Their intention, apparently, was to lower the level of the river and to save the city of New Orleans. ", A second current traveled north, eroding a section of the railroad embankment, "allowing the water to go up into the town proper and completely inundate it," Catledge wrote. Six feet of water in the streets of Evangeline. All Rights Reserved. African-American families were instructed by some community leaders to stay on the levee to work in flood control and, later, recovery efforts. The per capita income for the parish was $11,432. All had been promised full compensation for their losses, but the lucky ones would get an average of only $274 each, and thousands of them would get nothing. The event, called simply the Great Flood of 1927, would change Louisiana forever. One force shot straight west, wrecking houses, barns and fences as it went. Six feet of water in the streets of Evangeline. Im holding to my pants.. Clouds rolled in from the north and it started to rain. A new recording of the orchestrated version is included on the Katrina charity album, Our New Orleans, on Nonesuch Records. A black and white reproduction of a photograph of a boat with a barber chair in Melville, Louisiana, during the great flood of 1927. The president say, "little fat man isn't it a shame. Ville Platte, La. Mr. BARRY: Yeah, that's correct, and the idea is very comparable to simply pulling the plug out of the bathtub. Downtown West Monroe wasn't as fortunate as backwater from the Ouachita River flooded that area. PHOTOS: Flood damage at Lafayette Parish schools, USA's infamous 'Tornado Alley' may be shifting east. The river have busted through clear down to Plaquemines. The Mississippi River Flood of 1927 was the nations greatest natural disaster. When the waters of the Great Flood of 1927 receded, officials estimate some 26,000 square miles across seven states were flooded;700,000 people left their homes and 250-500 people lost their lives. Both calamities caused widespread dislocation of Black people, the first adding to a migration to the major urban cities of the north, the second to cities such as Houston and Atlanta. The water rose quickly, extinguishing the fire under the black pot and before long, there wasn't a dry spot in the yard. Thus, the people struggling to live on a sliver of ground above water, became aggravated about their circumstances. Photograph of the Evangeline Oak during the 1927 flood. New York: Knopf, 1941. The flood drove many tenant farmers, most of whom were African American, off their land and, in many cases, out of the region. Mr. BARRY: Well, Coolidge chose not to run for re-election, but that was independent of a flood decision. Renee Montagne talks to Newman about Louisiana 1927. "Louisiana 1927" is on the brilliant 1974 album Good Old Boys that tells a narrative of people in the south who feel like the rest of the country is laughing at them. Search terms . "We stretched those bags from Grayling Lane down South Grand to Oxen Dam," he recalled. And the American people did not accept this. The racial makeup of the parish was 70.42% White, 28.57% Black or African American, 0.23% Native American, 0.14% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.18% from other races, and 0.46% from two or more races. As heavy rains continued in the Mississippi River drainage area above Louisiana, more than 20,000 men were put to work sandbagging levees between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. The river have busted through clear down to Plaquemines. A special celebratory parade was held July 4, 1927. Engineers chose a westward loop in the river at Caernarvon and began blowing the levee apart on April 29. Residents raced to the railroad embankment, the only remaining high ground, the rescue train stranded and of no help. Islandora advanced search. about 500. The median age was 34 years. 25.71% reported speaking French or Cajun French at home, the highest percentage of any Louisiana parish.[13]. . Resident Ray Griffin, who was 76 in 1981, recalled the way everyone pitched in to fill and place sandbags around the city. There were 14,258 housing units at an average density of 22 per squaremile (8/km2). After investigations, the committee presented a harsh report to Hoover, but he failed to take any action. Families and farm animals sought refuge on rooftops, raised railroad beds and levees. There were 12,736 households, out of which 38.