Clarksdale, Mississippi

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Clarksdale, Mississippi
—  City  —
Nickname(s): The Golden Buckle on the Cotton Belt
Location of Clarksdale, Mississippi
Coordinates: 34°11′52″N 90°34′19″W
Country	United States
State	Mississippi
County	Coahoma
Government
• Mayor	Bill Luckett
Area
• Total	13.8 sq mi (35.9 km2)
• Land	13.8 sq mi (35.8 km2)
• Water	0.0 sq mi (0.0 km2)
Elevation	174 ft (53 m)
Population (2000)
• Total	20,645
• Density	1,491.8/sq mi (576.0/km2)
Time zone	Central (CST) (UTC-6)
• Summer (DST)	CDT (UTC-5)
ZIP codes	38614, 38669
Area code(s)	662
FIPS code	28-13820
GNIS feature ID	0666084

Clarksdale is a city in Coahoma County, Mississippi, and seat of the county. Located in the Mississippi Delta region, Clarksdale is an agricultural center, and has been home to many blues musicians. Clarksdale is named after John Clark, who founded the town.

History

Early history

Choctaw and Chickasaw Indians occupied the Delta region prior to the arrival of European settlers, and the original site of Clarksdale was located on the former intersection of two important Indian routes: the Lower Creek Trade Paths which extended westward from Augusta, Georgia, to New Mexico; and the Chakchiuma Trade Trail which ran northeastward to old Pontotoc. The first removal treaty carried out under the Indian Removal Act was the 1830 Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, which ceded about 11 million acres of the Choctaw Nation (now Mississippi) in exchange for about 15 million acres in Oklahoma. A similar removal of the Chickasaw Nation began in 1837 and once in Oklahoma, they paid the Choctaw $530,000 for the westernmost part of their land.

Following the removal of the Indians, white settlers migrated to the Delta region, where the fertile soil was excellent for growing cotton. Several cotton plantations were established in the Clarksdale area, and the town soon earned the title "The Golden Buckle on the Cotton Belt". John Clark founded the town in 1848 when he bought land in the area and started a timber business. Clark was also brother-in-law to James Lusk Alcorn, who owned a nearby plantation, and went on to became a senator and then governor.

Clarksdale was incorporated in 1882, and in 1879, the Louisville, New Orleans and Texas Railway was built through Clarksdale. In 1886, the town's streets were laid out, though it wasn't until 1913 that any were paved.

Fundamental to the Delta's cotton industry—at least until the 1940s—was the widespread exploitation of African-American laborers. U.S. Census data shows Coahoma County's 1860 population at 1,521 whites and 5,085 slaves (with James Alcorn listed as owning 77).

When slavery was abolished, it immediately gave rise to the economic institution known as sharecropping, with its parallel political institution: segregation. Historian Nicholas Lemann writes "segregation strengthened the grip of the sharecropper system by ensuring that most blacks would have no arena of opportunity in life except for the cotton fields" (p. 6). During the Reconstruction Era following the Civil War, Mississippi’s blacks and poor whites both benefited from the State's new constitution of 1886, which adopted universal suffrage; did away with property qualifications for suffrage or for office; 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. Those gains were short-lived, for by 1875 white Democrats had swept into office in Mississippi, bringing with them the Jim Crow laws of legal segregation. This provides the historic background to an incident known as the "Clarksdale Race Riot". A former slave named Bill Peace, who had served in the Union Army and then returned to Clarksdale after the war, persuaded his former owner to allow him to form a security force to prevent theft from the plantation. On October 9, 1875, whites in Clarksdale began hearing rumors that "General Peace" was preparing his troops to plunder and burn the town, and murder all the white people. A white militia was formed, and Bill Peace’s "revolt" was soon put down. Across Mississippi, white militias formed in response to similar shadowy incidents of armed black revolt. Nicholas Lemann writes: "Like the establishment of sharecropping, the restoration to power of the all-white Democratic Party in the South was a development of such magnitude to whites that it became encrusted in legend; many towns have their own mythic stories of the redemption of the white South. In Clarksdale it is the story of the "race riot" of Oct. 9, 1875."

See also: Mayersville, Mississippi - History - the shooting of Ebenzer Fowler.

The Great Migration

The movement of large numbers of people both to and from Clarksdale is prominent in the city's history. Prior to 1920, Delta plantations were in constant need of laborers, and many black families moved to the area to work as sharecroppers. After World War I, plantation owners even encouraged blacks to move from the other parts of Mississippi to the Delta region for work. By this time, Clarksdale had also become home to a multi-cultural mixture of Lebanese, Italian, Chinese and Jewish immigrant merchants. By 1920, the price of cotton had fallen, and many blacks living in the Delta began to leave. The Illinois Central Railroad operated a large depot in Clarksdale and provided a Chicago-bound route for those seeking greater economic opportunities in the north; it soon became the primary departure point for many.

