Editing Jefferson County, Mississippi

{{short description|County in Mississippi, United States}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Infobox U.S. county
 | county               = Jefferson County
 | state                = Mississippi
 | ex image             = Christ Church, Church Hill, Mississippi.jpg
 | ex image size        = 220px
 | ex image cap         = [[Christ Church (Church Hill, Mississippi)|Historic Christ Church]], [[Church Hill, Mississippi]].
 | seal                 = 
 | founded              = 1799
 | seat wl              = Fayette
 | largest city wl      = Fayette
 | area_total_sq_mi     = 527
 | area_land_sq_mi      = 520
 | area_water_sq_mi     = 7.3
 | area percentage      = 1.4
 | population_as_of     = 2020
 | population_total     = 7260
 | pop_est_as_of        = 2023
 | population_est       = 6941 {{loss}}
 | density_sq_mi        = auto
 | web                  = http://www.jeffersoncountyms.com
 | district             = 2nd
 | time zone            = Central
 | named for            = [[Thomas Jefferson]]
}}

'''Jefferson County''' is a [[County (United States)|county]] located in the [[U.S. state]] of [[Mississippi]]; its western border is formed by the Mississippi River. As of the [[2020 United States census|2020 census]], the population was 7,260,<ref>{{cite web|title=Census - Geography Profile: Jefferson County, Mississippi|url=https://data.census.gov/profile/Jefferson_County,_Mississippi?g=0500000US28063|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|access-date=January 9, 2023}}</ref> making it the fourth-least populous county in Mississippi. Until 1825, its first [[county seat]] was located at [[Old Greenville, Mississippi|Old Greenville]], which no longer exists,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://msgw.org/jefferson/ | title=Welcome to Jefferson County, MSGenWeb }}</ref> before moving to [[Fayette, Mississippi|Fayette]].<ref name="GR6">{{cite web|url=http://www.naco.org/Counties/Pages/FindACounty.aspx |access-date=June 7, 2011 |title=Find a County |publisher=National Association of Counties |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110531210815/http://www.naco.org/Counties/Pages/FindACounty.aspx |archive-date=May 31, 2011 }}</ref> The county is named for [[President of the United States|U.S. President]] [[Thomas Jefferson]].<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9V1IAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA168 | title=The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States | publisher=Govt. Print. Off. | author=Gannett, Henry | year=1905 | pages=168}}</ref> One of the first of two counties organized in the [[Mississippi Territory]] in 1798 along with [[Adams County, Mississippi|Adams County]], it was first named [[Pickering County, Mississippi Territory|Pickering County]] and included what would become [[Claiborne County, Mississippi|Claiborne County]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://msgw.org/jefferson/ | title=Welcome to Jefferson County, MSGenWeb }}</ref> Originally developed as cotton plantations in the [[antebellum era]], the rural county has struggled with a declining economy and reduced population since the mechanization of agriculture and urbanization of other areas. In 2020, its population of 7,260 was roughly one-third of the population peak in 1900. Within the United States, in 2009 rural Jefferson County had the highest percentage of [[African-American]]s of any county. It was the fourth-poorest county in the nation.<ref name=cnn>"[http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/09/25/king.sotu.mississippi/index.html King: They'll take small victories in struggling Mississippi county]." ''[[CNN]]''. September 25, 2009, Retrieved September 26, 2009.</ref>

==Geography==
According to the [[U.S. Census Bureau]], the county has a total area of {{convert|527|sqmi}}, of which {{convert|520|sqmi}} is land and {{convert|7.3|sqmi}} (1.4%) is water.<ref name="GR1">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/geo/maps-data/data/docs/gazetteer/counties_list_28.txt |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928074019/http://www.census.gov/geo/maps-data/data/docs/gazetteer/counties_list_28.txt |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 28, 2013 |publisher=United States Census Bureau |access-date=November 4, 2014 |date=August 22, 2012 |title=2010 Census Gazetteer Files }}</ref>

===Major highways===
* [[Image:US 61.svg|20px]] [[U.S. Highway 61]]
* [[Image:Circle sign 28.svg|20px]] [[Mississippi Highway 28]]
* [[Image:Circle sign 33.svg|20px]] [[Mississippi Highway 33]]

===Adjacent counties===
* [[Claiborne County, Mississippi|Claiborne County]] (north)
* [[Copiah County, Mississippi|Copiah County]] (northeast)
* [[Lincoln County, Mississippi|Lincoln County]] (southeast)
* [[Franklin County, Mississippi|Franklin County]] (south)
* [[Adams County, Mississippi|Adams County]] (southwest)
* [[Tensas Parish, Louisiana]] (west)

===National protected areas===
* [[Homochitto National Forest]] (part)
* [[Natchez Trace Parkway]] (part)

