Quitman County is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

located in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 6,176, making it the third-least populous county in Mississippi. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

Marks Marks may refer to: Business * Mark's, a Canadian retail chain * Marks & Spencer, a British retail chain * Collective trade marks A collective trademark, collective trade mark, or collective mark is a trademark owned by an organization (such ...

. The county is named after John A. Quitman,

Governor of Mississippi The governor of Mississippi is the head of government of Mississippi and the commander-in-chief of the U.S. state, state's Mississippi National Guard, military forces. The governor has a duty to enforce state laws, and the power to either appro ...

from 1835 to 1836 and from 1850 to 1851. Quitman County is located in the

Mississippi Delta The Mississippi Delta, also known as the Yazoo–Mississippi Delta, or simply the Delta, is the distinctive northwest section of the U.S. state of Mississippi (and portions of Arkansas and Louisiana) that lies between the Mississippi and Yazo ...

region of Mississippi.

History

Quitman County was formed in 1877 from portions of Tunica, Coahoma, Panola, and Tallahatchie Counties. The bill for its creation was introduced into the

Mississippi Legislature The Mississippi Legislature is the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Mississippi. The bicameral Legislature is composed of the Lower house, lower Mississippi House of Representatives, with 122 members, and ...

by Leopold Marks while he was serving as a representative from Tunica County. The county was developed for cotton cultivation. Much of the bottomlands behind the riverfront were not developed until the late 19th century, and population continued to increase as the frontier was cleared and cultivated. The county reached its peak population in 1940. Agricultural mechanization reduced the need for farm labor, and workers were recruited to northern and midwestern industrial cities. Thousands of African Americans left in the Great Migration, many going upriver to

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

and

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Poor People's Campaign

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister, civil and political rights, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the civil rights move ...

originally wanted the Poor People's Campaign to start in Quitman County because of the intense and visible economic disparity there. On March 18, 1968, King visited the town of

Marks, Mississippi Marks is a city in and the county seat of Quitman County, Mississippi. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 1,444. History The town of Marks was named after Leopold Marks (1851-1910) who left Germany to avoid conscription by the Germ ...

. He watched a teacher feeding black schoolchildren their lunch, consisting only of a slice of apple and some crackers, and was moved to tears. After King's death, the Southern part of the Campaign began in Quitman County. Participants rode a train of mules to

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

to protest about economic conditions. According to wagonmaster Willie Bolden, white citizens of Marks harassed the mule train on its way out of town. Bolden stated that they "would drive by blowing their horns, purposely trying to spook the mules and us." More recently, Quitman County residents have made an effort to promote tourism based on the county's role in the Poor People's Campaign.

Geography

According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.3%) is water. It is the fourth-smallest county in Mississippi by land area and third-smallest by total area.

Major highways

Mississippi Highway 3 Mississippi Highway 3 (MS 3) is a north–south Mississippi state highway, located entirely within the Mississippi Delta region, running from Redwood, Mississippi, Redwood to Lake Cormorant, Mississippi, Lake Cormorant, both at an intersec ...

* Mississippi Highway 6 * U.S. Route 278 * Mississippi Highway 315

Adjacent counties

* Tunica County (north) * Panola County (east) * Tallahatchie County (south) * Coahoma County (west)

National protected area

* Coldwater River National Wildlife Refuge (part)

Demographics

Reflecting the decreased need for farm labor after mechanization and the development of industrial farms, the population has declined by more than two thirds since its peak in 1940.

2020 census

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 6,176 people, 3,027 households, and 1,833 families residing in the county.

2010 census

As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 8,223 people living in the county. 69.6% were Black or African American, 29.0%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.2% Native American, 0.1% Asian, 0.3% of some other race and 0.8% of two or more races. 0.7% were Hispanic or Latino (of any race).

2000 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 10,117 people, 3,565 households, and 2,506 families living in the county. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 3,923 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 68.62%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 30.47%

, 0.13% Native American, 0.17% Asian, 0.01%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.08% from other races, and 0.52% from two or more races. 0.54% of the population were

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race. In 2000, there were 3,565 households, out of which 34.40% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 37.60% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 26.80% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.70% were non-families. 26.90% 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 2.80 and the average family size was 3.42. In the county, the population was spread out, with 32.00% under the age of 18, 9.60% from 18 to 24, 25.70% from 25 to 44, 19.50% from 45 to 64, and 13.20% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females there were 86.50 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 79.30 males. The median income for a household in the county was $20,636, and the median income for a family was $25,394. Males had a median income of $23,571 versus $16,993 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the county was $10,817. About 28.60% of families and 33.10% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 43.10% of those under age 18 and 30.60% of those age 65 or over. Quitman County has the fifth-lowest per capita income in Mississippi and the 51st lowest in the United States.

