Quitman County, Mississippi

Quitman County, Mississippi
Location in the state of Mississippi
Mississippi's location in the U.S.
Founded	1877
Seat	Marks
Largest Town	Lambert
Area  - Total  - Land  - Water	406.49 sq mi (1,053 km²) 404.84 sq mi (1,049 km²) 1.66 sq mi (4 km²), 0.41%
Population  - (2010)  - Density	8,223 26/sq mi (10/km²)

Quitman County is a county located in the Mississippi Delta region of the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of 2010, the population is 8,223. Its county seat is Marks^[1]. Quitman County is named after John A. Quitman, Governor of Mississippi from 1835 to 1836 and from 1850 to 1851.

History

Poor People's Campaign

Martin Luther King 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. He watched a teacher feeding 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, riding a train of mules to Washington, D.C. to protest about economic conditions.^[2] 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."^[3] More recently, Quitman County residents have made an effort to promote tourism based on its role in the Poor People's Campaign.^[3]

Geography

According to the 2000 census, the county has a total area of 406.49 square miles (1,052.8 km²), of which 404.84 square miles (1,048.5 km²) (or 99.59%) is land and 1.66 square miles (4.3 km²) (or 0.41%) is water.^[4]

Major highways

• Mississippi Highway 3
• Mississippi Highway 6

Adjacent counties

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

		Tunica County
	Coahoma County		Panola County
		Quitman County, Mississippi
		Tallahatchie County

National protected area

• Coldwater River National Wildlife Refuge (part)

Demographics

As of the census^[5] of 2000, there were 10,117 people, 3,565 households, and 2,506 families residing in the county. The population density was 25 people per square mile (10/km²). There were 3,923 housing units at an average density of 10 per square mile (4/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 30.47% White, 68.62% Black or African American, 0.13% Native American, 0.17% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.08% from other races, and 0.52% from two or more races. 0.54% of the population were Hispanic 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 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 for the county was $10,817. About 28.60% of families and 33.10% of the population were below the poverty line, 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 (MDOC) operates the Quitman County Community Work Center (CWC) in an area near Lambert.^[6] In addition MDOC operates the Mississippi State Penitentiary (Parchman) in an unincorporated area 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,^[7] near Lambert.^[8] Camp B was one of Parchman's largest African-American housing units.^[8] Camp B's buildings have been demolished.^[9] 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."^[10]

Communities

• Cities
  • Marks

• Towns
  • Crenshaw (mostly in Panola County)
  • Crowder (partly in Panola County)
  • Falcon
  • Lambert
  • Sledge

Education

On July 24, 1969, federal judge William Keady found that Quitman County school officials were maintaining an unconstitutional de jure racially segregated school system, placing the school board under the supervision of United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi. As of 1993, this order had not been set aside.^[11] 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.^[11] The majority of African-American students in Quitman county were attending public schools by 1975. However, the majority of white students had moved to private academies.^[3] This was still true as of 2007, when the Mississippi Department of Education found that the students in the district were 97.92% African American, 1.81% White, and 0.27% Hispanic.^[12]

• Public School Districts
  • Quitman County School District

• Private Schools
  • Delta Academy (Marks)^[13]

Notable Residents

• Earl Hooker (January 15, 1929 — April 21, 1970) — blues guitarist.^[14]
• Charley Pride (March 18, 1938 — ) — country music artist.^[15]
• Snooky Pryor (September 15, 1921 — October 18, 2006) — harmonica player.^[16]
• Sunnyland Slim (September 5, 1907 — March 17, 1995 ) — blues piano player.^[17]

See also

Mississippi portal

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Quitman County, Mississippi
• People from Quitman County, Mississippi

References

v t e Municipalities and communities of Quitman County, Mississippi, United States County seat: Marks City Marks Towns Crenshaw‡ Crowder‡ Falcon Lambert Sledge Unincorporated communities Allen Barksdale Belen Birdie Bobo Chancy Darling Denton Essex Hinchcliff Locke Station‡ Longstreet Oliverfried Riverview Sabino Vance‡ Walnut West Marks Yarbrough Former settlement Ingram‡ Footnotes ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties

v t e  State of Mississippi Jackson (capital) Topics Mississippians Delegations Governors Lieutenant Governors Legislature State Parks State Landmarks Music History Geography Education Visitor Attractions Regions The Delta Golden Triangle Gulf Coast Mississippi Plain Natchez District Pine Belt Tennessee Valley Metros Gulfport-Biloxi Hattiesburg Jackson Memphis (TN) Pascagoula Larger cities Biloxi Clarksdale Clinton Columbus Greenville Gulfport Hattiesburg Jackson Meridian Olive Branch Pascagoula Pearl Ridgeland Southaven Starkville Tupelo Vicksburg Smaller cities Bay St. Louis Brandon Brookhaven Canton Cleveland Corinth Gautier Greenwood Grenada Horn Lake Indianola Itta Bena Laurel Long Beach Madison McComb Moss Point Natchez Ocean Springs Oxford Pass Christian Picayune Tunica Waveland West Hattiesburg (Oak Grove) West Point Yazoo City Counties Adams Alcorn Amite Attala Benton Bolivar Calhoun Carroll Chickasaw Choctaw Claiborne Clarke Clay Coahoma Copiah Covington DeSoto Forrest Franklin George Greene Grenada Hancock Harrison Hinds Holmes Humphreys Issaquena Itawamba Jackson Jasper Jefferson Jefferson Davis Jones Kemper Lafayette Lamar Lauderdale Lawrence Leake Lee Leflore Lincoln Lowndes Madison Marion Marshall Monroe Montgomery Neshoba Newton Noxubee Oktibbeha Panola Pearl River Perry Pike Pontotoc Prentiss Quitman Rankin Scott Sharkey Simpson Smith Stone Sunflower Tallahatchie Tate Tippah Tishomingo Tunica Union Walthall Warren Washington Wayne Webster Wilkinson Winston Yalobusha Yazoo

Coordinates: 34°15′N 90°17′W / 34.25°N 90.29°W / 34.25; -90.29