Coahoma County, Mississippi

Coahoma County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2020 census, the population was 21,390.^[1] Its county seat is Clarksdale.^[2] The Clarksdale, MS Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Coahoma County. It is located in the Mississippi Delta region of Mississippi. In 2023, the Clarksdale, Mississippi Micropolitan area was added to form the new Memphis-Clarksdale-Forrest City Combined Statistical Area.^[3] The Memphis-Clarksdale-Forrest City Combined Statistical Area has a population of roughly 1.4 million.

Coahoma County was established February 9, 1836, and is located in the northwestern part of the state in the fertile Yazoo Delta region. The name "Coahoma" is a Choctaw word meaning "red panther."^[4] Chickasaw leader Coahoma is the immediate namesake of the county, he was chief of one of four annuity districts arranged by U.S. Indian agents in 1815; Coahoma's territory was in the northwestern section of what is now Mississippi.^[5]

The act creating the county defined its limits as follows:

Beginning at the point where the line between townships 24 and 25 of the surveys of the late Choctaw cession intersects the Mississippi River, and running thence up the said river to the point where the dividing line between the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes of Indians intersects the same; thence with the dividing line to the point where the line between ranges two and three of the survey of the said Choctaw cession intersects the same; thence with said range line, to the line between townships 24 and 25 aforesaid, and thence with the said township line to the beginning.^[6]

In the early days of the county, before the construction of railways or extensive roadways inland, the Mississippi River was the primary transportation route, and the first three county seats were each located on the river. In 1836, Port Royal was designated as the first county seat.^[7] In 1841, high waters on the Mississippi River flooded Port Royal, and in 1842 the county seat was moved to the town of Delta.^[8] High waters on the Mississippi also flooded Delta, and in 1850 the county seat was moved to Friars Point,^[8] which had a population of about 1,000 in 1920, and received its name in honor of Robert Friar, an early settler. As nearby Clarksdale grew in population and influence, it challenged Friars Point's hold on the county government, and in 1892, Coahoma County was divided into two jurisdictions, one going to Friars Point and the other to Clarksdale. In 1930, the county seat was given exclusively to Clarksdale,^[9] which had a population of 7,500 in 1920. Clarksdale is now the largest and most important city in the county, and was named for John Clark, a brother-in-law of Governor James L. Alcorn, whose home, Eagle's Nest, was in this county.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 583 square miles (1,510 km²), of which 552 square miles (1,430 km²) is land and 31 square miles (80 km²) (5.3%) is water.^[10]

• universidades
  • Colegio Comunitario de Coahoma (Clarksdale)

El condado de Coahoma pertenecía anteriormente al área de influencia del Mississippi Delta Community College (MDCC). Como resultado de la sesión legislativa de Mississippi de 1995 , el condado de Coahoma ya no forma parte del área de influencia del MDCC. ^{[ 30 ]}

• Distritos escolares públicos
  • Distrito Escolar Municipal de Clarksdale - Su escuela secundaria es Clarksdale High School.
  • Distrito Escolar del Condado de Coahoma - Su escuela secundaria es la Escuela Secundaria Junior-Senior del Condado de Coahoma
• Escuelas privadas
  • Academia Lee (Clarksdale)

La escuela preparatoria Coahoma Early College High School cerró en 2021. ^{[ 31 ]}

• James L. Alcorn , senador de los Estados Unidos por Mississippi, fue propietario y murió en "Eagle Nest" en el condado de Coahoma ^{[ 32 ].}
• Thomas Harris , autor de las novelas de Hannibal Lecter ; nació en Jackson, Tennessee , pero se crió en Rich, Mississippi, una comunidad no incorporada en el condado de Coahoma.
• John Lee Hooker (1917–2001), músico de blues nacido en 1917 en el condado de Coahoma en el seno de una familia de aparceros y predicadores bautistas .
• DH Hopson (nacido en 1859), maestro, legislador estatal, tasador de impuestos y forense en Mississippi.
• Maud Jeffries (1869 – 1946), actriz, nacida en Lula, Mississippi , se casó con un rico ganadero australiano y se estableció en Australia. 
• Ransom A. Myers (b. Lula, Mississippi, 1952 – d. Halifax, Nova Scotia, 2007) was a renowned Canada-based marine biologist, conservationist and scholar at Dalhousie University who published a seminal study on overfishing.
• Nate Dogg spent his childhood in Clarksdale.
• Rick Ross the rapper was born in Coahoma County in 1976. Soon moved to Miami-Dade County, Florida.
• Frederick Bruce Thomas (1872-1928), prominent entrepreneur and multi-millionaire in Moscow and Constantinople.
• Ike Turner, musician, was born in Clarksdale
• Tennessee Williams, playwright, spent much of his childhood in Clarksdale and Coahoma County. A Tennessee Williams Festival is held annually in Clarksdale.
• Blac Elvis was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi. Award-winning music producer/songwriter.
• Son House, blues singer and guitarist, (b. 1902 – d. 1988), was born at Lyon in Coahoma County, Mississippi.
• Conway Twitty, country singer, (b. 1933 - d. 1993), was born in Friars Point, Mississippi.^[33]

Like the rest of the Mississippi Delta region, Coahoma County is a Democratic stronghold, having not supported a Republican presidential candidate since Richard Nixon in his 1972 landslide.

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Coahoma County, Mississippi

• https://web.archive.org/web/20060906233219/http://www.clarksdale.com/chamber/
• Fotografías del juzgado del condado de Coahoma
• Delta News Online: Noticias locales del delta del Misisipi

34°14′N 90°36′O / 34.23°N 90.60°O / 34.23; -90.60