Economic Development and African Americans in the Mississippi Delta*

Abstract This paper presents the results of an exploratory study of African Americans and underdevelopment in the Mississippi Delta. The primary focus is on race‐specific factors and their associations with social and economic development in the Delta. Data were obtained from The Southern Growth Policy's Southern County‐Level Data Files (U.S. Department of Agriculture 1985) and a content analysis of racial conflicts in Mississippi beginning with the 1950s through the 1980s. The results of the analysis show that racial conflicts and a high concentration of poor African Americans are associated with the lack of new technology industries in Mississippi's core Delta counties.