Editing Madison Parish, Louisiana

{{short description|Parish in Louisiana, United States}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Infobox U.S. county
 | county       = Madison Parish
 | state             = Louisiana
 | type                 = [[Louisiana parishes|Parish]]
 | founded year         = 1838
 | founded date         = 
 | seat wl            = Tallulah
 | largest city wl    = Tallulah
 | area_total_sq_mi     = 651
 | area_land_sq_mi      = 624
 | area_water_sq_mi     = 26
 | area percentage      = 4.1
 | population_as_of     = 2020
 | population_total     = 10017 {{loss}}
 | pop_est_as_of        = 2024
 | population_est       = 
 | density_sq_mi        = 15
 | time zone           = Central
 | ex image             = Madison Parish Courthouse, Tallulah, LA IMG_0201.JPG
 | ex image size        = 250px
 | ex image cap         = [[Madison Parish Courthouse]] in Tallulah
 | footnotes            = 
 | web                  = http://madisonparish.org
 | named for = [[James Madison]]
 | district             = 5th }}
[[Image:Confederate soldier statue, Madison Parish, LA IMG 0194.JPG|200px|right|thumb|[[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] soldier statue on Madison Parish Courthouse lawn]]

[[Image:Three crosses in Madison Parish, LA IMG 7447.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Christian crosses off [[U.S. Highway 65]] in south Madison Parish]]

'''Madison Parish''' ([[French language|French]]: ''Paroisse de Madison'') is a [[List of parishes in Louisiana|parish]] located on the northeastern border of the [[U.S. state]] of [[Louisiana]], in the delta lowlands along the Mississippi River. As of the [[2020 United States census|2020 census]], the population was 10,017.<ref>{{cite web|title=Census - Geography Profile: Madison Parish, Louisiana|url=https://data.census.gov/profile/Madison_Parish,_Louisiana?g=0500000US22065|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]] |access-date=January 22, 2023}}</ref> Its [[parish seat]] is [[Tallulah, Louisiana|Tallulah]].<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|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110531210815/http://www.naco.org/Counties/Pages/FindACounty.aspx|archive-date=May 31, 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> The parish was formed in 1839.<ref>{{cite web|title=Madison Parish|url=http://ccet.louisiana.edu/tourism/parishes/North_Louisiana/madison.html|publisher=Center for Cultural and Eco-Tourism|access-date=September 5, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080908040436/http://ccet.louisiana.edu/tourism/parishes/North_Louisiana/madison.html|archive-date=September 8, 2008|url-status=live}}</ref> With a history of cotton plantations and pecan farms, the parish economy continues to be primarily agricultural. It has a majority African-American population. For years a ferry connected [[Delta, Louisiana]] (and traffic from the parish) to [[Vicksburg, Mississippi]]. The [[Vicksburg Bridge]] now carries [[U.S. Route 80]] and [[Interstate 20]] across the river into Madison Parish.

==History==

===Prehistory===
{{Main|History of Louisiana#Prehistory}}
Madison Parish was the home to many succeeding [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] groups in the thousands of years before European settlement. Peoples of the [[Marksville culture]], [[Troyville culture]], [[Coles Creek culture]] and [[Plaquemine culture]] built villages and earthwork [[mound]] complexes throughout the area. Notable examples include the [[Fitzhugh Mounds]] and the [[Raffman site]].

Historic tribes which were encountered by European colonists include the [[Taensa]] and [[Natchez people]]s, who both spoke the [[Natchez language]].

===European settlement to present===
[[Image:James Madison.jpg|left|thumb|125px|[[James Madison]], namesake of Madison Parish, Louisiana]]
The parish is named for former [[U.S. President]] [[James Madison]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Gannett|first=Henry|title=The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ|year=1905|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ/page/n195 196]|access-date=October 16, 2016}}</ref> As was typical of northern areas of Louisiana, and especially along the Mississippi River, it was developed for cotton agriculture on large plantations worked by large groups of enslaved African Americans. In 1932 a local news writer stated, "Madison still has plantations. They have not vanished entirely. Good roads dot the parish and some owners live in Tallulah, using automobiles to supervise their extensive holdings. When extra help is needed, trucks are used to carry the negroes back and forth."<ref>{{Cite news |date=1932-12-23 |title=Old Record Book Tells Story of Adventure, Romance, Tragedy |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-madison-journal-old-record-book-tell/152360926/ |access-date=2024-08-02 |work=The Madison Journal |pages=2}}</ref>

