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Madison Parish, Louisiana
Madison Parish Courthouse, Tallulah, LA IMG 0201
Madison Parish Courthouse in Tallulah
Map of Louisiana highlighting Madison Parish
Location in the state of Louisiana
Map of the U.S
Louisiana's location in the U.S.
Founded 1838
Named for James Madison
Seat Tallulah
Largest city Tallulah
Area
 - Total
 - Land
 - Water

651 sq mi (1,686 km²)
624 sq mi (1,616 km²)
26 sq mi (67 km²), 4.1
Population
 - (2020)
 - Density

10,017
Congressional district 5th
Time zone Central: UTC-6/-5
Website http://madisonparish.org
Confederate soldier statue, Madison Parish, LA IMG 0194

Confederate soldier statue on Madison Parish Courthouse lawn

Three crosses in Madison Parish, LA IMG 7447

Christian crosses off U.S. Highway 65 in south Madison Parish

Madison Parish (French: Paroisse de Madison) is a parish located on the northeastern border of the U.S. state of Louisiana, in the delta lowlands along the Mississippi River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 10,017.[1] Its parish seat is Tallulah.[2] The parish was formed in 1839.[3]

With a history of cotton plantations and pecan farms, the parish economy continues to be primarily agricultural. It has a majority African-American population. For years a ferry connected Delta, Louisiana (and traffic from the parish) to Vicksburg, Mississippi. The Vicksburg Bridge now carries U.S. Route 80 and Interstate 20 across the river into Madison Parish.

History[]

Prehistory[]

Madison Parish was the home to many succeeding Native American groups in the thousands of years before European settlement. Peoples of the Marksville culture, Troyville culture, Coles Creek culture and Plaquemine culture built villages and earthwork mound complexes throughout the area. Notable examples include the Fitzhugh Mounds and the Raffman site.

Historic tribes which were encountered by European colonists include the Taensa and Natchez peoples, who both spoke the Natchez language.

European settlement to present[]

James Madison

James Madison, namesake of Madison Parish, Louisiana

The parish is named for former U.S. President James Madison.[4] As was typical of northern areas of Louisiana, and especially along the Mississippi River, it was developed for cotton agriculture on large plantations worked by large groups of enslaved African Americans.

In Madison's honor, the parish courthouse is built in the colonial Virginia style of architecture. It is located in the center of the downtown area and faces east. Nearby is the Tallulah City Hall, which faces south.

During the American Civil War, Madison Parish, then a rich cotton area, sent many of its young white men into battle early in the war. Major planters were exempted from service but they often paid for the equipping of companies. In 1862, the parish government paid a bonus of $80 to anyone joining one of its Confederate military companies.[5]

When Governor Thomas Overton Moore realized that New Orleans was going to fall to Union forces, he issued orders for the destruction of stored cotton in the state to keep it from Federal hands. Otherwise, the Union would sell the cotton, for which there was still high demand, and claim the revenue. The planters and brokers supervised slaves who burned hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cotton in New Orleans and around the state.[6] Governor Moore asked Brig. Gen. R. B. Todd, who commanded the Eleventh Brigade in northeast Louisiana, to call his own militia into active service, and all men between eighteen and forty who were not subject to conscription. These men from Madison, Carroll, and Tensas parishes were to cooperate with Confederate authorities to help repel Federal attacks in the area.[7]

Toward the end of the war, Madison Parish faced problems with jayhawkers, men sympathetic to the Union. According to historian Winters, they "were holed up in the impenetrable cane and cypress swamps in the area. This band, made up of draft dodgers, deserters, and runaway Negroes, often left the swamps to rob, kill, or capture anyone who passed by on the road."[8] The Confederates dressed in Federal uniforms to trick the jayhawkers. Winters continues: "The leader of the desperadoes, a huge black, welcomed the supposed Federal troops. Suddenly the [Confederate] disguised men fell upon the surprised gang and began to slaughter them. [In] a quick but bloody struggle [the Confederates] killed 130 of the group. The few who escaped never again returned to ravage the area."[8]

