The 1927 Mississippi Flood

The Mississippi River flood of 1927, also known as the Great Flood of 1927, was a flooding of the lower Mississippi River valley in April 1927 that was one of the worst natural disasters in US history. More than 23,000 square miles (60,000 square kilometers) of land were submerged, displacing hundreds of thousands of people and killing 250 people. The first levee broke on April 16, along the Illinois shore, after several months of heavy rain caused the Mississippi River to swell to unprecedented levels. Then, on April 21, the Mississippi levee at Mounds Landing failed. Over the next few weeks, the entire levee system along the river failed. Residential areas were submerged in 30 feet (9 metres) of water in some places. It took at least two months for the floodwaters to recede completely.

Following the flood, an estimated 750,000 people were left without food, water, clothing, or work, and authorities were heavily chastised for favoring the white population during rescue and relief operations. Thousands of plantation workers, the majority of whom were African Americans, had been forced to work in appalling conditions shoring up the levees near Greenville, Mississippi. Then, as the water level rose, they were stranded for days without food or water, while white women and children were ferried to safety. African Americans gathered in relief camps were also forced to participate in relief efforts while receiving subpar food and cleaning up flooded areas. At least one black man was allegedly shot for refusing to work.

Long-term social and political changes were brought about by the flood. African Americans gradually shifted their allegiance from the historically antislavery Republican Party (the party of US President Calvin Coolidge, who was in office during the disaster) to the Democratic Party. Furthermore, the disaster aided the Great Migration of African Americans from the South to northern cities. The flood was also immortalized in folklore, music, literature, and film. Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie's "When the Levee Breaks" (1929), reworked in 1971 by the English rock group Led Zeppelin, and Randy Newman's "Louisiana 1927" were popular songs about the event (1974).

Date: 1926–1929
Location: Particularly Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi along with Missouri, Illinois, Kansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Texas
Deaths: about 500

Causes: The persistent heavy rainfall across the Central U.S. starting in August 1926 and continuing through the spring of 1927.