Following the Reconstruction era and during the [[Jim Crow]] era, white Democrats across the state violently suppressed black voting, which was for Republican candidates, and civil rights. Twelve blacks were [[Lynching in the United States|lynched]] in Madison Parish from 1877 to 1950, most near the turn of the 20th century when social and economic tensions were the highest.<ref>[https://eji.org/sites/default/files/lynching-in-america-third-edition-summary.pdf ''Lynching in America, Third Edition: Supplement by County''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171023063004/https://eji.org/sites/default/files/lynching-in-america-third-edition-summary.pdf |date=October 23, 2017 }}, p. 6, Equal Justice Initiative, Mobile, AL, 2017</ref> In addition, in July 1899 five immigrant Sicilian grocers were lynched by whites in Tallulah, the parish seat, for failing to observe [[Jim Crow]] customs of serving whites before blacks and because they were competing with locals with their stores.<ref name="scambray">[http://www.italoamericano.org/story/2012-12-13/corda-sapone Ken Scambray, " 'Corda e Sapone' (Rope and Soap): how the Italians were lynched in the USA"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180515183837/http://www.italoamericano.org/story/2012-12-13/corda-sapone |date=May 15, 2018 }}, ''L'Italo-Americano'', December 13, 2012; accessed May 14, 2018</ref>

Civil rights legislation in 1965 enabled more African Americans to exercise their constitutional rights to register and vote in Madison Parish, and they began to elect candidates of their choice to local offices. In 1969 [[Zelma Wyche]] was elected as Police Chief of Tallulah. In 1974 Adell Williams was elected as mayor, the first African American to fill this position.

==Geography==
According to the [[U.S. Census Bureau]], the parish has a total area of {{convert|651|sqmi}}, of which {{convert|624|sqmi}} is land and {{convert|26|sqmi}} (4.1%) is water.<ref name="GR1">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/geo/maps-data/data/docs/gazetteer/counties_list_22.txt|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=September 1, 2014|date=August 22, 2012|title=2010 Census Gazetteer Files|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928155956/http://www.census.gov/geo/maps-data/data/docs/gazetteer/counties_list_22.txt|archive-date=September 28, 2013}}</ref>

===Major highways===
* [[Image:I-20.svg|25px]] [[Interstate 20]]
* [[Image:US 65.svg|25px]] [[U.S. Highway 65]]
* [[Image:US 80.svg|25px]] [[U.S. Highway 80]]
* [[Image:Louisiana 603 (2008).svg|25px]] [[Louisiana Highway 603]]

===Adjacent counties and parishes===
* [[East Carroll Parish, Louisiana|East Carroll Parish]]  (north)
* [[Warren County, Mississippi|Warren County]], [[Mississippi]]  (east)
* [[Tensas Parish, Louisiana|Tensas Parish]]  (south)
* [[Franklin Parish, Louisiana|Franklin Parish]]  (southwest)
* [[Richland Parish, Louisiana|Richland Parish]]  (northwest)

===National protected areas===
* [[Tensas River National Wildlife Refuge]] (part)
* [[Vicksburg National Military Park]] (part)

==Communities==
=== Cities ===
* [[Tallulah, Louisiana|Tallulah]] (parish seat and largest municipality)

=== Villages ===
* [[Delta, Louisiana|Delta]]
* [[Mound, Louisiana|Mound]]
* [[Richmond, Louisiana|Richmond]]

=== Extinct settlements ===

* [[Duckport, Louisiana|Duckport]]
* [[Milliken's Bend, Louisiana|Milliken's Bend]]

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==Demographics==
Because of limited job opportunities as agriculture has mechanized and the Chicago Lumber Mill closed, the parish population has declined overall by about one-third since its peak in 1980. Numerous African Americans left during the first half of the 20th century in the [[Great Migration (African American)|Great Migration]] to escape the violence and oppression of [[Jim Crow]]; they moved to the North and West.

{{US Census population
| 1840 = 5142
| 1850 = 8773
| 1860 = 14133
| 1870 = 8600
| 1880 = 13906
| 1890 = 14135
| 1900 = 12322
| 1910 = 10676
| 1920 = 10829
| 1930 = 14829
| 1940 = 18443
| 1950 = 17451
| 1960 = 16444
| 1970 = 15065
| 1980 = 15975
| 1990 = 12463
| 2000 = 13728
| 2010 = 12093
| 2020 = 10017
| estyear = 
| estimate = 
| estref = 
| 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=September 1, 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=September 1, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120811110448/http://mapserver.lib.virginia.edu/|archive-date=August 11, 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> 1900-1990<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/population/cencounts/la190090.txt|title=Population of Counties by Decennial Census: 1900 to 1990|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=September 1, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140915215703/http://www.census.gov/population/cencounts/la190090.txt|archive-date=September 15, 2014|url-status=live}}</ref><br />1990-2000<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/briefs/phc-t4/tables/tab02.pdf|title=Census 2000 PHC-T-4. Ranking Tables for Counties: 1990 and 2000|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=September 1, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141218203824/http://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/briefs/phc-t4/tables/tab02.pdf|archive-date=December 18, 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> 2010<ref name="QF">{{cite web|title=State & County QuickFacts |url=http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/22/22065.html |publisher=United States Census Bureau |access-date=August 10, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606153004/http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/22/22065.html |archive-date=June 6, 2011 }}</ref>
}}