==Demographics==
{{US Census population
|1800= 2940
|1810= 4001
|1820= 6822
|1830= 9755
|1840= 11650
|1850= 13193
|1860= 15349
|1870= 13848
|1880= 17314
|1890= 18947
|1900= 21292
|1910= 18221
|1920= 15946
|1930= 14291
|1940= 13969
|1950= 11306
|1960= 10142
|1970= 9295
|1980= 9181
|1990= 8653
|2000= 9740
|2010= 7726
|2020= 7260
|estyear=2023
|estimate=6941
|estref=<ref name="USCensusEst2023">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/data/tables.html|title=Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Counties: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2023|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=April 5, 2024}}</ref>
|align-fn=center
|footnote=U.S. Decennial Census<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census.html|title=U.S. Decennial Census|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=November 4, 2014}}</ref><br />1790-1960<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mapserver.lib.virginia.edu|title=Historical Census Browser|publisher=University of Virginia Library|access-date=November 4, 2014}}</ref> 1900-1990<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/population/cencounts/ms190090.txt|title=Population of Counties by Decennial Census: 1900 to 1990|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=November 4, 2014}}</ref><br />1990-2000<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/briefs/phc-t4/tables/tab02.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100327165705/http://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/briefs/phc-t4/tables/tab02.pdf |archive-date=March 27, 2010 |url-status=live|title=Census 2000 PHC-T-4. Ranking Tables for Counties: 1990 and 2000|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=November 4, 2014}}</ref> 2010-2013<ref name="QF">{{cite web|title=State & County QuickFacts|url=http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/28/28063.html|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=September 3, 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607051258/http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/28/28063.html|archive-date=June 7, 2011}}</ref>
}}

{| class="wikitable"
|+Jefferson County by race as of 2020<ref>{{Cite web|title=Explore Census Data|url=https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?g=0500000US28063&tid=DECENNIALPL2020.P2|access-date=December 9, 2021|website=data.census.gov}}</ref>
!Race
!Num.
!Perc.
|-
|[[White (U.S. Census)|White]]
|891
|12.27%
|-
|[[African American (U.S. Census)|Black or African American]]
|6,138
|84.55%
|-
|[[Native American (U.S. Census)|Native American]]
|10
|0.14%
|-
|[[Asian (U.S. Census)|Asian]]
|14
|0.19%
|-
|[[Pacific Islander (U.S. Census)|Pacific Islander]]
|5
|0.07%
|-
|[[Race (United States Census)|Other/Mixed]]
|128
|1.76%
|-
|[[Hispanic (U.S. Census)|Hispanic]] or [[Latino (U.S. Census)|Latino]]
|74
|1.02%
|}
As of the [[2020 United States census]], there were 7,260 people, 2,448 households, and 1,488 families residing in the county.

==Education==
[[Jefferson County School District (Mississippi)|Jefferson County School District]] operates public schools in all of the county.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/DC2020/PL20/st28_ms/schooldistrict_maps/c28063_jefferson/DC20SD_C28063.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220731221256/https://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/DC2020/PL20/st28_ms/schooldistrict_maps/c28063_jefferson/DC20SD_C28063.pdf |archive-date=July 31, 2022 |url-status=live|title=2020 CENSUS - SCHOOL DISTRICT REFERENCE MAP: Jefferson County, MS|publisher=[[U.S. Census Bureau]]|accessdate=July 31, 2022}} - [https://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/DC2020/PL20/st28_ms/schooldistrict_maps/c28063_jefferson/DC20SD_C28063_SD2MS.txt Text list]</ref>

It is in the district of [[Copiah–Lincoln Community College]], and has been since 1967.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.colin.edu/about/who-we-are/history/|title=History|publisher=[[Copiah–Lincoln Community College]]|access-date=2024-09-27}}</ref>

==Communities==

===City===
* [[Fayette, Mississippi|Fayette]] (county seat)

===Unincorporated communities===
* [[Cannonsburg, Mississippi|Cannonsburg]]
* [[Church Hill, Mississippi|Church Hill]]
* [[Harriston, Mississippi|Harriston]]
* [[Lorman, Mississippi|Lorman]]
* [[McBride, Mississippi|McBride]]
* [[Red Lick, Mississippi|Red Lick]]
* [[Union Church, Mississippi|Union Church]]

===Ghost towns or defunct===
* [[Ashland, Jefferson County, Mississippi|Ashland (or Ashland Landing)]]
* [[Cane Ridge, Mississippi|Cane Ridge]]
* [[Coon Box, Mississippi|Coon Box]]
* [[Gum Ridge, Mississippi|Gum Ridge]]
* [[Old Greenville, Mississippi|Old Greenville]]
* [[Rodney, Mississippi|Rodney]]
* [[Shankstown, Mississippi|Shankstown]]
* [[Uniontown, Mississippi|Uniontown]]

==Politics==
Jefferson County is overwhelmingly Democratic, and has supported Democratic candidates in presidential elections with at least 80% of the vote since Bill Clinton in 1992, who won 79%. Republicans have not garnered even 25% of the vote in presidential elections since 1972 (when Jefferson was one of only three counties in Mississippi to vote for [[George McGovern]]).