Following the Reconstruction era and during the Jim Crow era, white Democrats across the state violently suppressed black voting, which was for Republican candidates, and civil rights. Twelve blacks were lynched in Madison Parish from 1877 to 1950, most near the turn of the 20th century when social and economic tensions were the highest.[9] In addition, in July 1899 five immigrant Sicilian grocers were lynched by whites in Tallulah, the parish seat, for failing to observe Jim Crow customs of serving whites before blacks and because they were competing with locals with their stores.[10]

The Sevier family, members of the Democratic Party, dominated Madison Parish politics for more than a century, during a period when most blacks (who were voting Republican) were disenfranchised after passage of the 1898 constitution. It raised barriers to voter registration. These planters claimed descent from John Sevier, a fighter in the American Revolution, governor of Tennessee, and namesake of Sevierville and Sevier County in eastern Tennessee. Among the political Seviers were Andrew Jackson Sevier, Jr., who served as sheriff of Madison Parish from 1904 until his death in 1941. He was briefly succeeded by his wife, Mary Louise Day Sevier. Louisiana State Senator Andrew L. Sevier served from 1932 until his death in 1962. State Representative Henry Clay "Happy" Sevier, Sr. served from 1936 to 1952. William Putnam "Buck" Sevier, Jr., was a banker and town alderman. He served as mayor of Tallulah from 1947 until his retirement in 1974.[11]

Civil rights legislation in 1965 enabled more African Americans to exercise their constitutional rights to register and vote in Madison Parish, and they began to elect candidates of their choice to local offices. In 1969 Zelma Wyche was elected as Police Chief of Tallulah. In 1974 Adell Williams was elected as mayor, the first African American to fill this position.

Geography[]

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the parish has a total area of 651 square miles (1,690 km2), of which 624 square miles (1,620 km2) is land and 26 square miles (67 km2) (4.1%) is water.[12]

Major highways[]

  • I-20 Interstate 20
  • US 65 U.S. Highway 65
  • US 80 U.S. Highway 80

Adjacent counties and parishes[]

National protected areas[]

  • Tensas River National Wildlife Refuge (part)
  • Vicksburg National Military Park (part)

Demographics[]

Because of limited job opportunities as agriculture has mechanized and the Chicago Lumber Mill closed, the parish population has declined overall by about one-third since its peak in 1980. Numerous African Americans left during the first half of the 20th century in the Great Migration to escape the violence and oppression of Jim Crow; they moved to the North and West.

Historical populations
Census Pop.
1840 5,142
1850 8,773 70.6%
1860 14,133 61.1%
1870 8,600 −39.1%
1880 13,906 61.7%
1890 14,135 1.6%
1900 12,322 −12.8%
1910 10,676 −13.4%
1920 10,829 1.4%
1930 14,829 36.9%
1940 18,443 24.4%
1950 17,451 −5.4%
1960 16,444 −5.8%
1970 15,065 −8.4%
1980 15,975 6.0%
1990 12,463 −22.0%
2000 13,728 10.2%
2010 12,093 −11.9%
U.S. Decennial Census[13]
1790-1960[14] 1900-1990[15]
1990-2000[16] 2010[17]

2020[]

Madison Parish racial composition[18]
Race Num. Perc.
White (non-Hispanic) 3,414 34.08%
Black or African American (non-Hispanic) 6,173 61.63%
Native American 27 0.27%
Asian 6 0.06%
Pacific Islander 5 0.05%
Other/Mixed 188 1.88%
Hispanic or Latino 204 2.04%

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 10,017 people, 3,832 households, and 2,443 families residing in the parish.

2010[]

According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the racial makeup was:

2000[]

As of the census[19] of 2000, there were 13,728 people, 4,469 households, and 3,141 families residing in the parish. The population density was 22 people per square mile (8/km2). There were 4,979 housing units at an average density of 8 per square mile (3/km2). The racial makeup of the parish was 60.34% Black or African American, 37.86% White, 0.15% Native American, 0.16% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.35% from other races, and 1.13% from two or more races. 2.10% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 4,469 households, out of which 35.40% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.20% were married couples living together, 24.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.70% were non-families. 26.60% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.00% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.74 and the average family size was 3.35.

