East Carroll Parish, Louisiana


East Carroll Parish is a parish located in the Mississippi Delta in northeastern Louisiana, part of what was called the Natchez District of cotton parishes. As of the 2010 census, the population was 7,759. The parish seat is Lake Providence. An area of cotton plantations in the antebellum era, the parish in the early 21st century has about 74% of its land devoted to agriculture.

History

This area is part of the delta along the western edge of the Mississippi River, long subject to the seasonal flooding that gave the area fertile soils. It was occupied by indigenous peoples for thousands of years. European explorers encountered the historic tribes of the Caddo and Choctaw in this area, as well as the Natchez on the east side of the Mississippi River.
In the 1830s, the United States forced out most of the people of the Five Civilized Tribes from the Southeast to west of the Mississippi River in Indian Territory to make way for development by European Americans. Areas along the river were cleared and developed for cultivation of cotton, the major commodity crop in the Deep South before the Civil War. The cotton was cultivated and processed on plantations by large groups of enslaved African-American laborers.
Prior to 1814, all of the territory covered by the current East Carroll Parish was part of the now defunct Warren Parish. The original Carroll Parish, before it was divided into "East" and "West" segments after Reconstruction, was named for Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Maryland, the only Roman Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence. This and other nearby parishes along the Mississippi River were called the Natchez District, referring to the major port on the Mississippi side of the river. Both areas were developed for cotton plantations.
Given the dependence of plantation agriculture on enslaved workers, the population of this area was majority African American well before the American Civil War. Carroll Parish had 11,000 slaves in 1860, more than three times the white population of the total parish. Most were located on the plantations in the floodplain along the Mississippi River. During the war, many slaves joined Union lines and served in the United States Colored Troops; Louisiana had more former slaves enlisted in the USCT than six other southern states combined.
Carroll Parish covered a large area and the parish was split by the state legislature in 1877, following the Reconstruction era. West Carroll Parish, with territory west of the Bayou Macon, was majority-white and voted Democratic.
After the war, this area continued to be dominated by agriculture and was largely rural. Numerous black Union veterans settled in East Carroll Parish and some owned their own land, especially in an area called Soldiers' Rest, site of a former Union camp. They developed an independent community. With blacks outnumbering whites in Carroll Parish by a seven-to-one margin, and with combat experience, they resisted efforts in the 1870s to suppress their population. Voters in the larger Carroll Parrish elected blacks to the positions of sheriff, state representative, clerk of the court, and several justices of the peace, and hired black constables, giving blacks a voice at the local level.
But, white conservative Democrats formed groups noted as Bulldozers, conducting violence against black voters, teachers and supporters to suppress their activities. White conservatives succeeded in regaining control of the state legislature by the end of Reconstruction. By creating West Carroll Parish in 1877, they had an additional jurisdiction dominated by white Democrats.
Two decades later, at the end of the 19th century, the state legislature passed a new constitution in 1898 that raised barriers to voter registration, with rules applied against African Americans. They were effectively disenfranchised well into the 1960s. The legislature passed segregation and Jim Crow laws of increasing severity into the early 20th century.
In 1907 U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt came to East Carroll Parish near Lake Providence for a black bear hunt. When a particular bear managed to elude the hunters, the president's camp was moved to Bear Lake in Madison Parish near Tallulah. The 21-year-old Arthur Spencer of Richland Parish took a photograph of Roosevelt with the heavily armed hunting party. Among the hunters was John M. Parker, future governor of Louisiana and the vice-presidential choice of the Bull Moose Party ticket in the 1912 presidential election.

Law and government

Since the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, African Americans gradually gained the ability to register to vote and continue to vote at high levels. They have tended to support Democratic Party candidates, as the national party had supported the civil rights movement. President Lyndon B. Johnson helped secure passage of major legislation on civil rights. As East Carroll Parish is majority black, its voters still favor Democratic Party candidates. Most conservative whites have shifted since the late 20th century to the Republican Party, which candidates dominate elections in majority-white areas of the state.
In 1988, Governor Michael S. Dukakis of Massachusetts carried East Carroll Parish over then Vice President George Herbert Walker Bush, 1,809 votes to 1,536.
In the 2004 presidential race, East Carroll gave the Democrat John Kerry - John Edwards slate 1,980 ballots to 1,357 votes for the George W. Bush - Richard B. Cheney slate.
In 2012, U.S. President Barack H. Obama swept the parish with 2,478 votes to Republican Mitt Romney's 1,508. In 2008, Obama had handily defeated John McCain in East Carroll Parish, 2,267 to 1,254.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the parish has a total area of, of which is land and is water.

Major highways

2010

The 2010 U.S. Census reported the following breakdown of parish population: Black: 69.0%; White: 28.9%, Native American: 0.2%; Asian: 0.6%; Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander: 0.0%; Two or more races: 0.7%; and Hispanic or Latino : 1.6%.

2000

As of the census of 2000, there were 9,421 people, 2,969 households, and 2,140 families residing in the parish. The population density was 22 people per square mile. There were 3,303 housing units at an average density of 8 per square mile. The racial makeup of the parish was 67.29% Black or African American, 31.60% White, 0.18% Native American, 0.33% Asian, 0.25% from other races, and 0.35% from two or more races. 1.19% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There were 2,969 households out of which 36.50% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.00% were married couples living together, 27.70% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.90% were non-families. 25.60% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.30% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.82 and the average family size was 3.40.
In the parish the population was spread out with 30.30% under the age of 18, 11.50% from 18 to 24, 27.20% from 25 to 44, 18.50% from 45 to 64, and 12.50% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females there were 104.60 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 106.90 males.
The median income for a household in the parish was $20,723, and the median income for a family was $24,554. Males had a median income of $22,099 versus $18,672 for females. The per capita income for the parish was $9,629. About 32.60% of families and 40.50% of the population were below the poverty line, including 56.80% of those under age 18 and 32.70% of those age 65 or over. The county's per-capita income makes it one of the poorest counties in the United States.

Economy and poverty data

East Carroll Parish is still largely agricultural, with 74% of its land devoted to crops. As farm labor needs have been reduced by mechanization and farms have been consolidated into larger units, jobs in the area have been reduced. Agriculture may take the form of aquaculture, and row crops.
Of 3,197 counties ranked by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2011 for "estimated percent of people of all ages in poverty", East Carroll Parish was fifth. It was estimated that 44 percent of the rural county's residents lived in poverty.

Education

Public schools in East Carroll Parish are operated by the East Carroll Parish School Board. In an infographic released by Graphiq, East Carroll Parish is ranked as the least educated parish in Louisiana with 32.29% of 25 year-olds without a high school diploma and 9.4% of 25 year-olds with a bachelor's degree or higher.

Communities

Towns

Politics