During the 1940s, three events occurred which increased the exodus of African-Americans from Clarksdale. First, it became possible to commercially produce a cotton crop entirely by machine, which lessened the need for a large, low-paid workforce. (Coincidentally, it was on 28 acres of the nearby Hopson Plantation where the International Harvester Company perfected the single-row mechanical cotton picking machine in 1946; soil was prepared, seeded, picked and bailed entirely by machines, while weeds were eradicated by flame.) Second, many African American GIs returned from World War II to find slim opportunities for employment in the Delta region. Finally, there appeared an accelerated climate of racial hatred, as evidenced by the violence against such figures as NAACP representative Aaron Henry.

"The Great Migration" north became the largest movement of Americans in U.S. history, and was recounted with Clarksdale triangulated with Chicago and Washington D.C. in Nicholas Lemann's award-winning book The Promised Land: The Great Black Migration and How it Changed America. The History Channel later produced a documentary based on the book, narrated by actor Morgan Freeman, who is also a co-owner of Clarksdale’s Madidi restaurant and Ground Zero Blues Club.

Recent history

Clarksdale was active in the civil rights movement, and on May 29, 1958, Martin Luther King visited Clarksdale for the first major meeting of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). In 1960, Aaron Henry, a local pharmacist, was named state president of the NAACP, and went on to organize a two year-long boycott of Clarksdale businesses. In 1962, King again visited Clarksdale on the first stop on a region-wide tour, where he urged a crowd of 1000 to "stand in, sit in, and walk by the thousands".

Clarksdale’s current mayor is Bill Luckett.

Clarksdale was thrust into national headlines in February 2013 after mayoral candidate Marco McMillian was found murdered near the town of Sherard, west of Clarksdale. Because McMillian was openly gay, and due to the gruesome level of violence inflicted, there has been speculation about whether his murder was a hate crime.

Geography

Former Yazoo & Mississippi Valley/Illinois Central Passenger Depot in Clarksdale, early 1900s. This building is now home to the Delta Blues Museum.

Clarksdale is located at 34°11′52″N 90°34′19″W (34.197888, -90.571941), on the banks of the Sunflower River in the heart of the Mississippi Delta.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 13.9 square miles (36 km²), of which 13.8 square miles (36 km²) is land and 0.07% is water.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 20,645 people, 7,233 households, and 5,070 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,491.8 people per square mile (575.9/km²). There were 7,757 housing units at an average density of 560.5 per square mile (216.4/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 54.52% African American, 29.95% White, 0.58% Asian, 0.11% Native American, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.22% from other races, and 0.60% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 14.65% of the population.

There were 7,233 households out of which 36.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 35.7% were married couples living together, 30.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.9% were non-families. 27.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.77 and the average family size was 3.38.

In the city, the population was spread out with 32.9% under the age of 18, 14.6% from 18 to 24, 25.2% from 25 to 44, 16.3% from 45 to 64, and 10.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 28 years. For every 100 females there were 89.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 81.1 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $20,188, and the median income for a family was $22,592. Males had a median income of $23,881 versus $18,918 for females. The per capita income for the city was $11,611. About 32.7% of families and 39.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 46.1% of those under age 18 and 31.4% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Community colleges

Coahoma Community College is north of Clarksdale.

Public schools

The city of Clarksdale is served by the Clarksdale Municipal School District. The district has nine schools with a total enrollment of 3,600 students.

Coahoma Agricultural High School, a non-district public high school in unincorporated Coahoma County, is located on the campus of Coahoma Community College, approximately 4.5 miles (7.2 km) north of Clarksdale.

Private schools

The city is home to four private schools

• Lee Academy
• Presbyterian Day School
• St. Elizabeth's Elementary School
• St. George's Episcopal Day School (Closed in May 2011)

Music history

The crossroads where legend has it blues guitarist Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil.

Clarksdale has been historically significant in the history of the blues. The Mississippi Blues Trail, now being implemented, is dedicating markers for historic sites such as Clarksdale's Riverside Hotel, where Bessie Smith died following an auto accident on Highway 61. The Riverside Hotel is just one of many historical blues sites in Clarksdale. Early supporters of the effort to preserve Clarksdale's musical legacy included the award-winning photographer and journalist Panny Mayfield, Living Blues magazine founder Jim O'Neal, and attorney Walter Thompson, father of sports journalist Wright Thompson. In 1995, Mt. Zion Memorial Fund founder Skip Henderson, a vintage guitar dealer from New Brunswick, New Jersey and friend of Delta Blues Museum founder Sid Graves, purchased the Illinois Central Railroad passenger depot to save it from planned demolition. With the help of local businessman Jon Levingston, as well as the Delta Council, Henderson received a $1.279 million grant from the federal government to restore the passenger depot. These redevelopment funds were then transferred on the advice of Clarksdale's City attorney, Hunter Twiford, to Coahoma County, in order to establish a tourism locale termed "Blues Alley", after a phrase coined by then Mayor, Henry Espy. The popularity of the Delta Blues Museum and the growth of the Sunflower River Blues Festival and Juke Joint Festivals has provided an economic boost to the city.

