critical to supply routes and commerce. More than 80,000 Mississippians fought in the Civil War for
12969-489: The severe wealth imbalances among whites, played strong roles both in state politics and in planters' support for secession . Mississippi was a slave society, with the economy dependent on slavery. The state was thinly settled, with population concentrated in the riverfront areas and towns. By 1860, the enslaved African-American population numbered 436,631 or 55% of the state's total of 791,305 persons. Fewer than 1000 were free people of color . The relatively low population of
13100-504: The slightest pretext or provocation by a white man". In the early 20th century, some industries were established in Mississippi, but jobs were generally restricted to whites, including child workers. The lack of jobs also drove some southern whites north to cities such as Chicago and Detroit, seeking employment, where they also competed with European immigrants. The state depended on agriculture, but mechanization put many farm laborers out of work. By 1900, many white ministers, especially in
13231-461: The state before the American Civil War reflected the fact that land and villages were developed only along the riverfronts, which formed the main transportation corridors. Ninety percent of the Delta bottomlands were still frontier and undeveloped. The state needed many more settlers for development. The land further away from the rivers was cleared by freedmen and white migrants during Reconstruction and later. On January 9, 1861, Mississippi became
13362-429: The state during the Great Migration in the first half of the 20th century, moving to Northeastern, Midwestern, and Western industrial cities. As the agricultural economy does not support many jobs or businesses, the region has attempted to diversify. Lumbering is important and new crops such as soybeans have been cultivated in the area by the largest industrial farmers. At times, the region has suffered heavy flooding from
13493-674: The state had created the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission , a tax-supported agency, chaired by the Governor, that claimed to work for the state's image but effectively spied on activists and passed information to the local White Citizens' Councils to suppress black activism. White Citizens Councils had been formed in many cities and towns to resist integration of schools following the unanimous 1954 United States Supreme Court ruling ( Brown v. Board of Education ) that segregation of public schools
13624-408: The state legislature and governor. Mississippi is bordered to the north by Tennessee , to the east by Alabama , to the south by Louisiana and a narrow coast on the Gulf of Mexico ; and to the west, across the Mississippi River, by Louisiana and Arkansas . Quitman County, Mississippi Quitman County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi . As of the 2020 census ,
13755-595: The state legislature in 1875, after a year of expanded violence against blacks and intimidation of whites in what was called the "white line" campaign, based on asserting white supremacy . Democratic whites were well armed and formed paramilitary organizations such as the Red Shirts to suppress black voting. From 1874 to the elections of 1875, they pressured whites to join the Democrats, and conducted violence against blacks in at least 15 known "riots" in cities around
13886-442: The state legislature in the late 19th century. Civic groups such as the Red Shirts in Mississippi were active against Republicans and blacks, sometimes using violence to suppress their voting for state candidates. But many blacks continued to be elected to local offices, and there was a biracial coalition between Republicans and Populists that briefly gained state power in the late 1880s. To prevent this from happening again, in 1890
14017-426: The state over the next few years. The loss of political influence contributed to the difficulties of African Americans in their attempts to obtain extended credit in the late 19th century. Together with imposition of Jim Crow and racial segregation laws, whites increased violence against blacks, with lynchings occurring through the period of the 1890s and extending to 1930. In 1900, blacks made up more than half of
14148-565: The state to intimidate blacks. They killed a total of 150 blacks, although other estimates place the death toll at twice as many. A total of three white Republicans and five white Democrats were reported killed. In rural areas, deaths of blacks could be covered up. Riots (better described as massacres of blacks) took place in Vicksburg, Clinton, Macon, and in their counties, as well-armed whites broke up black meetings and lynched known black leaders, destroying local political organizations. Seeing
14279-580: The state's population. By 1910, a majority of black farmers in the Delta had lost their land and became sharecroppers . By 1920, the third generation after freedom, most African Americans in Mississippi were landless laborers again facing poverty. Starting about 1913, tens of thousands of black Americans left Mississippi for the North in the Great Migration to industrial cities such as St. Louis , Chicago , Detroit , Cleveland , Philadelphia and New York . They sought jobs, better education for their children,
