Sumner is a town in
Tallahatchie County,
Mississippi
Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Mis ...
. The population was 407 at the 2000 census. Sumner is one of the two county seats of Tallahatchie County. It is located on the west side of the county and the
Tallahatchie River, which runs through the county north-south. The other county seat is
Charleston
Charleston most commonly refers to:
* Charleston, South Carolina
* Charleston, West Virginia, the state capital
* Charleston (dance)
Charleston may also refer to:
Places Australia
* Charleston, South Australia
Canada
* Charleston, Newfoundlan ...
, located east of the river. Charleston was the first county seat, as settlement came from the east, and it is the larger of the two towns.
The Tallahatchie County Courthouse in Sumner was the site in 1955 of the trial of two men charged with the
lynching murder in August of
Emmett Till, a 14-year-old African-American boy from Chicago who was visiting his great-uncle in
Money, Mississippi. The
all-white jury
Racial discrimination in jury selection is specifically prohibited by law in many jurisdictions throughout the world. In the United States, it has been defined through a series of judicial decisions. However, juries composed solely of one racial ...
acquitted the men; a few months later, they sold their story to ''
Look
To look is to use sight to perceive an object.
Look or The Look may refer to:
Businesses and products
* Look (modeling agency), an Israeli modeling agency
* ''Look'' (American magazine), a defunct general-interest magazine
* ''Look'' (UK ma ...
'' magazine, and admitted killing Till.
The courthouse has been restored. It also houses the Emmett Till Interpretive Center, which opened in 2012 in his honor.
Geography
Sumner is located at (33.969867, -90.369636).
According to the
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau (USCB), 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
An economy is an area of th ...
, the town has a total area of , all land.
History
The heavily wooded swamp along the Tallahatchie River was historically part of the
Choctaw Nation, one of the
Five Civilized Tribes
The term Five Civilized Tribes was applied by European Americans in the colonial and early federal period in the history of the United States to the five major Native American nations in the Southeast—the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek ...
of the Southeast. Ceding large amounts of territory to the United States, they were forced to remove to
Indian Territory
The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans who held aboriginal title to their land as a sovereign ...
in the 1830s under the
Indian Removal Act
The Indian Removal Act was signed into law on May 28, 1830, by United States President Andrew Jackson. The law, as described by Congress, provided "for an exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the states or territories, and for ...
.
Afterward the US government sold the lands to European-American families. Among the early settlers were the Sumner family. The bottomland was covered by trees, vines, and underbrush when the pioneers started clearing the land for agriculture. The wealthiest men developed their property through the labor of enslaved African Americans. Their work on cotton plantations produced the commodity crop that was the basis of the economy for decades.
Sumner was not incorporated until 1900; it was named after its founder and first mayor,
Joseph Burton Sumner
Joseph Burton Sumner (October 11, 1837 – February 15, 1920) was a figure in the founding of Sumner, Mississippi.
Sumner and his family moved to Tallahatchie County, Mississippi from Alabama around January, 1872. J. B. Sumner built the first ...
. In 1902 the county was divided into two districts, on either side of the Tallahatchie River, which was a barrier to cross-county transportation.
Charleston
Charleston most commonly refers to:
* Charleston, South Carolina
* Charleston, West Virginia, the state capital
* Charleston (dance)
Charleston may also refer to:
Places Australia
* Charleston, South Australia
Canada
* Charleston, Newfoundlan ...
was the original county seat, located east of the river in the first area of European-American settlement. Sumner was designated as the seat of the western district.
The
Tallahatchie County Courthouse in Sumner was built in 1902 on a lot donated by Joseph B. Sumner, who also donated the lot for the jail. The courthouse burned in 1908 and was rebuilt in 1909. Cotton continued to be the major commodity crop of the area well into the 20th century. The county seat also served as the market town for that district.
This courthouse was the site of the 1955 murder trial of two white men,
J.W. Milam and
Roy Bryant, charged in the
lynching and murder of
Emmett Till that year in adjoining Leflore County. (His beaten and mutilated body was found on the bank of the river in Tallahatchie County, so the trial was held here.) The two men were acquitted by an all-male,
all-white jury
Racial discrimination in jury selection is specifically prohibited by law in many jurisdictions throughout the world. In the United States, it has been defined through a series of judicial decisions. However, juries composed solely of one racial ...
of the murder of Till, a teenage
African-American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...
boy from
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
. The brutality of his murder and the acquittal of the men generated outrage and activism in the nation. He became an icon of the Civil Rights Movement and a symbol of the violent persecution suffered by blacks in the South.
