Franklin County, Mississippi

Last updated

Franklin County
County
Franklin MS Courthouse RT.jpg
Franklin County Courthouse, Meadville, Mississippi.
Map of Mississippi highlighting Franklin County.svg
Location within the U.S. state of Mississippi
Mississippi in United States.svg
Mississippi's location within the U.S.
Coordinates: 31°29′N90°54′W / 31.48°N 90.9°W / 31.48; -90.9
CountryFlag of the United States.svg United States
StateFlag of Mississippi.svg  Mississippi
Founded1809
Named for Benjamin Franklin
Seat Meadville
Largest town Bude
Area
 • Total
567 sq mi (1,470 km2)
 • Land564 sq mi (1,460 km2)
 • Water3.0 sq mi (8 km2)  0.5%
Population
 (2020)
 • Total
7,675
 • Estimate 
(2023)
7,610 Decrease2.svg
 • Density14/sq mi (5.2/km2)
Time zone UTC−6 (Central)
 • Summer (DST) UTC−5 (CDT)
Congressional district 3rd
Website www.franklincountyms.com

Franklin County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2020 census, the population was 7,675. [1] Its county seat is Meadville. [2] The county was formed on December 21, 1809, from portions of Adams County and named for Founding Father Benjamin Franklin. [3] It is bisected by the Homochitto River, which runs diagonally through the county from northeast to southwest.

Contents

History

This was the fourth county organized in Mississippi. It was initially developed for agriculture, specifically cotton plantations based on enslaved labor of African Americans. Cotton continued to be important to the economy through the 19th century and into the early 20th century.

This still rural county has had a decline in population by about half since 1910. It is the fourth least populous county in the state. Mechanization of agriculture and the blight of the boll weevil both reduced the need for farm workers; they left the area and often the state. Many African Americans went north or west in the Great Migration before and after World War II. The county in the 21st century is majority white in population; in the 2000 census, African Americans composed more than 36% of the population. (See Demographics section below.)

As in the rest of the state, the county had racially segregated facilities under Jim Crow from the late 19th century. Many white residents opposed the civil rights movement of the mid-20th century. In May 1964, Ku Klux Klan members abducted and killed two young black men, Henry Hezekiah Dee and Charles Eddie Moore of Meadville, before Freedom Summer started. Their bodies were not discovered in the Mississippi River until July 1964, during the hunt for three disappeared civil rights workers.

No one was prosecuted at the time, but the case was reopened in 2007, after a documentary had been released on it by Canadian Broadcasting Company. Local man James Ford Seale was convicted of the kidnappings and deaths by an all-white jury in federal court. [4] In 2008 the families of Dee and Moore filed a civil suit against the Franklin County government, charging complicity by its law enforcement in the deaths. On June 21, 2010, Franklin County agreed to an undisclosed settlement in the civil suit with the families of Charles Moore and Henry Dee. [5] [6] [7] [8]

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 567 square miles (1,470 km2), of which 564 square miles (1,460 km2) is land and 3.0 square miles (7.8 km2) (0.5%) is water. [9]

Major highways

Adjacent counties

National protected area

Communities

Towns

Unincorporated communities

Demographics

Historical population
CensusPop.Note%±
1810 2,016—
1820 3,82189.5%
1830 4,62221.0%
1840 4,7753.3%
1850 5,90423.6%
1860 8,26540.0%
1870 7,498−9.3%
1880 9,72929.8%
1890 10,4247.1%
1900 13,67831.2%
1910 15,19311.1%
1920 14,156−6.8%
1930 12,268−13.3%
1940 12,5041.9%
1950 10,929−12.6%
1960 9,286−15.0%
1970 8,011−13.7%
1980 8,2082.5%
1990 8,3772.1%
2000 8,4480.8%
2010 8,118−3.9%
2020 7,675−5.5%
2023 (est.)7,610 [10] −0.8%
U.S. Decennial Census [11]
1790-1960 [12] 1900-1990 [13]
1990-2000 [14] 2010-2013 [15]
Franklin County racial composition as of 2020 [16]
Num.Perc.
White (non-Hispanic)4,91063.97%
Black or African American (non-Hispanic)2,56333.39%
Native American 20.03%
Asian 80.1%
Other/Mixed 1321.72%
Hispanic or Latino 600.78%

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 7,675 people, 2,928 households, and 2,096 families residing in the county.

