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Issaquena County, Mississippi

Issaquena County (, ISS-ə-KWEEN-ə) is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2020 Census, its population was 1,338, making it the least populous county in the United States east of the Mississippi River. Its county seat is Mayersville. With a per-capita income of $18,598, Issaquena County is, by that measure, one of the poorest counties in the United States.

Issaquena County is located in the Mississippi Delta region. The Mississippi River flows along the entire western boundary of the county, and many of the earliest communities were river ports.

The county's economy is chiefly based on agriculture, though a number of hunting camps are also located here and contribute to the economy. Mississippi's two most recent records for the heaviest alligator taken by a hunter have both been in Issaquena County, the latest in 2012 when a 697.5 lb alligator was killed at a camp near Fitler.

History
"Issaquena" (isi okhina) is a Choctaw word meaning "Deer River"; it is the Indian name for Deer Creek. The Choctaw people were the first inhabitants of the county, and were removed from their land in 1820. Non-Native settlers began arriving in the early 1830s.

Issaquena county was established on January 23, 1844, from the southern portion of Washington County. The first county seat was located in Skipwith, and then moved to Duncansby (both communities are now ghost towns). In 1848, the county seat moved to Tallula, and in 1871, to Mayersville.

The county lies entirely in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain, and hardwood forest known as "bottomland" grows thick in the nutrient-rich, high-clay "buckshot" soil. Early settlers cleared many forests, and by the early 1890s about 50,000 acre of the county was growing corn, cotton, and oats. About that same time, the Louisville, New Orleans and Texas Railway was completed along a north–south route through the center of the county.

In 1876, Sharkey County was created from portions of Issaquena, Warren, and Washington counties.

Slavery
In 1860, 92.5% of Issaquena County's total population were enslaved people, the highest concentration anywhere in the United States. The U.S. Census for that year showed that 7,244 slaves were held in Issaquena County, and of 115 slave owners, 39 held 77 or more slaves. Stephen Duncan of Issaquena County held 858 slaves, second only to Joshua John Ward of South Carolina. This large "value of slave property" made Issaquena County the second richest county in the United States, with "mean total wealth per freeman" at $26,800 in 1860. By 1880—just 15 years after the abolition of slavery—the county had developed "a strong year-round market for wage labor", and Issaquena was the only county in Mississippi to report "no sharecropping or sharerenting whatsoever".

Civil War
During the winter of 1862 and spring of 1863, Union Army General Ulysses S. Grant conducted a series of amphibious operations aimed at capturing the Confederate stronghold of Vicksburg, located south of Issaquena County.

The Steele's Bayou Expedition occurred on waterways within Issaquena County, including Steele Bayou, Little Sunflower River, Big Sunflower River, Deer Creek, Black Bayou, Little Black Bayou, and the Yazoo River.

The shallow waterways proved difficult for the large Union boats, and Confederate defenses were robust. The Steele's Bayou Expedition was a defeat for Union forces in Issaquena County.

Weather events
In 1971, a large and long-tracked tornado destroyed multiple towns in Issaquena County.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 441 sqmi, of which 413 sqmi is land and 28 sqmi (6.4%) is water.

Major highways

 * [[Image:US 61.svg|20px]] U.S. Route 61
 * [[Image:Circle sign 1.svg|20px]] Mississippi Highway 1
 * [[Image:Circle sign 14.svg|20px]] Mississippi Highway 14
 * [[Image:Circle sign 16.svg|20px]] Mississippi Highway 16

Adjacent counties

 * Washington County (north)
 * Sharkey County (northeast)
 * Yazoo County (east)
 * Warren County (south)
 * East Carroll Parish, Louisiana (west)
 * Chicot County, Arkansas (northwest)

2020 census
As of the census of 2020, there were 1,338 people, 483 households, and 274 families residing in the county.

2010 census
As of the census of 2010, there were 1,406 people living in the county. 64.4% were Black or African American, 34.6% White, 0.4% Asian, 0.2% Native American, 0.1% of some other race and 0.2% of two or more races. 0.6% were Hispanic or Latino (of any race).

2000 census
As of the census of 2000, there were 2,274 people, 726 households, and 509 families living in the county. The population density was 5.15 /mi2. There were 877 housing units at an average density of 2 /mi2. The racial makeup of the county was 36.32% White, 62.75% Black or African American, 0.09% Native American, 0.22% from other races, and 0.62% from two or more races. 0.44% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 726 households, out of which 34.20% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.60% were married couples living together, 16.00% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.80% were non-families. 26.20% 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 was 2.77 and the average family size was 3.37.

In the county, the population was spread out, with 27.70% under the age of 18, 10.90% from 18 to 24, 30.90% from 25 to 44, 19.90% from 45 to 64, and 10.70% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females there were 113.50 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 130.10 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $19,936, and the median income for a family was $23,913. Males had a median income of $23,167 versus $17,115 for females. The per capita income for the county was $10,581. About 25.90% of families and 33.20% of the population were below the poverty line, including 43.20% of those under age 18 and 41.00% of those age 65 or over.

Issaquena County has the second lowest per capita income in Mississippi and the 36th lowest in the United States.

Poverty and unemployment
Of 3,197 counties ranked by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2011 for "estimated percent of people of all ages in poverty", Issaquena was 14th; for those under age 18, the county was eighth. It was estimated that 40.1 percent of the county's residents lived in poverty.

In 2014, Issaquena County had the highest percentage of unemployed people in Mississippi, and the fifth highest of any county in the United States, at 18.4 percent.

Government and politics
The county is considered to lean Democratic, voting for Barack Obama in both 2008 and 2012. However, the county voted for Republican senator Thad Cochran's reelection bid in 2014. and Donald Trump came within less than 50 votes of winning the county in 2020.

In the 2019 statewide elections, Issaquena voted Democratic for Governor, Secretary of State, and Attorney General, and Republican for Lieutenant Governor, Treasurer, Insurance Commissioner, and Agriculture Commissioner.

Education
There are no schools located in Issaquena County. Students attend campuses in neighboring Sharkey and Washington counties.
 * Public School Districts
 * South Delta School District – Based in Rolling Fork; Serves most of Issaquena County including Mayersville. Operates South Delta High School.
 * Western Line School District – Based in Avon; Serves northwestern portion of Issaquena County.
 * Private Schools
 * Sharkey-Issaquena Academy – Located in Rolling Fork; Enrollment open to Issaquena County residents.

In the segregation era (before around 1970) the county only had schools for black students.

Town

 * Mayersville

Census-designated places

 * Grace
 * Valley Park

Unincorporated communities

 * Chotard
 * Fitler
 * Tallula

Ghost towns

 * Arcadia
 * Baleshed
 * Ben Lomond
 * Duncansby
 * Magna Vista
 * Shiloh

Notable people

 * Unita Blackwell, civil rights leader and mayor of Mayersville from 1976 to 2001; first female African-American mayor in Mississippi
 * Charles C. Diggs, Sr., first African-American Democrat elected to the Michigan Senate; born in Tallula
 * William Stamps Farish II, president of Standard Oil; born in Mayersville
 * Muddy Waters, blues musician (1913–1983); born in "Jug's Corner"
 * Eliza Winston, notable enslaved person

title: Issaquena County, Mississippi


text:
Humphreys County, Mississippi

Humphreys County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2020 census, the population was 7,785. Its county seat is Belzoni. The county is named for Benjamin G. Humphreys. Humphreys County is Mississippi's newest county, having been formed in 1918. Humphreys County is located in the Mississippi Delta region.

It was named 'Farm-Raised Catfish Capital of the World' in 1976 by then Governor Cliff Finch, since it produced more farm-raised catfish than any other U.S. county. Forty thousand acres (160 square kilometers) of the county are underwater and used to grow catfish. About 60% of U.S. farm-raised catfish is raised within a 65 mi radius of the county seat, Belzoni. The title "Catfish Capital" has also been claimed by Savannah, Tennessee, and Des Allemands, Louisiana.

In March 2023, the towns of Rolling Fork, Midnight and Silver City were struck by an EF4. Part of the Tornado outbreak of March 24–25, 2023.

Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 431 sqmi, of which 418 sqmi is land and 13 sqmi (3.0%) is water.

Major highways

 * [[Image:US 49W.svg|20px]] U.S. Highway 49W
 * [[Image:Circle sign 7.svg|21px]] Mississippi Highway 7
 * [[Image:Circle sign 12.svg|21px]] Mississippi Highway 12
 * [[Image:Circle sign 14.svg|21px]] Mississippi Highway 14
 * [[Image:Circle sign 16.svg|21px]] Mississippi Highway 16

Adjacent counties

 * Sunflower County (north)
 * Leflore County (northeast)
 * Holmes County (east)
 * Yazoo County (south)
 * Sharkey County (southwest)
 * Washington County (west)

National protected area

 * Theodore Roosevelt National Wildlife Refuge (part)
 * Sky Lake Wildlife Management Area; the 3500 acre area contains some of the oldest and largest bald cypress trees in the world.

2020 census
As of the 2020 United States Census, there were 7,785 people, 3,186 households, and 2,078 families residing in the county.

2010 census
As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 9,375 people living in the county: 74.5% were Black or African American, 23.5% White, 0.2% Asian, 0.1% Native American, 0.9% of some other race and 0.7% of two or more races, and 2.2% were Hispanic or Latino (of any race).

2000 census
At the 2000 census, there were 11,206 people, 3,765 households and 2,695 families living in the county. The population density was 27 /mi2. There were 4,138 housing units at an average density of 10 /mi2. The racial makeup of the county was 27.17% White, 71.51% Black or African-American, 0.10% Native American, 0.27% Asian, 0.64% from other races, and 0.31% from two or more races. 1.50% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 3,765 households, of which 36.60% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 38.30% were married couples living together, 27.70% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.40% were non-families. Of all households, 24.90% were made up of individuals, and 10.90% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.95 and the average family size was 3.54.

Age distribution was 32.70% under the age of 18, 10.70% from 18 to 24, 25.80% from 25 to 44, 18.80% from 45 to 64, and 12.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females there were 87.50 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 78.70 males.

The median household income was $20,566, and the median family income was $23,719. Males had a median income of $24,948 versus $19,201 for females. The per capita income for the county was $10,926. About 32.40% of families and 38.20% of the population were below the poverty line, including 50.30% of those under age 18 and 31.00% of those age 65 or over.

