Bolivar County ( ), officially the County of Bolivar, is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

located on the western border of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 30,985. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

s are Rosedale and

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

. The county is named in honor of

Simón Bolívar Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios (24July 178317December 1830) was a Venezuelan statesman and military officer who led what are currently the countries of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Panama, and Bol ...

, early 19th-century leader of the liberation of several

South American South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

territories from

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. The Cleveland, Mississippi, Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Bolivar County. It is located in the

Mississippi Delta The Mississippi Delta, also known as the Yazoo–Mississippi Delta, or simply the Delta, is the distinctive northwest section of the U.S. state of Mississippi (and portions of Arkansas and Louisiana) that lies between the Mississippi and Yazo ...

, or Yazoo Basin, of Mississippi. This area was first developed for cotton plantations. Large industrial-scale agricultural operations have reduced the number of farm workers needed, and the population is half of its peak in 1930. Today, soybeans, corn, and rice are also commodity crops.

History

On February 9, 1836, when it was established, the land was originally

Choctaw The Choctaw ( ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States, originally based in what is now Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The Choctaw language is a Western Muskogean language. Today, Choct ...

, and was taken for use in agriculture, with some of the most valued land in the state. In 1840, there was only one free black person, 384 free whites, and 971 enslaved people, making its population 60% slaves. This number only increased, because around 1860, the population was about 87% slaves, due to its mostly agricultural economy, and continued to gain a high black population, relating to it being in the delta, and pressure for African-Americans to move to the delta. The county had 18 documented lynchings in the period from 1877 to 1950.
Lynching in America: Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror
' ( ed.),

Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama. Named for Continental Army major general Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River on the Gulf Coastal Plain. The population was 2 ...

Equal Justice Initiative The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) is a non-profit organization, based in Montgomery, Alabama, that provides legal representation to prisoners who may have been wrongly convicted of crimes, poor prisoners without effective representation, and ot ...

(2017); In the 1920s, Bolivar county was a hotspot for

UNIA ''Unia'' (), released on 25 May 2007, is the fifth full-length studio album by the power metal band Sonata Arctica, following the album '' Reckoning Night''. The first single from the album was " Paid in Full", released on 27 April 2007. This is ...

chapters, with 17 chapters, and by 1960, it had a significant local civil rights movement, and remains a mostly black area today.

Geography

According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (3.2%) is water. It is the second-largest county in Mississippi by land area and fourth-largest by total area.

Major highways

* Future Interstate 69 *

U.S. Route 61 U.S. Route 61 or U.S. Highway 61 (U.S. 61) is a major United States highway that extends between New Orleans, Louisiana and the city of Wyoming, Minnesota. The highway generally follows the course of the Mississippi River and is designat ...

Mississippi Highway 1 Mississippi Highway 1 (MS 1) is a state highway in Mississippi that runs south from U.S. Highway 49 near Lula, Mississippi, Lula to U.S. Highway 61 south of Cary, Mississippi, Cary, roughly paralleling the Mississippi River. It travels approxi ...

Mississippi Highway 8 Mississippi Highway 8 (MS 8) is an east–west state highway in northern Mississippi, running from MS 1 in Rosedale to U.S. Route 278 (US 278) northeast of Aberdeen. Points of interest along the route include Great River Road State Park, ...

Mississippi Highway 32 Mississippi Highway 32 (MS 32) is a state highway in northern Mississippi it runs from east to west for , serving the counties of Bolivar County, Mississippi, Bolivar, Sunflower County, Mississippi, Sunflower, Tallahatchie County, Mississippi, T ...

Adjacent counties

* Coahoma County (north) * Sunflower County (east) * Washington County (south) *

Desha County, Arkansas Desha County ( ) is a county located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of Arkansas, with its eastern border the Mississippi River. At the 2020 census, the population was 11,395. The county is plurality-African American. The county seat ...