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.30% were married couples living together, 15.50% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.10% were non-families. MORE: 4,500 added to flood zones in Lafayette Parish. Louisiana, Louisiana. For more on Katrina's aftermath, go to our Web site, npr.org. He joins us now from his office in Washington. A day too dark and stormy to go to church or even out of doors. The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 was the most destructive river flood in the history of the United States, with 27,000 square miles (70,000 km 2) inundated in depths of up to 30 feet (9 m) over the course of several months in early 1927. Nobody seemed to step back, at least then, and really looked at the whole thing. : PI/1992.0002.020, Intersection of Washington and Shelby streets in downtown Greenville. As a result, huge tracts of lowland, called spillways, were set aside in south central and southeastern Louisiana. In 1927, New Orleans was the most vital economic city in the South by far, and it was run entirely by bankers who didn't not even bother to consult elected officials; they simply decided they were going to dynamite the levee to reassure their correspondent banks in New York, London and Boston that they would never allow the Mississippi River to threaten the city. The teenager Mildred Shepherd, whose father was an auditor for Mississippi Power & Light Company in Greenville, remained with her family at home throughout the flood with water at the top of their doorsteps. WERTHEIMER: Now when the flood hit Greenville, Mississippi, you write in the book that people, blacks and whites together, took refuge on the highest ground they could find, which was the levee. When it arrived, the Red Cross passed out tents, saw that kitchens and sanitary facilities were built, and organized the large camp which would grow north along the levee for seven miles. Copyright laws. President Coolidge came down in a railroad train. A State Divided: HB2 And Transgender Rights, Committee on Inclusion Diversity Equity Accountability, WUNC Public Radio, LLC Board of Directors, FDIC weighs changing the deposit insurance system after another bank failure, Here's what happens if Hollywood writers go on strike, Navigating the housing market when it's unclear when it will improve, Saving endangered bunnies from floods in California, Supreme Court needs a code of conduct, says judicial ethics expert, AI could help reduce military suicides, nonprofit hopes. Evangeline Parish is also served by the Diocese of Lafayette with one school: Additionally, Evangeline Parish is served by one unaffiliated private school: Evangeline Parish is served by one institutions of higher education: The 1086th Transportation Company of the 165th CSS (Combat Service Support) Battalion resides in Ville Platte, Louisiana. I said there were almost 700,000 people being fed by the Red Cross. WERTHEIMER: That's Aaron Neville singing Randy Newman's song, "Louisiana 1927.". Yarborough, was one of those whose store was threatened." The river rose all day. Year: 1974 2:54 210 Views Playlists: #1 The easy, fast & fun way to learn how to sing: 30DaySinger.com The refugees were caught between a system of legalities they did not understand and marshes still filled with water that kept them from going home. The laborers were not paid and resented being threatened that if they did not participate in the levee repair, or other work such as unloading the food sent on barges by the Red Cross, that they would not be allowed to have the food that the Red Cross was handing out. All rights reserved. "The fire whistle and the Standard Oil plant shrieked a warning as levee guards sped through the streets, firing pistols and rifles and shouting 'crevasse, crevasse.'". "They worked hard, but the levee broke at 3 o'clock in the morning," Leblanc recalled. On April 27, 1927, 66 members of the Louisiana National Guard's Company B left Lafayette for New Roads in Pointe Coupee Parish to help strengthen levees on the Mississippi River, Locke Mouton of the Acadiana Area Red Cross wrote in theJuly 24, 1983, Daily Advertiser. Our side of the street featured a hedge beginning at MP&L Co. corner and continuing to the corner of Clay and included Uncle Clarences and Aunt Rubys property. Mr. AARON NEVILLE: (Singing) What have happened down here is the wind have changed. Lucy Somerville [Howorth], The Mississippi Flood of 1927 published in June 1927 edition of Womens Press. The Red Cross and local relief organizations set up tent cities and makeshift housing in Marksville, Mansura, Baton Rouge, Opelousas, Crowley, New Iberia, and elsewhere. Some people got lost in the flood; some people got away all right. Courtesy Mississippi Department of Archives and History, accession no. Mr. BARRY: He did a magnificent job in managing the logistics of feeding, delivering aid, shelter to 700,000 people, and half of whom were living in tents. The Louisiana Digital Library is a service provider only and has no authority to grant permission to publish or supply high-resolution images. He immediately went to work on plans to build a mud box with driven pilings and sandbags to seal the gaps. Submit an issue. Used by permission of Dr. Ted Shepherd. It rained real hard and it rained for a real long time. The Flood of 1927 was described by US Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover as the greatest peace-time calamity in the history of the country. It inundated 16,570,627 acres (about 26,000 square miles) in 170 counties and parishes in seven states, driving an estimated 931,159 people from their homes. In a 2002 Daily Advertiser report by James Savage, the 89-year-old recalled her grandmother was up at 5 a.m.hanging laundry when a couple told her the levee at Melville had broken. Each institution contributes the digital items and the descriptive text for their collections. I'm Linda Wertheimer. The cost of the damage has been estimated to be between $246 million and $1 billion, $4.2-$17. Males had a median income of $30,386 versus $16,793 for females. The next day, sirens warned those remaining that 1,500 feet of levee just south of Melville had collapsed. Thousands were left homeless for weeks, even months.. One-Year subscription (4 issues) : $20.00, Two-Year subscription (8 issues) : $35.00, 64 Parishes 2023. It filled the air with stench, and in the sun it laid baking and cracking like broken pottery, dung-colored and unvarying to the horizon.'. McNeil was 6 years old in 1927, sleeping above his father's drug store in Melville. Was he a good manager of this 1927 flood relief effort? As the waters receded people drifted back to their homes to clean up and continue their lives where they left off. Smaller levees had begun to break in northern and central Louisiana in mid-May, but a disastrous break in the Atchafalaya River levee came on May 17 at Melville in St. Landry Parish. Lanterns on the Levee. Much of south Monroe flooded, water reaching as high as the eaves of some homes, the newspaper reported. Frank M. Yarborough, who lived with them, "gathered up the few chickens left in the yard and put them in a coop on one end of the porch. Then, on Good Friday, April 15, 1927, more than 14 inches of rain fell on New Orleans in a single day, disabling the pumps that normally drained the city. Instead, they amounted to $35 million, and there wasnt enough money to go around. I have observed that when the river is high it is always raining. I'm Linda Wertheimer. Nature defeats man's efforts As heavy rainfall in 1926 continued into the spring of 1927, the Mississippi. Most of the refugees went to stay with relatives. Despite the valiant effort,levees in northeast Louisiana began to fail. A boat was tied up at the Jones Pharmacy Drugstore where W.L. The average household size was 2.64 and the average family size was 3.19. The air is saturated with moisture, and the luxuriance of plant growth is extraordinary. Bonnes Nouvelles: good news about people, places and things in Evangeline Parish. Sung from the perspective of a nameless resident of the area recounting the flooding of St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes during the flood, "Louisiana 1927" features lyrics that depict the devastation of the residents of those parishes in the aftermath of the flood. The congressional response to the devastation, the 1928 Flood Control Act, had far-reaching social, political, and physical consequences in Louisiana and throughout the Mississippi River valley. The east and south were protected, or so most people believed, by a railroad embankment. At the end of August 1927, an anonymous Associated Press reporter touring the Teche region was able to write, Little farmhouses, bearing brown watermarks at various heights according to the depth of the water reached, are once more occupied, and some of the farmers are plowing in preparation for new plantings. 'Organization Mississippi Flood 1927, May 16, 1927, Hoover Papers. [1] The parish seat is Ville Platte.[2]. A weather system that stalled over the Midwestern states in the fall of 1926 brought untold amounts of water to the Upper Mississippi River region. 1.04% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. I just carried a cigar box with my marbles," he added. THE LYRICS, by singer/songwriter Randy Newman, tell the story of the Louisiana flood of 1927, which killed hundreds and displaced hundreds of thousands across six states. A few have crops already growing, and cane and corn are making a brave attempt to put forth fruit despite the late start given them.. Unidentified, One-Year subscription (4 issues) : $20.00, Two-Year subscription (8 issues) : $35.00, 64 Parishes 2023. Scott Simon will be back next week. Though New Orleans had been spared, other parts of southern Louisiana were still in trouble, particularly in the Atchafalaya River and Bayou Teche basins to the west of the city. "And it held.". Six feet of water in the streets of Evangeline. The song became identified with Hurricane Katrina in the public consciousness after being sung by Aaron Neville at NBC's "A Concert for Hurricane Relief", being sung by Newman at the multi-network television fundraiser Shelter from the Storm: A Concert for the Gulf Coast, and a fully orchestrated version of the song performed by Newman during Saturday Night Live's "Mardi Gras Special". For more on Katrina's aftermath, go to our Web site, npr.org. They're tryin' to wash . Citizens either rowed down the streets and avenues or walked on the raised walkways that were built in front of the commercial areas. Adding to the excitement was a man on horseback going pell-mell down the street yelling, Go to the levee! Some six hundred prefabricated cabins were sent to St. Martin Parish and more like them elsewhere to temporarily replace destroyed housing.". It's used to discharge water into Lake Pontchartrain, relieving pressure on Mississippi River levees around New Orleans. The Mississippi River Flood of 1927 Album is a visual record of selected Louisiana losses from the 1927 Mississippi Basin flood. Mama woke me up and said the levee had broken.". MORE: What you should know about hurricanes, heavy rain and flood insurance. Also touched upon is the callous response of the federal government, depicted here via a fictional visit from President Calvin Coolidge and "a little fat man," where Coolidge's reaction to the devastation is a detached statement that, "isn't it a shame what the river has done to this poor cracker's land. Members include public libraries, academic libraries, museums, and archives from arcross the state. In Louisiana alone, 10,000 square miles in 20 parishes went underwater. Ninety years ago,the Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers swollen from months of rainfall burst through levees, sending muddy water into businesses, homes and farmlandacross Louisiana. The federal government did not pay a single penny for the clothing, food or shelter of any one of those 700,000 people. I have, you know, only speculative answers. Thousands of cattle drowned and farm crops were wiped out as southern Louisiana turned into a lake 200 miles long and 50 to 100 miles wide. I mean, not necessarily down South but this was a huge flood across many states. Thelma Sturgeon Smith from Alto in Richland Parish, recalled in 1981 that her family was living in Franklin Parish southwest of Winnsboro near the Oak Grove Baptist Church in May of 1927. Why don't more people know about this? As the people of Greenville watched the river rise they waited for the fire alarm. Copyright is retained in accordance with U.S. Ville Platte, Louisiana, the seat of Evangeline Parish, was itself so named by one of Napoleon Bonaparte's former soldiers, Adjutant Major Marcellin Garand (1781-1852), of Savoy, France. "Seeing the dirty brown water snaking through the grass and palmettos was sufficient to make cold chills run up and down one's spine," he said. And in fact, he managed to deliver aid without airplanes faster than aid has gotten to New Orleans in the Gulf Coast today. It tells the story of the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 which left 700,000 people homeless in Louisiana and Mississippi. We were somewhat late in turning on the alarm, as we could get no one at the Levee Board with the proper authority to say where the break was., Sixteen-year-old Mildred Shepherd was studying for her Latin exam when she heard the fire alarm. Nearly a million people were homeless. Many people of Evangeline are primarily of French, English, and Spanish descent from Louisiana's colonial period. 15 The worst Good Friday I ever saw. River appallingly high, and levees in very precarious condition. See our upcoming events and sign up to attend. Hear poetry from NC's poet laureate. Sung from the perspective of a nameless resident of the area recounting the flooding of St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes during the flood, "Louisiana 1927" features lyrics that depict the devastation of the residents of those parishes in the aftermath of the flood. During that fall, record rainfalls continued throughout the Mississippi River valley. The Flood Year 1927: A Cultural History. : PI/1992.0002.007, The Flood of 1927 and Its Impact in Greenville, Mississippi, The Flood of 1927 And Its Impact In Greenville, Mississippi Lesson Plan. "About daylight, 5:30 or so, we heard them shooting," he recalled in the 2002 report. The newspaper continued to operate, banks did business, and telephones and electricity remained turned on. Courtesy of Center for Louisiana Studies at The University of Louisiana at Lafayette The Evangeline Oak during the 1927 flood. The Mississippi was at flood stage for months. Mr. JOHN BARRY (Author, "Rising Tide"): You're welcome. 69.0% were White, 28.3% Black or African American, 0.3% Asian, 0.3% Native American, 1.0% of some other race and 1.1% of two or more races. If the break happened below New Orleans, it would relieve pressure and spare the city from massive flooding. Her grandfather, the Rev. The alarm that the levee had broken was given to the people of Greenville by a prearranged signal, the fire whistle. ", In 2005, after Hurricane Katrina, NPR interviewed Newman about the song. Part of that was because nobody realized how much would be washed away. 40.0% were of French, French Canadian or Cajun ancestry and 9.1% identified as having American ancestry. Whole communities, such as Bayou Chne, built upon a ridge in the Atchafalaya River basin, had to be abandoned because they were in the path of the floodwaters that might be diverted. The Mississippi was at flood stage for months. 91.5 Chapel Hill 88.9 Manteo 90.9 Rocky Mount
A boat eventually took them to a Red Cross camp where they were assigned to a tent with army cots and blankets that was their home for at least two weeks. Mr. BARRY: Well, it's a good question. Meet NPR hosts and reporters. B.H. Mr. BARRY: Well, it's a good question. Lucy Somerville [Howorth] tells in her diary how citizens of Greenville, in anticipation of a crevasse prepared their town and homes for the flood. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1973. : PI/1992.0002.071, People get around in boats at the railroad station in Cary, Mississippi, on May 1, 1927, ten days after the flood. About 100,000 people in Acadiana fled their homes during the Great Flood of 1927, Savage reported in 2002 for the 75th anniversary. In particular, the narrator lays out the widespread nature of the destruction ("river had busted through clear down to Plaquemines") and the volume of water the flood produced ("six feet of water in the streets of Evangeline"). Evangeline has a post office with ZIP code 70537. 91.1 Welcome 91.9 Fayetteville 90.5 Buxton
Please contact the Center for Louisiana Studies for more information. The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 Laid Bare the Divide Between the North and the South. The song also appeared in an episode (S03E7) of HBO's show Treme, sung again by Aaron Neville. I mean, not necessarily down South but this was a huge flood across many states. : PI/ 1992.0002.103, Flood refugees evacuated to tent city on the hills of Vicksburg, Mississippi. President Bush announced this morning that an additional 7,000 federal troops will be sent to Louisiana to help with relief efforts. There is a passage in your book where you described what it looked like when the river--the Mississippi River--finally subsided back into its banks, and I wonder if you could just read part of that for us. Dupre and Baudin Streets during Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. It prevented a second wave of rising water in June and with the aid of large pumps the town was drained. WERTHEIMER: Mr. Barry, clearly, we're looking at incredible devastation in photographs of New Orleans and the Mississippi and Alabama coastlines: shattered homes, piles of debris that are completely unrecognizable as whatever they once were. 6George E. Scott to James L. Fieser, May 2, 1927, Hoover Papers. Irma Yarborough, a native of Columbia in Caldwell Parish,recalled in the 1981 News-Star-World that on May 7, a dam on a tributary of the Ouachita in Arkansas sent water rising rapidly in Columbia. : PI/ 1992.0002.039, The Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad Station in Helm, Mississippi, on April 29, 1927. [2] [3] In the days that followed, water from the levee breaks spread to the south. About 27.20% of families and 32.20% of the population were below the poverty line, including 39.10% of those under age 18 and 31.00% of those age 65 or over. "She said, 'Run and go on the levee,'" she recalled, adding she "jumped out the bed in my night clothes," forgetting her favorite doll which was recovered later in the mud. Courtesy Mississippi Department of Archives and History, accession no. Physical rights are retained by the Center for Louisiana Studies. New Orleans-based singer/pianist Marcia Ball also covered the song at several Katrina benefit concerts. Through the early spring of 1927, the rains continued and the flood pushed downriver toward Louisiana. On May 12 or 13, the levee at Bayou des Glaises near Cottonport in Avoyelles Parish, north of St. Landry Parish, failed. Their squalid living conditions and work requirements were first reported through the Associated Negro Press and by the end of May had spread to the White press. You know, tens of thousands of whom were living on tops of levees, some of which were only eight feet across with the river on one side and the flood on the other. He, with the help of a committee of African-American leaders, got about five hundred Black men working two shifts around the clock for nine days to repair the protection levee. Permission to publish and acquire images or requests for more information about materials that you find in the LDL should be directed to the institution that contributed the item to the LDL. That flood dumped as much as 30 feet of water on land from Illinois and Missouri down to the Gulf of Mexico. Once again, housing had to be found for tens of thousands of refugees who had no relatives to stay with. Too dark to write, another big storm coming noon. Username * Password * Request new password; Evangeline Oak during the 1927 flood. Courtesy Mississippi Department of Archives and History, accession no. Mr. JOHN BARRY (Author, "Rising Tide"): You're welcome. The levees there were under pressure from both sides, and concerned citizens began to buy boats and stockpile food. White people were housed on the fifth floor, Black people on the sixth. A few Acadians such as Franois Pitre and his wife settled the area between Evangeline and St. Landry parishes, preferring the rich pre-American and pre-Civil War era Cajun planter's lifestyle over that of the humble and isolated existence of their Acadiana cousins.
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