Humphreys County has the seventh-lowest per capita income in Mississippi and the 56th-lowest in the United States.

In April 2019, Propublica identified Humphreys County as the county most intensely audited by the IRS.

Politics
Like most counties in the Delta, Humphreys County is solidly Democratic. A Republican has not won the county since 1972. In 2001 the Humphreys County Sheriff's Department named J. D. Roseman the first black Chief Deputy. In 2008 he became the first black Sheriff of Humphreys County.

Media

 * Radio stations (both located in Belzoni)
 * WELZ 1460AM (Country)
 * WBYP 107.1FM (Country)
 * Newspapers
 * The Belzoni Banner, distributed weekly
 * The Enterprise-Tocsin, a newspaper based in Indianola in Sunflower County, is distributed in portions of northern Humphreys County.

City

 * Belzoni (county seat)

Towns

 * Isola
 * Louise
 * Silver City

Unincorporated communities

 * Bellewood
 * Deovolente
 * Lodi
 * Midnight

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Humphreys County, Mississippi


text:
Holmes County, Mississippi

Holmes County is a county in the U.S. state of Mississippi; its western border is formed by the Yazoo River and the eastern border by the Big Black River. The western part of the county is within the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta. As of the 2020 census, the population was 17,000. Its county seat is Lexington. The county is named in honor of David Holmes, territorial governor and the first governor of the state of Mississippi and later United States Senator for Mississippi. Holmes County native, Edmond Favor Noel, was an attorney and state politician, elected as governor of Mississippi, serving from 1908 to 1912.

Cotton was long the commodity crop; before the Civil War, its cultivation was based on slave labor and the majority of the population consisted of enslaved African Americans. Planters generally developed their properties along the riverfronts. After the war, many freedmen acquired land in the bottomlands of the Delta by clearing and selling timber to raise the purchase price, but most lost their land during difficult financial times at the end of the century, becoming tenant farmers or sharecroppers. With an economy based on agriculture, the county had steep population declines from 1940 to 1970, due to mechanization of farm labor, and the second wave of the Great Migration. African Americans migrated from the Deep South especially to West Coast cities, where jobs were plentiful in the buildup of the defense industry.

Some African Americans had reacquired land in Holmes County in the 1940s under New Deal programs. By 1960, Holmes County's 800 independent black farmers owned 50% of the land, a higher number of such farmers than elsewhere in the state. They were integral members of the Civil Rights Movement during the 1960s. In 1967, eight of ten black candidates to run for local county office were landowning farmers; they were the first African Americans to run for office in the county since Reconstruction. Holmes had more candidates running for offices for the Freedom Democratic Party than did any other county.

Robert G. Clark, Jr., a teacher in Holmes County, was elected as state representative in 1967, the first black person to be elected to state government in the 20th century. He served as the only African American in the state house until 1976. He continued to be re-elected to the state legislature from Holmes County until 2003. In the late 20th century, he was elected to the first of three terms as Speaker of the state House.

History
The western border of the county is formed by the Yazoo River; it is next to the Mississippi Delta, and shares its characteristics. The eastern border is formed by the Big Black River and the eastern part has hills. The county was developed for cotton plantations in the antebellum era before the American Civil War, with most properties of the period located along the riverfronts for transportation access. Due to the plantation economy and reliance on slave labor, the county was majority black before the Civil War. It has continued to be majority black (see Demographics). Because of these characteristics, it is included among the 200 counties defined as part of the Black Belt region that curves across the South, into Texas.

"According to U.S. Census data, the 1860 Holmes County population included 5,806 whites, 10 "free colored" and 11,975 slaves. By the 1870 census, the white population had increased about 6% to 6,145, and the "colored" population had increased about 10% to 13,225." After the war, many freedmen and white migrants went to Holmes County and other parts of the Mississippi Delta, where they developed the bottomlands behind the riverfront properties, clearing and selling timber in order to buy their own lands. Workers were also attracted to the Delta area by higher than usual wages on the plantations, which had a labor shortage in the transition to a free labor economy.

By the turn of the 20th century, a majority of the landowners in the Delta counties were black. Effectively African-Americans were disenfranchised by the new constitution of 1890; the loss of political power added to their economic problems associated with the financial Panic of 1893. Unable to gain credit, many of the first generations of African-American landowners lost their properties by 1920. In this period, they were also competing for land with the better-funded timber and railroad companies. Afterward, African-Americans were forced to become sharecroppers or tenant farmers to make a living.

The period after Reconstruction and through the early 20th century had the highest incidence of white people lynching black people. Holmes County had 10 documented lynchings in the period from 1877 to 1950, most around the turn of the 20th century. Two lynchings took place in the county seat of Lexington, Mississippi in the 1940s.

White planters continued to recruit labor in the area, as freedmen wanted to work on their own account. The first Chinese immigrant laborers entered the Delta in the late 1870s. From 1900-1930, additional Chinese immigrants arrived in Mississippi, including some to Holmes County. They worked hard to leave field labor and often became merchants, especially becoming grocers of small stores in the rural Delta towns. As their socioeconomic status changed, the Chinese Americans carved out a niche "between black and white", gaining admission to white schools for their children through court challenges. With the decline of small towns, most Chinese Americans moved to larger cities through the 20th century. In Mississippi, the number of ethnic Chinese has increased overall in the state through 2010, although it is still small in total - fewer than 5,000.

During the New Deal, the Roosevelt administration worked through the Farmers Home Administration to provide low-interest loans in order to increase black land ownership. They also established a co-op cotton gin to be used by farmers in the project. In Holmes County, numerous African-Americans became landowners in the 1930s and 1940s through this program. They were fiercely independent and later were among strong supporters of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, even as white people kept a grip on economic and political power through banks, police and the county courthouse. Although there had been outmigration, the population of the county in 1960 was still 42% black.

The USDA Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service (ASCS) (established under another name in the 1930s) carried out its programs on a county-wide level. County boards were elected annually by farmers to work on local programs, and to make approval of loans to farmers and similar issues. Although African-Americans made up a large portion of landowners in Holmes County, they were disenfranchised from voting and excluded from participating on the board. They were generally deprived of potential benefits through this program, as part of the pattern of racial discrimination against them across the South.

Beginning in the World War II period, the population of Holmes County declined markedly from its peak of 1940; through 1970 thousands left, with most African-Americans going to the West Coast or in Midwestern cities in the second wave of the Great Migration, taking jobs in the booming defense industry. From 1950 to 1960, for instance, some 6,000 black people left the county, a decline of nearly 19%. But in 1960 the county was still 72% black, with a total population of 27,100.

Even with these problems, in 1960 Holmes County had more independent black farmers than did any other county in the state: 800 black farmers owned 50% of the land in the county. They were among those who initiated the civil rights movement, particularly farmers of Mileston, where the soil was rich. They invited organizers of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) to come to Mileston to help them take action. The majority of the first fourteen black people who attempted to register to vote on April 9, 1963, were landowners. Holmes County became the site of renewed organizing of grassroots efforts for African-American civil rights, with people designated as responsible for its Beats and precincts.

In 1954, the White Citizens Council was established to expressly to oppose desegregation of public schools after the United States Supreme Court ruling that year in Brown v. Board of Education, finding segregation to be unconstitutional. They raised funds to support whites-only schools, and conducted economic boycotts of blacks suspected of civil rights activism, as well as social and political pressure against whites who crossed them. Among their targets in the latter category was Hazel Brannon Smith, publisher and editor of two local papers in Lexington. For three years, her customers resisted the council's effort to boycott her and cut out her advertising; the Council started a rival newspaper to try to take away her business. Opponents arranged for her husband to be fired from his job as county hospital administrator, and a group firebombed two of her papers. She received a Pulitzer Prize for journalism in 1964 for her editorials about the civil rights movement during this period.

The Freedom Democratic Party was organized in 1964 to work on black voter registration and education, and continued after passage of civil rights laws, in order to implement such laws. For instance, where white Democratic Party officials had defined the very large Lexington precinct, which held the majority of population, the county chapter of the FDP organized its own sub-precincts within it in order to communicate better with the community. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were important but had to be implemented on the local level, where resistance to black voting continued to be strong, sometimes becoming violent.

The FDP worked with residents to register African-American voters and encourage them to vote. As resistance continued by white officials, in November 1965 a federal registrar was assigned to Holmes County, based on residents' petitions about the circuit clerk's discrimination over a 4-month period. After this, 2,000 black voters were registered in two months.

The FDP also worked with local people to run for positions on the ASCS board. In the fall of 1965, six black farmers were elected to the county board, with four as alternates. This gave them a voice in determining how local programs would run. But discrimination in USDA programs continued and was widespread, as shown by a late 20th-century national class-action suit, Pigford v. Glickman, which was settled in 1999. Payments to members of the class affected continued into the 21st century.

In 1966 many communities in the county concentrated on setting up the new federal Head Start program for young children. The FDP continued to work with other communities on correcting unfair hiring at factories and unequal administration of welfare, as well as trying to end discrimination at eating places. From 1966 on, the FDP registered an increasing number of black voters and gained their participation in elections. By November 1967, nearly 6,000 new voters were registered in the county.

In 1967 black farmers and landowners, who had been part of the Movement since the early 1960s, accounted for eight of the ten candidates who ran for local and state offices: Thomas C. "Top Cat" Johnson, Ed Noel McGaw, Jr.; Ward Montgomery; John Malone; Willie James Burns; John Daniel Wesley; Griffin McLaurin, and Ralthus Hayes. McLaurin was elected as constable of one of the beats in the county.

Robert G. Clark Jr. (born 1928) and Robert Smith, both teachers, had joined the Movement in 1966 and ran for state representative and county sheriff, respectively. Clark was a member of a landowning family in Ebenezer; he had a master's degree and had nearly finished his PhD from Michigan State University. He won a seat as the first and only black elected in 1967 to the Mississippi House of Representatives. By 2000, Clark had been re-elected to eight four-year terms in the state house and had been elected as Speaker three times since 1992. It was not until 1976 that another African American was elected to the state legislature, but then the number increased. Several blacks were elected to local offices in Holmes County well before that.

