The Great Mississippi Flood | Master of Emergencies | 3

American History Tellers

Wondery

Society & Culture, Kids & Family, History, Education For Kids

4.7 • 18.3K Ratings

🗓️ 25 May 2022

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Herbert Hoover’s management of the flood relief garnered widespread praise and put him in position to secure the Republican nomination for President. But the African-American press told a different story, one of rampant racial abuse in Red Cross camps throughout the flood zone.

In Greenville, Mississippi, the exploitation of Black workers was especially persistent. In the summer, tensions rose to new heights, and soon, a fatal shooting would tear the battered town apart.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, Prime Members, you can listen to American History Tellers add free on Amazon Music,
0:05.6	download the app today.
0:09.6	Imagine its May 1927, just weeks after the Mississippi River breached its levees and flooded
0:24.2	thousands of square miles in the deep south.
0:26.7	You're a reporter for the Chicago Defender, and you've traveled to Greenville, Mississippi
0:31.2	to investigate conditions in the flood zone.
0:34.0	You've heard rumors about how bad things have gotten, but as you weave your way through
0:38.0	a crowded red cross camp, you're stunned by how squalid it really is.
0:42.8	The flood victims, nearly all of them black, are living in filthy canvas tents pitched
0:47.4	along the narrow muddy crown of the levee.
0:50.2	Some don't even have tents, just sleep on the ground.
0:53.7	You approach a man huddled over a small campfire, waiting for a pot of water to boil.
0:58.2	A little boy sits beside him.
1:00.1	Excuse me, sir.
1:01.6	I'm a reporter.
1:02.6	I was hoping I could ask you some questions.
1:05.6	The man glances up at you, but quickly looks away again.
1:08.6	I don't know.
1:10.3	I work for the Chicago Defender.
1:12.8	We've got black readers all over the country, and I'm sure they'd be interested in what's
1:16.9	happening here in Greenville.
1:19.1	The worker studies you more closely.
	...

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