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Clarksdale, Mississippi | |
|---|---|
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 Flag  Seal | |
| Nicknames: The Golden Buckle on the Cotton Belt, The Birthplace of the Blues | |
 Location of Clarksdale, Mississippi | |
  Clarksdale, Mississippi Location in the United States | |
| Coordinates:34°12′N90°34′W / 34.200°N 90.567°W /34.200; -90.567 | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Mississippi |
| County | Coahoma |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Orlando Paden (D)[1] |
| Area | |
• Total | 18.79 sq mi (48.67 km2) |
| • Land | 18.79 sq mi (48.67 km2) |
| • Water | 0 sq mi (0.00 km2) |
| Elevation | 174 ft (53 m) |
| Population (2020) | |
• Total | 14,903 |
| • Density | 793.0/sq mi (306.18/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC−6 (Central (CST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−5 (CDT) |
| ZIP Codes | 38614, 38669 |
| Area code | 662 |
| FIPS code | 28-13820 |
| GNIS feature ID | 0666084 |
| Website | Clarksdale, Mississippi |
Clarksdale is a city in and thecounty seat ofCoahoma County,Mississippi, United States.[3] It is located along theSunflower River and named after John Clark, a settler who founded the city in the mid-19th century when he established a timber mill and business. Clarksdale is in theMississippi Delta region and is an agricultural and trading center. Many African American musicians developed theblues here and took this original American music with them toChicago and other northern cities during theGreat Migration.
The Clarksdale Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Coahoma County. It’s located in the Mississippi Delta region of Mississippi. In 2023, the Clarksdale, Mississippi Micropolitan area was added to form the newMemphis-Clarksdale-Forrest City Combined Statistical Area.[4] The Memphis-Clarksdale-Forrest City Combined Statistical Area has around 1.4 million people. The western boundary of the county is formed by theMississippi River.
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European Americans developed Clarksdale at the intersection of two former Indian routes: the Lower Creek Trade Path, which extended westward from present-dayAugusta, Georgia, to New Mexico; and the Chakchiuma Trade Trail, which ran northeastward to the former village at present-dayPontotoc, Mississippi. They later improved these trails for roadways wide enough for wagons.[5]
John Clark founded the town of Clarksdale in 1848, when he bought land in the area and started a timber business.[6] It became a trading center. Clark married the sister ofJames Lusk Alcorn, a major planter who owned a nearby plantation. Alcorn became a politician, and was elected by the state legislature as US Senator. Later he was elected by voters as governor of the state. Thriving from the cotton trade and associated business, Clarksdale soon earned the title "The Golden Buckle on the Cotton Belt".[5]
African-American slaves cultivated and processed cotton, worked as artisans, and cultivated and processed produce and livestock on the plantations. They built the wealth of "King Cotton" in the state. U.S. Census data showsCoahoma County, Mississippi's 1860 population was 1,521 whites and 5,085 slaves.[7] James Alcorn was a major planter, owning 77 slaves according to the 1860 Slave Schedule.