===2020 census===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+'''Madison Parish, Louisiana – Racial and ethnic composition'''<br><small>{{nobold|''Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.''}}</small>
!Race / Ethnicity <small>(''NH = Non-Hispanic'')</small>
!Pop 2000<ref name=2000CensusP004>{{Cite web|title=P004: Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2000: DEC Summary File 1 – Madison Parish, Louisiana|url=https://data.census.gov/table/DECENNIALSF12000.P004?g=050XX00US22065|publisher=United States Census Bureau |access-date=January 26, 2024}}</ref>
!Pop 2010<ref name=2010CensusP2>{{Cite web|title=P2: Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2010: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) – Madison Parish, Louisiana|url=https://data.census.gov/table/DECENNIALSF12000.P004?q=p004&g=050XX00US22065|publisher=United States Census Bureau |access-date=January 26, 2024}}</ref>
!{{partial|Pop 2020}}<ref name=2020CensusP2>{{Cite web|title=P2: Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2020: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) – Madison Parish, Louisiana|url=https://data.census.gov/table?g=050XX00US22065&tid=DECENNIALPL2020.P2|publisher=United States Census Bureau |access-date=January 26, 2024}}</ref>
!% 2000
!% 2010
!{{partial|% 2020}}
|-
|[[Non-Hispanic or Latino whites|White]] alone (NH)
|5,087
|4,396
|style='background: #ffffe6; |3,414
|37.06%
|36.35%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |34.08%
|-
|[[Non-Hispanic or Latino African Americans|Black or African American]] alone (NH)
|8,259
|7,357
|style='background: #ffffe6; |6,173
|60.16%
|60.84%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |61.63%
|-
|[[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] or [[Alaska Native]] alone (NH)
|18
|23
|style='background: #ffffe6; |27
|0.13%
|0.19%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.27%
|-
|[[Asian Americans|Asian]] alone (NH)
|21
|26
|style='background: #ffffe6; |6
|0.15%
|0.22%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.06%
|-
|[[Native Hawaiian]] or [[Pacific Islander Americans|Pacific Islander]] alone (NH)
|2
|0
|style='background: #ffffe6; |5
|0.01%
|0.00%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.05%
|-
|[[Race and ethnicity in the United States census|Other race]] alone (NH)
|2
|8
|style='background: #ffffe6; |4
|0.01%
|0.07%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.04%
|-
|[[Multiracial Americans|Mixed race or Multiracial]] (NH)
|51
|95
|style='background: #ffffe6; |184
|0.37%
|0.79%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |1.84%
|-
|[[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Hispanic or Latino]] (any race)
|288
|188
|style='background: #ffffe6; |204
|2.10%
|1.55%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |2.04%
|-
|'''Total'''
|'''13,728'''
|'''12,093'''
|style='background: #ffffe6; |'''10,017'''
|'''100.00%'''
|'''100.00%'''
|style='background: #ffffe6; |'''100.00%'''
|}

As of the [[2020 United States census]], there were 10,017 people, 3,832 households, and 2,443 families residing in the parish.

Out of [[List of parishes in Louisiana|Louisiana's 64 parishes]], it is [[List of U.S. communities with African-American majority populations in 2020#Counties|one of six that have an African-American Majority]] (2020).

==Politics==
With its majority-[[African Americans|black]] population, Madison Parish in the 21st century has become a stronghold of support for the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]]. Prior to the passage of the [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]], when the state unconstitutionally prevented blacks from voting, the white Madison Parish voters in 1962 supported the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] nominee [[Taylor W. O'Hearn]] for the US Senate; he lost to powerful Democratic incumbent [[Russell B. Long]]. O'Hearn polled 58.7 percent among whites in Madison Parish.<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, General election returns, November 6, 1962</ref> He later was elected to the [[Louisiana State Legislature|Louisiana House of Representatives]] from [[Caddo Parish, Louisiana|Caddo Parish]], also in the northern part of the state.

