The Great Mississippi Flood | When the Levee Breaks | 1

American History Tellers

Wondery

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

4.7 • 18.3K Ratings

🗓️ 11 May 2022

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the winter and spring of 1927, record-setting rain fell across the central United States. The Mississippi River swelled to capacity, and by April, the water breached major levees. It was the start of the most catastrophic river flood in American history.

When the flood threatened the town of Greenville in the Mississippi Delta, white plantation owners pulled tens of thousands of Black workers from the cotton fields and sent them to the river. An army of hundreds of men worked day and night, piling sandbags to battle the raging waters. But soon, despite their efforts, the Great Mississippi Flood would unleash destruction on the Delta.

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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.
0:09.4	Imagine it's the morning of April 21st, 1927.
0:22.8	You're standing on the levee at Mount Landing, 18 miles north of Greenville, Mississippi,
0:27.9	in its herential downpour.
0:29.8	You and your brother Henry are sharecroppers on a cotton plantation.
0:33.6	But yesterday your landlord put you and Henry on a bus and forced you to come here to the
0:38.6	levee.
0:39.6	You've joined hundreds of other black men, furiously working to raise the height of
0:43.3	the levee and prevent a flood.
0:46.0	The two of you are passing heavy sandbags down a line of men, desperately trying to fill
0:50.5	a breach.
0:51.9	Water is almost level with the levee wall.
0:54.5	Henry wipes a mix of sweat and rain from his brow.
0:57.7	I swear, these sandbags must be getting heavier.
1:01.1	You rub your aching shoulders and nod.
1:03.4	They probably are.
1:05.2	Everything is soaked.
1:07.6	Worker standing opposite Henry heaves a sandbag into his arms.
1:11.0	He bends from the weight of it.
1:12.8	Ready?
1:14.6	Henry hurls a sandbag toward you and you catch it and pass it to the next man in line.
	...

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