Cedar Mound Plantation, located 5 miles south of Clarksdale, was purchased and named in 1834 by Alex Kerr Boyce. He died childless and it was inherited by his niece Mrs. Catherine (Kate) (née Henderson) Adams ofSouth Carolina. She divided it among her unmarried children: Jennie, Will, and Lucia Adams. The sisters' correspondence (1845-1944) is held in a collection in their name at the University of Mississippi.[8]
After slavery was abolished, many black families labored assharecroppers or tenant farmers. They gained some independence, no longer working in gangs of laborers, but were often at a disadvantage in negotiations with white planters, as they were generally illiterate. Planters advanced them supplies and seed at the beginning of the season, allowed them to buy other goods on credit, and settled with them at the end of harvest for a major portion of the crop. HistorianNicholas Lemann writes "segregation strengthened the grip of the sharecropper system by ensuring that most blacks would have no arena of opportunity in life except for the cotton fields."[9]
During theReconstruction Era following the Civil War, Mississippi's blacks and poor whites both benefited from the State's new constitution of 1868, which adopted universal suffrage; repealed property qualifications for suffrage or for office; provided for the state's first public school system; forbade race distinctions in the possession and inheritance of property; and prohibited limiting civil rights in travel.[10]
Those gains were short-lived, as insurgent whiteparamilitary groups such as theRed Shirts worked to suppress black voting from 1868 on. By 1875 conservative white Democrats regained control of the state legislature in Mississippi. They later passedJim Crow laws, including legal segregation of public facilities.[citation needed]
Afreedman named Bill Peace, who had served in the Union Army and returned to Clarksdale after the war, persuaded his former owner to allow him to form a security force to prevent theft from the plantation. On October 9, 1875, whites in Clarksdale began hearing rumors that "General Peace" was preparing his troops to plunder the town; rumors spread that he was planning to murder the whites. A white militia was formed, and they suppressed Peace's "revolt". Across Mississippi, white militias frequently formed in response to similar fears of armed black revolt.[9][page needed]
Twentieth-century historianNicholas Lemann writes:
Like the establishment of sharecropping, the restoration to power of the all-white Democratic Party in the South was a development of such magnitude to whites that it became encrusted in legend; many towns have their own mythic stories of the redemption of the white South. In Clarksdale, it is the story of the "race riot" of October 9, 1875.[9][page needed]
After the Reconstruction era and construction in 1879 of theLouisville, New Orleans and Texas Railway through the town, Clarksdale was incorporated in 1882. In 1886, the town's streets were laid out; it was not until 1913 that any were paved.[9][page needed]
In the early 20th century,Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe began to settle in Mississippi, often working as merchants. From the 1930s to the 1970s, Clarksdale had one of the largest Jewish populations in Mississippi. In the 1930s, they founded Beth Israel Synagogue. However, most left as the city declined in population, with rural areas losing residents.[citation needed]
The movement of large numbers of people both to and from Clarksdale is prominent in the city's history. Prior to 1920, Delta plantations were in constant need of laborers, and many black families moved to the area to work as sharecroppers. After World War I, plantation owners even encouraged blacks to move from the other parts of Mississippi to the Delta region for work. By this time, Clarksdale had also become home to a multi-cultural mixture of Lebanese, Italian, Chinese and Jewish immigrant merchants.[9][page needed] Prior to the Jewish merchants establishing themselves on Issaquena Avenue, the area was a red light district and parts of this neighborhood was referred to as the "New World".[11]
