Editing Franklin County, Mississippi (section)

==History==
This was the fourth county organized in Mississippi. It was initially developed for agriculture, specifically cotton plantations based on [[Slavery in the United States|enslaved labor]] of African Americans. Cotton continued to be important to the economy through the 19th century and into the early 20th century.

This still rural county has had a decline in population by about half since 1910. It is the fourth least populous county in the state. Mechanization of agriculture and the blight of the [[boll weevil]] both reduced the need for farm workers; they left the area and often the state. Many African Americans went north or west in the [[Great Migration (African American)|Great Migration]] before and after World War II. The county in the 21st century is majority white in population; in the 2000 census, African Americans composed more than 36% of the population. (See Demographics section below.)

As in the rest of the state, the county had racially segregated facilities under [[Jim Crow]] from the late 19th century. Many white residents opposed the civil rights movement of the mid-20th century. In May 1964, [[Ku Klux Klan]] members [[Mississippi Cold Case|abducted and killed two young black men]], Henry Hezekiah Dee and Charles Eddie Moore of Meadville, before [[Freedom Summer]] started. Their bodies were not discovered in the Mississippi River until July 1964, during the hunt for three disappeared civil rights workers.

No one was prosecuted at the time, but the case was reopened in 2007, after a documentary had been released on it by [[Canadian Broadcasting Company]]. Local man [[James Ford Seale]] was convicted of the kidnappings and deaths by an all-white jury in federal court.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6755267.stm|title=Ex-KKK man guilty in 1964 killing|date=June 15, 2007|publisher=BBC.com|access-date=August 26, 2008}}</ref> In 2008 the families of Dee and Moore filed a civil suit against the Franklin County government, charging complicity by its law enforcement in the deaths. On June 21, 2010, Franklin County agreed to an undisclosed settlement in the civil suit with the families of Charles Moore and Henry Dee.<ref name="clarionledger.com">{{cite news |last=Mitchell |first=Jerry |date=August 7, 2008 |title=Families sue Franklin over Klan slayings / Sue: County can't claim immunity, lawyer says |url=<!-- dead link: http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080807/NEWS/808070379/1001/news, accessed August 26, 2008 --> |access-date= |newspaper=The Clarion-Ledger |page=1A, 4A |edition=Metro or Mississippi<!-- both have this article on the same pages --> |publication-place=Jackson, Miss. |volume=171 |issue=189 |id=[[Newspapers.com]] [https://clarionledger.newspapers.com/image/185525674/?match=1&terms=%22Families%20sue%20Franklin%20over%20Klan%20slayings%22 185525674], [https://clarionledger.newspapers.com/image/185525685/?terms=%22The%20federal%20lawsuit%20is%20the%20first%20known%20lawsuit%20brought%22&match=1 185525685]; [https://clarionledger.newspapers.com/image/185525935/?match=1&terms=%22Families%20sue%20Franklin%20over%20Klan%20slayings%22 185525935], [https://clarionledger.newspapers.com/image/185525949/?terms=%22The%20federal%20lawsuit%20is%20the%20first%20known%20lawsuit%20brought%22&match=1 185525949]. {{ProQuest|277577320}}.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theconcordiasentinel.com/news.php?id=2240|title=Dee, Moore families files suit against Franklin County, Miss., in 1964 murders|date=August 11, 2008|publisher=Concordia Sentinel|access-date=August 26, 2008|archive-date=August 16, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080816003917/http://www.theconcordiasentinel.com/news.php?id=2240|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2008/08/08/a_righteous_quest|title=A righteous quest|date=August 8, 2008|publisher=The Boston Globe.com|access-date=August 26, 2008 | first=Adrian | last=Walker}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127991862|date=June 21, 2010|title=Miss. Officials Agree To Settlement In '64 Slayings |publisher=NPR}}</ref>