White people have also left the county since the mid-20th century because of declining work opportunities. Agribusinesses have bought up large tracts of land, and the number of independent farmers has declined markedly. By 2010, the total population was less than half that of 1940. Still largely rural, Holmes County in the 21st century has had problems associated with poverty and limited access to healthcare; as of 2011 it had the lowest life expectancy of any county in the United States, for both men and women.

Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 765 sqmi, of which 757 sqmi is land and 7.9 sqmi (1.0%) is water.

Major highways

 * [[Image:I-55.svg|20px]] Interstate 55
 * [[Image:US 49.svg|20px]] U.S. Route 49
 * [[Image:US 51.svg|20px]] U.S. Route 51
 * [[Image:Circle sign 12.svg|21px]] Mississippi Highway 12
 * [[Image:Circle sign 14.svg|20px]] Mississippi Highway 14
 * [[Image:Circle sign 17.svg|20px]] Mississippi Highway 17
 * [[Image:Circle sign 19.svg|20px]] Mississippi Highway 19

Adjacent counties

 * Carroll County (north)
 * Attala County (east)
 * Yazoo County (south)
 * Humphreys County (west)
 * Leflore County (northwest)

National protected areas

 * Hillside National Wildlife Refuge (part)
 * Mathews Brake National Wildlife Refuge (part)
 * Morgan Brake National Wildlife Refuge
 * Theodore Roosevelt National Wildlife Refuge (part)

Demographics
From 1940 until 1970, the county had major declines in population as many African Americans left the state in the Great Migration. Whites have also left as economic opportunities were limited in the rural county.

2020 census
As of the 2020 United States Census, there were 17,000 people, 6,188 households, and 3,722 families residing in the county.

2010 census
As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 19,198 people living in the county, less than half than at the peak of population in 1940. 83.4% were Black or African American, 15.6% White, 0.2% Asian, 0.1% Native American, 0.1% of some other race and 0.6% of two or more races. 0.7% were Hispanic or Latino (of any race).

2000 census
As of the census of 2000, there were 21,609 people, 7,314 households, and 5,229 families living in the county. The population density was 29 /mi2. There were 8,439 housing units at an average density of 11 /mi2. The racial makeup of the county was 78.66% Black or African American, 20.47% White, 0.12% Native American, 0.15% Asian, 0.07% from other races, and 0.52% from two or more races. 0.90% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

According to the census of 2000, the largest ancestry groups that residents of Holmes County identified were African 78.66%, English 11.4%, and Scots-Irish 5%.

There were 2,314 households, out of which 11.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 24.10% were married couples living together, 21.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 18.50% were non-families. 16.30% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.86 and the average family size was 3.48.

In the county, the population was spread out, with 32.10% under the age of 18, 12.40% from 18 to 24, 24.80% from 25 to 44, 18.30% from 45 to 64, and 12.40% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females there were 87.30 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 79.30 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $17,235, and the median income for a family was $21,757. Males had a median income of $23,720 versus $17,883 for females. The per capita income for the county was $10,683. About 35.90% of families and 41.10% of the population were below the poverty line, including 52.30% of those under age 18 and 36.40% of those age 65 or over.

Holmes County has the lowest per capita income in Mississippi and the 41st lowest in the United States.

Politics
During and following the Reconstruction era in the 19th century, African Americans had supported the Republican Party. It had achieved emancipation of slaves and granted freedmen full citizenship and constitutional rights through ratification of constitutional amendments. Following the effective disenfranchisement of blacks in 1890 by the state's new constitution with restrictions on voter registration, blacks were excluded from politics in Mississippi; other southern states repeated this model, so they were disenfranchised across the former Confederacy. However, the Republican Party retained influence through political appointments, and people struggled to control these within each southern state.

Perry Wilbon Howard (born in Ebenezer in 1877) was one of about two dozen African-American attorneys among the second generation of freedmen in the state. After passing the bar, he set up a practice in the capital of Jackson, Mississippi, where he worked for about fifteen years. Active in the Republican Party, he was a delegate to national conventions from 1912 to 1960, representing his constituents to the national party. Although he moved to Washington, DC, where he was partner in a prominent black law firm, Howard was elected as Republican National Committeeman from Mississippi in 1924. He retained control of this position (and patronage appointments) until 1960. He was appointed in 1923 to a national position in the Office of the Attorney General in the administration of Warren G. Harding, retaining it until resigning under President Herbert Hoover in 1928.

Since the civil rights years and gains of enforcement in voting rights in the late 1960s, most African-American voters, who constitute a large majority in the county, have voted strongly for Democratic candidates in Presidential and Congressional elections. The last Republican presidential candidate to win a majority in the county was Barry Goldwater in 1964, at a time when nearly all African Americans in the county and state were still disenfranchised by the state's constitution and discriminatory practices. In 2008, Democrat Barack Obama won 81 percent of the county's vote, as seen by the adjacent table.

Holmes is part of Mississippi's 2nd congressional district, which is represented by Democrat Bennie Thompson.

Education
During the segregation years, when black public schools were historically underfunded, Lexington in 1918 was the site for the founding of a private school for black students affiliated with the Church of God in Christ. It became known as Saints Academy. Arenia Mallory was hired as a young music teacher and later was selected as principal in 1926. She expanded the school to serve more students, ultimately with classes in grades 1–12. Conducting fund raising outside the state, she promoted a strong academic education with Christian discipline, and her school was nationally known. She led it until her death in 1977, ultimately establishing an associated junior college. The academy continued until 2006.
 * Colleges
 * Holmes Community College (Goodman)
 * Elementary and secondary schools

During the period of integration of public schools in Mississippi in the late 1960s, many white parents in the majority-black Delta enrolled their children in newly established private segregation academies, as they did in Holmes County. But statewide most white children remained in public schools. In Holmes County, blacks had become well-organized. But in other areas they lost control of their schools, with administrations often dominated by whites, resulting in new problems after integration.

 * Public Schooling
 * Holmes County Consolidated School District
 * The Durant School District was separate until 2018
 * Private schools
 * Central Holmes Christian School (Lexington) (formerly Central Holmes Academy, founded as a segregation academy).
 * Old Dominion Christian School
 * Pillow Academy in unincorporated Leflore County, near Greenwood, enrolls some students from Holmes County. It originally was founded as a segregation academy.
 * East Holmes Academy, A segregation academy that made national news in 1989 for offering to forfeit a game because the other school had a black player. Closed 2006.

Media
The county newspaper is the Holmes County Herald. It was established in 1959 as the weekly paper of the county chapter of the White Citizens Council, founded to resist integration of public schools and the civil rights movement. Specifically it was founded to compete with The Lexington Advertiser, owned by local white publisher Hazel Brannon Smith, whose politics the White Citizens Council disliked. The Council arranged for Smith's husband to be fired from his job as county hospital administrator. Brannon Smith was eventually forced out of the business by white boycotts of her newspapers and the firebombing of one paper in Jackson, Mississippi.

The Herald published the names of African Americans who took action for civil rights in order to bring economic and political pressure against them. For instance, in April 1963 it published interviews and the names of 14 blacks who attempted to register to vote at the county courthouse in Lexington. The county circuit clerk published the names weekly of persons who tried to register to vote, thus identifying them for reprisals. Known or suspected activists were fired from jobs and evicted from rental housing as the Council tried to suppress the civil rights movement. The Herald was bought by an independent person in 1970.

Cities

 * Durant
 * Lexington (county seat)

Towns

 * Cruger
 * Goodman
 * Pickens
 * Tchula
 * West

Unincorporated communities

 * Acona
 * Brozville
 * Coxburg
 * Ebenezer
 * Egypt
 * Eulogy
 * Franklin
 * Good Hope
 * Gwin
 * Howard
 * Ituma
 * Marcella
 * Mileston
 * Montgomery
 * Oregon
 * Owens Wells
 * Pluto
 * Quofaloma
 * Richland
 * Thornton
 * Tolarville

Ghost town

 * Oswego

Notable people

 * Homer Casteel, politician and public servant; lieutenant governor 1920 to 1924; member of the Mississippi Public Service Commission from 1936 to 1952.
 * Robert G. Clark, Jr., teacher, coach and politician; in 1967 he was elected to the state legislature as the first African-American member since Reconstruction; he was elected to eight consecutive four-year terms and as Speaker of the state House in 1992, 1996 and 2000.
 * Perry Wilbon Howard, attorney and Republican Party National Committeeman, was appointed to a national position in the Department of Justice under President Warren G. Harding, serving into Herbert Hoover's administration. He was the highest-ranking African American in government.
 * Arenia Mallory, principal and president of Saints Academy. She had a more than 50-year career with this school, which she built into an academically successful, nationally known private school for black children during the segregation years, also expanding to a junior college. A leader in African-American women's national organizations, she served in the John F. Kennedy administration.
 * Edmond Favor Noel, Governor of Mississippi, 1908–1912, was born to a planter family in Lexington. He became an attorney and politician, serving in the state house and then the state senate both before and after his tenure as governor. He improved education in the state.
 * Edmond F. Noel Sr (1916-1986), physician, born in Holmes County and reared in Jackson, Mississippi, was a Howard University and Fisk University graduate, and a World War II veteran. Recruited to practice in Denver, Colorado in 1949, he was the first African-American physician in the city to be granted staff hospital privileges.
 * Edmond "Eddie" F. Noel (1926-1990), was born and lived in Lexington. An African-American veteran of World War II, he killed three white men in January 1954, including a deputy sheriff, and evaded capture for three weeks, making national news. He was hunted by numerous men, dogs, and even observers in planes. He turned himself in to the court, and the judge ordered a mental evaluation. Noel was committed by the court to the state mental institution, where he was held for more than a decade. He was released in 1970 and lived his last 20 years with his family, who had migrated to Fort Wayne, Indiana.
 * Hazel Brannon Smith, publisher and journalist, in 1935 purchased The Durant News and The Lexington Advertiser in Lexington; she published them for decades and was noted in the region for her fair coverage and later support of civil rights. She opposed the White Citizens Council, which conducted an advertising boycott against her papers. In 1964 she was the first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing, for her editorials on civil rights, the same year her paper in Jackson, The Northside Reporter, was firebombed. She was forced out of business.

