Editing Itta Bena, Mississippi

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2023}}
{{Infobox settlement
|official_name            = Itta Bena, Mississippi
|settlement_type          = [[City]]
|image_skyline            = Itta_Bena_Home_In_The_Woods_Sign.jpg
|imagesize                = 
|image_caption            = Home in the Woods
|image_map = Leflore_County_Mississippi_Incorporated_and_Unincorporated_areas_Itta_Bena_Highlighted.svg
|mapsize                  = 250px
|map_caption              = Location of Itta Bena, Mississippi
|pushpin_map              = USA
|pushpin_map_caption      = Location in the United States
<!-- Location -->
|subdivision_type         = Country
|subdivision_name         = {{US}}
|subdivision_type1        = [[U.S. state|State]]
|subdivision_name1        = {{flag|Mississippi}}
|subdivision_type2        = [[List of counties in Mississippi|County]]
|subdivision_name2        = [[Leflore County, Mississippi|Leflore]]
<!-- Government -->
|government_footnotes     = 
|government_type          = 
|leader_title             = [[Mayor]]
|leader_name              = Reginald Freeman{{citation needed|date=November 2024}}
|established_title        = 
|established_date         = 
|founder                  = 
<!-- Area -->
|unit_pref                = Imperial
|area_footnotes           = <ref name="CenPopGazetteer2020">{{cite web|title=2020 U.S. Gazetteer Files|url=https://www2.census.gov/geo/docs/maps-data/data/gazetteer/2020_Gazetteer/2020_gaz_place_28.txt|publisher=United States Census Bureau|accessdate=July 24, 2022}}</ref>
|area_total_km2           = 3.77
|area_land_km2            = 3.65
|area_water_km2           = 0.12
|area_total_sq_mi         = 1.46
|area_land_sq_mi          = 1.41
|area_water_sq_mi         = 0.04
<!-- Population -->
|population_as_of         = [[2020 United States census|2020]]
|population_footnotes     = 
|population_total         = 1679
|population_density_km2   = 459.48
|population_density_sq_mi = 1189.94
<!-- General information -->
|timezone                 = [[North American Central Time Zone|Central (CST)]]
|utc_offset               = &minus;6
|timezone_DST             = CDT
|utc_offset_DST           = &minus;5
|elevation_footnotes      = <ref name=gnis/>
|elevation_ft             = 125
|coordinates              = {{coord|33|29|51|N|90|19|28|W|region:US-MS_type:city|display=inline,title}}
|postal_code_type         = [[ZIP code]]
|postal_code              = 38941
|area_code                = [[Area code 662|662]]
|blank_name               = [[Federal Information Processing Standard|FIPS code]]
|blank_info               = 28-35260
|blank1_name              = [[Geographic Names Information System|GNIS]] feature ID
|blank1_info              = 2404772<ref name=gnis>{{GNIS|2404772}}</ref>
|website                  = {{URL|https://ittabenams.homestead.com}}
|footnotes                = 
}}

'''Itta Bena''' is a [[city]] in [[Leflore County, Mississippi]], United States. The population was 2,049 at the 2010 census. The town's name is derived from the [[Choctaw]] phrase ''iti bina'', meaning "forest camp".<ref>{{cite book | title = Native American place names in Mississippi | first = Keith A. | last = Baca | year = 2007 | publisher = University Press of Mississippi | isbn = 978-1-57806-954-5}} ([https://books.google.com/books?id=MgNgEVvsaZcC&pg=PA45& available at Google books])</ref> Itta Bena is part of the [[Greenwood, Mississippi micropolitan area]]. It developed as a trading center of an area of cotton plantations.

==History==

===Early history===
[[File:Roebuck Lake.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Roebuck Lake in Itta Bena]]

The indigenous [[Choctaw|Choctaw Indians]] occupied the Delta region for hundreds of years prior to the arrival of European settlers, with ancestors stretching thousands of years into the past. The first [[Indian removal|removal treaty]] carried out under the [[Indian Removal Act]] was the 1830 [[Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek]], by which the Choctaw ceded about 11 million acres of the Choctaw Nation (now Mississippi) to the United States in exchange for about 15 million acres in [[Indian Territory]] (now Oklahoma).

