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of the Yazoo and Mississippi Rivers]] The Mississippi Delta is the distinct northwest section of the state of Mississippi that lies between the Mississippi and Yazoo River s. Technically not a Delta but part of an Alluvial Plain , it has been said that The Delta "begins in the lobby of the Peabody Hotel (in Memphis ) and ends on Catfish Row in Vicksburg " (various writers have been attributed with composing this memorable line, but most often David Cohn is credited with the saying). This region, created by regular flooding over thousands of years, is remarkably flat and contains some of the most fertile soil in the world. It includes Washington , DeSoto , Humphreys , Carroll , Issaquena , Panola , Quitman , Bolivar , Coahoma , Leflore , Sunflower , Sharkey , Tunica , Tallahatchie , Holmes , and Yazoo counties. The river delta around the mouth of the Mississippi lies some 300 miles south of this area, and is referred to as the Mississippi River Delta . MUSIC The Delta is strongly associated with the origins of several genres of popular music, including the Delta Blues , Jazz , and Rock And Roll , as well as with extreme levels of poverty [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4675562 [http://www.usccr.gov/pubs/msdelta/pref.htm]. Bluesman Robert Johnson 's official grave site is at Mount Zion Baptist Church in Morgan City, but it is heavily debated if this is his actual final resting place. There are numerous towns and churches throughout the delta that claim to be the site of his grave. AGRICULTURE AND THE DELTA ECONOMY Plantations For over two centuries, Agriculture has been the mainstay of the Delta economy. Sugar Cane and Rice were introduced to the region from the Caribbean in the 18th Century . Sugar production was centered in southern Louisiana , along with Rice , and later in the Arkansas Delta . Early agriculture also included limited Tobacco production in the Natchez area and Indigo in the lower Mississippi. What began as back bending land clearing by yeoman farmers supported by their extensive families, quickly developed into a labor intensive plantation system based initially on Native American and later on African slave labor in the 18th century. The emergence of the Cotton Gin revolutionized the production of Cotton , and by the early 19th Century cotton had become the Delta’s premier crop, and would remain so until the American Civil War . Though cotton planters believed that the alluvial soils of the Mississippi Delta region would always renew, the agricultural boom from the 1830s to the late 1850s caused extensive soil exhaustion and erosion. Yet, lacking agricultural research, planters continued to raise Cotton the same way after the Civil War. Following the Civil War, Sharecropping and Tenant Farming replaced the slave-dependent, labor intensive plantation system. This labor system inhibited the use of progressive agricultural techniques. In the late 19th century, the clearing and drainage of wetlands, especially in Arkansas and the Missouri Bootheel , increased lands available for tenant farming and sharecropping. Lower Delta agriculture evolved during the 20th Century into large farms owned by nonresident corporate entities. These heavily mechanized, low labor, and capital-intensive farm entities, consisting of hundreds and thousands of acres, produce market-driven crops such as cotton, sugar, rice, and Soybeans . Mechanization During the 1920s and 1930s, in the aftermath of the increasing mechanization of Delta farms, displaced whites and African-Americans began to leave the land and move to towns and cities. It was not until the Great Depression years of the 1930s that large scale farm mechanization came to the region, but farm Mechanization did not occur overnight in the Delta. The Mechanization of Agriculture and the availability of domestic work outside the Delta spurred the migration of Delta residents out of the region. Farming was unable to absorb the available Labor Force and entire families moved together. From the late 1930s through the 1950s, the Delta experienced an Agriculture boom, as wartime needs followed by reconstruction in Europe expanded the demand for the Delta region’s farm products. As the Mechanization of agriculture continued, women continued to leave the fields and go into service work, while the men drove tractors and worked on the farms. From the 1960s through the 1990s, thousands of small farms and dwellings in the Delta region were absorbed by large corporate-owned Agribusiness es, and the smallest Delta communities have stagnated. Diversification Remnants of the region’s Agrarian heritage are scattered along the highways and byways of the lower Delta. Larger communities have survived by fostering Economic Development in Education , Government , and Medicine . Other endeavors such as Catfish , Poultry , rice, Corn , and soybean farming have assumed greater importance. Today, the monetary value of these crops rivals that of cotton production in the lower Mississippi Delta. In recent years, due to the growth of the Automobile industry in the South, many parts suppliers have opened facilities in the Delta (as well as on the Arkansas side of the Mississippi River, another area of high poverty). Moreover, the 1990s legalization of Casino Gambling in Mississippi has boosted the Delta's economy, particularly in the areas of Tunica and Vicksburg. A large cultural influence in the region is its history of hunting and fishing. Hunting in the Delta is primarily made up of Whitetail Deer, Wild Turkey, and waterfowl, along with many small game species (squirrel, rabbit, dove, quail, racoon, et.al.). For many years and even today hunting and fishing has been a major economic engine for this region. PRINCIPAL TOWNS
FAMOUS DELTANS
FESTIVALS Festivals are important to the Mississippi Delta region, allowing each town or community the opportunity to celebrate their unique heritage. Following is a list of various festivals in the Delta: ;March:
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EDUCATION ;Delta Foundations/Non-Profits: ;Universities:
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MEDIA AND PUBLISHING Newspapers, Magazines and Journals
Television
Northern Delta served by Memphis TV Stations. TRANSPORTATION Air Transportation
Highways
APPEARANCE IN CULTURE
SOURCES
EXTERNAL LINKS
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