In the parish the population was spread out, with 32.60% under the age of 18, 11.20% from 18 to 24, 25.50% from 25 to 44, 19.10% from 45 to 64, and 11.60% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females there were 103.30 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.60 males.

The median income for a household in the parish was $20,509, and the median income for a family was $23,589. Males had a median income of $26,394 versus $16,141 for females. The per capita income for the parish was $10,114. About 29.70% of families and 36.70% of the population were below the poverty line, including 51.60% of those under age 18 and 22.00% of those age 65 or over. The parish's per-capita income makes it one of the poorest places in the United States.

Politics[]

With its majority-black population, Madison Parish in the 21st century has become a stronghold of support for the Democratic Party. Prior to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, when the state unconstitutionally prevented blacks from voting, the white Madison Parish voters in 1962 supported the Republican nominee Taylor W. O'Hearn for the US Senate; he lost to powerful Democratic incumbent Russell B. Long. O'Hearn polled 58.7 percent among whites in Madison Parish.[20] He later was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives from Caddo Parish, also in the northern part of the state.

During the 1970s and 1980s, conservative white voters in Louisiana and other southern states began to shift to supporting Republican presidential candidates, creating a more competitive system than the Solid South. Since the civil rights era, most African Americans in the South have supported Democratic candidates, as the national party supported their drive to exercise constitutional rights as citizens, even though most Southern Democrats remained vehemently opposed to civil rights. In 1988, Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts won in Madison Parish, with 2,416 votes (49.2 percent) compared to Republican Vice President George H. W. Bush, who finished in the presidential contest with 2,334 ballots (47.5 percent).[21]

In 2008, the Democrat Barack Obama of Illinois received 3,100 votes (58.5 percent) in Madison Parish to 2,152 (40.6 percent) for the Republican U.S. Senator John McCain of Arizona.[22] In 2012, Madison Parish gave President Obama 3,154 votes (60.8 percent) to Mitt Romney's 2,000 ballots (38.6 percent), 152 fewer votes than McCain had received four years earlier.[23]

United States presidential election results for Madison Parish, Louisiana[24]
Year Republican Democratic Third party
No.  % No.  % No.  %
2020 1,930 41.33% 2,654 56.83% 86 1.84%
2016 1,927 40.72% 2,744 57.99% 61 1.29%
2012 2,000 38.56% 3,154 60.81% 33 0.64%
2008 2,152 40.60% 3,100 58.49% 48 0.91%
2004 2,291 49.03% 2,334 49.95% 48 1.03%
2000 2,127 44.85% 2,489 52.48% 127 2.68%
1996 1,591 31.41% 3,085 60.91% 389 7.68%
1992 1,702 33.33% 2,773 54.31% 631 12.36%
1988 2,334 47.53% 2,416 49.20% 161 3.28%
1984 2,849 48.58% 2,906 49.56% 109 1.86%
1980 2,531 42.70% 3,264 55.06% 133 2.24%
1976 2,096 29.41% 4,933 69.21% 99 1.39%
1972 2,420 49.22% 2,249 45.74% 248 5.04%
1968 649 11.41% 2,659 46.75% 2,380 41.84%
1964 2,061 83.17% 417 16.83% 0 0.00%
1960 629 33.32% 235 12.45% 1,024 54.24%
1956 461 27.25% 276 16.31% 955 56.44%
1952 1,253 64.32% 695 35.68% 0 0.00%
1948 127 9.30% 197 14.42% 1,042 76.28%
1944 338 30.67% 764 69.33% 0 0.00%
1940 182 15.18% 1,017 84.82% 0 0.00%
1936 71 6.14% 1,085 93.86% 0 0.00%
1932 67 10.89% 548 89.11% 0 0.00%
1928 151 32.20% 318 67.80% 0 0.00%
1924 13 4.53% 274 95.47% 0 0.00%
1920 4 1.19% 331 98.81% 0 0.00%
1916 1 0.53% 187 99.47% 0 0.00%
1912 0 0.00% 146 95.42% 7 4.58%



Education[]

Public schools in Madison Parish are operated by the Madison Parish School Board.