(west)

National protected area

Dahomey National Wildlife Refuge Dahomey National Wildlife Refuge is located southwest of Cleveland, Mississippi, and east of the settlement of Dahomy. It was established in 1990 when the Nature Conservancy (TNC) purchased and leased the land back to the United States Fish ...

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 30,985 people, 12,114 households, and 7,719 families residing in the county.

2010 census

As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 34,145 people living in the county. 64.5% were Black or African American, 33.5%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.6% Asian, 0.1% Native American, 0.9% of some other race and 0.6% of two or more races. 1.9% were

Hispanic or Latino ''Hispanic'' and '' Latino'' are ethnonyms used to refer collectively to the inhabitants of the United States who are of Spanish or Latin American ancestry (). While many use the terms interchangeably, for example, the United States Census Bureau ...

(of any race).

2000 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 40,633 people, 13,776 households, and 9,725 families living in the county. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was 46 people per square

mile The mile, sometimes the international mile or statute mile to distinguish it from other miles, is a imperial unit, British imperial unit and United States customary unit of length; both are based on the older English unit of Unit of length, le ...

(18/km²). There were 14,939 housing units at an average density of per square mile (7/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 65.11%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 33.24%

, 0.10% Native American, 0.49% Asian, 0.01%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.48% from other races, and 0.56% from two or more races. 1.17% of the population were

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race. There were 13,776 households, out of which 35.20% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 38.20% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 27.30% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.40% were non-families. 25.30% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.90% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.79 and the average family size was 3.36. In the county, the population was spread out, with 29.60% under the age of 18, 14.00% from 18 to 24, 25.70% from 25 to 44, 19.60% from 45 to 64, and 11.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females there were 87.80 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 81.70 males. The median income for a household in the county was $23,428, and the median income for a family was $27,301. Males had a median income of $27,643 versus $20,774 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the county was $12,088. About 27.90% of families and 33.30% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 43.90% of those under age 18 and 27.90% of those age 65 or over.

Life expectancy

According to the most recent data on U.S. life expectancy, published in 2010 by the

Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) is a public health research institute of the University of Washington in Seattle. Its research fields are global health statistics and impact evaluation. IHME is headed by Christopher J.L. ...

, a male in Bolivar County could expect to live 65.0 years, the second shortest for any county in the United States, following

McDowell County, West Virginia McDowell County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state, State of West Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 19,111. Its county seat is Welch, West Virginia, Welch. McDowell County is the ...

. The national average is 76.1 years for a male. Senators

Robert F. Kennedy Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925 – June 6, 1968), also known as RFK, was an American politician and lawyer. He served as the 64th United States attorney general from January 1961 to September 1964, and as a U.S. senator from New Yo ...

and Joseph S. Clark, Jr. had visited "pockets of poverty" in the

40 years earlier. In Cleveland, they observed barefoot, underfed African-American children in tattered clothing, with vacant expressions and distended bellies. Kennedy stated that he thought he had seen the worst poverty in the nation in West Virginia, but it paled in comparison to the poverty he observed in Cleveland.

Government

The county has a county administrator, who acts upon the requests of the board of supervisors primarily.

Education

Colleges and universities

Delta State University Delta State University (DSU) is a public university in Cleveland, Mississippi, a city in the Mississippi Delta. History The school was established in 1924 by the State of Mississippi, using the facilities of the former Bolivar County Agricultu ...

(Cleveland) The county is within the boundaries of two community college districts:

Coahoma Community College Coahoma Community College (CCC) is a public historically black community college in Coahoma County, Mississippi. The college was founded in 1949 and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. It of ...

and

Mississippi Delta Community College Mississippi Delta Community College is a public community college serving the Mississippi Delta region with its main campus in Moorhead, Mississippi. It also offers courses at locations in Greenville, Greenwood, and Indianola. Its mascot is th ...

. CCC's main campus is in rural Coahoma County outside of Clarksdale, and MDCC's campus is in Moorhead in Sunflower County.