During the 1970s and 1980s, conservative white voters in Louisiana and other southern states began to shift to supporting Republican presidential candidates, creating a more competitive system than the Solid South. Since the civil rights era, most African Americans in the South have supported Democratic candidates, as the national party supported their drive to exercise constitutional rights as citizens, even though most Southern Democrats remained vehemently opposed to civil rights. In [[U.S. presidential election, 1988|1988]], [[governor of Massachusetts|Governor]] [[Michael Dukakis]] of [[Massachusetts]] won in Madison Parish, with 2,416 votes (49.2 percent) compared to Republican [[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]] [[George H. W. Bush]], who finished in the presidential contest with 2,334 ballots (47.5 percent).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://staticresults.sos.la.gov/11081988/11081988_33.html|title=Madison Parish presidential election returns, November 8, 1988|publisher=staticresults.sos.la.gov|access-date=November 19, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714183519/http://staticresults.sos.la.gov/11081988/11081988_33.html|archive-date=July 14, 2014|url-status=live}}</ref>

In [[U.S. presidential election, 2008|2008]], the Democrat [[Barack Obama]] of [[Illinois]] received 3,100 votes (58.5 percent) in Madison Parish to 2,152 (40.6 percent) for the Republican [[U.S. Senator]] [[John McCain]] of [[Arizona]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://staticresults.sos.la.gov/11042008/11042008_33.html|title=Madison Parish presidential election returns, November 4, 2008|publisher=staticresults.sos.la.gov|access-date=November 19, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714193415/http://staticresults.sos.la.gov/11042008/11042008_33.html|archive-date=July 14, 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> In [[U.S. presidential election, 2012|2012]], Madison Parish gave President Obama 3,154 votes (60.8 percent) to [[Mitt Romney]]'s 2,000 ballots (38.6 percent), 152 fewer votes than McCain had received four years earlier.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://staticresults.sos.la.gov/11062012/11062012_33.html|title=Madison Parish presidential election returns, November 6, 2012|publisher=staticresults.sos.la.gov|access-date=November 19, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121112151606/http://staticresults.sos.la.gov/11062012/11062012_33.html|archive-date=November 12, 2012|url-status=live}}</ref>

{{PresHead|place=Madison Parish, Louisiana|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 7, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180323225526/https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/|archive-date=March 23, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>}}
<!-- PresRow should be {{PresRow|Year|Winning party|GOP vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} -->
{{PresRow|2024|Democratic|1,846|2,094|52|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|2020|Democratic|1,930|2,654|86|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|2016|Democratic|1,927|2,744|61|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|2012|Democratic|2,000|3,154|33|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|2008|Democratic|2,152|3,100|48|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|2004|Democratic|2,291|2,334|48|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|2000|Democratic|2,127|2,489|127|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|1996|Democratic|1,591|3,085|389|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|1992|Democratic|1,702|2,773|631|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|1988|Democratic|2,334|2,416|161|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|1984|Democratic|2,849|2,906|109|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|1980|Democratic|2,531|3,264|133|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|1976|Democratic|2,096|4,933|99|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|1972|Republican|2,420|2,249|248|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|1968|Democratic|649|2,659|2,380|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|1964|Republican|2,061|417|0|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|1960|Dixiecrat|629|235|1,024|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|1956|Dixiecrat|461|276|955|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|1952|Republican|1,253|695|0|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|1948|Dixiecrat|127|197|1,042|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|1944|Democratic|338|764|0|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|1940|Democratic|182|1,017|0|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|1936|Democratic|71|1,085|0|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|1932|Democratic|67|548|0|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|1928|Democratic|151|318|0|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|1924|Democratic|13|274|0|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|1920|Democratic|4|331|0|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|1916|Democratic|1|187|0|Louisiana}}
{{PresFoot|1912|Democratic|0|146|7|Louisiana}}

==Education==
Public schools in Madison Parish are operated by the [[Madison Parish School Board]].

==Corrections==

The private Lasalle Management firm operates the Madison Parish Correctional Center and Louisiana Correction Transitional Center for Women (CTCW), both located in Tallulah.

==Notable people==
* [[Buddy Caldwell]]
* [[Zelma Wyche]]

{{Portal|United States}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.madisonso.com/index.html Madison Parish Sheriff's Office]
* [http://www.madisonparish.org/ Official website of Madison Parish]
* [[National Register of Historic Places listings in Madison Parish, Louisiana]]

{{Geographic Location
|Centre    = Madison Parish, Louisiana
|North     = [[East Carroll Parish, Louisiana|East Carroll Parish]]
|Northeast =
|East      = [[Warren County, Mississippi]]
|Southeast =
|South     = [[Tensas Parish, Louisiana|Tensas Parish]]
|Southwest = [[Franklin Parish, Louisiana|Franklin Parish]]
|West      =
|Northwest = [[Richland Parish, Louisiana|Richland Parish]]
}}

{{Madison Parish, Louisiana}}
{{Louisiana parishes}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Coord|32.37|-91.24|display=title|type:adm2nd_region:US-LA_source:UScensus1990}}

[[Category:Madison Parish, Louisiana| ]]
[[Category:Louisiana parishes]]
[[Category:Louisiana parishes on the Mississippi River]]
[[Category:1839 establishments in Louisiana]]
[[Category:Populated places established in 1839]]
[[Category:Black Belt (U.S. region)]]
[[Category:Majority-minority parishes in Louisiana]]