By 1920, the price of cotton had fallen, and many blacks living in the Delta began to leave. TheIllinois Central Railroad operated a large depot in Clarksdale and provided a Chicago-bound route for those seeking greater economic opportunities in the north; it soon became the primary departure point for many.[9][page needed]
During the 1940s, three events occurred which increased the exodus of African-Americans from Clarksdale. First, it became possible to commercially produce a cotton crop entirely by machine, which lessened the need for a large, low-paid workforce. Coincidentally, it was on 28 acres of the nearby Hopson Plantation where theInternational Harvester Company perfected the single-row mechanical cotton picking machine in 1946; soil was prepared, seeded, picked and bailed entirely by machines, while weeds were eradicated by flame.[12]
On September 10, 1919, Black veteranL. B. Reed was lynched as part of theRed Summer of 1919.[citation needed]
Clarksdale played a very important role in thecivil rights movement in Mississippi. The starting point for a civil rights movement in Clarksdale was the rape at gunpoint of two African-American women, Leola Tates and Erline Mills, in August 1951.[13] The two white teenagers they said assaulted them, who admitted the event but said it was consensual, were arrested, but "despite the overwhelming evidence against them, the justice of peace court judge freed the accused perpetrators".[14]: 41 On May 29, 1958,Martin Luther King Jr. visited Clarksdale for the first major meeting of theSouthern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). In 1960,Aaron Henry, a local pharmacist, was named state president of the NAACP, and went on to organize a two-year-long boycott of Clarksdale businesses. In 1962, King again visited Clarksdale on the first stop on a region-wide tour, where he urged a crowd of 1,000 to "stand in, sit in, and walk by the thousands".[15][16][page needed]
National headlines in February 2013 covered the discovery of the body of mayoral candidateMarco McMillian, who was found murdered near the town ofSherard, to the west of his home town of Clarksdale. Because McMillian was openly gay and was badly beaten before his death, there was speculation that his murder qualified to be classified as ahate crime. Lawrence Reed, an acquaintance of McMillian, was charged, tried, and found guilty of the murder in April 2015.[17]
Clarksdale has been historically significant in the history of theblues. TheMississippi Blues Trail places interpretative markers for historic sites such as Clarksdale'sRiverside Hotel, whereBessie Smith died following an auto accident onHighway 61. The Riverside Hotel is just one of many historical blues sites in Clarksdale.[18] Early supporters of the effort to preserve Clarksdale's musical legacy included the photographer and journalist Panny Mayfield,Living Blues magazine founderJim O'Neal, and attorney Walter Thompson, father of sports journalistWright Thompson. In 1995,Mount Zion Memorial Fund founder Skip Henderson, a vintage guitar dealer fromNew Brunswick, New Jersey and friend of Delta Blues Museum founder Sid Graves, purchased theIllinois Central Railroad passenger depot to save it from planned demolition. With the help of local businessman Jon Levingston, as well as the Delta Council, Henderson received a US$1.279 million grant from the federal government to restore the passenger depot. These redevelopment funds were then transferred on the advice of Clarksdale's City attorney, Hunter Twiford, to Coahoma County, in order to establish a tourism locale termed "Blues Alley", after a phrase coined by then Mayor, Henry Espy. The popularity of theDelta Blues Museum and the growth of theSunflower River Blues & Gospel Festival andJuke Joint Festivals have provided an economic boost to the city.
Clarksdale is located on the banks of theSunflower River in theMississippi Delta.
According to theUnited States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 13.9 square miles (36 km2), of which 13.8 square miles (36 km2) is land and 0.07% is water.
U.S. Routes49,61, and278 pass through Clarksdale.
| Climate data for Clarksdale, Mississippi (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1892–present) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °F (°C) | 80 (27) | 84 (29) | 89 (32) | 94 (34) | 101 (38) | 107 (42) | 108 (42) | 109 (43) | 107 (42) | 97 (36) | 93 (34) | 81 (27) | 109 (43) |
