Chickasaw County, Mississippi

Chickasaw County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2020 census, the population was 17,106. Its county seats are Houston and Okolona. The county is named for the Chickasaw people, who lived in this area for hundreds of years. Most were forcibly removed to Indian Territory in the 1830s, but some remained and became citizens of the state and the United States.

History

The Mississippi state legislature created Chickasaw County in 1836, following the cession of the land by the Chickasaw Indians. It was quickly settled by Americans from the east, mainly from the Southern states. By the time of the Civil War, riverfront landings had been developed by the many large cotton plantations worked by slaves, who outnumbered the white residents of the county.

The American Civil War devastated the local economy, completely destroying the plantation-based infrastructure of Chickasaw County. The newly freed slaves had to adapt to the new labor system, in which the white landowners still retained partial control over their lives through the practice of sharecropping. The economy declined again in the late 19th century, when falling cotton prices reduced both black and white residents to poverty. Farmers eventually began diversifying their crops, and the economy slowly began to improve.

Major highways

20px U.S. Route 45 Alternate (Mississippi)
20px Mississippi Highway 8
20px Mississippi Highway 15
20px Mississippi Highway 32
20px Mississippi Highway 41
20px Mississippi Highway 47
Natchez Trace Parkway

Adjacent counties

Pontotoc County (north)
Lee County (northeast)
Monroe County (east)
Clay County (southeast)
Webster County (southwest)
Calhoun County (west)

National protected areas

Natchez Trace Parkway (part)
Tombigbee National Forest (part)

Demographics

Racial and ethnic composition

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"

|+Chickasaw County, Mississippi – Racial and ethnic composition

!Race / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic)

!Pop 1980

!Pop 1990

!Pop 2000

!Pop 2010

!style="background-color: #ffffb3;" | Pop 2020

!% 1980

!% 1990

!% 2000

!% 2010

!style="background-color: #ffffb3;" |% 2020

|White alone (NH)

|11,329

|11,022

|10,887

|9,254

|style='background: #ffffe6; |8,584

|63.46%

|60.95%

|56.00%

|53.21%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |50.18%

|Black or African American alone (NH)

|6,339

|6,944

|7,967

|7,292

|style='background: #ffffe6; |7,407

|35.51%

|38.40%

|40.98%

|41.93%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |43.30%

|Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)

|14

|20

|28

|22

|style='background: #ffffe6; |13

|0.08%

|0.11%

|0.14%

|0.13%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.08%

|Asian alone (NH)

|12

|34

|43

|style='background: #ffffe6; |41

|0.04%

|0.07%

|0.17%

|0.25%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.24%

|Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH)

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0

|0.03%

|0.01%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.00%

|Other race alone (NH)

|style='background: #ffffe6; |15

|0.03%

|0.01%

|0.00%

|0.04%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.09%

|Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)

|74

|130

|style='background: #ffffe6; |404

|0.38%

|0.75%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |2.36%

|Hispanic or Latino (any race)

|158

|85

|445

|643

|style='background: #ffffe6; |642

|0.89%

|0.47%

|2.29%

|3.70%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |3.75%

|Total

|17,853

|18,085

|19,440

|17,392

|style='background: #ffffe6; |17,106

|100.00%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |100.00%

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 17,106. The median age was 41.0 years. 22.7% of residents were under the age of 18 and 19.2% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 92.9 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 90.5 males age 18 and over.

The racial makeup of the county was 50.6% White, 43.5% Black or African American, 0.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% Asian, <0.1% Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 2.5% from some other race, and 3.0% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 3.8% of the population.

There were 6,778 households in the county, of which 30.7% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 40.3% were married-couple households, 18.7% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 35.7% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 29.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. of 2000, there were 19,440 people, 7,253 households, and 5,287 families living in the county. The population density was . There were 7,981 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 56.89% White, 41.26% Black or African American, 0.19% Native American, 0.17% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 0.99% from other races, and 0.46% from two or more races. 2.29% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

According to the census

Notable locals

Singer-songwriter Bobbie Gentry, a Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame inductee
Bukka White, early blues performer
William Raspberry, journalist
Milan Williams, founding member of The Commodores
Jim Hood, politician and former Mississippi Attorney General
Jeff Busby, United States Representative who spearheaded the Natchez Trace Parkway
Shaquille Vance, 2012 U.S. Paralympic National Championship, gold medal (100m), silver medal (200m)
Ida Mae Brandon Gladney, central character in the Pulitzer Prize-winning nonfiction book The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson

In popular culture

Candyland, the plantation of the fictional Calvin Candie, played by Leonardo DiCaprio in Quentin Tarantino's film Django Unchained, is located in Chickasaw County.

Titus Andromedon, from the Netflix series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, is from Chickasaw County