Lake Village (Chicot County) in Arkansas was inundated by the Mississippi River and its tributaries in the Flood of 1927
Photo courtesy of the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, Central Arkansas Library System
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 and culture that many love today.
It was a flood whose impact was far beyond property damage. The flood’s aftermath and the racism of the time was a major factor in the great migration of African-Americans to northern cities.
During an era in which racism was blatant, blacks built levees at gunpoint, starved in refugee camps and were left to fend for themselves during the flood. It was white people who 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. Racial hostilities erupted. 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.
It’s no accident that the Delta migrants found their music in Chicago with the electrified Delta Blues. 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.
Charlie Patton, Bessie Smith, Barbecue Bob and many other blues musicians wrote songs about the flood. Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie's "When the Levee Breaks" was reworked by Led Zeppelin and became one of that group's most famous songs.
William Faulkner's 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."
Here, Randy Newman performs "Louisiana 1927"