14410-418: The success of this deliberate " Mississippi Plan ", South Carolina and other states followed it and also achieved white Democratic dominance. In 1877 by a national compromise, the last of federal troops were withdrawn from the region. Even in this environment, black Mississippians continued to be elected to local office. However, black residents were deprived of all political power after white legislators passed
14541-503: The territory of Mississippi was still considered wilderness, needing substantial new population. These areas were covered in a heavy dense growth of trees, bushes and vines. Following the Civil War, 90 percent of the bottomlands in Mississippi were still undeveloped. The state attracted thousands of migrants to its frontier. They could trade their labor in clearing the land to eventually purchase it from their sale of lumber. Tens of thousands of new settlers, both Black and White, were drawn to
14672-673: The time of settling accounts, and researchers have also found a correlation of lynchings to years that were poor economically for the region. The sharecropping and tenant system, with each family making its own decisions, inhibited the use of progressive agricultural techniques in the region. In the late 19th century, the clearing and drainage of wetlands, especially in Arkansas and the Missouri Bootheel , increased lands available for tenant farming and sharecropping. Planters needed workers and recruited Italians and Chinese workers in
14803-521: The towns, subscribed to the Social Gospel movement, which attempted to apply Christian ethics to social and economic needs of the day. Many strongly supported Prohibition , believing it would help alleviate and prevent many sins. Mississippi became a dry state in 1908 by an act of the state legislature . It remained dry until the legislature passed a local option bill in 1966. African-American Baptist churches grew to include more than twice
14934-661: The treaty allowed those Choctaw who chose to remain in the states to become U.S. citizens, as they were considered to be giving up their tribal membership. They were the second major Native American ethnic group to do so (some Cherokee were the first, who chose to stay in North Carolina and other areas during rather than join the removal). Today their descendants include approximately 9,500 persons identifying as Choctaw, who live in Neshoba, Newton, Leake, and Jones counties. The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians reorganized in
15065-413: The upland areas of the South, leading to the rapid development of King Cotton throughout what became known as the Deep South. The demand for labor drove the domestic slave trade , and more than one million African American slaves were forced by sales into the South, taken in a forced migration from families in the Upper South. After continued European-American settlement in the area, congressional passage of
15196-445: The vicinity of present-day Ocean Springs on the Gulf Coast. It was settled by Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville . In 1716, the French founded Natchez on the Mississippi River (as Fort Rosalie ); it became the dominant town and trading post of the area. The French called the greater territory " New France "; the Spanish continued to claim part of the Gulf coast area (east of Mobile Bay ) of present-day southern Alabama , in addition to
15327-423: The war, but immigrants resented having to fight when the wealthy could buy their way out of military service. Comparing cotton's preeminence then to that of oil today, Historian Sven Beckert called the Delta "a kind of Saudi Arabia of the early nineteenth century." Demand for cotton remained high until well after the American Civil War , even in an era of falling cotton prices. Though cotton planters believed that
15458-670: The will of Providence, as it led to their Christianizing and to the improvement of their condition, compared to what it would have been had they remained in Africa. According to Davis, the Africans "increased from a few unprofitable savages to millions of efficient Christian laborers." By the early 19th century, cotton had become the Delta's premier crop, for which there was high international demand. Mills in New England and New York also demanded cotton for their industry, and New York City
15589-595: The worst of the jobs of the industrial North, which was relatively free of the suffocating breadth of Jim Crow. Further, Lemann wrote, "it was undeniable that the economic opportunity [in the North] was vastly greater; that moment in the Black rural South was one of the few in American history when virtually every member of a large class of people was guaranteed an immediate quadrupling of income, at least, by simply relocating to
15720-400: Was 2.80 and the average family size was 3.42. In the county, the population was spread out, with 32.00% under the age of 18, 9.60% from 18 to 24, 25.70% from 25 to 44, 19.50% from 45 to 64, and 13.20% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females there were 86.50 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 79.30 males. The median income for
