Mississippi in the Great Depression

by Richelle Putnam

By the time the Great Depression was well underway, Mississippi was still dealing with the lingering effects of the flood of 1927 and the Mississippi Valley drought of 1930. As Pres. Franklin Roosevelt took office in 1933, Mississippi senator Pat Harrison, chair of the Senate Committee on Finance, oversaw the passage of major New Deal legislation, from which Mississippi reaped many benefits. Other Mississippi politicians like Gov. Mike Connor initiated measures to improve the treatment of inmates at Parchman Prison in the Delta and Gov. Hugh White established the Balancing Agriculture with Industry initiative. Women also played an active role. The Natchez Garden Club successfully spurred tourism by starting the state's first pilgrimage in 1932. Mississippians found employment through the Public Works Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps, which stimulated economic development through new and add-on construction in urban and rural areas and the construction of nine state parks. For black Mississippians, segregation and discrimination in New Deal benefits and jobs continued, but what they did receive from the federal government spurred a determination to fight for equality in the Jim Crow South.

Genres: Nonfiction

130 pages, Hardcover

Published November 29, 2021

Reviews

[Debbie Howell · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m reluctant to even use the word “book” to describe this product. It’s more a collection of information dumped into chapters without a consistent narrative voice or any synthesis of the data it contains. The author has gathered an array of information that mostly applies to Mississippi mostly during the Depression, and has “organized” it into chapters loosely based on topics such as Cooperatives and Homesteads and Arts and Entertainment. In the chapter entitled “New Deal Programs,” the reader is treated to a dozen pages that consist entirely of lists—lists of government programs, post offices, murals, lakes, state parks—great material if you need help falling asleep, but otherwise of little interest. The quality of the “narrative”seems to correlate with the quality of the source material. Thus, you get some good moments in chapter 1, which draws extensively John Barry’s excellent book about the flood of 1927, Rising Tide. The end notes are poorly done, with numerous incomplete references. (For example, there is no note for Barry’s book that includes his first name or publisher information. One would have to turn to the bibliography for that info. This indicates a poor editing process, which is on the publisher.) There was potential for this project to offer more insight into the Depression’s impact on the lives of Mississippians, but it falls short. Which is too bad, because it’s obvious that significant time went into research. But too little time went into writing and editing to make it pay off for the reader.