In popular culture
Carolyn Haines, an American mystery writer, sets many of her novels in Holmes County and other parts of the Mississippi Delta.

title: Holmes County, Mississippi


text:
Hinds County, Mississippi

Hinds County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. With its county seats (Raymond and the state's capital, Jackson), Hinds is the most populous county in Mississippi with a 2020 census population of 227,742 residents. Hinds County is a central part of the Jackson metropolitan statistical area. It is a professional, educational, business and industrial hub in the state. It is bordered on the northwest by the Big Black River and on the east by the Pearl River. It is one county width away from the Yazoo River and the southern border of the Mississippi Delta.

In the 19th century, the rural areas of the county were devoted to cotton plantations worked by enslaved African Americans and depended on agriculture well into the 20th century; from 1877 to 1950, this county had 22 lynchings, the highest number in the state. Mississippi has the highest total number of lynchings of any state.

In September 2022, it was reported that Hinds County, Mississippi, had the highest STD rate in the United States, with 2,253 cases per 100,000 residents.

Etymology
The county is named for General Thomas Hinds, a hero of the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 877 sqmi, of which 870 sqmi is land and 7.6 sqmi (0.9%) is water. It is the third-largest county in Mississippi by land area and fifth-largest by total area.

Adjacent counties

 * Madison County (northeast)
 * Rankin County (east)
 * Copiah County (south)
 * Claiborne County (southwest)
 * Warren County (west)
 * Yazoo County (northwest)

National protected area

 * Natchez Trace Parkway (part)

Airports
The following public-use airports are located in Hinds County:
 * Hawkins Field (HKS) in Jackson
 * John Bell Williams Airport (JVW) in Raymond

Demographics
With a population of 8,645 at the 1830 census, the county's population has experienced growth to an initial historic high of 250,000 in 1980; its second historic high was 254,441 at the 1990 census. Since then, its population has fluctuated to 250,800 in 2000 and 245,285 in 2010. At the 2020 census, its population was 227,742, locally reflecting a drop in the state's overall population.

Race and ethnicity
With the trend of greater diversification in the United States leading up to and following the 2020 census, the county and state's population declined with non-Hispanic whites and overall; for contrast, in 2010, non-Hispanic whites made up 28.4% of the population, yet in 2020 they declined to 25.5% of the population. Historic minorities in the county and state increased in population. The 2020 census reported 69.2% of its population was Black or African American, 0.2% Native American, 1.0% Asian, nil% Pacific Islander, 2.3% of two or more races, and 2.0% Hispanic or Latino of any race.

Law enforcement
The Hinds County Sheriffs Department provides police services to areas of the county that are unincorporated or in municipalities that do not have their own local police force. It was founded on January 1, 1928.

Tyrone Lewis took office January 3, 2012, taking over from Malcolm E. McMillin who had held the role for 20 years. Victor Mason defeated Tyrone Lewis August 4, 2015, as Lewis sought another term. Mason went on to secure the Office November 3, 2015. Mason defeated 3 other candidates securing more than seventy percent of the vote. Victor Mason was defeated in the Democratic Primary on August 27, 2019, by Lee D. Vance. On August 4, 2021, Sheriff Lee Vance was found deceased at his home after contracting COVID-19. The current sheriff is Tyree Jones, elected November 23, 2021.

Government
Hinds County is governed via a five-member board of supervisors, each elected from single-member districts. The county is led by a county administrator, who is appointed.

The Mississippi Department of Human Services (MDHS) has its headquarters in Jackson and in Hinds County. The Division of Youth Services operates the Oakley Training School (OTS) in an unincorporated area of Hinds County.

The Mississippi Department of Corrections has its headquarters in Jackson and in Hinds County. It operates the Jackson Probation & Parole Office in the city.

Public schools
School districts:
 * Clinton Public School District
 * Hinds County School District (Raymond)
 * Jackson Public School District

State-operated schools:
 * Mississippi School for the Blind
 * Mississippi School for the Deaf

Private schools

 * Clinton Christian Academy (Clinton)
 * Hillcrest Christian School (Jackson)
 * Jackson Academy (Jackson)
 * Mt. Salus Christian School (Clinton)
 * Rebul Academy (Learned)
 * Central Hinds Academy(Raymond)

Colleges and universities

 * Belhaven University (Jackson)
 * Hinds Community College (Raymond)
 * Jackson State University (Jackson)
 * Millsaps College (Jackson)
 * Mississippi College (Clinton)
 * Mississippi College School of Law (Jackson)
 * Reformed Theological Seminary (Jackson)
 * Tougaloo College (Tougaloo)
 * University of Mississippi Medical Center (Jackson)
 * Wesley Biblical Seminary (Jackson)

Public libraries

 * Jackson/Hinds Library System

Cities

 * Byram
 * Clinton
 * Jackson (county seat; partly in Madison and Rankin counties)
 * Raymond (county seat)

Towns

 * Bolton
 * Edwards
 * Learned
 * Terry
 * Utica

Unincorporated communities

 * Brownsville
 * Cayuga
 * Cynthia
 * Midway
 * Oakley
 * Pocahontas

Notable people

 * Kate Stone (1841–1907), diarist
 * Henry Sloan (1870–1948), delta blues musician
 * Charley Patton (1891–1934), blues musician
 * Richard Durham (1917–1984), writer of the radio series Destination Freedom

title: Hinds County, Mississippi


text:
Harrison County, Mississippi

Harrison County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2020 census, the population was 208,621. Its county seats are Biloxi and Gulfport. The county is named after U.S. President William Henry Harrison.

Harrison County is part of the Gulfport-Biloxi metropolitan area.

The county was severely damaged from both Hurricane Camille on August 17, 1969, and Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005, causing catastrophic effects.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 976 sqmi, of which 402 sqmi (41%) are covered by water. The Tchoutacabouffa River has its mouth at Biloxi Bay just north of the city of Biloxi. Gulfport, Mississippi, is the chief port in the state, with access to the Gulf of Mexico through a ship channel. This is the second-largest county in Mississippi by total area.

Wildlife
A single pond in the county contains the critically endangered dusky gopher frog.

Major highways

 * [[Image:I-10.svg|20px]] Interstate 10
 * [[Image:I-110.svg|20px]] Interstate 110
 * [[Image:US 49.svg|20px]] U.S. Highway 49
 * [[Image:US 90.svg|20px]] U.S. Highway 90
 * [[Image:Circle sign 15.svg|20px]] Mississippi Highway 15
 * [[Image:Circle sign 53.svg|20px]] Mississippi Highway 53
 * [[Image:Circle sign 67.svg|20px]] Mississippi Highway 67
 * [[Image:Circle sign 605.svg|20px]] Mississippi Highway 605
 * [[Image:Circle sign 43.svg|20px]] Mississippi Highway 43

Adjacent counties and parishes

 * Stone County (north)
 * Jackson County (east)
 * Hancock County (west)
 * St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana (southwest)

National protected areas

 * De Soto National Forest (part)
 * Gulf Islands National Seashore (part)

2020 census
As of the 2020 United States census, 208,621 people, 74,628 households, and 50,074 families were residing in the county.

Corrections system
Harrison County has been studied by CNN and other media, which have reported on the beatings of inmates in the Harrison County Jail in Gulfport. Inmate Jessie Lee Williams Jr. died while in custody on February 4, 2006. In 2006 and 2007, six Harrison County Sheriff's Department deputies pleaded guilty to crimes related to the abuse of inmates at the jail. Sheriff Melvin Brisolara-R was elected in 2008, for Harrison County.

Cities

 * Biloxi (county seat)
 * D'Iberville
 * Gulfport (county seat)
 * Long Beach
 * Pass Christian

Census-designated places

 * DeLisle
 * Henderson Point
 * Lyman
 * Saucier

Unincorporated communities

 * Cuevas
 * Howison
 * Lizana
 * Mississippi City
 * Wool Market

Politics
Since 1964, Harrison County has voted overwhelmingly Republican. The last Democrat to receive over 40% of the vote was Jimmy Carter in 1976.

Education
School districts include:
 * Biloxi Public School District
 * Gulfport School District
 * Harrison County School District
 * Long Beach School District
 * Pass Christian Public School District

title: Harrison County, Mississippi


text:
Hancock County, Mississippi

Hancock County is the southernmost county of the U.S. state of Mississippi and is named for Founding Father John Hancock. As of the 2020 census, the population was 46,053. Its county seat is Bay St. Louis.

Hancock County is part of the Gulfport–Biloxi, MS Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is situated along the Gulf of Mexico and the state line with Louisiana. The area is home to the John C. Stennis Space Center, NASA's largest rocket engine test facility.

The county was severely damaged from Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005, which caused a huge storm surge and catastrophic damage.

History
This area of Mississippi was inhabited by indigenous peoples at the time of European colonization; the French were the first settlers and traders in the area. They imported African slaves as laborers, and in time a Creole class of free people of color developed.

After the United States conducted Indian Removal in the 1830s, more Protestant Americans migrated into this area, but it retained French and African Catholic influences. Located on the Gulf Coast, the county was regularly hit by hurricanes but its residents learned to handle these incidents.

In 2005, the county was the scene of the final landfall of the eye of Hurricane Katrina, and its communities and infrastructure suffered some of the most intense damage inflicted by that storm. Over the entire 7 mi beach front, not one building or home was left intact. Nearly the entire first block off the beach was destroyed for the entire 7 mi stretch.

Homes as far inland as 10 mi were flooded by the historic storm surge, which occurred during a full moon high tide. All rivers and waterways were inundated by the surge. Highway 603 south from Interstate 10 was completely submerged, and the Highway 90 - Bay St. Louis Bridge was left looking like a stack of dominoes.

Houses were floated off their foundations. In Waveland and Bay St. Louis, some homes were stranded atop the railroad tracks and others in the middle of streets. Towns like Pearlington, Waveland, Bay St. Louis, Diamondhead, and Kiln suffered catastrophic damage.

Recovery from Hurricane Katrina
A loosely knit group of hippies called the "Rainbow Family" arrived in Hancock County soon after Hurricane Katrina. From early September 2005 to early December 2005, they ran the "New Waveland Cafe and Clinic"  located in the parking lot of Fred's Dept Store on Highway 90.

The café provided free hot meals three times a day. The clinic was staffed by volunteer doctors and nurses from around the United States who saw more than 5000 patients during the duration. They provided treatment free of charge and dispensed free medications. Donations of medications and supplies came from a multitude of sources, with International Aid arranging the most donations. This was the first experience of the Rainbow Family in running a disaster relief center. The Bastrop Christian Outreach Center also volunteered with the Rainbow Family.

