Clarksdale, Mississippi

Official name	Clarksdale, Mississippi
Settlement type	City
Map caption	Location of Clarksdale, Mississippi
Coordinates region	US-MS
Subdivision type	Country
Subdivision name	United States
Subdivision type1	State
Subdivision name1	Mississippi
Subdivision type2	County
Subdivision name2	Coahoma
Leader title	Mayor
Leader name	Henry Espy
Unit pref	Imperial
Area total km2	35.9
Area land km2	35.8
Area water km2	0.0
Area total sq mi	13.8
Area land sq mi	13.8
Area water sq mi	0.0
Population as of	2000
Population total	20645
Population density km2	576.0
Population density sq mi	1491.8
Timezone	Central (CST)
Utc offset	-6
Timezone dst	CDT
Utc offset dst	-5
Elevation m	53
Elevation ft	174
Coordinates display	inline,title
Coordinates type	region:US_type:city
Postal code type	ZIP codes
Postal code	38614, 38669
Area code	662
Blank name	FIPS code
Blank info	28-13820
Blank1 name	GNIS feature ID
Blank1 info	0666084

Clarksdale is a city in Coahoma County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 20,645 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Coahoma County.

Clarksdale was named in honor of founder and resident John Clark, brother-in-law of politician James Lusk Alcorn, whose plantation home is nearby.

History

In the early 20th century, Clarksdale was known as the "Golden Buckle in the Cotton Belt" and was home to a multi-cultural mixture of Lebanese, Italian, Chinese and Jewish immigrant merchants along with African-Americans farm laborers and white plantation owners.

Clarksdale figured prominently in the regional agricultural landscape and became pre-eminent when the International Harvester Company perfected the development of the single row mechanical cotton picking machine at the nearby Hopson Plantation in 1946. This technological advancement quickly revolutionized American agriculture and had far-reaching economic and social implications for the cotton industry worldwide, particularly in the Mississippi Delta.

Whereas previously the area's sprawling plantations were worked largely by an African-American workforce, the rapid mechanization of cotton production made these workers readily expendable. This change, concurrent with the return of many African American GIs from World War II accelerated what came to be known as The Great Migration to the north, the largest movement of Americans in U.S. history. The Illinois Central Railroad operated a large depot in Clarksdale, which quickly became the primary departure point for many African-Americans in the area. This important rail hub provided a Chicago-bound route for many seeking greater economic opportunities in the north.

Geography

Clarksdale is located at (34.197888, -90.571941), on the banks of the Sunflower River and in the heart of the Mississippi Delta, an alluvial flood plain in northwest Mississippi.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 13.9 square miles (35.9 km²), of which, 13.8 square miles (35.8 km²) of it is land and 0.07% is water.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 20,645 people, 7,233 households, and 5,070 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,491.8 people per square mile (575.9/km²). There were 7,757 housing units at an average density of 560.5 per square mile (216.4/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 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, 9.6% from 18 to 24, 25.2% from 25 to 44, 19.3% from 45 to 64, and 12.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females there were 81.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 73.1 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $22,188, and the median income for a family was $26,592. Males had a median income of $26,881 versus $19,918 for females. The per capita income for the city was $12,611. About 29.7% of families and 36.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 46.1% of those under age 18 and 31.4% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Community colleges

Coahoma Community College is north of Clarksdale.

Public schools

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

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

Private schools

The city is home to four private schools

Lee Academy

St. George's Episcopal Day School

Presbyterian Day School

St. Elizabeth's Elementary School

Music history

.]] Clarksdale has been historically significant in the development of the blues. The Mississippi Blues Trail, now being implemented, is dedicating markers for historic sites such as Clarksdale's Riverside Hotel, where Bessie Smith died following an auto accident on Highway 61. The Riverside Hotel is just one of many historical blues sites in Clarksdale.

In the past fifteen years, the Clarksdale community has come to see its unique blues heritage as a viable tourism attraction worth promoting as part of a greater, indelible local culture and history. 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 purchased the Illinois Central Railroad passenger depot to save it from planned demolition. With the help of local businessman Jon Levingston and the Delta Council, Henderson received a $1.279 million dollar grant from the federal government to restore the passenger depot, which was then transferred to ownership of Coahoma County, to become part of a tourism locale termed "Blues Alley." The popularity of the Delta Blues Museum and the growth of the Sunflower River Blues Festival and Juke Joint Festivals has provided an economic boast to the city.

Delta Blues Museum

In late 1979 Carnegie Public Library Director Sid Graves began a nascent display series which later became the nucleus of the Delta Blues Museum. Graves single-handedly nurtured the beginnings of the museum in the face of an indifferent community and an often recalcitrant Library Board, sometimes 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, by 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 ultimately fired Sid Graves, at the time seriously ill. Graves passed away in Hattiesburg, Mississippi in January, 2005. Pending a move from the Library the Museum then spent most of 1996 in a converted retail storefront on Delta Avenue under the direction of a politically-connected former Wisconsin native, the late Ron Gorsegner. In 1997-1998 Coahoma County would finally provide funds to form a separate Museum Board of Directors composed mainly of local wealthy, white blues fans and to renovate the adjoining Illinois Central Railroad freight depot providing a permanent home for the Delta Blues Museum.

Mississippi Blues Trail marker

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

Notable residents

James L. Alcorn

Earl Barron

Eddie "Bongo" Brown

Earl L. Brewer

Charlie Conerly

Sam Cooke

Harper Davis

Nate Dogg

Blac Elvis

Mario Haggan

Aaron Henry

Earl Hooker

John Lee Hooker

Son House

Big Jack Johnson

Trumaine McBride

Terrence Metcalf

Johnny B. Moore

Jim O'Neal

Charles L. Sullivan

Super Chikan

Wright Thompson

Ike Turner

Muddy Waters

Tennessee Williams

James (Jimbo) Mathus

Larry A. Thompson

Lerone Bennett, Jr.

See also

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

References

External links

Clarksdale Chamber of Commerce

Annual Juke Joint Festival

Delta News Online:Hometown News For The Mississippi Delta

Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale

Clarksdale Press Register website

sites in Coahoma County on the National Register of Historic Places

History of Clarksdale's Jewish community from the Institute of Southern Jewish Life

Category:Cities in Mississippi Category:Coahoma County, Mississippi Category:County seats in Mississippi Category:Populated places in Mississippi with African American majority populations Category:Micropolitan areas of Mississippi Category:Mississippi Blues Trail