Clarksdale, Mississippi

The Choctaw and Chickasaw Indians had occupied the Delta region for thousands of years prior to the arrival of European settlers, and had each developed complex cultures that took full advantage of their environment.

European Americans built on this past, developing Clarksdale at the intersection of two former Indian routes: the Lower Creek Trade Path, which extended westward from present-day Augusta, Georgia, to New Mexico; and the Chakchiuma Trade Trail, which ran northeastward to the former village at present-day Pontotoc, Mississippi. They later improved these trails for roadways wide enough for wagons.[4]

The first removal treaty carried out under the Indian Removal Act was the 1830 Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, by which the Choctaw people were forced to cede 15 million acres of their homelands to the United States and to move to Indian Territory (now part of Oklahoma), west of the Mississippi River. A similar forced removal of the Chickasaw Nation began in 1837; when they reached Indian Territory, the federal government assigned them to what had been the westernmost part of the Choctaw Nation.

Following the removal of the Indians, European-American settlers migrated to the Delta region, where the fertile lowlands soil proved to be excellent for growing cotton after the land was cleared. They brought or purchased thousands of enslaved African Americans to work the several extensive cotton plantations developed in the county. The first ones were always developed with riverfront access, as the waterways were the chief forms of transportation.

John Clark founded the town of Clarksdale in 1848, when he bought land in the area and started a timber business. It became a trading center. Clark married the sister of James 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".

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 shows Coahoma County, Mississippi's 1860 population was 1,521 whites and 5,085 slaves.[5] 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 of South 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.[6]

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

African Americans composed most of the farm labor in the county into the 1940s, when increasing mechanization reduced the need for field workers. Thousands of blacks left Mississippi in the Great Migration to Chicago, St. Louis, and later, West Coast cities to work in the defense industry. They developed a rich musical tradition drawing from many strands of music, and influencing jazz and the blues in Chicago.

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.

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.[7]

By 1920, the price of cotton had fallen, and many blacks living in the Delta began to leave. The Illinois Central Railroad operated a large depot in Clarksdale and provided a Chicago-bound route for those seeking greater economic opportunities in the north; it soon became the primary departure point for many.[7]

During the 1940s, three events occurred which increased the exodus of African-Americans from Clarksdale. First, it became possible to commercially produce a cotton crop entirely by machine, which lessened the need for a large, low-paid workforce. (Coincidentally, it was on 28 acres of the nearby Hopson Plantation where the International Harvester Company perfected the single-row mechanical cotton picking machine in 1946; soil was prepared, seeded, picked and bailed entirely by machines, while weeds were eradicated by flame.)[9]

Second, many African-American GIs (soldiers) returned from World War II to find slim opportunities for employment in the Delta region. Finally, there appeared an accelerated climate of racial hatred, as evidenced by the violence against such figures as NAACP representative Aaron Henry.

"The Great Migration" north became the largest movement of Americans in U.S. history, and was recounted with Clarksdale triangulated with Chicago and Washington D.C. in Nicholas Lemann's award-winning book The Promised Land: The Great Black Migration and How it Changed America.[10] The History Channel later produced a documentary based on the book, narrated by actor Morgan Freeman, who is also a co-owner of Ground Zero Blues Club.

On September 10, 1919, Black veteran L. B. Reed was lynched as part of the Red Summer of 1919.

Clarksdale played a very important role in the civil 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.[11] 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".[12]^: 41

This was followed by the nearby (50 miles (80 km)) lynching of Emmett Till in 1955.

Bill Luckett, former mayor of Clarksdale

Delta Avenue

Clarksdale's citizens are famous for their civil rights activism and Clarksdale's police department is equally famous for its efforts to limit these rights. On May 29, 1958, Martin Luther King Jr. visited Clarksdale for the first major meeting of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). In 1960, Aaron Henry, a local pharmacist, was named state president of the NAACP, and went on to organize a two-year-long boycott of Clarksdale businesses. In 1962, King again visited Clarksdale on the first stop on a region-wide tour, where he urged a crowd of 1,000 to "stand in, sit in, and walk by the thousands".[13][14]

National headlines in February 2013 covered the discovery of mayoral candidate Marco McMillian, who was found murdered near the town of Sherard, 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 a hate crime. Lawrence Reed, an acquaintance of McMillian, was charged, tried, and found guilty of the murder in April 2015.[15]

A crossroads tribute in Clarksdale, where blues guitarist Robert Johnson supposedly sold his soul to the devil

Clarksdale has been historically significant in the history of the blues. The Mississippi Blues Trail places interpretative markers for historic sites such as Clarksdale's Riverside Hotel, where Bessie Smith died following an auto accident on Highway 61. The Riverside Hotel is just one of many historical blues sites in Clarksdale.[16] Early supporters of the effort to preserve Clarksdale's musical legacy included the award-winning photographer and journalist Panny Mayfield, Living Blues magazine founder Jim O'Neal, and attorney Walter Thompson, father of sports journalist Wright Thompson. In 1995, Mt. Zion Memorial Fund founder Skip Henderson, a vintage guitar dealer from New Brunswick, New Jersey and friend of Delta Blues Museum founder Sid Graves, purchased the Illinois Central Railroad passenger depot to save it from planned demolition. With the help of local businessman Jon Levingston, as well as the Delta Council, Henderson received a 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 the Delta Blues Museum and the growth of the Sunflower River Blues & Gospel Festival and Juke Joint Festivals have provided an economic boost to the city.

As of the 2020 United States Census, there were 14,903 people, 5,847 households, and 3,808 families residing in the city.

As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 17,962 people living in the city. 79.0% were African 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% were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

As of the census[21] 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% from other races, and 0.60% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino 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% were married couples living together, 30.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.9% were non-families. 27.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.77 and the average family size was 3.38.