Local churches were central points of recovery in Bay St. Louis, Waveland, and Diamondhead. Some churches provided shelter, meals, clothing, and various clean-up supplies. The churches also provided distribution points where supplies could be donated and easily passed on to those who needed help. Other disaster relief agencies that were active in Hancock County include Samaritan's Purse, Southern Baptist Convention Disaster Relief, Red Cross, Rotary International and Salvation Army.

Businesses became operational as quickly as possible. The Waveland Wal-Mart operated out of a tent for 3 months following the storm; Diamondhead Discount Drug was opened within 2 days following Katrina, although the owner's store and home were both severely damaged. Other business such as Dairy Queen and Subway donated their foodstuffs, before it could spoil, in order to feed survivors.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 553 sqmi, of which 474 sqmi is land and 79 sqmi (14%) is water.

Major highways

 * [[Image:I-10.svg|20px]] Interstate 10
 * [[Image:US 90.svg|20px]] U.S. Highway 90
 * [[Image:Circle sign 43.svg|20px]] Mississippi Highway 43
 * [[Image:Circle sign 53.svg|20px]] Mississippi Highway 53
 * [[Image:Circle sign 603.svg|20px]] Mississippi Highway 603
 * [[Image:Circle sign 607.svg|20px]] Mississippi Highway 607

Adjacent counties and parishes

 * Pearl River County (north)
 * Harrison County (east)
 * St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana (south)
 * St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana (west)

Demographics
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 46,053 people, 20,036 households, and 13,081 families residing in the county.

Hancock is the only county in Mississippi where Roman Catholics outnumber Baptists. Catholics comprise a plurality of residents of Hancock County, owing to the county's French colonial heritage and proximity to deeply Catholic Southern Louisiana.

Cities

 * Bay St. Louis (county seat)
 * Diamondhead
 * Waveland

Census-designated places

 * Kiln
 * Pearlington

Unincorporated communities

 * Ansley
 * Clermont Harbor
 * Lakeshore
 * Leetown
 * Napoleon
 * Necaise
 * Shoreline Park (former CDP)

Ghost towns

 * Gainesville
 * Logtown

Education
School districts include:
 * Bay St. Louis School District
 * Hancock County School District
 * Picayune School District

title: Hancock County, Mississippi


text:
Grenada County, Mississippi

Grenada County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 21,629. Its county seat is Grenada. The county was named for Granada, Spain. Its western half is part of the Mississippi Delta. Cotton cultivation was important to its economy well into the 20th century.

The Grenada, MS Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Grenada County.

Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 449 sqmi, of which 422 sqmi is land and 27 sqmi (6.1%) is water.

Major highways

 * [[Image:I-55.svg|20px]] Interstate 55
 * [[Image:US 51.svg|20px]] U.S. Highway 51
 * [[Image:Circle sign 7.svg|20px]] Mississippi Highway 7
 * [[Image:Circle sign 8.svg|20px]] Mississippi Highway 8
 * [[Image:Circle sign 35.svg|20px]] Mississippi Highway 35

Adjacent counties

 * Yalobusha County (north)
 * Calhoun County (east)
 * Webster County (southeast)
 * Montgomery County (south)
 * Carroll County (south)
 * Leflore County (west)
 * Tallahatchie County (northwest)

National protected area

 * Tallahatchie National Wildlife Refuge (part)

2020 census
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 21,629 people, 8,391 households, and 5,362 families residing in the county.

2019
As of the 2019 United States Census, there were 20,758 people living in the county.

55.3% were White, 42.9% Black or African American, 0.5% Asian, 0.3% Native American, and 1.1% of two or more races. 1.6% were Hispanic or Latino (of any race).

There were 8,391 households. The median income for a household in the county was $40,122.

Employment
According to the Greater Grenada Partnership, in 2020, the top 3 local employers were Modine, Lennox, and the Grenada School District Top regional employers include Winchester, Toyota Mississippi, and Franklin Corporation. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that Grenada has added 1,600 direct jobs between 2011 and 2019.

On April 20, 2021, Milwaukee Tool announced that the manufacturing company will expand in Mississippi by constructing an accessories manufacturing facility in Grenada County. The project is a $60 million corporate investment and will create 800 jobs at the Grenada location.

According to a study commissioned by the Mississippi Development Authority and the Mississippi Department of Transportation, Grenada Railroad supports a total of 11,174 jobs, $1.3 billion in gross product and $1 billion in personal income.

Infrastructure
U.S. Senators Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Mississippi, announced the award of a $6.22 million grant to Grenada Railroad, LLC., to complete the final phase of a project to refurbish a rail line between Canton, Mississippi, and Memphis, Tennessee. Work in progress on the northern 100-mile project is set for completion in Late 2023. The entire 188 miles of the Memphis, TN to Canton, MS line will be rated at 286,000 gross weight on rails (GWR) with an authorized speed of 40 MPH making it a Class III Short Line Railroad.

Education
Grenada School District is the public school system.

City

 * Grenada (county seat)

Census-designated places

 * Elliott
 * Holcomb

Other unincorporated communities

 * Bew Springs
 * Glenwild
 * Gore Springs
 * Hardy
 * Le Flore
 * Oxberry
 * Riverdale
 * Tie Plant

title: Grenada County, Mississippi


text:
Greene County, Mississippi

Greene County is a county located on the southeast border of the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2020 census, the population was 13,530. Its county seat is Leakesville. Established in 1811, the county was named for General Nathanael Greene of the American Revolutionary War.

History
Historically this area of the state was occupied by the Choctaw people, who constituted the largest tribe. French, Spanish and English colonists traded with them in the early colonial years. in 1830, President Andrew Jackson gained passage of the Indian Removal Act by Congress, and proceeded to force the Choctaw and other of the Five Civilized Tribes out of the Southeast to lands west of the Mississippi River. The land was sold to European-American settlers.

County boundaries went through numerous changes as population increased and new counties were created. Along with neighboring Jones and Perry counties, Greene is characterized by its sandy soil and Piney Woods. These characteristics limited the productivity of farming.

The county economy originally depended on subsistence farmers who ran herds of cattle and hogs, which were allowed to roam freely in the pine forests and bush. Together with the game they hunted, residents sold the meat animals to markets in Mobile, Alabama, the nearest commercial center. While some farmers tried to cultivate cotton because of the high prices when the market was strong, most in this area had small farms and the owners held few enslaved African Americans. The soil did not support very successful cotton crops; in 1860 only 16 of the 213 farmers in this county raised cotton.

Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 719 sqmi, of which 713 sqmi is land and 5.9 sqmi (0.8%) is water.

Major highways

 * [[Image:US 45.svg|20px]] U.S. Highway 45
 * [[Image:US 98.svg|20px]] U.S. Highway 98
 * [[Image:Circle sign 42.svg|20px]] Mississippi Highway 42
 * [[Image:Circle sign 57.svg|20px]] Mississippi Highway 57
 * [[Image:Circle sign 63.svg|20px]] Mississippi Highway 63

Adjacent counties

 * Wayne County (north)
 * Washington County, Alabama (northeast)
 * Mobile County, Alabama (southeast)
 * George County (south)
 * Perry County (west)

National protected area

 * De Soto National Forest (part)

Demographics
The rural county had strong declines in population from 1940 to 1960, a period when many African Americans left for the West Coast in the second wave of the Great Migration. The buildup of defense industries in California and other states before and during World War II attracted many migrants for work opportunities.

2000 census
As of the census of 2000, there were 13,299 people, 4,148 households, and 3,152 families residing in the county. The population density was 19 /mi2. There were 4,947 housing units at an average density of 7 /mi2. The racial makeup of the county was 72.79% White, 26.18% Black or African American, 0.23% Native American, 0.07% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.31% from other races, and 0.38% from two or more races. 0.80% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 4,148 households, out of which 37.20% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.20% were married couples living together, 11.90% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.00% were non-families. 22.00% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.30% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.67 and the average family size was 3.12.

In the county, the population was spread out, with 24.10% under the age of 18, 13.10% from 18 to 24, 32.10% from 25 to 44, 20.60% from 45 to 64, and 10.10% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females there were 130.00 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 141.00 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $28,336, and the median income for a family was $33,037. Males had a median income of $30,189 versus $17,935 for females. The per capita income for the county was $11,868. About 16.50% of families and 19.60% of the population were below the poverty line, including 25.30% of those under age 18 and 21.10% of those age 65 or over.

2015
the largest self-reported ancestry groups in Greene County, Mississippi are:
 * African - 26.18%
 * English - 18.9%
 * American - 17.6%
 * Irish - 7.9%
 * German - 4.9%
 * Scots-Irish - 4.0%
 * Scottish - 3.4%
 * French (except Basque) - 1.5%
 * Dutch - 1.1%
 * Italian - 0.7%
 * Welsh - 0.4%
 * French-Canadian - 0.1%
 * Russian - 0.1%
 * Norwegian - 0.1%

2020 census
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 13,530 people, 3,925 households, and 2,624 families residing in the county.

Government and infrastructure
The Mississippi Department of Corrections South Mississippi Correctional Institution is located in an unincorporated area of Greene County. It opened in 1990. In the early 21st century, it has an inmate population of more than 3,000 men, which has added markedly to the total population of the county. Its inmates constitute approximately 21 percent of the state's total prisoners. Numerous residents of the rural county are employed at the prison.

The Greene County School District includes: Greene County High School, Greene County Vocational-Technical School, Leakesville Elementary School, Leakesville Junior High School, McLain Attendance Center, and Sand Hill Attendance Center.

Towns

 * Leakesville (county seat)
 * McLain
 * State Line (partly in Wayne County)

Census-designated places

 * Leaf

Unincorporated communities

 * Avera
 * Neely
 * Piave
 * Sand Hill
 * Vernal

Education
Greene County School District is the only school district.

title: Greene County, Mississippi


text:
George County, Mississippi

George County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2020 census, the population was 24,350. Its county seat is Lucedale. The county is named for James Z. George, US Senator from Mississippi. George County was included in the Pascagoula, MS Metropolitan Statistical Area. The county is located adjacent to the Alabama state line.