Government and infrastructure

The

Mississippi Department of Corrections The Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) is a state agency of Mississippi that operates prisons. It has its headquarters in Jackson. Burl Cain is the commissioner. History In 1843 a penitentiary in four city squares in central Jack ...

(MDOC) operates the Quitman County Community Work Center (CWC) in an area near Lambert. In addition MDOC operates the Mississippi State Penitentiary (Parchman) in an

unincorporated area An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in Sunflower County, in the area. Camp B, an inmate housing unit, was a satellite complex located away from the main Parchman prison property in unincorporated Quitman County, near Lambert.
accessed November 17, 2014. Camp B was one of Parchman's largest African-American housing units. Camp B's buildings have been demolished. The Mississippi Code (§ 47-5-131) gives Quitman County the right to "not over twenty (20) offenders from the Parchman facility for five (5) workdays of each week for the purpose of working the roads of Quitman County", and goes on to state that the "board of supervisors of Quitman County shall lay out and designate roads to be worked by the offenders, and the board of supervisors shall furnish transportation to and from the Parchman facility for offenders." Quitman County has a high African American population and is also heavily Democratic. It has not supported a Republican presidential candidate since 1972, although

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

came within 4 points of winning the county in 1984.

Education

On July 24, 1969, federal judge

William Keady William Colbert Keady (April 2, 1913 – June 16, 1989) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi. Keady is best-known for his role in the landmark court case, '' Gates v. Col ...

found that Quitman County school officials were maintaining an unconstitutional

de jure In law and government, ''de jure'' (; ; ) describes practices that are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality. The phrase is often used in contrast with '' de facto'' ('from fa ...

racially segregated school system, and he placed the school board under the supervision of

United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi The United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi (in case citations, N.D. Miss.) is a federal court in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, Fifth Circuit with facilities in Aberdeen, Mississippi, Aber ...

. As of 1993, this order had not been set aside. In March 1991, the school board asked the district court for permission to close Crowder elementary and junior high school, a majority-white school. The court gave permission, and a group of parents sued for an injunction to prevent the closing. The district court denied them an injunction, and this decision was affirmed by the

United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (in case citations, 5th Cir.) is one of the 13 United States courts of appeals. It has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts: ...

. By 1975, the majority of African-American students in Quitman County were attending public schools, which had earlier been segregated. But the majority of white students had been moved into newly established private academies. in
at google books
/ref> This situation has continued; in 2007 the

Mississippi Department of Education The Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) is the state education agency of Mississippi. It is headquartered in the former Central High School (Jackson, Mississippi), Central High School Building at 359 North West Street in Jackson, Mississip ...

found that the students in the district were 97.92% African American, 1.81% White, and 0.27% Hispanic. Schools in Quitman County remain effectively segregated by race. White students almost exclusively attend private schools while Black children attend the local public schools. * Public School Districts ** Quitman County School District - The only school district in the county. * Private Schools ** Delta Academy (Marks)

Communities

City

(county seat)

Towns

* Crenshaw (mostly in Panola County) * Crowder (partly in Panola County) *

Falcon Falcons () are birds of prey in the genus ''Falco'', which includes about 40 species. Some small species of falcons with long, narrow wings are called hobbies, and some that hover while hunting are called kestrels. Falcons are widely distrib ...

* Lambert * Sledge

Census-designated place

* Darling

Other unincorporated communities

* Allen * Barksdale * Belen * Birdie * Bobo * Chancy * Denton *

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

* Hinchcliff * Locke Station (partly in Panola County) * Longstreet * Oliverfried * Riverview * Sabino * Vance (partly in Tallahatchie County) *

Walnut A walnut is the edible seed of any tree of the genus '' Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''. They are accessory fruit because the outer covering of the fruit is technically an i ...

* West Marks * Yarbrough

Notable people

* Earl Hooker (January 15, 1929 — April 21, 1970) —

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

guitarist. *

Charley Pride Charley Frank Pride (March 18, 1934 – December 12, 2020) was an American Country music, country singer. Beginning his career as a Negro league baseball player in the early-1950s, he later pursued a career in country music, becoming the gen ...

(March 18, 1934 —December 12, 2020) —

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

artist. * Snooky Pryor (September 15, 1921 — October 18, 2006) —

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...

player. * Sunnyland Slim (September 5, 1907 — March 17, 1995 ) — blues

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

player. * Fred Smith (August 11, 1944-) Founder, President and CEO FedEx

References

{{authority control Mississippi counties 1877 establishments in Mississippi Populated places established in 1877 Black Belt (U.S. region) Majority-minority counties in Mississippi