Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 — Bunk History

A "High Water" sign mirrored in front of a black and white portrait of two Black men standing in front of a boat on the water

Songs for a South Underwater

After the 1927 Great Flood, Black musicians from the Delta produced an outpour of songs testifying to the destruction. The same is true today.

by Sergio Lopez via Scalawag on February 11, 2022

A Devastating Mississippi River Flood That Uprooted America's Faith in Progress

The 1927 disaster exposed a country divided by stereotypes, united by modernity.

by Susan Scott Parrish via Zócalo Public Square on April 14, 2017

Lightning bolt above a city at night.

The Human Nature of Disaster

A storm is never just wind or rain. Our natural problems are social problems. The solutions to them must be social, too.

by Maia Silber via Public Books on March 26, 2021

The Flood Blues

How floods have united people of color from the Gulf Coast states for nearly a century.

by Tyina Steptoe via Process: A Blog for American History on September 15, 2017

Venable Mound, Morehouse Parish, Louisiana, built ca. 700–1200 CE.

Monuments Upon the Tumultuous Earth

For thousands of years, Indigenous societies were building hundred-foot pyramids along the Mississippi River.

by Boyce Upholt via Emergence Magazine on March 23, 2023

A house and an american flag

A Disaster 100 Years in the Making

Covid-19 and climate change are drastically intensifying insecurity in New Orleans.

by Eric Klinenberg via New York Review of Books on October 22, 2020

The Role of Water in African American History

Have historians privileged land-based models and ignored how African Americans participated in aquatic activities?

by Tyler D. Parry via Black Perspectives on May 4, 2018

Hating on Herbert Hoover

Hoover was a brilliant manager, a wizard of logistics, and an effective humanitarian. Why do we remember him as a failure?

by Nicholas Lemann via The New Yorker on October 23, 2017

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