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When the Levee Breaks: Memphis and the Mississippi Valley Flood of 1927
Among the countless miles of damage caused by the Mississippi Flood of 1927, the homeless and displaced masses of the Mississippi Valley looked toward Memphis as a beacon of hope. As thousands of refugees poured into the city, Memphians opened their hearts and extolled feats of charity that could fill volumes. Join local author Patrick O'Daniel as he traces the events of the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and the crucial role Memphis played in its aftermath. From heroic rescues to maltreatment within the refugee camps, O'Daniel paints a complete picture of man struggling against nature both within and without. Follow along as the receding waters propel Herbert Hoover into the national spotlight and Mayor Rowlett Paine becomes an unlikely leader.
187 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 21, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 31, 2018
Great research, weak organization and narrative (but with a handful of compelling vignettes).
April 28, 2025
I had never heard any of this history, carefully curated and meticulously sourced by the author. This is both an important historical work and a page-turning read of the dramatic events. The history of the United States makes a lot more sense with this key missing piece added back in.
The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 was the largest natural disaster in American history and a major turning point from the postbellum era into a new political landscape. For four months a massive part of the Mississippi delta was under water. Over 600,000 refugees. A response of 200 Navy boats and 50 airplanes. Herber Hoover, as Secretary of Commerce, taking point for a checked-out President Coolidge who never understood the political enormity of the situation.
Everyone was jockeying for position for the future. Memphis wanted to portray itself to the rest of the country as the city that did not flood, demanding corrections when news reports gave the impression that it had. It was to be the secure city of choice on the Mississippi for the future. (This was subsequently flubbed as every other Southern city leapt into the future while it remained mired in the past.)
Southern planters were trying to maintain their iron rule of a Black workforce. Over 80,000 Black people were placed in what Hoover called “concentration camps.” As with whites who were also kept isolated to camps to prevent their destabilizing local politics where they were evacuated, Black people were kept in even further isolation from the outside world (except when being used as essentially slave labor on levee repair). They were not allowed to talk to hiring agents from other farms or go north to new lives. After four months, when planting season came, despite the remaining dangers they were suddenly dumped out of the camps with few options but to return to their previous employers.
To keep this final trashing of Reconstruction ideals out of the national press, Hoover had made promises to Black community leaders that he was unable to keep, partly because he likely never had any particular commitment to the matter and partly because Coolidge had refused to provide economic support to the region as a whole. The book states that this was a major turning point in Black support and voting leaving the postbellum Republican Party and going to the Democratic Party of the future.
The event ended with the Red Cross as a major partner to the US Government, for this event performing financing organizing that would eventually go to FEMA. Local levee committees and privately owned levees were no longer enough, and the US Army Corps of Engineers, fledgling in its power and significance, elbowed in. It was a new era.
Additional concentration camp sources suggested by ChrisDier3 on Instagram:
"Continually Neglected: Situating Natural Disasters in the African America Experience," Jason David Rivera and DeMond Shondell Miller, Journal of Black Studies (2007)
"'The Red Cross is Not All Right!' Herbert Hoover's Concentration Camp Cover-up in the 1927 Mississippi Flood," Miles McMurchy
The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 was the largest natural disaster in American history and a major turning point from the postbellum era into a new political landscape. For four months a massive part of the Mississippi delta was under water. Over 600,000 refugees. A response of 200 Navy boats and 50 airplanes. Herber Hoover, as Secretary of Commerce, taking point for a checked-out President Coolidge who never understood the political enormity of the situation.
Everyone was jockeying for position for the future. Memphis wanted to portray itself to the rest of the country as the city that did not flood, demanding corrections when news reports gave the impression that it had. It was to be the secure city of choice on the Mississippi for the future. (This was subsequently flubbed as every other Southern city leapt into the future while it remained mired in the past.)
Southern planters were trying to maintain their iron rule of a Black workforce. Over 80,000 Black people were placed in what Hoover called “concentration camps.” As with whites who were also kept isolated to camps to prevent their destabilizing local politics where they were evacuated, Black people were kept in even further isolation from the outside world (except when being used as essentially slave labor on levee repair). They were not allowed to talk to hiring agents from other farms or go north to new lives. After four months, when planting season came, despite the remaining dangers they were suddenly dumped out of the camps with few options but to return to their previous employers.
To keep this final trashing of Reconstruction ideals out of the national press, Hoover had made promises to Black community leaders that he was unable to keep, partly because he likely never had any particular commitment to the matter and partly because Coolidge had refused to provide economic support to the region as a whole. The book states that this was a major turning point in Black support and voting leaving the postbellum Republican Party and going to the Democratic Party of the future.
The event ended with the Red Cross as a major partner to the US Government, for this event performing financing organizing that would eventually go to FEMA. Local levee committees and privately owned levees were no longer enough, and the US Army Corps of Engineers, fledgling in its power and significance, elbowed in. It was a new era.
Additional concentration camp sources suggested by ChrisDier3 on Instagram:
"Continually Neglected: Situating Natural Disasters in the African America Experience," Jason David Rivera and DeMond Shondell Miller, Journal of Black Studies (2007)
"'The Red Cross is Not All Right!' Herbert Hoover's Concentration Camp Cover-up in the 1927 Mississippi Flood," Miles McMurchy
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews