Belzoni, Mississippi

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For the Italian explorer of Egyptian antiquities., see Giovanni Battista Belzoni.

Belzoni is a city in Humphreys County, Mississippi, in the Mississippi Delta region. The population was 2,663 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Humphreys County^GR6. It was named for the 19th century Italian archaeologist/explorer Giovanni Battista Belzoni.

The area was named Farm-Raised Catfish Capital of the World in 1976 by then Governor Cliff Finch, since it produces more farm-raised catfish than any other U.S. county. 40,000 acres (162 km²) of the county are underwater, used to grow catfish. About 60 % of U.S. farm-raised catfish are grown within a 65 mile (100 km) radius of Belzoni. However, the title "Catfish Capital" has also been claimed by Savannah, Tennessee, and Des Allemands, Louisiana. However, Belzoni is world known for the Catfish Festival held every April.

1 Geography
2 Demographics
3 Education
4 History of Civil Rights Movement
5 Semi-Famous residents
6 External links

[edit] Geography

Belzoni is located at 33°10′53″N, 90°29′8″W (33.181324, -90.485663)^GR1.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 2.5 km² (1.0 mi²), all land.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 2,663 people, 934 households, and 640 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,071.0/km² (2,777.8/mi²). There were 1,018 housing units at an average density of 409.4/km² (1,061.9/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 30.49% White, 68.08% African American, 0.04% Native American, 0.64% Asian, 0.60% from other races, and 0.15% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.35% of the population.

There were 934 households out of which 33.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 35.3% were married couples living together, 28.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.4% were non-families. 28.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.83 and the average family size was 3.49.

In the city the population was spread out with 32.2% under the age of 18, 11.4% from 18 to 24, 27.3% from 25 to 44, 17.8% from 45 to 64, and 11.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females there were 85.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 77.5 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $20,690, and the median income for a family was $25,521. Males had a median income of $26,466 versus $15,833 for females. The per capita income for the city was $13,022. About 29.3% of families and 35.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 47.4% of those under age 18 and 27.3% of those age 65 or over.

[edit] Education

The City of Belzoni is served by the Humphreys County School District.

[edit] History of Civil Rights Movement

Belzoni, Mississippi was the site of a notorious murder of an early civil rights pioneer. The Rev. George W. Lee, an African American minister who was seeking voting rights for the disenfranchised blacks of the Mississippi Delta, was murdered in 1955 in "Bloody Belzoni" by racists committed to upholding segregation.[1] His killers were never found, as the governor of Mississippi, Hugh L. White, refused to investigate the case. Many consider him the first martyr of the modern Civil Rights movement.

National Public Radio Correspondent Margot Adler, while an undergraduate at the University of California, Berkeley, was active in the voter registration drive in Humphreys County (Belzoni) in the summer of 1965. In the year 2000, she recalled: I remember how difficult it was to register people: the fear was palpable. I remember that after one month of daily work there were only seven people registered, and a bunch of us almost got ourselves killed after being chased onto private property by a group of men who belonged to the White Citizens Council." (Trent Lott, the senior senator from Mississippi, has addressed the Conservative Citizens Council, at least five times. [2] According to his uncle, former state Senator Arnie Watson, "Trent is an honorary member" of what the Southern Povery Law Center calls "the incarnation of the infamous white Citizens Councils," the white supremacist groups that attempted to resist desegragation.)[3]

She said that the civil rights movement changed Humphreys County, and bettered the lot of African Americans. "There was real change in Belzoni. Streets were paved in hog town, sewers no longer overflowed into the dirt streets. Several black families I knew from then have held political office during the last decade. [4]

In 2006, Belzoni elected its first African-American mayor, Wardell Walton.

[edit] Semi-Famous residents

"Pinetop" Perkins, blues musician (b. 1913). Played piano for Muddy Waters' Band and The Legendary Blues Band. Now resides in Austin, TX.
Madolyn Hardy - In 1934, became first woman to be crowned Miss Mississippi
Herb Washington, track and field superstar who was briefly in Major League Baseball as a designated pinch-runner
Lawrence Gordon, (b. 1936) Movie Producer, former President of 20th Century Fox and American International Pictures.[[5]]
Don Gorton, (b. 1960), Commissioner on the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Appellate Tax Board