Delta Blues Museum

Delta Blues Museum

In late 1979 Carnegie Public Library Director Sid Graves began a nascent display series which later became the nucleus of the Delta Blues Museum. Graves single-handedly nurtured the beginnings of the museum in the face of an indifferent community and an often recalcitrant Library Board, at times resorting to storing displays in the trunk of his car when denied space in the library. When the fledgling museum was accidentally discovered by Billy Gibbons of the rock band ZZ Top through contact with Howard Stovall Jr., the Delta Blues Museum became the subject of national attention as a pet project of the band, and the Museum began to enjoy national recognition.

In 1995 the museum, at that time Clarksdale's only attraction, grew to include a large section of the newly renovated library building, but remained under the tight control of the Carnegie Library Board, who subsequently fired Sid Graves, at the time seriously ill. Graves died in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, in January 2005. In an interim move from the renovated Library building, the Museum spent most of 1996 in a converted retail storefront on Delta Avenue under the direction of a politically connected former Wisconsin native, the late Ron Gorsegner. In 1997-1998 Coahoma County would finally provide funds to form a separate Museum Board of Directors composed mainly of socially prominent, local white blues fans, and to renovate the adjoining Illinois Central Railroad freight depot, providing a permanent home for the Delta Blues Museum.

Mississippi Blues Trail marker

Clarksdale has received a historic marker as a site on the Mississippi Blues Trail by the Mississippi Blues Commission in recognition of its importance in the development of the blues in Mississippi. The marker is on Stovall Road at the alleged cabin site of famed bluesman McKinley Morganfield a/k/a Muddy Waters a fact that has never been conclusively verified. Morganfield supposedly lived there from 1915 until 1943 while he worked on the large Stovall cotton Plantation before moving to Chicago after mistreatment at the hands of a Stovall overseer as documented by author Peter Guralnick in his book "Feel Like Going Home: Portraits in Blues, Country, and Rock 'n' Roll". A second Mississippi Blues Trail historic marker is placed at the Riverside Hotel that provided lodging for blues entertainers passing through the delta. In August 2009 a marker devoted to Clarksdale native Sam Cooke was unveiled, just in front of the New Roxy Theatre.

Notable people

Born in Clarksdale

• Robert E. Bacharach - Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals.
• Lerone Bennett, Jr. - scholar, author and social historian.
• Marco McMillian - slain mayoral candidate.
• Charles L. Sullivan - politician, attorney and military pilot.
• Larry A. Thompson - Hollywood film producer, talent manager, lawyer, and author.
• Wright Thompson - senior writer for ESPN.
• W. Harry Vaughan - founded Georgia Tech Research Institute.
• Martha Montgomery - Actress.
• Baseball players: Matt Duff, Cleo James, Fred Valentine.
• Football players: Ed Beatty, James "Big Daddy" Carson, Charlie Conerly, Harper Davis, Terrence Metcalf, John Outlaw, Bobby Franklin, Mario Haggan, Darryl Harris, LaMarcus Hicks, Willie Richardson, Destry Wright, Charles Mitchell.
• Basketball player Earl Barron.
• Boxers: Eddie Perkins, Alfonso Ratliff.
• Musicians: Eddie Boyd, Jackie Brenston, Eddie "Bongo" Brown, Willie Brown, Eddie Calhoun, Sam Cooke, Nate Dogg, Marshall Drew, Blac Elvis, Earl Hooker, John Lee Hooker, Son House, Johnny B. Moore, Junior Parker, Mack Rice, Brother John Sellers, Ike Turner, Robert "Bilbo" Walker Jr..

Lived or worked in Clarksdale

• Marshall Bouldin III - portrait artist.
• Earl L. Brewer - 38th Governor of Mississippi. Buried at Oakridge Cemetery in Clarksdale.
• Gus Cannon - musician.
• Jack Cristil - radio announcer.
• William Stamps Farish II - president of Standard Oil. Practiced law in Clarksdale.
• Morgan Freeman- Hollywood Actor. Lived and owned a business in Clarksdale.
• Larry M. Goodpaster - United Methodist Church Bishop. Former Clarksdale pastor.
• W. C. Handy - musician. Lived in Clarksdale for 6 years.
• Aaron Henry - civil rights leader and politician. Moved to Clarksdale.
• Robert Johnson - musician. Resident during the 1930s.
• Trumaine McBride - football player.
• Charles Mitchell - Football player.
• Jack Robinson - photographer. Lived in Clarksdale as a child.
• Frank Stokes - musician.
• Wade Walton - musician and barber.
• Muddy Waters - musician. Moved to Clarksdale as a child.
• Tennessee Williams - playwright. Moved to Clarksdale as a child.

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Coahoma County

• For a list of all the musicians (bluesmen) born in the State of Mississippi: Mississippi Musicians and Performers

Further reading

• Francoise N. Hamlin. Crossroads at Clarksdale: The Black Freedom Struggle in the Mississippi Delta After World War II (University of North Carolina Press; 2012) 371 pages.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Clarksdale, Mississippi

• City of Clarksdale
• Clarksdale Chamber of Commerce
• Annual Juke Joint Festival
• Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale
• Clarksdale Press Register website
• History of Clarksdale's Jewish community from the Institute of Southern Jewish Life