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Interview with Pete Daniel: The Great Flood of 1927

by Rick Shenkman

Mr. Shenkman is the editor of HNN.

Mr. Daniel, the curator in the Division of Work and Industry atthe National Museum of American History, SmithsonianInstitution, is a leading expert on the flood of 1927. Weconducted this interview by email.

This past week we have been hearing a lot about the floodof 1927. Just how bad was the flood of 1927?

The human and geographical extent of the 1927 MississippiRiver Flood speaks for itself:

16.5 million acres flooded in seven states637,000 people dislocated$102 million in crop losses162,000 homes flooded41,000 buildings destroyed6,000 boats used in rescue250 to 500 deaths.

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There were 154 Red Cross camps that cared for refugees. All camps were segregated. Many otherrefugees stayed with friends or relatives.

Did the country understand the scope of the disaster?

The flood was front-page news throughout the country. The Red Cross made sure that citizens knew ofthe flood and the need for contributions.

What was the reaction of the country?

Most people seemed to react with compassion and with contributions. It was a gripping storythat stayed in the news as the flood crest moved downriver causing crevasses. At some points theflooded area measured over eighty miles from east to west.

Did relief get to the victims quickly?

The day after major crevasses in Mississippi and Arkansas President Calvin Coolidge appointedSecretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover to coordinate relief. Hoover presided over eight federalagencies, the Red Cross, the Rockefeller Foundation, and other agencies. The Red Cross was efficientboth in rescuing people and in setting up camps. Most camps used Army tents with cots. The food wasadequate. For many people the life in camps provided better food, health care, and recreation thanthey had back home.

In 1927 Southern life was segregated, so there were problems along the color line. The NAACP andother black leaders charged that planters were holding their workers in peonage (debt servitude), forthe National Guard patrolled the camps and in some cases would not allow workers to leave withoutpermission from the planters from whom they worked. Hoover appointed a "Colored AdvisoryCommission," headed by Robert R. Moton, the president of Tuskegee Institute, toinvestigate complaints about peonage and discrimination. Commission members visited many of thecamps and found peonage and discrimination in the facilities provided for African Americans.

Did federal, state and local officials find it difficult to work together? Did any public figuresemerge with shining reputations as a result of their handling of the disaster?

Herbert Hoover coordinated all of the agencies involved with little apparent friction. His relief workduring and after World War I prepared him for the task. He earned and received praise for hisrole. James Fieser, head of the Red Cross, also got good press for his work.

Congress responded to the flood the following year by creating the 1928 Flood Control Act.Author John Barry says this was the "most expensive bill Congress had ever passed, exceededonly by the cost of the Civil War and World War I." Do you agree with Barry's assessment?

John Barry has done research on this topic, and I yield to him.

Was the flood of 1927 a turning point in history? Did it mark a decisive change in the federal

government's assumption of responsibilities in a disaster?

The scope of the disaster suggested that only the federal government through an organizer like Hoovercould deal with such a disaster. The "levees only" policy had failed, so the new levee legislation took amore sophisticated view of flood control. For the most part, it has worked as predicted.

If the flood of 1927 was a major event why do Americans know so little about it? We have allheard of the Galveston disaster and the San Francisco earthquake, but the flood of '27?

People in the South have heard of the 1927 flood. When I did oral interviews in 1976, some peoplerecalled it as if happened the day before. Younger people knew about it from listening to elders'stories. Once the oral tradition vanishes as the older generation dies off, it is up to historians to keepthe story alive. John Barry's book certainly helped, as did the "Fatal Flood" video. Perhaps the 1927Mississippi River Flood needs better public relations.

I understand you have just helped create a new exhibit at the Smithsonian about the 1927 flood.Was this planned before Katrina or is the Smithsonian reacting quickly to events? What doesthe exhibit show visitors?

The exhibit that is in the planning stage started after Katrina. Since I had written a book on it and hadsome objects and photographs, it seemed a good thing to do. There are obvious points of comparisonthat should interest museum visitors. The exhibit is small, only a case. It will contain a lantern usedfighting the high water near Greenville, Mississippi, in 1927, a record by Vernon Dalhart, "TheMississippi Flood," several booklets put out by the Red Cross about the flood, and lots ofphotographs. The script deals with rescue, relief, , camp life, cultural aspects, and New Orleans.

The New Orleans chapter of the Red Cross made elaborate plans, dividing the city into seventeendistricts, stocking brick shoolhouses with provisions and boats, and assigning doctors, nurses, andrescue workers. When it seemed certain that the levees would fail, the city fathers arranged forresidents in rural Placquemines and St. Bernard parishes to be moved to New Orleans and caredfor. The levee was then cut fourteen miles south of the city. Like pulling the plug in a bathtub, the waterthen drained out of the river across the improvised spillway. New Orleans was saved.

How did you come to your interest in the flood of '27?

My dissertation on peonage, The Shadow of Slavery: Peonage in the South, 1901-1969 (1972) had achapter on peonage during the flood. Later I decided to look into the flood in more detail.

I hope that these answers give some indication of the importance of the flood.

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LD • 6 months ago

I became interested in the history of the Flood of 27 after watching a documentary onPBS concerning the event. It was the first time the Red Cross became involve with anevent in the size of the dynamics involved. The planters referred into in the storyactually rounded up the sharecroppers and held the hostage in inhumane conditionson the levees. It was not an improvement for them as mentioned in the story andmuch of the aid raised for them was screen by the same planters and taken for

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themselves. The sharecroppers only received the scraps. The sharecroppers wereheld hostage for months on the swollen levees since the water did not receed forseveral months. They were retain because the planters wanted to make sure they stillretained there free laborers once the waters receeded.

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Jean Crawford - 9/22/2005

Randy Newman (song writer) remembers the 1927 flood. He wrote a song about it. Very moving.

Was the 27 flood caused by a hurricane or a very severe storm?

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