I've been in Greenville for about a week now. I've decided to begin a 'Chronicles of a First Year Teacher' bit as part of my blog. But, before I do that I think it would be appropriate to give an historical account of the city in which I am living -- errr, will be living once I finalize a lease agreement.

Note: I am well aware that this account centers around the history of white males. Don't blame me, though, as it is not me who actually writes the history. I am merely piecing together a number of other historical accounts that I found, all of which are centered around white males. I tried to take a multi-cultural approach, but the internet is pretty dry on Greenville specific multi-cultural history.

Early History

Greenville, a town with a present day population of just over 40,000, was incorporated as the seat of Washington County in 1827. It was Mississippi's 22nd county to organize. There is a significance between the name of the town and the name of the county. Nathaniel Greene, a Revolutionary War hero, was a close friend of George Washington. During the Civil War Greenville was invaded and subsequently burned after residents fired on troops. It was rebuilt, though, because it served as a large hub between Memphis, TN and Vicksburg, MS.¹

Development

Greenville's real development begins in the early 1900s with a young Mississippi Delta aristocrat named LeRoy Percy (above). Percy received his Bachelor's degree at University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. He then followed in the footsteps of his grandfather and many other Southern gentlemen by studying Law at the University of Virginia. He remarkably finished three years of study in just one year. After finishing his studies Percy returned to Greenville to take over his family business.

It would be incorrect to say Percy's influence as an aristocrat was merely regional. Percy hunted with then President Theodore Roosevelt, played poker with the U.S. Speaker of the House, and had friends on the Supreme Court, in the United States Senate, and in the executive office. On top of this Percy served as governor of a Federal Reserve Bank, as a trustee of both the Carnegie and Rockefeller Foundations, and was later appointed to fill a vacancy in the U.S. Senate.

The cornerstone of Percy's success in the Delta was labor. Although Percy tried to attract Northern farmers on multiple occasions to the Delta, but succeeded only in attracting black workers. Swayed by both his economic interests and beliefs in Southern honor and nobility, Percy saw to it that Greenville was a relative safe haven for African Americans. While other towns chased out or lynched black residents, Percy ensured that they received mortgages, good educations, and were appointed to the posts of mailmen, policemen, and judges. Percy's liberalism paid off and Greenville prospered.²

That is not to say that the Greenville prospered without incident. The Ku Klux Klan thrived outside of the Delta and often sought to establish itself within the Delta. Percy hated the Klan. Percy's business relied on racial harmony, which the Klan sought to destroy. Percy also had business partners who were Jewish and Catholic, two other groups that the Klan sought to rid from the South. Furthermore, the Klan and its racist forces cost Percy his re-election to the Senate in 1911.

Percy and the Klan would have it out on March 1, 1922. Percy got news that the Klan would hold a recruitment meeting in the Greenville courthouse. In response, Percy packed the courthouse with his own supporters who drowned out the Klan's diatribes. He then got up to speak, reminding the crowd that they received below market loans from a Jewish investor. He then mocked the Klan's fake military ranks and went into the crux of his argument. He claimed that racial discord would ravage the Greenville ecolomy as it had other areas. He finished his speech by saying:

"Friends, let this Klan go somewhere else where it will not do the harm that it will in this community. Let them sow dissension in some community less united than is ours."

After giving his speech Percy proposed a resolution condemning the Klan, which passed with ease. The event made national headlines.³

The Flood

Greenville continued to prosper until 1927, when it experienced one of the most devastating floods in U.S. history.⁴ One by one, each levee along the Mississippi river broke, causing massive floods. In all 246 people died, some 700,000 were displaced, 137,000 buildings were destroyed or damaged, and 27,000 square miles were flooded.

During the floods LeRoy Percy made the surprise move of putting his son William (above) in charge of flood relief efforts in Greenville. The move was a surprise due to the father and son having a rocky relationship. William's father, a man of power, did not understand his son's interest in the arts. When put in charge, one of the first things that William did was order black residents evacuated from their destitude conditions atop the broken levee. He did this because he thought it was the only decent thing to do, much as he thought his father would have done. However, local planters protested the move, claiming that once black residents were moved they would not return. William's father, the supposed progressive, sided with the farmers. Black refugees were then forced to say and work to fix the levee at gunpoint. Many of the black workers compared the work to outright slavery.⁵

Led Zeppelin later wrote a song about the flood:

When the Levee Breaks

All last night sat on the levee and moaned, [X2]
Thinkin' about me baby and my happy home.
Going, going to Chicago... Going to Chicago... Sorry but I can't take you...
Going down... going down now... going down....

Civil Rights

Not keeping with its proactive approach in the 1920s, Greenville took a more moderate course in the 1960s during the fight for Civil Rights. The neighboring cities of Cleveland and Greenwood were much more prominent in the fight.

¹ http://www.greenville.ms.us/community/facts/history.html
² http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/flood/peopleevents/p_lpercy.html
³ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/flood/peopleevents/e_greenville.html
⁴ http://www.andersonphotoservice.org/index.html
⁵ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/flood/peopleevents/p_wpercy.html