[[Benjamin G. Humphreys|Benjamin Grubb Humphreys]], a state senator from [[Claiborne County, Mississippi]], is credited with the founding of Itta Bena. Following several crop failures in the 1850s at his home in Claiborne County, Humphreys took a trip by river steamer up into the Yazoo wilderness to look for a new farming opportunity in the former Choctaw area.<ref name="smith"/>

He found such an opportunity on Roebuck Lake, a stretch of old channel that the river had discarded a few miles west of Greenwood, in what was then [[Sunflower County, Mississippi|Sunflower County]]. Bringing a group of slaves up from his plantations during the winter, when boats could use high water to pass from the Yazoo into Roebuck, he directed them in clearing timber and brush from the overgrown bottomland to develop agricultural fields for cultivation of cotton. Longtime Claiborne County friends became interested in his project, and others began to acquire land in the area two years later.<ref name="smith"/>

Humphreys had established a permanent winter residence, "Lucknow", in Claiborne County. He did not bring his family to his Itta Bena plantation until slaves had completed construction of a substantial home in 1857, which he christened as ''Itta Bena'', the Choctaw words for "camp in the woods". It was built from lumber from the land of the plantation, logs which were plastered and painted. The earliest substantial home built in the frontier Yazoo country, it was the center of the plantation’s many hundred acres. The main portion of the original Humphreys home was still used as a residence in 1954 (thought to be the home of Dr. B. B. Harper on Lakeshore Street).<ref name="smith">Frank E. Smith, ''The Yazoo,'' Rinehart & Company, New York, 1954</ref> Following the Civil War, Humphreys was elected as governor of Mississippi.

As other settlers moved into the area, the village that grew up around the plantation was also called Itta Bena. Planters used the Yazoo River to ship cotton downriver, ultimately to New Orleans for transport to markets in the United States and Great Britain. Cotton continued as the commodity crop and the source of local wealth after the [[American Civil War]].

[[File:Itta Bena MS WWI parade Love and Service for Our Boys float.jpg|thumb|right|WW I parade float]]
Construction of the [[Columbus and Greenville Railway]], begun in 1888 and serving the village, stimulated trade and growth.  Among the first to build stores were J. B. Humphreys, P. Cohen, and Uriah Ray. The first store was operated by H. M. Weber and a man named Long. The town’s first school, a one-room building only for white students, was built in 1888 and Emma Cross served as the first teacher.<ref>James F. Brieger, ''Hometown Mississippi,'' 2nd Edition, 1980, James F. Brieger</ref>

===20th century to present===
Development of the growing city continued in the early 20th century. The first high school was erected in 1905, across from the present-day First Baptist Church. The post office in Itta Bena was opened in 1918. The white minority dominated politics and the economy, as the state legislature essentially disenfranchised blacks by the constitution of 1890. Working as sharecroppers and tenant farmers, they had difficulty getting ahead in the agricultural economy. During the 20th century, many left the county for work in industrial cities of the north and midwest, in the [[Great Migration (African American)|Great Migration]].

On a march in 1966 between Itta Bena and nearby [[Greenwood, Mississippi|Greenwood]], coordinated by the [[SNCC]] but led by [[Martin Luther King Jr.]], [[Stokely Carmichael]] coined the rallying phrase "Black power!". [[Byron De La Beckwith]], known as the murderer of [[Medgar Evers]], drove his truck by the marchers three times while the local police looked on.<ref>{{cite book | title = Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference | last = Garrow | first = David J. | publisher = HarperCollins | year = 1986 | isbn = 0-06-056692-2}} ([https://books.google.com/books?id=HecWJnClV3wC& available at Google books]).</ref>

The city reached its peak of population in 1980. Population has declined since then, reflecting limited opportunities in the rural region. The population has decreased more markedly in the county outside the city, as agricultural jobs have been reduced.

==Geography==
According to the [[United States Census Bureau]], the city has a total area of {{convert|1.5|sqmi|km2}}, of which {{convert|1.4|sqmi|km2}} is land and {{convert|0.04|sqmi|km2}} (2.72%) is water.