In 1990, the courthouse was designated as a state landmark by the
Mississippi Department of Archives and History. In 2007 the Tallahatchie Board of Supervisors appointed the Emmett Till Memorial Commission to explore commemoration of Till and reconciliation in the area. It made a formal apology to the Till family for their son's lynching. In addition, it undertook to restore the Sumner County Courthouse and adapt it as the site of an interpretive center to commemorate Emmett Till. The center opened in 2012 and is sponsoring a variety of art and historical workshops and events.
[Maya Miller, "Till Interpretive Center Seeks to Rewrite Civil Rights Narrative"](_blank)
''Jackson Free Press'', 26 August 2015; accessed 27 February 2017
Demographics
The city reached its peak of population in 1940. After that numerous African-American residents left the city and county. Many moved to California and the West Coast during World War II and after, attracted by jobs in the buildup of the defense industries and seeking to escape southern oppression and violence. In addition, mechanization of agriculture had made much farm labor unneeded. African Americans moving from Sumner were part of the
Great Migration, by which some 5 million blacks moved out of the Deep South from 1940 to 1970. Rural populations have continued to decline in many areas.
As of the
census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...
of 2000, there were 407 people, 148 households, and 105 families residing in the town. The
population density
Population density (in agriculture: 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 geographical ...
was 726.5 people per square mile (280.6/km). There were 158 housing units at an average density of 282.0 per square mile (108.9/km). The racial makeup of the town was 57.99%
White
White is the lightness, lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully diffuse reflection, reflect and scattering, scatter all the ...
, 39.07%
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...
, 2.21%
Asian, and 0.74% from two or more races.
Hispanic
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...
or
Latino of any race were 0.25% of the population.
There were 148 households, out of which 31.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.3% were
married couples
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...
living together, 20.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.4% were non-families. 23.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.8% 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 3.14.
In the town, the population was spread out, with 27.5% under the age of 18, 6.1% from 18 to 24, 24.8% from 25 to 44, 24.6% from 45 to 64, and 17.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 86.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.7 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $25,000, and the median income for a family was $35,208. Males had a median income of $40,625 versus $15,000 for females. The
per capita income
Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population.
Per capita i ...
for the town was $20,056. About 25.2% of families and 37.2% 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 48.9% of those under age 18 and 29.7% of those age 65 or over.
Notable people
Red Nelson
Albert Francis "Red" Nelson (May 19, 1886 – October 26, 1956) was a pitcher in Major League Baseball. He played for the St. Louis Browns, Philadelphia Phillies, and Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball ...
, a noted blues singer, was born in Sumner in 1907.
World-renowned color photographer
William Eggleston
William Eggleston (born July 27, 1939) is an American photographer. He is widely credited with increasing recognition for color photography as a legitimate artistic medium. Eggleston's books include ''William Eggleston's Guide'' (1976) and ''The ...
grew up on a plantation in Sumner.
Education
The Town of Sumner is served by the
West Tallahatchie School District
The West Tallahatchie School District (WTSD) is a public school district with its headquarters in the Charles M. George Facility for Educational Services in unincorporated Tallahatchie County, Mississippi (USA), adjacent to Sumner.
In addition to ...
.
R. H. Bearden Elementary School
R. H. Bearden Elementary School is a public elementary school in unincorporated Tallahatchie County, Mississippi, near Sumner. It is a part of the West Tallahatchie School District.
In addition to Sumner, the district also serves the communities o ...
and
West Tallahatchie High School
West Tallahatchie High School (WTHS) is a public high school in unincorporated Tallahatchie County, Mississippi, near Webb. A part of the West Tallahatchie School District, its nickname is "West Tally".
In addition to Webb, the district also ser ...
are the zoned schools.
Prior to 1988 Sumner Elementary School was elementary school for the Sumner and
Webb areas and West District Middle School was the area middle school. In 1988 West District Middle became a grade 3-8 school while Sumner Elementary was redesignated for Kindergarten through grade 2 only.
[ ]
Clipping
from Newspapers.com.
Coahoma Community College is the designated community college.
[Student Residency]
Archive
. Coahoma Community College. Retrieved on July 8, 2017. "Out-of-District Resident: A student who does not live within Bolivar, Coahoma, Quitman, Tallahatchie, and Tunica Counties but does live in some other county in Mississippi."
References
{{authority control
Towns in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi
Towns in Mississippi
County seats in Mississippi