History
George County was named after Senator James Z. George and was formed on March 16, 1910, from parts of land formerly included in Jackson and Greene Counties.

The Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad ran through Lucedale on its way to Mobile.

Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 484 sqmi, of which 479 sqmi is land and 4.9 sqmi (1.0%) is water.

Major highways

 * [[Image:US 98.svg|20px]] U.S. Highway 98
 * [[Image:Circle sign 26.svg|20px]] Mississippi Highway 26
 * [[Image:Circle sign 57.svg|20px]] Mississippi Highway 57
 * [[Image:Circle sign 63.svg|20px]] Mississippi Highway 63
 * [[Image:Circle sign 198.svg|20px]] Mississippi Highway 198

Adjacent counties

 * Greene County (north)
 * Mobile County, Alabama (east)
 * Jackson County (south)
 * Stone County (west)
 * Perry County (northwest)

National protected area

 * De Soto National Forest (part)

Demographics
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 24,350 people, 7,592 households, and 5,309 families residing in the county.

Politics
The county has gone solidly Republican in the last ten Presidential elections. In past Presidential elections third-party candidates sometimes did well here. In 1968 George Wallace won the county with over 90 percent of the vote, which was the second highest percentage he received in any county. In 1988 the county gave David Duke 4.21%, his best performance in the nation. In that election it also gave more support to Lenora Fulani than she received in most of the nation. In 2012, President Obama only received 14 percent of the vote, and Hillary Clinton received barely ten percent in 2016 In 2020, George County was only one of two counties that voted against replacing the state flag. The other was neighbouring Greene County.

The county is located in Mississippi's 4th congressional district, which has a Cook Partisan Voting Index of R+21 and is represented by Republican Mike Ezzel.

City

 * Lucedale (county seat)

Census-designated places

 * Agricola
 * Benndale

Unincorporated places

 * Basin
 * Bexley
 * Crossroads
 * Merrill
 * Shipman

title: George County, Mississippi


text:
Franklin County, Mississippi

Franklin County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2020 census, the population was 7,675. Its county seat is Meadville. The county was formed on December 21, 1809, from portions of Adams County and named for Founding Father Benjamin Franklin. It is bisected by the Homochitto River, which runs diagonally through the county from northeast to southwest.

History
This was the fourth county organized in Mississippi. It was initially developed for agriculture, specifically cotton plantations based on enslaved labor of African Americans. Cotton continued to be important to the economy through the 19th century and into the early 20th century.

This still rural county has had a decline in population by about half since 1910. It is the fourth least populous county in the state. Mechanization of agriculture and the blight of the boll weevil both reduced the need for farm workers; they left the area and often the state. Many African Americans went north or west in the Great Migration before and after World War II. The county in the 21st century is majority white in population; in the 2000 census, African Americans composed more than 36% of the population. (See Demographics section below.)

As in the rest of the state, the county had racially segregated facilities under Jim Crow from the late 19th century. Many white residents opposed the civil rights movement of the mid-20th century. In May 1964, Ku Klux Klan members abducted and killed two young black men, Henry Hezekiah Dee and Charles Eddie Moore of Meadville, before Freedom Summer started. Their bodies were not discovered in the Mississippi River until July 1964, during the hunt for three disappeared civil rights workers.

No one was prosecuted at the time, but the case was reopened in 2007, after a documentary had been released on it by Canadian Broadcasting Company. Local man James Ford Seale was convicted of the kidnappings and deaths by an all-white jury in federal court. In 2008 the families of Dee and Moore filed a civil suit against the Franklin County government, charging complicity by its law enforcement in the deaths. On June 21, 2010, Franklin County agreed to an undisclosed settlement in the civil suit with the families of Charles Moore and Henry Dee.

Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 567 sqmi, of which 564 sqmi is land and 3.0 sqmi (0.5%) is water.

Major highways

 * [[Image:US 84.svg|20px]] U.S. Highway 84
 * [[Image:US 98.svg|20px]] U.S. Highway 98
 * [[Image:Circle sign 33.svg|20px]] Mississippi Highway 33
 * [[Image:Circle sign 184.svg|20px]] Mississippi Highway 184

Adjacent counties

 * Jefferson County (north)
 * Lincoln County (east)
 * Amite County (south)
 * Wilkinson County (southwest)
 * Adams County (west)

National protected area

 * Homochitto National Forest (part)

Towns

 * Bude
 * Meadville
 * Roxie

Unincorporated communities

 * Eddiceton
 * Hamburg
 * Knoxville
 * Little Springs
 * Lucien
 * McCall Creek
 * Quentin
 * Veto

Demographics
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 7,675 people, 2,928 households, and 2,096 families residing in the county.

Politics
In the 1964 Presidential election Barry Goldwater reportedly received 96.05% of the county's vote. Although the white-majority county has supported Southern Democrats such as Jimmy Carter for the presidency, since 2000 the Republican candidate has consistently received over 60% of the vote.

title: Franklin County, Mississippi


text:
Forrest County, Mississippi

Forrest County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2020 census, the population was 78,158. Its county seat and largest city is Hattiesburg. The county was created from Perry County in 1908 and named in honor of Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate general in the American Civil War and the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. Forrest County is part of the Hattiesburg, MS Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 470 sqmi, of which 466 sqmi is land and 3.9 sqmi (0.8%) is water.

Major highways

 * [[Image:I-59.svg|20px]] Interstate 59
 * [[Image:US 11.svg|20px]] U.S. Highway 11
 * [[Image:US 49.svg|20px]] U.S. Highway 49
 * [[Image:US 98.svg|20px]] U.S. Highway 98
 * [[Image:Circle sign 13.svg|20px]] Mississippi Highway 13
 * [[Image:Circle sign 42.svg|20px]] Mississippi Highway 42

Adjacent counties

 * Jones County (northeast)
 * Perry County (east)
 * Stone County (south)
 * Pearl River County (southwest)
 * Lamar County (west)
 * Covington County (northwest)

National protected area

 * De Soto National Forest (part)

Demographics
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 78,158 people, 27,340 households, and 15,633 families residing in the county.

Cities

 * Hattiesburg (county seat; small portion in Lamar County)
 * Petal

Census-designated places

 * Eastabuchie (located mostly in Jones County)
 * Glendale
 * Rawls Springs

Other unincorporated communities

 * Brooklyn
 * Carnes
 * Eatonville
 * Fruitland Park
 * Maxie
 * Maybank
 * McLaurin
 * Wallis

Ghost towns

 * Riverside

Politics
Forrest County has not supported the National Democratic ticket for president since 1944, when it voted overwhelmingly for Franklin Roosevelt in his landslide record fourth term victory. That is the longest such streak of any county in the state. Only twice since then has it not voted Republican, in 1948 when it backed the States Rights ticket of Strom Thurmond and then-Mississippi Governor Fielding Wright, and in 1968 when it voted for George Wallace and Curtis LeMay.

title: Forrest County, Mississippi


text:
Blish lock

The Blish lock is a breech locking mechanism designed by John Bell Blish based upon his assumption that under extreme pressures, certain dissimilar metals would resist movement with a force greater than friction laws would predict. In modern engineering terminology, it is an extreme manifestation of what is now called static friction, or stiction. His locking mechanism was used first in the Thompson submachine gun. Nowadays it is discredited as a useful firearm operating principle, due to its almost nonexistent effects on the operation and functioning of a firearm; because of that, firearms which theoretically employed it operate not by the supposed Blish lock principle, but, in fact, by blowback operation.

Invention
The Blish lock resulted from John Blish's observation of large naval guns. He noticed that the breech blocks of naval guns with interrupted thread breeches remained closed when fired with full charges, but tended to unscrew when fired with light charges. He concluded that dissimilar metals have a tendency to adhere to each other when subjected to very high pressure. This principle of metallic adhesion of dissimilar metals became known as the Blish principle. Blish put this theory to use in a delayed-blowback breech mechanism. He developed a working model that used a simple wedge as the delay mechanism, and was eventually assigned on March 9, 1915.

Despite the patent and use of the system in the Thompson submachine gun, the Blish principle found little scientific backing. In the simplified WWII M1 Thompson re-design, the Blish locking block was removed without substantial change to the gun's function with the .45 ACP cartridge. The Blish principle did provide delay in the Thompson prototypes using the .45 Remington–Thompson and .30 Carbine cartridges which generate higher pressure than the .45 ACP, a pistol round. With high power rifle cartridges such as .30-06 Springfield, the delay offered by the Blish principle was not enough to prevent the violent ejection of fired cartridge casings being hazardous to bystanders. The autorifles developed by Thompson, Colt, and BSA in the 1920s using the Blish principle never went beyond the prototype or trial stage.

Applications
The most famous application of the Blish lock were the Thompson submachine gun and the Thompson Autorifle. Several engineers suspected the Autorifle functioned more as a delayed blowback than as an adhesion-locked breech action. Some authorities, such as Julian Hatcher, felt the Blish lock as employed in the submachine gun did not accomplish much in terms of actual breech locking. In fact, the submachine gun was successfully redesigned as a simple blowback weapon (the M1/M1A1). Any real advantages to the system were far outweighed by the additional cost of manufacture associated with the device. Also, in the Thompson submachine gun the H-shaped bronze lock connects the bolt actuator to the bolt body; incorrect installation of the Blish lock can render a Thompson inoperable upon firing.

title: Blish lock


text:
DeSoto County, Mississippi

DeSoto County is a county located on the northwestern border of the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2020 census, the population was 185,314, making it the third-most populous county in Mississippi. Its county seat is Hernando.

DeSoto County is part of the Memphis metropolitan area. It is the second-most populous county in that statistical area. The county has lowland areas that were developed in the 19th century for cotton plantations, and hill country in the eastern part of the county.

History
DeSoto County, Mississippi, was formally established February 9, 1836. The original county lines included territory now part of Tate County, which was carved out in 1873.

The county is named for Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto, the first European explorer known to reach the Mississippi River. The county seat, Hernando, is also named in his honor. De Soto reportedly died in that area in May 1542, although some accounts suggest that he died near Lake Village, Arkansas.