| Mean maximum °F (°C) | 69.7 (20.9) | 73.1 (22.8) | 79.4 (26.3) | 85.4 (29.7) | 90.6 (32.6) | 94.5 (34.7) | 96.6 (35.9) | 97.1 (36.2) | 94.3 (34.6) | 88.6 (31.4) | 79.2 (26.2) | 70.7 (21.5) | 98.4 (36.9) |
| Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 50.3 (10.2) | 55.4 (13.0) | 63.5 (17.5) | 72.9 (22.7) | 81.4 (27.4) | 88.2 (31.2) | 90.4 (32.4) | 90.7 (32.6) | 86.2 (30.1) | 75.9 (24.4) | 63.0 (17.2) | 53.3 (11.8) | 72.6 (22.6) |
| Daily mean °F (°C) | 41.2 (5.1) | 45.3 (7.4) | 52.9 (11.6) | 62.2 (16.8) | 71.5 (21.9) | 78.7 (25.9) | 81.1 (27.3) | 80.5 (26.9) | 75.0 (23.9) | 64.0 (17.8) | 52.2 (11.2) | 44.1 (6.7) | 62.4 (16.9) |
| Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | 32.0 (0.0) | 35.3 (1.8) | 42.4 (5.8) | 51.6 (10.9) | 61.5 (16.4) | 69.1 (20.6) | 71.8 (22.1) | 70.3 (21.3) | 63.8 (17.7) | 52.1 (11.2) | 41.4 (5.2) | 34.8 (1.6) | 52.2 (11.2) |
| Mean minimum °F (°C) | 17.3 (−8.2) | 21.7 (−5.7) | 26.9 (−2.8) | 37.5 (3.1) | 47.3 (8.5) | 60.1 (15.6) | 64.7 (18.2) | 63.4 (17.4) | 50.3 (10.2) | 37.2 (2.9) | 26.7 (−2.9) | 23.2 (−4.9) | 14.7 (−9.6) |
| Record low °F (°C) | −8 (−22) | 0 (−18) | 13 (−11) | 29 (−2) | 34 (1) | 48 (9) | 52 (11) | 52 (11) | 36 (2) | 26 (−3) | 13 (−11) | −2 (−19) | −8 (−22) |
| Averageprecipitation inches (mm) | 5.46 (139) | 5.59 (142) | 5.37 (136) | 6.16 (156) | 5.10 (130) | 3.95 (100) | 4.17 (106) | 2.85 (72) | 3.30 (84) | 4.40 (112) | 4.25 (108) | 5.26 (134) | 55.86 (1,419) |
| Average precipitation days(≥ 0.01 in) | 9.7 | 8.9 | 9.8 | 9.2 | 9.7 | 7.6 | 7.5 | 6.9 | 5.7 | 7.0 | 8.2 | 9.2 | 99.4 |
| Source:NOAA[19][20] | |||||||||||||
| Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1890 | 781 | — | |
| 1900 | 1,773 | 127.0% | |
| 1910 | 4,079 | 130.1% | |
| 1920 | 7,552 | 85.1% | |
| 1930 | 10,043 | 33.0% | |
| 1940 | 12,168 | 21.2% | |
| 1950 | 16,539 | 35.9% | |
| 1960 | 21,105 | 27.6% | |
| 1970 | 21,673 | 2.7% | |
| 1980 | 21,137 | −2.5% | |
| 1990 | 19,717 | −6.7% | |
| 2000 | 20,645 | 4.7% | |
| 2010 | 17,962 | −13.0% | |
| 2020 | 14,903 | −17.0% | |
| U.S. Decennial Census[21] | |||
As of thecensus[22] of 2000, there were 20,645 people, 7,233 households, and 5,070 families living in the city. The population density was 1,491.8 inhabitants per square mile (576.0/km2). There were 7,757 housing units at an average density of 560.5 per square mile (216.4/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 68.52%African American, 29.95%White, 0.58%Asian, 0.11%Native American, 0.01%Pacific Islander, 0.22% fromother races, and 0.60% from two or more races.Hispanic orLatino of any race were 0.65% of the population.
There were 7,233 households, out of which 36.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 35.7% weremarried couples living together, 30.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.9% were non-families. 27.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.77 and the average family size was 3.38.
In the city, the population was spread out, with 32.9% under the age of 18, 14.6% from 18 to 24, 25.2% from 25 to 44, 16.3% from 45 to 64, and 10.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 28 years. For every 100 females, there were 89.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 81.1 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $20,188, and the median income for a family was US$22,592. Males had a median income of $23,881 versus $18,918 for females. Theper capita income for the city was US$11,611. About 32.7% of families and 39.2% of the population were below thepoverty line, including 46.1% of those under age 18 and 31.4% of those age 65 or over.
As of the2010 United States census, there were 17,962 people living in the city. 79.0% wereAfrican American, 19.5%White, 0.6%Asian, 0.6%Native American, 0.4% of some other race, and 0.5% from two or more races. 0.9% wereHispanic orLatino of any race.
| Race | Num. | Perc. |
|---|---|---|
| Black or African American | 12,144 | 81.49% |
| White | 2,155 | 14.46% |
| Other/Mixed | 290 | 1.95% |
| Hispanic orLatino | 204 | 1.37% |
| Asian | 98 | 0.66% |
| Native American | 12 | 0.08% |
As of the2020 United States census, there were 14,903 people, 5,847 households, and 3,808 families residing in the city.