==Demographics==
{{US Census population
|1900= 416
|1910= 1427
|1920= 1620
|1930= 1370
|1940= 1795
|1950= 1725
|1960= 1914
|1970= 2489
|1980= 2904
|1990= 2377
|2000= 2208
|2010= 2049
|2020= 1679
|footnote=U.S. Decennial Census<ref name="DecennialCensus">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census.html|title=Census of Population and Housing|publisher=Census.gov|access-date=June 4, 2015}}</ref>
}}

===2020 census===
{| class="wikitable"
|+Itta Bena racial composition<ref>{{Cite web|title=Explore Census Data|url=https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?g=1600000US2835260&tid=DECENNIALPL2020.P2|access-date=2021-12-16|website=data.census.gov}}</ref>
!Race
!Num.
!Perc.
|-
|[[White (U.S. Census)|White]] (non-Hispanic)
|80
|4.76%
|-
|[[African American (U.S. Census)|Black or African American]] (non-Hispanic)
|1,550
|92.32%
|-
|[[Race (United States Census)|Other/Mixed]]
|24
|1.43%
|-
|[[Hispanic (U.S. Census)|Hispanic]] or [[Latino (U.S. Census)|Latino]]
|25
|1.49%
|}
As of the [[2020 United States census]], there were 1,679 people, 605 households, and 392 families residing in the city.

===2010 census===
As of the [[2010 United States Census]], there were 2,049 people living in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 89.2% Black, 10.1% White, <0.1% Native American and 0.1% from two or more races. 0.5% were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

===2000 census===
As of the [[census]]<ref name="GR2">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|access-date=2008-01-31|title=U.S. Census website}}</ref> of 2000, there were 2,208 people, 763 households, and 559 families living in the city. The population density was {{convert|1,541.5|PD/sqmi|PD/km2|sp=us|adj=off}}. There were 797 housing units at an average density of {{convert|556.4|/sqmi|/km2|sp=us|adj=off}}. The racial makeup of the city was  81.34% [[African American (U.S. Census)|African American]], 18.16% [[White (U.S. Census)|White]], 0.23% [[Asian (U.S. Census)|Asian]], and 0.27% from two or more races. [[Hispanic (U.S. Census)|Hispanic]] or [[Latino (U.S. Census)|Latino]] of any race were 1.54% of the population.

There were 763 households, of which 38.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 32.6% were [[Marriage|married couples]] living together, 35.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.7% were non-families. 24.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.89 and the average family size was 3.43.

In the city, the population was spread out, with 33.3% under the age of 18, 11.7% from 18 to 24, 25.6% from 25 to 44, 18.3% from 45 to 64, and 11.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 29 years. For every 100 females, there were 82.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 71.4 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $20,968, and the median income for a family was $24,271. Males had a median income of $21,917 versus $16,136 for females. The [[per capita income]] for the city was $11,132. About 29.5% of families and 34.5% of the population were below the [[poverty line]], including 43.1% of those under age 18 and 33.1% of those age 65 or over.

==Education==
[[Mississippi Valley State University]] is located {{convert|1|mi|km}} northwest<!--Text says northeast, but it's disproven by the map--> of Itta Bena in [[unincorporated area|unincorporated]] Leflore County.<ref name="MVULoc">"[http://www.mvsu.edu/university/location.php Location] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120603205126/http://www.mvsu.edu/university/location.php |date=2012-06-03 }}." [[Mississippi Valley State University]]. Retrieved on April 5, 2012.</ref> It was the state of Mississippi's black vocational college before educational segregation ended.<ref>{{cite book | title = I'll find a way or make one: a tribute to historically Black colleges and Universities | author = Williams, Juan and Dwayne Ashley | publisher = Amistad (HarperCollins) | year = 2007 | isbn = 0-06-009453-2 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/illfindwayormake00dway }}  ([https://books.google.com/books?id=j3Ka2ESxQyQC&pg=PA374& available at Google books])</ref> The [[Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils football]] team play at Itta Bena's 10,000-seat [[Rice–Totten Stadium]].

