The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 was the most destructive river flood in the history of the United States and one that brought us the music that many love today. It was a flood that did far more than property damage. It’s aftermath was a major factor in the great migration of African-Americans to northern cities. During an era in which racism was commonplace, blacks built levees at gunpoint, starved in refugee camps and many were left to fend for themselves during the flood, while whites were rescued. Previously, the move from the rural South to the Northern cities had virtually stopped. The flood waters began to recede in June 1927, but interracial relations continued to be strained. Hostilities had erupted between the races; a black man was shot by a white police officer when he refused to be conscripted to unload a relief boat. As a result of displacements lasting up to six months, tens of thousands of local African-Americans moved to the big cities of the North, particularly Chicago. Many thousands more moved north in the following decades. The flood of 1927 resulted in a great cultural shift, inspiring a great deal of folklore and music. Charlie Patton, Bessie Smith, Barbecue Bob, and many other blues musicians wrote songs about the flood. Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnies When the Levee Breaks was reworked by Led Zeppelin and became one of that groups most famous songs. William Faulkners short story Old Man (in the book If I Forget Thee Jerusalem) was about a prison break from Parchman Penitentiary during the flood. Several decades after the flood, Randy Newman wrote the song Louisiana 1927, Zachary Richard wrote the song Big River, and Eric Bibb wrote the song Flood Water about it. The flood began when heavy rains pounded the central basin of the Mississippi in the summer of 1926. By the time it was over, 246 were killed in seven states. For many Southern blacks, the destination of choice was Chicago. It’s no accident that these Delta migrants found their music there with the electrified Delta Blues. In Chicago, artists like Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker transformed the Delta Blues to the “Chicago Blues.” In London, Keith Richards and Mick Jagger bonded over their mail-order records of Wolf, Waters and Hooker from Chess Records. They added their own unique brand of rock music to the mix, as did Bob Dylan and many others of that era. The northward migration of blacks from the Mississippi Delta to Chicago set in motion what we know today as rock and roll. Floods can have consequences that live on. Randy Newman performs Louisiana 1927 about the great Mississippi flood of 1927
Posted on: Thu, 30 Oct 2014 00:16:23 +0000
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