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In late 1979, Carnegie Public Library Director Sid Graves began a nascent display series which later became the nucleus of theDelta Blues Museum.[24] Graves single-handedly nurtured the beginnings of the museum in the face of an indifferent community and an often recalcitrant Library Board, at times resorting to storing displays in the trunk of his car when denied space in the library. When the fledgling museum was accidentally discovered byBilly Gibbons of the rock bandZZ Top through contact with Howard Stovall Jr., the Delta Blues Museum became the subject of national attention as a pet project of the band, and the Museum began to enjoy national recognition.
In 1995, the museum, at that time Clarksdale's only attraction,[citation needed] grew to include a large section of the newly renovated library building, but remained under the tight control of the Carnegie Library Board, who subsequently fired Sid Graves, at the time seriously ill. Graves died inHattiesburg, Mississippi, in January 2005. In an interim move from the renovated Library building, the Museum spent most of 1996 in a converted retail storefront on Delta Avenue under the direction of a politically connected Wisconsin native, the late Ron Gorsegner. In 1997–1998, Coahoma County finally provided funds to form a separate Museum Board of Directors composed mainly of socially prominent, local white blues fans; and to renovate the adjoiningIllinois Central Railroad freight depot, providing a permanent home for the Delta Blues Museum.[citation needed]
SeveralMississippi Blues Trail markers are located in Clarksdale. One is located on Stovall Road at a cabin believed to have been lived in by McKinley Morganfield, also known asMuddy Waters. Morganfield supposedly lived there from 1915 until 1943, while he worked on the large Stovall cotton plantation, before moving to Chicago after mistreatment at the hands of a Stovall overseer.[citation needed]
Another Blues Trail marker is located at the Riverside Hotel, which provided lodging to blues entertainers passing through the delta.[27][28] In 2009, a marker devoted to Clarksdale nativeSam Cooke was unveiled in front of the New Roxy Theater.
Established in 2008, theClarksdale Walk of Fame are plaques located in downtown which honor notable people from Clarksdale. Honorees includeJohn Lee Hooker,Ike Turner,Muddy Waters, andSam Cooke.[29][30]
Soldiers Field (American Legion Veterans Memorial Park) features tennis courts, soccer fields, and baseball fields. Sycamore Park includes a swimming pool and outdoor basketball courts.[31]
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Coahoma Community College, ahistorically black college, is located in unincorporated Coahoma County,[32] north of Clarksdale.
The city of Clarksdale is served by theClarksdale Municipal School District. The district has nine schools, includingClarksdale High School, with a total enrollment of 3,600 students. During the 1960s, the Clarksdale gained notoriety for being the first school district in the state of Mississippi to achieveSACS accreditation for both black and white schools, beginning thedesegregation process in its schools.[33]
Coahoma Early College High School, a non-district public high school inunincorporatedCoahoma County, is located on the campus ofCoahoma Community College,[34] approximately 4.5 miles (7.2 km) north of Clarksdale.[35]
Coahoma County Junior-Senior High School of theCoahoma County School District is in the city limits of Clarksdale,[36] but does not serve the city.[37]
The city is home to three private schools[38]
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Jimmy Page andRobert Plant named their 1998 albumWalking Into Clarksdale as a tribute to the significance that Clarksdale made in the history of the Delta Blues.
The 2025 filmSinners takes place in and on the outskirts of the town in 1932. After release, residents launched a petition regarding the inability of local residents to watch the film, as all of Clarksdale's cinemas had ceased operations.[48] In response,Warner Bros. held three free and open weekend screenings of the film via projector at the Clarksdale Civic Auditorium with director Ryan Coogler in attendance on opening night.[49]
Testing of the IH machines and machines produced by the Rust Cotton Picker Company in Memphis took place at the Delta Branch throughout the 1930s, and IH sent engineers and prototype pickers to the Hopson Plantation.
Coahoma Community Colg
Places adjacent to Clarksdale, Mississippi | |
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Municipalities and communities ofCoahoma County, Mississippi,United States | ||
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| City |  | |
| Towns | ||
| CDPs | ||
| Other communities | ||
| Ghost towns | ||
| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties | |
| International | |
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| National | |
| Geographic | |
| Other | |