Corrections[]

The private Lasalle Management firm operates the Madison Parish Correctional Center and Louisiana Correction Transitional Center for Women (CTCW), both located in Tallulah.

Communities[]

Map of Madison Parish Louisiana With Municipal Labels

Map of Madison Parish, Louisiana With Municipal Labels

Cities[]

  • Tallulah (parish seat and largest municipality)

Villages[]

  • Delta
  • Mound
  • Richmond


Notable people[]

  • Buddy Caldwell
  • Edgar H. Lancaster, Jr.
  • James E. Paxton
  • Zelma Wyche

References[]

  1. ^ "Census - Geography Profile: Madison Parish, Louisiana". United States Census Bureau. https://data.census.gov/profile/Madison_Parish,_Louisiana?g=0500000US22065. 
  2. ^ "Find a County". National Association of Counties. http://www.naco.org/Counties/Pages/FindACounty.aspx. 
  3. ^ "Madison Parish". Center for Cultural and Eco-Tourism. http://ccet.louisiana.edu/tourism/parishes/North_Louisiana/madison.html. 
  4. ^ Gannett, Henry (1905). The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 196. https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ. 
  5. ^ John D. Winters, The Civil War in Louisiana, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1963, ISBN 0-8071-0834-0, p. 74
  6. ^ Winters, p. 103
  7. ^ Winters, p. 165
  8. ^ a b Winters, p. 394
  9. ^ Lynching in America, Third Edition: Supplement by County Archived 2017-10-23 at the Wayback Machine, p. 6, Equal Justice Initiative, Mobile, AL, 2017
  10. ^ Ken Scambray, " 'Corda e Sapone' (Rope and Soap): how the Italians were lynched in the USA" Archived 2018-05-15 at the Wayback Machine, L'Italo-Americano, 13 December 2012; accessed 14 May 2018
  11. ^ "Sevier Family of Madison Parish, Louisiana". rootsweb.ancestry.com. http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~lamadiso/articles/sevierfamily/sevierfamily.htm. 
  12. ^ "2010 Census Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. August 22, 2012. https://www.census.gov/geo/maps-data/data/docs/gazetteer/counties_list_22.txt. 
  13. ^ "U.S. Decennial Census". United States Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census.html. 
  14. ^ "Historical Census Browser". University of Virginia Library. http://mapserver.lib.virginia.edu. 
  15. ^ "Population of Counties by Decennial Census: 1900 to 1990". United States Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/population/cencounts/la190090.txt. 
  16. ^ "Census 2000 PHC-T-4. Ranking Tables for Counties: 1990 and 2000". United States Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/briefs/phc-t4/tables/tab02.pdf. 
  17. ^ "State & County QuickFacts". United States Census Bureau. http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/22/22065.html. 
  18. ^ "Explore Census Data". https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?g=0500000US22065&tid=DECENNIALPL2020.P2. 
  19. ^ "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov. 
  20. ^ Louisiana Secretary of State, General election returns, 6 November 1962
  21. ^ "Madison Parish presidential election returns, November 8, 1988". staticresults.sos.la.gov. http://staticresults.sos.la.gov/11081988/11081988_33.html. 
  22. ^ "Madison Parish presidential election returns, November 4, 2008". staticresults.sos.la.gov. http://staticresults.sos.la.gov/11042008/11042008_33.html. 
  23. ^ "Madison Parish presidential election returns, November 6, 2012". staticresults.sos.la.gov. http://staticresults.sos.la.gov/11062012/11062012_33.html. 
  24. ^ Leip, David. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS. 

External links[]

Template:Louisiana parishes

Coordinates: 32°22′N 91°14′W / 32.37, -91.24


This page uses content from the English language Wikipedia. The original content was at Madison Parish, Louisiana. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with this Familypedia wiki, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons License.
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