Early history
Indian artifacts collected in DeSoto County link it with prehistoric groups of Woodland and Mississippian culture peoples. Members of the Mississippian culture, who built complex settlements and earthwork monuments throughout the Mississippi River Valley and its major tributaries, met Hernando de Soto in the mid-16th century when he explored what is now North Mississippi. By tradition, he is believed to have traveled with his expedition through present-day DeSoto County. Some scholars speculate that de Soto discovered the Mississippi River west of present-day Lake Cormorant, built rafts there, and crossed to present-day Crowley's Ridge, Arkansas. Based on records of the expedition and archeology, the National Park Service has designated a "DeSoto Corridor" from Coahoma County, Mississippi to the Chickasaw Bluff in Memphis.

The Mississippian culture declined and disappeared, and in most areas this preceded European contact. Scholars speculate this may have followed changes in the environment. The town named Chicasa, which De Soto visited, was probably the ancestral home of the historical Chickasaw, who are descended from the Mississippian culture. They had lived in the area for centuries before white settlers began arriving. Present-day Pontotoc, Mississippi developed near the Chickasaw "Long Town", which was composed of several villages near each other. The Chickasaw Nation regarded much of western present-day Tennessee and northern Mississippi as their traditional hunting grounds.

The Chickasaw traded furs for French goods, and the French established several small settlements among them. However, France ceded its claim to territories east of the Mississippi River to Britain in 1763, after having been defeated in the Seven Years' War. The United States acquired the area from the British as part of the treaty that ended the American Revolution.

19th and 20th centuries
The Chickasaw finally ceded most of their land to the United States under pressure during Indian Removal, and a treaty in 1832. They were forced to remove to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River.

Negotiations began in September 1816 between the United States government and the Chickasaw nation and concluded with the signing of the Treaty of Pontotoc in October 1832. During those 16 years, federal officials pressed the Chickasaw for cessions of land to extinguish their land claims to enable white settlement in their territory. Congress passed the Indian Removal Act in 1830, authorizing forcible removal if necessary to extinguish Native American claims in the Southeast. From 1832 to 1836, government surveyors mapped the 6442000 acre of the Chickasaw domain and divided it into townships, ranges and sections. The Mississippi Legislature formed 10 new counties, including DeSoto, Tunica, Marshall, and Tate, from the territory.

By treaty, the land was assigned by sections of 640 acre to individual Indian households. The Chickasaw, a numerically small tribe, were assigned 2422400 acre of land by using that formula. The government declared the remainder as surplus and disposed of the remaining 400000 acre at public sale. The Indians received at least $1.25 per acre for their land. The government land sold for 75 cents per acre or less.

During and after the Civil War, the area was developed as large plantations by planters for cultivation of cotton, a leading commodity crop. Before the Civil War, they had depended on the labor of thousands of enslaved African Americans. After the war and emancipation, many freedmen stayed in the area, but shaped their own lives by working on small plots as sharecroppers or tenant farmers, rather than on large labor gangs on the plantations. Reliance on agriculture meant that the area did not develop much economically well into the 20th century, and both whites and blacks suffered economically.

In 1890, the state legislature disenfranchised most blacks under the new constitution, which used poll taxes and literacy tests to raise barriers to voter registration. In the early 20th century, many people left the rural county for cities to gain other opportunities. Most blacks could not vote in Mississippi until the late 1960s, after the passage of federal legislation.

During the Great Depression, the Southern Tenant Farmers Union was organized in 1934. It was open to both black and white sharecroppers and worked to gain better deals and fair accounting from local white landowners. Whites in DeSoto County resisted the effort. In 1935, a white lynch mob attacked early union organizer and minister Reverend T. A. Allen, shot him, and threw him into the Coldwater River. One account said that his body was weighted by chains and that authorities claimed it to be a suicide.

In its 2015 report on Lynching in America (2015), the Equal Justice Institute documented 12 lynchings in the county from 1877 to 1950. Most lynchings in the South took place around the turn of the 20th century.

Since the late 20th century, DeSoto County has experienced considerable suburban development related to the growth of Memphis.

21st century
As part of the Memphis, Tennessee metropolitan area, the early-21st-century DeSoto County has become one of the 40 fastest-growing counties in the United States. That is attributed to suburban development as middle-class and wealthier blacks leave Memphis to acquire newer housing and commute to Memphis for work. Some observers have characterized the shift as black flight, but it is also typical of the pattern of postwar suburban growth in which people who could afford it moved to newer housing in suburbs.

Such suburban residential development in the county has been most noticeable in the Mississippi cities of Southaven, Olive Branch, and Horn Lake. Also stimulating development in the formerly rural area is the massive casino/resort complex, in the neighboring Tunica County, which is the sixth-largest gambling district in the United States.

Politics
DeSoto County, as did most Southern counties, voted predominantly for the Democratic candidate through 1956. A shift in this pattern took place beginning in 1964, as with the rest of the Solid South. The only Democrat to take DeSoto County since then has been Jimmy Carter, in his successful 1976 bid.

Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 497 sqmi, of which 476 sqmi is land and 21 sqmi (4.2%) is water.

Geographic features

 * Mississippi River
 * Coldwater River
 * Arkabutla Lake
 * Chickasaw Bluffs

Transit
While there is no fixed-route transit within the county, Memphis Area Transit Authority, Amtrak, Greyhound Lines, Megabus and Delta Bus Lines serve nearby Memphis.

Major highways

 * [[Image:I-55.svg|20px]] Interstate 55
 * [[Image:I-69.svg|20px]] Interstate 69
 * [[Image:I-269.svg|23px]] Interstate 269
 * [[Image:US 51.svg|20px]] U.S. Route 51
 * [[Image:US 61.svg|20px]] U.S. Route 61

Adjacent counties

 * Shelby County, Tennessee - north
 * Crittenden County, Arkansas - west
 * Tunica County - southwest
 * Tate County - south
 * Marshall County - east

2020 census
As of the 2020 United States Census, there were 185,314 people, 65,220 households, and 47,230 families residing in the county.

2013
As of the 2013 U.S.census estimates, there were 168,240 people living in the county. 70.3% were non-Hispanic White, 21.5% Black or African American, 1.6% Asian, 2.6% Native American, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 5.0% were Hispanic or Latino (of any race). The median income for a family was $66,377 and the mean income was $75,875. DeSoto County has the highest median income in Mississippi and the second highest mean income after Madison County.

2000 census
According to the 2000 census, the largest self-identified ancestry groups in DeSoto County were English 53.1%, Scots-Irish 15.1%, African 11.4%, and Irish 4.5%. Since then the percentage of African-American population in the county has nearly doubled, as the total county population has also grown.

Attractions
DeSoto County is known for its golf courses. Velvet Cream, known as 'The Dip' by locals, is a landmark restaurant in the county. Operating since 1947, it is the oldest continually running restaurant in the county. In 2010, it was awarded 'Best Ice Cream in Mississippi' by USA Today. DeSoto County was also previously known as the home of Maywood Beach, a water park that closed in 2003 after more than 70 years of operation.

DeSoto County Museum

A popular attraction is the DeSoto County Museum located in the county seat of Hernando. The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10–5. Admission is free but donations are encouraged. Exhibits include displays on Hernando DeSoto, Civil War history, French colonial and American antebellum homes of the county, civil rights, and the history of each of the county's municipalities.

An eighteenth-century French colonial log house (see photo to the right) has been preserved from the time of French trading and settlement along the Mississippi. This house is similar in style to several French colonial houses preserved in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, where many French settled after France ceded its territory east of the Mississippi to Great Britain following its defeat in the Seven Years' War.

Hernando DeSoto Park
Hernando DeSoto Park, located on Bass Road 6 mi west of Walls, is a 41 acre park that features a hiking/walking trail, river overlook, picnic area, and boat launch. It is the only location in DeSoto County with public access to the Mississippi River.

Cities

 * Hernando (county seat)
 * Horn Lake
 * Olive Branch
 * Southaven

Town

 * Walls

Census-designated places

 * Bridgetown
 * Eudora
 * Lake View
 * Lynchburg
 * Pleasant Hill

Unincorporated communities

 * Cedarview
 * Cockrum
 * Days
 * Handy Corner
 * Lake Cormorant
 * Lewisburg
 * Love
 * Mineral Wells
 * Nesbit
 * Norfolk
 * West Days

Former village

 * Memphis

Education
Public education in DeSoto County is provided by the DeSoto County School District, the school district for the entire county. It is the state's largest school district. The district is responsible for the operation of eight high schools, eight middle schools, three intermediate (Grades 3–5) and numerous primary schools.

Notable people

 * John Grisham, lawyer, writer.
 * Olivia Holt, actor, singer.
 * Jerry Lee Lewis (1935-2022), singer, songwriter, pianist.
 * Austin Riley, MLB Third Baseman, Atlanta Braves.
 * Ricky Stenhouse Jr., NASCAR.
 * Nakobe Dean, NFL, Philadelphia Eagles.
 * Cody Reed, MLB pitcher, Tampa Bay Rays.

Media

 * DeSoto Times-Tribune
 * DeSotoCountyNews.com

Suggested reading

 * Map Guide to the U.S. Federal Censuses, 1790–1920, Thorndale, William, and Dollarhide, William; Copyright 1987. (Historic state maps including evolution of DeSoto County)

title: DeSoto County, Mississippi


text:
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title: Talk:Indre-et-Loire


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Covington County, Mississippi

Covington County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2020 census, the population was 18,340. Its county seat is Collins. The county is named for U.S. Army officer and Congressman Leonard Covington.

History
Covington County was established on January 5, 1819, less than two years after Mississippi earned statehood into the Union. The county was one of the first counties established out of the vast non-agricultural lands in the more eastern part of the state. Covington was originally cut out of Lawrence and Wayne Counties, and encompassed what is now Jefferson Davis, Covington, and Jones Counties.

In 1823, part of Covington County became Bainbridge County, most likely named after William Bainbridge, who became an American naval hero during the War of 1812. The next year, in 1824, the Mississippi legislature did away with Bainbridge County, giving its lands back to Covington County.

Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 415 sqmi, of which 414 sqmi is land and 1.1 sqmi (0.3%) is water.

Adjacent counties

 * Smith County (north)
 * Jones County (east)
 * Forrest County (southeast)
 * Lamar County (south)
 * Jefferson Davis County (west)
 * Simpson County (northwest)

Major highways

 * [[Image:US 49.svg|20px]] U.S. Highway 49
 * [[Image:US 84.svg|20px]] U.S. Highway 84

Covington County is crossed both north-to-south and east-to-west by four-laned state highways. Highway 49, which runs north–south through all three municipalities and is commonly known as Mississippi's Main Street, connects the state's three largest cities—Jackson, Gulfport, and Hattiesburg—to Covington County as well as cities such as Wiggins, Magee, Clinton, and Yazoo City. Highway 49 brings to Covington County thousands each day.