Public School Districts

School districts: *

Cleveland School District The Cleveland School District (CSD) is a public school district based in Cleveland, Mississippi (USA). In addition to Cleveland, the district also serves the towns of Boyle, Renova, and Merigold. History In the post-''Brown v. Board of Edu ...

(Cleveland) *

North Bolivar Consolidated School District The North Bolivar Consolidated School District, formerly the North Bolivar School District is a public school district located in northern Bolivar County in the state of Mississippi. It is headquartered in Mound Bayou with an office in Shelby. ...

(Mound Bayou; previously in Shelby) *

West Bolivar Consolidated School District The West Bolivar Consolidated School District is a public school district based in Rosedale, Mississippi (USA). It serves sections of Bolivar County. In addition to Rosedale, the district also serves the towns of Gunnison, Beulah, and Pace i ...

(Rosedale, Shaw, and Benoit) Former school districts: * Benoit School District (Benoit) * Mound Bayou School District (Mound Bayou) *

Shaw School District The Shaw School District was a public school district based in Shaw, Mississippi (USA). The district served the Bolivar County portion of the city; the small portion of the city that lies in Sunflower County was and is served by the Sunflower ...

(Shaw) The five school districts other than the Cleveland School District, were, in 2012, among the 20 smallest of the 152 school districts in the State of Mississippi.Amy, Jeff.
Bill forces merger of Bolivar school districts
" ''

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

'' at the ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. ...

''. Tuesday March 6, 2012. Retrieved on March 25, 2012
Archive link at
'' The Mississippi Link'' In the State of Mississippi, Bolivar County was the only county that had six school districts.Amy, Jeff.
Miss. bill would force 6 Bolivar County school districts to merge into 3 or fewer
" '' The Republic''. March 14, 2012. Retrieved on March 24, 2012. Consolidation was urged to save money and facilitate cooperation. In 2012 the

Mississippi Senate The Mississippi State Senate is the upper house of the Mississippi Legislature, the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Mississippi. The Senate, along with the Lower house, lower Mississippi House of Represen ...

Education Committee passed a bill asking the State of Mississippi to consolidate the six school districts in Bolivar County to three or two. The Mississippi Senate passed the bill 37–11. As recently as the 1960s the school board of Bolivar County censored what black children were allowed to learn, and mandated that "Neither foreign languages nor civics shall be taught in Negro schools. Nor shall American history from 1860 to 1875 be taught.”

Private School

* Bayou Academy (Cleveland)

Media

The Bolivar Commercial ''The Bolivar Commercial'' was a newspaper in Cleveland, Mississippi from 1916 to 2020. It was owned by Walls Newspapers. Amid large revenue losses associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, ''Commercial'' owner Lee Walls in April 2020 announced that ...

'' was distributed in Bolivar County.bc_masthead1.gif
." ''

''. Retrieved on April 15, 2012.

Politics

Bolivar County, like most other Mississippi Delta counties, is a Democratic stronghold. The last Republican to carry the county was

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

Communities

Cities

(county seat) * Rosedale (county seat) * Mound Bayou * Shaw (small portion in Sunflower County) * Shelby

Towns

Alligator An alligator, or colloquially gator, is a large reptile in the genus ''Alligator'' of the Family (biology), family Alligatoridae in the Order (biology), order Crocodilia. The two Extant taxon, extant species are the American alligator (''A. mis ...

* Benoit * Beulah *

Boyle Boyle may refer to: Places United States * Boyle, Kansas, an unincorporated community * Boyle, Mississippi, a town *Boyle County, Kentucky *Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, a neighborhood Elsewhere * Boyle (crater), a lunar crater * 11967 Boyle, ...

Duncan Duncan may refer to: People * Duncan (given name), various people * Duncan (surname), various people * Clan Duncan * Justice Duncan (disambiguation) Places * Duncan Creek (disambiguation) * Duncan River (disambiguation) * Duncan Lake (di ...