The last Republican to win the county was [[Barry Goldwater]]. Although Goldwater lost nationally in a landslide, he carried the state of Mississippi (and also Jefferson County) in a landslide, winning over 87% of the vote and carrying every county.{{refn| group= note | the statewide popular vote for Barry was 356,528, or 87.14%. Jefferson county saw 94.8% of its voters vote for Goldwater.<ref>https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/datagraph.php?fips=28&year=1964&off=0&elect=0&f=0 {{Bare URL inline|date=August 2024}}</ref><ref>https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?fips=28&year=1964&off=0 {{Bare URL inline|date=August 2024}}</ref>}} Jefferson County supported him with 95% of the vote. Goldwater's lopsided victory was the result of Mississippi's [[Black suffrage in the United States|decades-long suppression of the voting rights of African Americans]], which only began to be reversed with the passage of the [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]].{{refn| group = note| "Despite all of this progress, the South remained segregated, especially when it came to the polls, where African Americans faced violence and intimidation when they attempted to exercise their constitutional right to vote. Poll taxes and literacy tests designed to silence Black voters were common. Without access to the polls, political change in favor of civil rights was slow-to-non-existent. Mississippi was chosen as the site of the Freedom Summer project due to its historically low levels of African American voter registration; in 1962 less than 7 percent of the state's eligible Black voters were registered to vote."<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/freedom-summer | title=Freedom Summer ‑ Definition, Murders & Results | date=April 16, 2021 }}</ref>}}

{{PresHead|place=Jefferson County, Mississippi|source=<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS|title=Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections|last=Leip|first=David|website=uselectionatlas.org|access-date=March 4, 2018}}</ref>}}
<!-- PresRow should be {{PresRow|Year|Winning party|GOP vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} -->
{{PresRow|2024|Democratic|541|2,727|31|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|2020|Democratic|531|3,327|50|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|2016|Democratic|490|3,337|33|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|2012|Democratic|468|3,951|14|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|2008|Democratic|551|3,883|44|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|2004|Democratic|630|2,821|18|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|2000|Democratic|600|2,786|22|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1996|Democratic|489|2,531|99|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1992|Democratic|562|2,796|164|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1988|Democratic|702|2,693|6|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1984|Democratic|856|3,049|7|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1980|Democratic|751|2,871|102|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1976|Democratic|782|2,562|82|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1972|Democratic|1,131|1,457|20|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1968|Democratic|147|2,121|1,112|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1964|Republican|1,258|69|0|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1960|Dixiecrat|137|229|728|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1956|Democratic|189|440|333|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1952|Republican|610|539|0|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1948|Dixiecrat|14|15|967|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1944|Democratic|25|766|0|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1940|Democratic|7|801|0|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1936|Democratic|9|884|1|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1932|Democratic|24|753|5|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1928|Democratic|63|830|0|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1924|Democratic|50|497|0|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1920|Democratic|14|430|1|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1916|Democratic|3|456|1|Mississippi}}
{{PresFoot|1912|Democratic|2|408|21|Mississippi}}

==Notable people==
* [[Abijah Hunt]], merchant who lived in Old Greenville during the [[Mississippi Territory|Territorial Period]], and owned a chain of stores and public cotton gins along the [[Natchez Trace Parkway|Natchez Trace]]<ref name="briscoe">[http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/utcah/01243/cah-01243.html A Guide to the Abijah Hunt Papers, 1800-1821, 1880], The University of Texas at Austin: [[Briscoe Center for American History]]</ref>
* [[David Hunt (planter)|David Hunt]], Antebellum planter who lived on Woodlawn Plantation in Jefferson County, and became one of 12 planter millionaires in the Natchez District before the American Civil War.
* [[Zachary Taylor]], U.S. president, planter, and soldier who often stayed on his plantation, Cypress Grove in Jefferson County, between 1840 and 1848.

==See also==
{{Portal|Mississippi}}

* [[Cypress Grove Plantation]]
* [[National Register of Historic Places listings in Jefferson County, Mississippi]]
* [[Prospect Hill Plantation]]
* [[Springfield Plantation (Fayette, Mississippi)]]
* [[Woodland Plantation (Church Hill, Mississippi)]]
* [[Woodlawn Plantation (Jefferson County, Mississippi)]]
* [[Wyolah Plantation]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* {{Commons category-inline|Jefferson County, Mississippi}}

{{Geographic Location
|Centre    = Jefferson County, Mississippi
|North     = [[Claiborne County, Mississippi|Claiborne County]]
|Northeast = [[Copiah County, Mississippi|Copiah County]]
|East      =
|Southeast = [[Lincoln County, Mississippi|Lincoln County]]
|South     = [[Franklin County, Mississippi|Franklin County]]
|Southwest = [[Adams County, Mississippi|Adams County]]
|West      = [[Tensas Parish, Louisiana]]
|Northwest =
}}

{{Jefferson County, Mississippi}}
{{Mississippi}}

{{Coord|31.73|-91.03|display=title|type:adm2nd_region:US-MS_source:UScensus1990}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Jefferson County, Mississippi| ]]
[[Category:Mississippi counties]]
[[Category:Populated places established in 1799]]
[[Category:Mississippi counties on the Mississippi River]]
[[Category:1799 establishments in Mississippi Territory]]
[[Category:Black Belt (U.S. region)]]
[[Category:Majority-minority counties in Mississippi]]