Highway 84 cuts across Covington County east to west, and runs through the City of Collins. Highway 84 connects the mid-size cities of Laurel, Brookhaven, and Natchez to Covington County.

Minor highways
A network of two-laned highways runs through Covington County, connecting big cities and small communities alike. Main Street Collins is Highway 184, formerly Highway 84. Main Street Seminary is Highway 590. Others include:
 * Mississippi Highway 35 (Mt. Olive, Mize, Raleigh)
 * Mississippi Highway 37 (Collins to Taylorsville)
 * Mississippi Highway 184 (Collins)
 * Mississippi Highway 588 (Collins to Ellisville)
 * Mississippi Highway 598 (Sanford)
 * Mississippi Highway 589 (Seminary, Sumrall, Purvis)
 * Mississippi Highway 590 (Seminary to Ellisville)
 * Mississippi Highway 532 (Mt. Olive to Hopewell)
 * Mississippi Highway 535 (Seminary to Collins)

Demographics
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 18,340 people, 6,759 households, and 4,965 families residing in the county.

Public education
The Covington County School District maintains a total of nine schools, plus an alternative school and a Vocational Education center.

National politics
On the Presidential level, Covington County is solidly Republican and has been for more than two decades. A Democrat has not won Covington County since 1976, when native Southerner Jimmy Carter bested Gerald Ford by fewer than 300 votes. In the Congress, Covington County falls within the boundaries of Mississippi's Third Congressional District, which is represented by Republican Michael Guest.

State politics
On the state level, Covington County is solidly Republican. Not since 1995 has Covington County voted for the Democratic gubernatorial nominee. In the 2011 election, Covington County voters elected the Republican nominee in seven of the eight statewide contests. In the Mississippi House of Representatives, the majority of Covington County is represented by Joseph L. "Joe" Warren, one of the longest-serving Democrats in the Mississippi House. Representing smaller portions of Covington County are Blaine Eaton and Bob Evans, both Democrats. In the State Senate, the county is represented by Joey Fillingane, a Republican.

Local politics
On the local level, Covington County is still heavily Democratic. Of the six county-wide elected positions, all are held by Democrats. This is also the case for the five-member Board of Supervisors.

Okatoma River
The Okatoma River, also called Okatoma Creek, carves a winding path north to south through Covington County, running through three towns and eventually emptying into the Bouie River just south of the county line.

People from all over the Southeast travel to the county to canoe and kayak a portion of the river, from Seminary to Sanford. Okatoma Outdoor Post and Seminary Canoe Rental both provide canoe and kayak rentals, as well as lodging on the river. The Okatoma has consistently been ranked among the best rafting sites in the South.

Mitchell Farms
Located just east of Collins, Mitchell Farms is one of the top agri-tourism destinations in south Mississippi. Families and school groups alike travel to Collins each year to tour the farm and enjoy the pumpkin patch, rustic cabins and farm buildings, corn maze, sunflower field, and other family-oriented features.

Mississippi's Peanut Festival — complete with a harvest king and queen competition, 5K run/walk, food vendors, and children's activities — is held annually in October, attracting several thousand.

Grand Paradise Water Park
Collins' Grand Paradise is a seven-acre water park, one of the largest in Mississippi. Attractions include the Lazy River, Cannon Bowl, Pipeline, and more. Food concessions, lockers, a changing area, and a gift shop are available.

Cities

 * Collins (county seat)

Towns

 * Mount Olive
 * Seminary

Unincorporated communities

 * Hopewell
 * Hot Coffee
 * Lux
 * Ora
 * Sanford
 * Williamsburg

Notable people

 * Dana Andrews, actor and former president of the Screen Actors Guild (born on a farmstead outside Collins, but raised in Texas)
 * Ernest Duff (1931-2016), businessman, lawyer and Mormon bishop
 * Steve McNair, former NFL quarterback
 * Martin Sennett Conner, Governor of Mississippi, 1932–36
 * Gerald McRaney, actor
 * Dale Houston, singer

title: Covington County, Mississippi


text:
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paquebot France
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title: Talk:Isère


text:
Copiah County, Mississippi

Copiah County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2020 census, the population was 28,368. The county seat is Hazlehurst.

With an eastern border formed by the Pearl River, Copiah County is part of the Jackson, MS Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History
Copiah, from a Choctaw Indian word meaning calling panther, was organized in 1823 as Mississippi's 18th county. In the year of county organization, Walter Leake served as governor and James Monroe as President of the United States. In 2004 Calling Panther Lake, commemorating this name, was opened up just West and North of Crystal Springs near the Jack and New Zion community.

Soon after the Choctaw Indians relinquished their claims to this land in 1819 and the legislature formed Copiah County in 1823, Elisha Lott, a Methodist minister who had worked among the Indians, brought his family from Hancock County to a location near the present site of Crystal Springs. When the New Orleans, Jackson and Great Northern Railroad built in the area in 1858, a new town was created about a mile and a half west of the old settlement. The new settlement took the name Crystal Springs and the old settlement became Old Crystal Springs.

William J. Willing's home was the first to be built in the new town, and Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, once made a speech from the front yard. Ozious Osborne owned the first merchandise store on a corner of his residence lot on south Jackson Street. This lot later became the Merchants Grocery Company's site.

The development of cotton agriculture in the county was based on, and the population was before the Civil War.

The first church built was the Methodist in 1860 in Hazelhurst. It was followed by the Baptist in 1861, Presbyterian in 1870. Trinity Episcopal was built in 1882, during a growth in the US Episcopal Church. After the American Civil War, most freedmen withdrew from white churches to establish their own independent congregations, setting up state associations of Baptists by the end of the nineteenth century.

The county expanded its production of commercial vegetable crops, known as truck farming, in the 19th and 20th centuries. Crystal Springs developed as one of the largest tomato shipping centers. Its commercial farming started in 1870 when the first shipment of peaches, grown by James Sturgis, was shipped to New Orleans and Chicago markets. Tomatoes were still known as "love apples" when N. Piazza imported seeds from Italy, and with help from S. H. Stackhouse, began scientific cultivation of tomato plants. With the help of German immigrant Augustus Lotterhos, the industry achieved success. In 1878, Lotterhos pooled the products of a number of tomato growers and shipped the first boxcar load to Denver, Colorado.

In the 1960s, Hazlehurst and Crystal Springs were centers of civil rights activism in the southwest part of the state. In addition to working with the Freedom Democratic Party in 1964 on voter registration and education, they organized to make progress after passage of federal civil rights legislation in 1964 and 1965. With the aid of Deacons for Defense and Justice, to protect protesters working with the NAACP on boycotts of merchants in 1966 and 1967 in order to gain integration of public facilities and implement civil rights legislation. The Deacons for Defense had first been organized in Natchez in 1965 to protect African-American protesters, after considerable earlier violence in the state against protesters.

Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 779 sqmi, of which 777 sqmi is land and 2.2 sqmi (0.3%) is water.

Major highways

 * [[Image:I-55.svg|20px]] Interstate 55
 * [[Image:US 51.svg|20px]] U.S. Highway 51
 * [[Image:Circle sign 18.svg|20px]] Mississippi Highway 18
 * [[Image:Circle sign 27.svg|20px]] Mississippi Highway 27
 * [[Image:Circle sign 28.svg|20px]] Mississippi Highway 28
 * [[Image:Circle sign 844.svg|20px]] Mississippi Highway 844

Adjacent counties

 * Hinds County (north)
 * Simpson County (east)
 * Lawrence County (southeast)
 * Lincoln County (south)
 * Jefferson County (southwest)
 * Claiborne County (west)

National protected area

 * Homochitto National Forest (part)

Demographics
The mostly rural county has had two periods of marked losses of population during waves of the Great Migration of African Americans out of the rural South: from 1910 to 1920, and from 1940 to 1970. In the first period, most migrants went North, many to St. Louis or Chicago. In the second, they went West, particularly to California where the defense industry had many new jobs and federal policy created opportunities for African Americans in these fields.

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 28,368 people, 9,414 households, and 6,609 families residing in the county.

Tomato Festival
The county is known as a tomato and cabbage producing area, and for many years was called the "Tomato Capital of the World." Specifically, Crystal Springs was known as "The Tomato Capital of the World" because for a few years in the late 1930s it canned and shipped out via rail car more tomatoes than any other locale. Its predominance was disrupted by the onset of World War II but it kept the title.

In June 2000, the town revived celebration of an annual Tomato Festival, held on the last Saturday in June. It includes a tomato growing contest (with prizes for largest tomato, ugliest tomato, prettiest tomato, etc.), tomato tasting, farmers' market, vendor's booths, musical entertainment, 5K run and, of course, the crowning of the new Tomato Queen. The Tomato Festival was originally set up on Front Street.

The Friday night before the Tomato Festival, a Street Dance is held as the kick-off event. It is the night of the crowning of the Tomato Queen. Entertainment includes a live band, games and amusement rides for the kids, and food vendors. During the Street Dance, "BBQ and Blue Jeans" is sponsored by the Junior Auxiliary of Crystal Springs. They sell take-out containers filled with BBQ sandwiches, potato salad, baked beans and a dinner roll. This is the evening when other festival vendors start setting up their booths for the main day events. Vendors come from all over the U.S. to the festival every year to sell their wares, and provide games and amusement rides. A tomato museum at the Chautauqua Park Visitor's Center exhibits historical pictures, agricultural relics from the era, and examples of some of the shipping and canning labels.

Education

 * Copiah Academy
 * Copiah County School District

Cities

 * Crystal Springs
 * Hazlehurst (county seat)

Towns

 * Georgetown
 * Wesson (partly located in Lincoln County)

Village

 * Beauregard

Unincorporated communities

 * Carpenter
 * Conn
 * Dentville
 * Gallman
 * Glancy
 * Hopewell
 * Martinsville
 * Midway
 * Rockport
 * Ruby
 * Sand Hill

Ghost town

 * Coars Springs

title: Copiah County, Mississippi