Franklin County, Mississippi

Franklin County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2020 census, the population was 7,675.^[1] Its county seat is Meadville.^[2] The county was formed on December 21, 1809, from portions of Adams County and named for Founding Father Benjamin Franklin.^[3] It is bisected by the Homochitto River, which runs diagonally through the county from northeast to southwest.

Franklin County
County
Franklin County Courthouse, Meadville, Mississippi.
Location within the U.S. state of Mississippi
Mississippi's location within the U.S.
Coordinates: 31°29′N 90°54′W
Country	United States
State	Mississippi
Founded	1809
Named after	Benjamin Franklin
Seat	Meadville
Largest town	Bude
Area
• Total	567 sq mi (1,470 km2)
• Land	564 sq mi (1,460 km2)
• Water	3.0 sq mi (8 km2)  0.5%
Population  (2020)
• Total	7,675
• Estimate  (2023)	7,610
• Density	14/sq mi (5.2/km2)
Time zone	UTC−6 (Central)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−5 (CDT)
Congressional district	3rd
Website	franklincoms.weebly.com

History

This was the fourth county organized in Mississippi. It was initially developed for agriculture, specifically cotton plantations based on enslaved labor of African Americans. Cotton continued to be important to the economy through the 19th century and into the early 20th century.

This still rural county has had a decline in population by about half since 1910. It is the fourth least populous county in the state. Mechanization of agriculture and the blight of the boll weevil both reduced the need for farm workers; they left the area and often the state. Many African Americans went north or west in the Great Migration before and after World War II. The county in the 21st century is majority white in population; in the 2000 census, African Americans composed more than 36% of the population. (See Demographics section below.)

As in the rest of the state, the county had racially segregated facilities under Jim Crow from the late 19th century. Many white residents opposed the civil rights movement of the mid-20th century. In May 1964, Ku Klux Klan members abducted and killed two young black men, Henry Hezekiah Dee and Charles Eddie Moore of Meadville, before Freedom Summer started. Their bodies were not discovered in the Mississippi River until July 1964, during the hunt for three disappeared civil rights workers.

No one was prosecuted at the time, but the case was reopened in 2007, after a documentary had been released on it by Canadian Broadcasting Company. Local man James Ford Seale was convicted of the kidnappings and deaths by an all-white jury in federal court.^[4] In 2008 the families of Dee and Moore filed a civil suit against the Franklin County government, charging complicity by its law enforcement in the deaths. On June 21, 2010, Franklin County agreed to an undisclosed settlement in the civil suit with the families of Charles Moore and Henry Dee.^[5][6][7][8]

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 567 square miles (1,470 km²), of which 564 square miles (1,460 km²) is land and 3.0 square miles (7.8 km²) (0.5%) is water.^[9]

Major highways

• U.S. Highway 84
• U.S. Highway 98
• Mississippi Highway 33
• Mississippi Highway 184

Adjacent counties

• Jefferson County (north)
• Lincoln County (east)
• Amite County (south)
• Wilkinson County (southwest)
• Adams County (west)

National protected area

• Homochitto National Forest (part)

Communities

Towns

• Bude
• Meadville
• Roxie

Unincorporated communities

• Eddiceton
• Hamburg
• Knoxville
• Little Springs
• Lucien
• McCall Creek
• Quentin
• Veto

Demographics

Historical population

Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1810	2,016		—
1820	3,821		89.5%
1830	4,622		21.0%
1840	4,775		3.3%
1850	5,904		23.6%
1860	8,265		40.0%
1870	7,498		−9.3%
1880	9,729		29.8%
1890	10,424		7.1%
1900	13,678		31.2%
1910	15,193		11.1%
1920	14,156		−6.8%
1930	12,268		−13.3%
1940	12,504		1.9%
1950	10,929		−12.6%
1960	9,286		−15.0%
1970	8,011		−13.7%
1980	8,208		2.5%
1990	8,377		2.1%
2000	8,448		0.8%
2010	8,118		−3.9%
2020	7,675		−5.5%
2023 (est.)	7,610	[10]	−0.8%
U.S. Decennial Census[11] 1790-1960[12] 1900-1990[13] 1990-2000[14] 2010-2013[15]

Franklin County racial composition as of 2020^[16]

	Num.	Perc.
White (non-Hispanic)	4,910	63.97%
Black or African American (non-Hispanic)	2,563	33.39%
Native American	2	0.03%
Asian	8	0.1%
Other/Mixed	132	1.72%
Hispanic or Latino	60	0.78%

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 7,675 people, 2,928 households, and 2,096 families residing in the county.

Politics

United States presidential election results for Franklin County, Mississippi^[17]

Year	Republican		Democratic		Third party(ies)
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
2024	2,831	69.63%	1,213	29.83%	22	0.54%
2020	2,923	65.52%	1,480	33.18%	58	1.30%
2016	2,721	63.43%	1,502	35.01%	67	1.56%
2012	2,735	60.87%	1,726	38.42%	32	0.71%
2008	2,909	62.09%	1,733	36.99%	43	0.92%
2004	2,893	64.42%	1,574	35.05%	24	0.53%
2000	2,427	61.40%	1,486	37.59%	40	1.01%
1996	1,586	47.50%	1,381	41.36%	372	11.14%
1992	1,942	49.31%	1,587	40.30%	409	10.39%
1988	2,376	59.97%	1,563	39.45%	23	0.58%
1984	2,564	62.86%	1,494	36.63%	21	0.51%
1980	2,026	49.31%	2,040	49.65%	43	1.05%
1976	1,719	50.63%	1,578	46.48%	98	2.89%
1972	2,361	78.73%	561	18.71%	77	2.57%
1968	231	6.71%	782	22.72%	2,429	70.57%
1964	2,211	96.05%	91	3.95%	0	0.00%
1960	124	7.38%	441	26.25%	1,115	66.37%
1956	177	11.46%	862	55.83%	505	32.71%
1952	514	30.60%	1,166	69.40%	0	0.00%
1948	12	0.98%	55	4.48%	1,160	94.54%
1944	49	3.89%	1,211	96.11%	0	0.00%
1940	29	2.06%	1,376	97.94%	0	0.00%
1936	33	2.91%	1,098	96.83%	3	0.26%
1932	25	2.53%	965	97.47%	0	0.00%
1928	181	16.67%	905	83.33%	0	0.00%
1924	36	5.74%	591	94.26%	0	0.00%
1920	203	23.97%	641	75.68%	3	0.35%
1916	22	2.76%	769	96.49%	6	0.75%
1912	4	1.10%	301	82.69%	59	16.21%

In the 1964 Presidential election Barry Goldwater reportedly received 96.05% of the county's vote.^[18] Although the white-majority county has supported Southern Democrats such as Jimmy Carter for the presidency, since 2000 the Republican candidate has consistently received over 60% of the vote.^[19]

Education

There is one school district, the Franklin County School District.^[20]

It is in the district of Copiah–Lincoln Community College, and has been since 1948.^[21]

See also

• Dry counties
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Franklin County, Mississippi