Two years after the Great Flood of 1927 devastated the lower Mississippi River Valley, blues singers Kansas Joe McCoy and Lizzie “Memphis Minnie” Douglas shared the pain in their classic “When The Levee Breaks:”
If it keeps on rainin’, levee’s goin’ to break
If it keeps on rainin’, levee’s goin’ to break
And the water gonna come in, have no place to stay ...
The lyrics came to mind when we saw these historic photographs of the natural disaster taken by Marshall Gray, an employee of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. (To hear the song, go to the end of this story.) The photographs were recently cleaned and scanned by St. Louis veterans participating in the Veterans Curation Program. The program, now in its fifth year, offers temporary employment for veterans and helps them transition to the civilian workforce.
Gray’s photographs document the magnitude of the flood that inundated about 26,000 square miles. Following months of heavy rain, the Mississippi River burst through a levee south of Cairo, Ill., on April 16, 1927. The entire levee system eventually collapsed.
More than 200 people died and more than a half-million people lost their homes. The majority of the displaced were African Americans who faced deplorable conditions in temporary relief camps. The flood contributed to The Great Migration of southern African Americans to northern cities.
To learn more about the Great Flood of 1927:
- Visit the website of the Veterans Curation Program to see more photos from the extensive collection.
- “Great Flood,” Stephen Ambrose, National Geographic, 2001
- “Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America,” John M. Barry, 1997, Simon and Schuster.
To learn more about the Veterans Curation Program:
Working With Historic Artifacts Offers Vets A Bridge From The Battlefield To Civilian Jobs
Listen to "When the Levee Breaks"
