Mound Bayou is a city in Bolivar County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 2,102 at the 2000 census. It is notable for having been founded as an independent black community in 1887 by former slaves led by Isaiah Montgomery. By percentage, its 98.4 percent African-American majority population is one of the largest of any community in the United States.
Geography
Mound Bayou is located at 33°52′50″N 90°43′41″W / 33.88056°N 90.72806°W / 33.88056; -90.72806 (33.880632, -90.727966)[1].
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 0.9 square miles (2.3 km²).0.9 square miles (2.3 km²) of it is land and none of it is covered by water.
Demographics
As of the census[2] of 2000, there were 2,102 people, 687 households, and 504 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,395.1 people per square mile (922.3/km²). There were 723 housing units at an average density of 823.8/sq mi (317.2/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 0.81% White, 98.43% African American, 0.05% Native American, 0.24% Asian, 0.05% from other races, and 0.43% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.38% of the population.
There were 687 households out of which 38.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 24.7% were married couples living together, 43.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.5% were non-families. 24.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.06 and the average family size was 3.66.
In the city the population was spread out with 34.7% under the age of 18, 12.9% from 18 to 24, 23.5% from 25 to 44, 19.1% from 45 to 64, and 9.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 27 years. For every 100 females there were 78.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 67.6 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $17,972, and the median income for a family was $19,770. Males had a median income of $21,700 versus $18,988 for females. The per capita income for the city was $8,227. About 41.9% of families and 45.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 58.5% of those under age 18 and 34.5% of those age 65 or over.
History
Mound Bayou traces its origin to people from the community of Davis Bend, Mississippi. The latter was started in the 1820s by the planter Joseph E. Davis, who intended to create a model slave community on his plantation. Davis was influenced by the utopian ideas of Robert Owen. He encouraged self-leadership in the slave community, provided a higher standard of nutrition and health and dental care, and allowed slaves to become merchants.
In the aftermath of the American Civil War, Davis Bend became an autonomous free community when Davis sold his property to former slave Benjamin Montgomery, who had run a store and been a prominent leader at Davis Bend. The prolonged agricultural depression, falling cotton prices and white hostility in the region contributed to the economic failure of Davis Bend.
Isaiah T. Montgomery led the founding of Mound Bayou in 1887 in wilderness in northwest Mississippi. The bottomlands of the Delta were a relatively undeveloped frontier, and blacks had a chance to clear land and acquire ownership in such frontier areas. By 1900 two-thirds of the owners of land in the bottomlands were black farmers. With high debt and continuing agricultural problems, most of them lost their land and by 1920 were sharecroppers.
Montgomery led the village through the 1920s. As cotton prices fell, the town suffered a severe economic decline in the 1920s and 1930s.
Shortly after a fire destroyed much of the business district, Mound Bayou began to arrive in 1942 after the opening of the Taborian Hospital by the International Order of Twelve Knights and Daughters of Tabor, a fraternal organization. For more than two decades, the hospital provided low-cost health care to thousands of blacks in the Mississippi Delta. The chief surgeon was Dr. T.R.M. Howard who eventually became one of the wealthiest blacks in the state. Howard owned a plantation of more than one thousand acres, home-construction firm, small zoo and built the first swimming pool for blacks in Mississippi. In 1952, Medgar Evers moved to Mound Bayou to sell insurance for Howard's Magnolia Mutual Life Insurance Company. Howard also introduced Evers to civil rights through his Regional Council of Negro Leadership which organized service stations which refused to provide restrooms for blacks. The RNCL's annual rallies in Mound Bayou between 1952 and 1955 drew crowds of ten thousand or more. During the trial of Emmett Till's alleged killers, black reporters and witnesses stayed in Howard's Mound Bayou home who gave them an armed escort to the court house in Sumner.
Education
The City of Mound Bayou is served by the Mound Bayou Public School District. The district has two schools with a total enrollment of approximately 650 students.
Notable people
Source
- Hermann, Janet (2981). The Pursuit of a Dream. New York: OUP.
- Beito, David and Linda (2009). Black Maverick: T.R.M. Howard's Fight for Civil Rights and Economic Power. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 9780252034206.
References
- ^ "US Gazetteer files: 2000 and 1990". United States Census Bureau. 2005-05-03. http://www.census.gov/geo/www/gazetteer/gazette.html. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
- ^ "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. http://factfinder.census.gov. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
External links
