Duck Hill, Mississippi

Duck Hill, Mississippi
—  Town  —
Motto: The place called home
Duck Hill, Mississippi is highlighted in the small red zone.
Coordinates:
Country United States
State Mississippi
County Montgomery
Area
 • Total 1.0 sq mi (2.7 km2)
 • Land 1.0 sq mi (2.7 km2)
 • Water 0.0 sq mi (0.0 km2)
Elevation 253 ft (77 m)
Population (2000)
 • Total 746
 • Density 720.8/sq mi (278.3/km2)
Time zone Central (CST) (UTC-6)
 • Summer (DST) CDT (UTC-5)
ZIP code 38925
Area code(s) 662
FIPS code 28-20260
GNIS feature ID 0669470

Duck Hill is a town in Montgomery County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 746 at the 2000 census.

Contents

Geography

Duck Hill is located at (33.631875, -89.714655)[1].

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 1.0 square mile (2.6 km2), all of it land.

History

Duck Hill was the scene of two of the most infamous lynchings in U.S. history. In 1937, a white mob, in broad daylight, seized two black men who had just been arraigned for murder.[2] The men, Bootjack McDaniels and Roosevelt Townes, were transported by school bus to the lynching site, where they were tied to pine trees.[3] Before a mob of some 500 white men, women, and children, McDaniels was repeatedly burned in the chest with a blow torch; the mob then finished him off with intense gunfire.[3] The lynchers then turned the blowtorch on Townes; they then burned him to death on a gasoline-soaked pyre.[3] A third black man, Shorty Dorroh, was flogged and ordered to leave Mississippi.[3] Although congressmen from other southern states, who at the time were fighting a federal anti-lynching bill, demanded that the lynchers be punished, no one was ever arrested for the mob murders of McDaniels and Townes.[4] The main effect of the outcry over the Duck Hill murders was to drive lynching in Mississippi underground—i.e., to efforts to disguise it as something more palatable (e.g., the death of black people who allegedly resisted arrest), or to keep reports of it out of Mississippi newspapers.[5]

Supposedly the name came from an Indian, named Sitting Duck, that lived on top of the big hill just as you enter the town coming from Grenada. Chief Duck, as he was called was also a Medicine man who treated not only the Indians, but, was also known to help out the general population of the town. He was a member of the Choctaw tribe.

Demographics

As of the census[6] of 2000, there were 746 people, 307 households, and 201 families residing in the town. The population density was 720.8 people per square mile (279.6/km²). There were 331 housing units at an average density of 319.8 per square mile (124.1/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 63.27% African American, 36.06% White and 0.67% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.80% of the population.

There were 307 households out of which 36.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.3% were married couples living together, 16.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.5% were non-families. 33.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 16.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.43 and the average family size was 3.11.

In the town the population was spread out with 30.3% under the age of 18, 7.0% from 18 to 24, 26.5% from 25 to 44, 20.4% from 45 to 64, and 15.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 81.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 69.9 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $24,118, and the median income for a family was $29,375. Males had a median income of $26,731 versus $15,639 for females. The per capita income for the town was $11,550. About 18.9% of families and 21.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 21.3% of those under age 18 and 32.6% of those age 65 or over.

Education

The Town of Duck Hill is served by the Montgomery County School District.

Businesses

There is a small Jiffy Mart gas station where US Highway 51 and Main Street split. A Dollar General was opened for business in September 2009.

Churches

The following is a list of churches in DUCK HILL, Mississippi:

Duck Hill Missionary Baptist Church‎ 301 Main St, Duck Hill, MS‎ - (662) 565-7252‎

Duck Hill Baptist Church‎ 301 Main St, Duck Hill, MS‎ - (662) 565-2502‎ ‎

MT Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church‎ Highway 404 E, Duck Hill, MS‎ - (662) 565-2883‎

Wilkin Chapel Baptist Church‎ 57 Branscome Rd, Duck Hill, MS‎ - (662) 565-2900‎‎

Unity Baptist Church‎ 26 Harmony Rd, Duck Hill, MS‎ - (662) 565-2344‎

Sweet Home MB Church‎ 8 Sweet Home Rd, Duck Hill, MS‎ - (662) 565-1888‎

Binford Chapel United Methodist 411 Martin Luther King Jr Dr, Duck Hill, MS‎ - (662) 565-9999‎

Duck Hill Church-God In Christ‎ 718 Melissa Cir, Duck Hill, MS‎ - (662) 565-2888‎

References

  1. ^ "US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990". United States Census Bureau. 2011-02-12. http://www.census.gov/geo/www/gazetteer/gazette.html. Retrieved 2011-04-23. 
  2. ^ Neil R. McMillen, Dark Journey: Black Mississippians in the Age of Jim Crow, at 247 (University of Illinois Press 1990).
  3. ^ a b c d "RACES: Lynch & Anti-Lynch". Time. Apr. 26, 1937. http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,757674,00.html. Retrieved 2 February 2011. 
  4. ^ McMillen, Dark Journey, at 248.
  5. ^ McMillen, Dark Journey, at 252.
  6. ^ "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. http://factfinder.census.gov. Retrieved 2008-01-31.