15851-501: Was close enough." From the late 1930s through the 1950s, the Delta enjoyed an agriculture boom, as wartime needs followed by reconstruction in Europe and Japan expanded the demand for the Delta region's farm products. As the mechanization of agriculture continued, women left fieldwork and went into service work, while the men drove tractors and worked on the farms. From the 1960s through the 1990s, thousands of small farms and dwellings in
15982-407: Was closely tied to the cotton trade. Many southern planters traveled so frequently there for business that they had favorite hotels. From 1822 cotton-related exports comprised half of all exports from the port of New York City. In 1861 Democratic mayor Fernando Wood called for secession of New York City because of its close business ties to the South. Eventually the city joined the state in supporting
16113-621: Was established to challenge the all-white Democratic Party of the Solid South . Most white politicians resisted such changes. Chapters of the Ku Klux Klan and its sympathizers used violence against activists, most notably the murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner in 1964 during the Freedom Summer campaign. This was a catalyst for Congressional passage the following year of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 . Mississippi earned
16244-443: Was maintained with violence and economic boycotts into the years of increasing activism for civil rights, as blacks worked to regain their constitutional rights as citizens. The Delta counties were sites of fierce and violent resistance to change, with blacks murdered for trying to register to vote or to use public facilities. African Americans were not able to exercise their constitutional rights again until well after their successes in
16375-541: Was not until the mid-1940s that the doctrine of White supremacy demanded that Blacks be displaced. By that time, Lemann writes, Delta Whites feared socio-political changes that might be forced on the Delta by the Roosevelt Democratic coalition and the pressure of returning WWII veterans; the Delta was three-quarters Black, so their voting potential was huge. As Delta native Aaron Henry, who was born in 1922, put it, "They wished we’d go back to Africa, but Chicago
16506-444: Was one of Parchman's largest African-American housing units. Camp B's buildings have been demolished. The Mississippi Code (§ 47-5-131) gives Quitman County the right to "not over twenty (20) offenders from the Parchman facility for five (5) workdays of each week for the purpose of working the roads of Quitman County", and goes on to state that the "board of supervisors of Quitman County shall lay out and designate roads to be worked by
16637-491: Was restored to the Union on February 23, 1870. Because the Mississippi Delta contained so much fertile bottomland that had not been developed before the American Civil War, 90 percent of the land was still frontier. After the Civil War, tens of thousands of migrants were attracted to the area by higher wages offered by planters trying to develop land. In addition, black and white workers could earn money by clearing
16768-480: Was sold through treaties until 1826, when the Choctaws and Chickasaws refused to sell more land. The combination of the Mississippi state legislature's abolition of Choctaw Tribal Government in 1829, President Andrew Jackson's Indian Removal Act and the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek of 1830, the Choctaw were effectively forced to sell their land and were transported to Oklahoma Territory. The forced migration of
16899-506: Was the first governor. The state was still occupied as ancestral land by several Native American tribes, including Choctaw, Natchez, Houma, Creek, and Chickasaw. Plantations were developed primarily along the major rivers, where the waterfront provided access to the major transportation routes. This is also where early towns developed, linked by the steamboats that carried commercial products and crops to markets. The remainder of Native American ancestral land remained largely undeveloped but
17030-499: Was unconstitutional, Mississippi repealed its ban on interracial marriage (also known as miscegenation ), which had been enacted in 1890. It also repealed the segregationist -era poll tax in 1989. In 1995, the state symbolically ratified the Thirteenth Amendment , which had abolished slavery in 1865. In 2009, the legislature passed a bill to repeal other discriminatory civil rights laws, which had been enacted in 1964,
17161-428: Was unconstitutional. They used intimidation and economic blackmail against activists and suspected activists, including teachers and other professionals. Techniques included loss of jobs and eviction from rental housing. In the summer of 1964 students and community organizers from across the country came to help register black voters in Mississippi and establish Freedom Schools . The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party
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