The City of Itta Bena is served by the [[Greenwood-Leflore Consolidated School District]]. Public schools in Itta Bena include Leflore County Elementary School and [[Leflore County High School]]. It was previously in the [[Leflore County School District]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/dc10map/sch_dist/st28_ms/c28083_leflore/DC10SD_C28083_001.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210513044539/https://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/dc10map/sch_dist/st28_ms/c28083_leflore/DC10SD_C28083_001.pdf |archive-date=2021-05-13 |url-status=live|title=SCHOOL DISTRICT REFERENCE MAP (2010 CENSUS): Leflore County, MS|publisher=[[U.S. Census Bureau]]|accessdate=2021-05-12}}</ref> Effective July 1, 2019 this district consolidated into the Greenwood-Leflore School District.<ref>"[https://mpe.org/mpe/documents/Consolidation.Final.pdf School District Consolidation in Mississippi] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170702083623/https://mpe.org/mpe/documents/Consolidation.Final.pdf |date=2017-07-02 }}." Mississippi Professional Educators. December 2016. Retrieved on July 2, 2017. Page 2 (PDF p. 3/6).</ref>

==Notable people==
* [[Andre Allen (defensive end)|Andre Allen]], former [[Canadian Football League]] [[defensive end]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Hall of Fame |url=https://unipanthers.com/honors/hall-of-fame/andre-allen/150/kiosk |website=UNI Athletics |access-date=February 13, 2023}}</ref>
* [[Smoky Babe]], [[blues]] musician<ref>{{cite web|author=Doc Rock |url=http://thedeadrockstarsclub.com/1970.html |title=The 1970s |publisher=TheDeadRockStarsClub.com |access-date=2014-01-29}}</ref>
* [[Marion Barry]], civil rights activist, city councilman and former [[mayor]] of [[Washington, D.C.]]<ref>{{cite news |title=The 1994 Campaign: The Comeback Man in the News: From Disgrace to 'Amazing Grace': Marion Shepilov Barry Jr. |work=The New York Times |date=September 14, 1994 |first=Michael |last=Janofsky |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D02E3DC153BF937A2575AC0A962958260}}</ref>
* [[James Bevel]], civil rights activist
* [[Robert "Big Mojo" Elem]], [[Chicago blues]] bass guitarist and singer<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/robert-mojo-elem-mn0001198670|title=Robert "Mojo" Elem - Biography & History|website=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=2 November 2017}}</ref>
* [[Katie Hall (American politician)|Katie Hall]], U.S. Representative from Indiana; attended Mississippi Valley State University in Itta Bena<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=H000058|title=HALL, Katie Beatrice, (1938 - 2012)|website=congress.gov|access-date=2018-11-13}}</ref>
* [[Luther Johnson (Guitar Junior)|Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson]], blues musician
* [[B.B. King]], blues musician, was born near Itta Bena in 1925<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.jazzandbluesmasters.com/bbking.htm |title=BB King: American Blues Musician, b. 1925 |first=Quincy|last= Troupe |publisher=Jazzandbluesmasters.com |date=June 4, 1958 |access-date=February 17, 2010| quote=...was born on a cotton plantation, in Itta Bene [sic], Mississippi, just outside the delta town of Indianola.}}</ref>
* [[Jimmy Lewis (musician)|Jimmy Lewis]], [[soul music|soul]] singer, producer, and songwriter<ref>{{cite book |last1=Eagle |first1=Bob L. |last2=LeBlanc |first2=Eric S. |title=Blues: A Regional Experience |date=2013 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |location=Santa Barbara, California |isbn=978-0-313-34423-7 |page=202 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6ZNfAQAAQBAJ}}</ref>
* [[Lewis Nordan]], author, grew up in Itta Bena
* [[Robert Petway]], delta blues musician was possibly born here in 1903
* [[Euvester Simpson]], voting rights activist and [[Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee]] (SNCC) member<ref>{{cite book|author=Lisa Anderson Todd|title=For a Voice and the Vote: My Journey with the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LLaVBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA49|date=1 December 2014|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|isbn=978-0-8131-4717-8|page=49}}</ref>
* [[Pervis Spann]], broadcaster and music promoter<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/pervis-spann-39|title=Pervis Spann Biography|website=TheHistoryMakers.com|date=2018-11-13}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Portal|Mississippi}}

==External links==
* [http://ittabenams.homestead.com/index.html Itta Bena Official Website]

{{Leflore County, Mississippi}}
{{Mississippi}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Cities in Mississippi]]
[[Category:Cities in Leflore County, Mississippi]]
[[Category:Greenwood, Mississippi micropolitan area]]
[[Category:Mississippi placenames of Native American origin]]