Politics

United States presidential election results for Franklin County, Mississippi [17]
Year Republican Democratic Third party(ies)
No. %No. %No. %
2024 2,83169.63%1,21329.83%220.54%
2020 2,92365.52%1,48033.18%581.30%
2016 2,72163.43%1,50235.01%671.56%
2012 2,73560.87%1,72638.42%320.71%
2008 2,90962.09%1,73336.99%430.92%
2004 2,89364.42%1,57435.05%240.53%
2000 2,42761.40%1,48637.59%401.01%
1996 1,58647.50%1,38141.36%37211.14%
1992 1,94249.31%1,58740.30%40910.39%
1988 2,37659.97%1,56339.45%230.58%
1984 2,56462.86%1,49436.63%210.51%
1980 2,02649.31%2,04049.65%431.05%
1976 1,71950.63%1,57846.48%982.89%
1972 2,36178.73%56118.71%772.57%
1968 2316.71%78222.72%2,42970.57%
1964 2,21196.05%913.95%00.00%
1960 1247.38%44126.25%1,11566.37%
1956 17711.46%86255.83%50532.71%
1952 51430.60%1,16669.40%00.00%
1948 120.98%554.48%1,16094.54%
1944 493.89%1,21196.11%00.00%
1940 292.06%1,37697.94%00.00%
1936 332.91%1,09896.83%30.26%
1932 252.53%96597.47%00.00%
1928 18116.67%90583.33%00.00%
1924 365.74%59194.26%00.00%
1920 20323.97%64175.68%30.35%
1916 222.76%76996.49%60.75%
1912 41.10%30182.69%5916.21%

In the 1964 Presidential election Barry Goldwater reportedly received 96.05% of the county's vote. [18] Although the white-majority county has supported Southern Democrats such as Jimmy Carter for the presidency, since 2000 the Republican candidate has consistently received over 60% of the vote. [19]

Education

There is one school district, the Franklin County School District. [20]

It is in the district of Copiah–Lincoln Community College, and has been since 1948. [21]

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Ford Seale</span> American Ku Klux Klan member and convict

James Ford Seale was a Ku Klux Klan member charged by the U.S. Justice Department on January 24, 2007, and subsequently convicted on June 14, 2007, for the May 1964 kidnapping and murder of Henry Hezekiah Dee and Charles Eddie Moore, two African-American young men in Meadville, Mississippi. At the time of his arrest, Seale worked at a lumber plant in Roxie, Mississippi. He also worked as a crop duster and was a police officer in Louisiana briefly in the 1970s. He was a member of the militant Klan organization known as the Silver Dollar Group, whose members were identified with a silver dollar; occasionally minted the year of the member's birth.

Mississippi Cold Case is a 2007 feature documentary produced by David Ridgen of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation about the Ku Klux Klan murders of two 19-year-old black men, Henry Hezekiah Dee and Charles Eddie Moore, in Southwest Mississippi in May 1964 during the Civil Rights Movement and Freedom Summer. It also explores the 21st-century quest for justice by the brother of Moore. The documentary won numerous awards as a documentary and for its investigative journalism.

References

  1. ↑ "Census - Geography Profile: Franklin County, Mississippi". United States Census Bureau . Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  2. ↑ "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Archived from the original on May 31, 2011. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
  3. ↑ Gannett, Henry (1905). The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States. Govt. Print. Off. pp.  131.
  4. ↑ "Ex-KKK man guilty in 1964 killing". BBC.com. June 15, 2007. Retrieved August 26, 2008.
  5. ↑ "Families sue Franklin over Klan slayings". Clarion Ledger. August 7, 2008. Retrieved August 26, 2008.[ dead link ]
  6. ↑ "Dee, Moore families files suit against Franklin County, Miss., in 1964 murders". Concordia Sentinel. August 11, 2008. Archived from the original on August 16, 2008. Retrieved August 26, 2008.
  7. ↑ Walker, Adrian (August 8, 2008). "A righteous quest". The Boston Globe.com. Retrieved August 26, 2008.
  8. ↑ "Miss. Officials Agree To Settlement In '64 Slayings". NPR. June 21, 2010.
  9. ↑ "2010 Census Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. August 22, 2012. Archived from the original on September 28, 2013. Retrieved November 3, 2014.
  10. ↑ "Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Counties: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2023". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  11. ↑ "U.S. Decennial Census". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved November 3, 2014.
  12. ↑ "Historical Census Browser". University of Virginia Library. Retrieved November 3, 2014.
  13. ↑ "Population of Counties by Decennial Census: 1900 to 1990". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved November 3, 2014.
  14. ↑ "Census 2000 PHC-T-4. Ranking Tables for Counties: 1990 and 2000" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 27, 2010. Retrieved November 3, 2014.
  15. ↑ "State & County QuickFacts". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on June 7, 2011. Retrieved September 3, 2013.
  16. ↑ "Explore Census Data". data.census.gov. Retrieved December 17, 2021.
  17. ↑ Leip, David. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved March 3, 2018.
  18. ↑ David Leip's Presidential Election Atlas - 1964 statistics
  19. ↑ The New York Times Electoral Map (Zoom in on Mississippi)
  20. ↑ "2020 CENSUS - SCHOOL DISTRICT REFERENCE MAP: Franklin County, MS" (PDF). U.S. Census Bureau . Retrieved September 27, 2024. - Text list
  21. ↑ "History". Copiah–Lincoln Community College . Retrieved September 27, 2024.

31°29′N90°54′W / 31.48°N 90.90°W / 31.48; -90.90

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