Blog Post 10: Pre-writing assignment 3

This photo was taken in September of 1939 at the Marcella Plantation in Mileston Mississippi. The Marcella Plantation was strictly a cotton plantation and was located in Holmes County. Homes County is a relatively small place consisting of about 764 square miles, of which, 756 square miles of it is land and 8 square miles of it is water (Wikipedia). The county was founded in 1833 and is made up of two major cities, five towns, and four unincorporated places. Mileston is located in Thornton (an unincorporated place).

“As of the census of 2000, there were 21,609 people, 7,314 households, and 5,229 families residing in the county. The population density was 29 people per square mile. There were 8,439 housing unit at an average density of 11 per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was 20.47% White, 78.66% Black, 0.12% Native American, 0.15% Asian, 0.07% from other races, and 0.52% from two or more races. 0.90% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race” (Wikipedia).

A majority of the households had other family members living with them, being under 18 years of age or over 65 years of age. The average income for a family was very low being $21,757. “Holmes County has the third lowest per capita income in Mississippi and the 41st lowest in the United States” (Wikipedia).

Because of the research that I have found over this particular county where Mileston, Mississippi is located, I know have a better picture of what life was like in this town. In the picture, I now see that family was probably a big priority because of the poverty surroundings. What do you do with your children when you and your partner need to make an income? You bring them with you to work in the fields. I am assuming that a lot of people living in these areas of Holmes County work in plantations because of the land amount being so large. This was probably a great way to find work, but very laborious as well.

I have also looked around at some other photos which were taken of the Marcella Plantation as well, and most of them show a type of housing and lifestyle in the picture. These houses were generally run down and looked as if there was a lot of labor taking place in the home (e.g., laundry hanging across the yard).

In my original photo, there are a couple of cars located in the background of the photo. Since my research, I still agree with what my first statement was that the cars belonged to the plantation owners. My reasons for still believing this are because income was so low in working families are cars are an expensive item to have. The plantation owners are more than likely wealthy, and their residence is located in the photo.

Works Cited

Wikipedia. Holmes County, Mississippi. 26 September 2009. 30 September 2009 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holmes_County,_Mississippi.