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

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

Delta Blues Museum

Juke Joint Festival at Delta Cinema in Clarksdale

In late 1979, Carnegie Public Library Director Sid Graves began a nascent display series which later became the nucleus of the Delta Blues Museum.[22] Graves single-handedly nurtured the beginnings of the museum in the face of an indifferent community and an often recalcitrant Library Board, at times resorting to storing displays in the trunk of his car when denied space in the library. When the fledgling museum was accidentally discovered by Billy Gibbons of the rock band ZZ Top through contact with Howard Stovall Jr., the Delta Blues Museum became the subject of national attention as a pet project of the band, and the Museum began to enjoy national recognition.

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

A Blues Trail marker at the WROX building in Clarksdale.[23] The site is also list on the National Register of Historic Places.[24]

Several Mississippi Blues Trail markers are located in Clarksdale.

One is located on Stovall Road at a cabin believed to have been lived in by famed bluesman McKinley Morganfield, also known as Muddy 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.

Another Blues Trail marker is located at the Riverside Hotel, which provided lodging to blues entertainers passing through the delta.[25][26]

In 2009, a marker devoted to Clarksdale native Sam Cooke was unveiled in front of the New Roxy Theater.

Established in 2008, the Clarksdale Walk of Fame are plaques located in downtown which honor notable people from Clarksdale. Honorees include John Lee Hooker, Ike Turner, Muddy Waters, and Sam Cooke.[27][28]

Coahoma Community College, a historically black college, is located in unincorporated Coahoma County, north of Clarksdale.

The city of Clarksdale is served by the Clarksdale Municipal School District. The district has nine schools, including Clarksdale 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 achieve SACS accreditation for both black and white schools, beginning the desegregation process in its schools.[29]

Coahoma Early College High School, a non-district public high school in unincorporated Coahoma County, is located on the campus of Coahoma Community College,[30] approximately 4.5 miles (7.2 km) north of Clarksdale.[31]

Coahoma County Junior-Senior High School of the Coahoma County School District is in the city limits of Clarksdale,[32] but does not serve the city.[33]

The city is home to three private schools[34]

• Lee Academy
• Presbyterian Day School
• St. Elizabeth's Elementary School

• Clarksdale Collegiate Public Charter School opened in the fall of 2018 serving kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade students. It plans to serve grades K–8. According to its web site, 3rd grade is being added in 2019,[35] and it will begin serving 7th graders in 2023.[36]

• Clarksdale Press Register

• WAID (FM)
• WROX (AM)
• WCQC FM
• WXXO – XRDS.fm

• Robert E. Bacharach – Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals.
• Johney Brooks – educator, Peace Corps official
• Lerone Bennett Jr. – scholar, author and social historian.
• Marco McMillian – slain mayoral candidate.
• Charles L. Sullivan – politician, attorney and military pilot.
• Larry A. Thompson – Hollywood film producer, talent manager, lawyer, and author.
• Wright Thompson – senior writer for ESPN.
• W. Harry Vaughan – founded Georgia Tech Research Institute.
• Baseball players: Matt Duff, Cleo James, Fred Valentine.
• Football players: Ed Beatty, James Carson, Charlie Conerly, Eddie Cole,[37] Harper Davis, Art Davis, Billy Howard, Terrence Metcalf, John Outlaw, Bobby Franklin, Mario Haggan, Darryl Harris, LaMarcus Hicks, Willie Richardson, Destry Wright, Trumaine McBride, Charles Mitchell, Roy Curry, Elgton Jenkins, J. T. Gray.
• Basketball players: Earl Barron, Earnie Killum.
• Boxers: Eddie Perkins, Alfonso Ratliff.
• Musicians: Eddie Boyd, Jackie Brenston, Eddie "Bongo" Brown, Willie Brown, Eddie Calhoun, Sam Cooke, Nate Dogg, Marshall Drew, Blac Elvis, Earl Hooker, John Lee Hooker, Son House, Christone "Kingfish" Ingram, Johnny B. Moore, Junior Parker, Mack Rice, Rick Ross, Brother John Sellers, Ike Turner, Robert "Bilbo" Walker Jr.
• Earl D. Shaw – American physicist and professor, known for his work in laser science and developing laser technology[38]

• Robert Brien - professional tennis player.
• Marshall Bouldin III – portrait artist.
• Earl L. Brewer – 38th Governor of Mississippi; buried at Oakridge Cemetery in Clarksdale.
• Gus Cannon – musician.
• Jack Cristil – radio announcer.
• William Stamps Farish II – president of Standard Oil, practiced law in Clarksdale.
• Morgan Freeman – Academy Award-winning actor, lived and owned a business in Clarksdale.
• Larry M. Goodpaster – United Methodist Church Bishop; former Clarksdale pastor.
• W. C. Handy – musician; lived in Clarksdale for six years.
• Aaron Henry – pharmacist, civil rights leader, and politician; born just outside Clarksdale.
• Robert Johnson – influential Delta musician; resident during the 1930s. Posthumous member of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1986)
• Trumaine McBride – football player.
• Charles Mitchell – football player.
• Anthony Steen – football player; graduated from Lee Academy
• Willie Morganfield - gospel musician.
• Jack Robinson – photographer, lived in Clarksdale as a child.
• Frank Stokes – musician.
• Wade Walton – musician and barber.[39]
• Muddy Waters – musician, moved to Clarksdale as a child.
• Tennessee Williams – playwright, moved to Clarksdale as a child.
• Seelig Wise – first Republican to serve in the Mississippi State Senate since Reconstruction; cotton and soybean farmer in Coahoma County[40]
• Early Wright – radio personality on WROX (AM) 1945–1998.