* Gunnison * Merigold *

Pace Pace or paces may refer to: Business *Pace (transit), a bus operator in the suburbs of Chicago, US *Pace Airlines, an American charter airline * Pace Foods, a maker of a popular brand of salsa sold in North America, owned by Campbell Soup Compan ...

* Renova * Winstonville

Census-designated places

* Bolivar *

Scott Scott may refer to: Places Canada * Scott, Quebec, municipality in the Nouvelle-Beauce regional municipality in Quebec * Scott, Saskatchewan, a town in the Rural Municipality of Tramping Lake No. 380 * Rural Municipality of Scott No. 98, Sas ...

Skene Skene may refer to: * Skene, Aberdeenshire, a community in North East Scotland, United Kingdom * Skene, Mississippi, an unincorporated community in Mississippi, United States * Skene, Sweden, a village now part of Kinna, Sweden * Skene (automobil ...

Symonds Symonds is a surname with English origins, derived from Simon. Notable people with the surname include: Arts, news, and entertainment * Alan Symonds (1946–2006), American theatre technical director * John Symonds (1914–2006), English biograph ...

Unincorporated places

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

* Dahomy * Deeson * Hushpuckena * Lamont * Litton *

Malvina Malvina is a feminine given name derived from the Scottish Gaelic ''Mala-mhìn'', meaning "smooth brow". It was popularized by the 18th century Scottish poet James Macpherson. Other names popularised by Macpherson became popular in Scandinavia o ...

O'Reilly O'Reilly () is a common Irish surname. The O'Reillys were historically the kings of East Bréifne in what is today County Cavan. The clan were part of the Connachta's Uí Briúin Bréifne kindred and were closely related to the Ó Ruairc ( ...

Perthshire Perthshire (Scottish English, locally: ; ), officially the County of Perth, is a Shires of Scotland, historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore, Angus and Perth & Kinross, Strathmore ...

* Round Lake * Stringtown * Waxhaw *

Wright Wright is an occupational surname originating in England and Scotland. The term 'Wright' comes from the circa 700 AD Old English word 'wryhta' or 'wyrhta', meaning worker or shaper of wood. Later it became any occupational worker (for example, a ...

* Zumbro

Ghost towns

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

* Concordia * Eutaw * Huntington * Mound Landing * Prentiss * Riverton *

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

Notable people

* Mary Booze * Charles Capps *

Charles Clark (governor) Charles Clark (May 24, 1811December 18, 1877) was the 24th governor of Mississippi from 1863 to 1865. A wealthy planter and lawyer, Clark served as a soldier in the Mexican-American War and joined the Confederate army as a general during the Ame ...

Charles Clark (judge) Charles Clark (September 12, 1925 – March 6, 2011) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He is, as of 2019, the highest ranking judicial official from Mississippi since Lucius Quintus Cin ...

Medgar Evers Medgar Wiley Evers (; July 2, 1925June 12, 1963) was an American civil rights activist and soldier who was the NAACP's first field secretary in Mississippi. Evers, a United States Army veteran who served in World War II, was engaged in efforts ...

, civil rights activist * T.R.M. Howard * Amzie Moore * Peter B. Starke, state representative and state senator, Confederate general in the Civil War *

Henry Townsend Henry Townsend may refer to: * Henry Townsend (Norwich) (1626–1695), early American colonist born in Norwich, Norfolk, England * Henry Townsend (Oyster Bay) (1649–1703), American colonist born in Oyster Bay * Henry Townsend (missionary) (1815� ...

, blues musician

References

External links

Bolivar County Board of Supervisors
{{Authority control Mississippi counties 1836 establishments in Mississippi Black Belt (U.S. region) Majority-minority counties in Mississippi Mississippi counties on the Mississippi River Mississippi populated places on the Mississippi River Populated places established in 1836