LeRoy Percy
Encyclopedia
LeRoy Percy was a wealthy planter from Greenville, Mississippi
in the heart of the Delta
. He attended the University of Virginia
, where he was a member of the Chi Phi Fraternity. He served as United States Senator from Mississippi
from 1910 to 1913. In 1922 he came to national notice by confronting Ku Klux Klan
organizers in Greenville and uniting local people against them. During the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927
, he directed the work of thousands of black laborers on the levees near Greenville, and prevented them from being evacuated when the levee was breached. They were forced to work without pay to unload Red Cross relief supplies.
. Some clients paid in horses, others in land, and Percy acquired a total of 20,000 acres. His plantation, called Trail Lake, was worked by black sharecroppers. Percy gave them a better share than many planters, set up schools on the property, allowed them to buy land, and made other changes to build a community.
, born in 1885.
He became a lawyer and poet, serving with distinction in World War I. He is best known for his memoir, Lanterns on the Levee: Recollections of a Planter's Son. William Percy took in and adopted his cousin's three sons when they were orphaned as boys. They included Walker Percy
, who became a notable novelist, winning the National Book Award
for his first book, The Moviegoer
.
, the Mississippi legislature convened to fill it. A plurality of legislators at the time backed the white supremacist James K. Vardaman
, but the fractured remainder sought to thwart his extreme racial policies. A majority united behind Percy to block Vardaman's appointment. In 1910 Percy became the last senator chosen by the Mississippi legislature, prior to the adoption of the 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution mandating popular election of senators.
Percy held office until 1913. In 1912 he was challenged in the Democratic Primary under the new direct elections system by the populist
Vardaman, whose campaign Theodore Bilbo managed, stressing class tensions and racial segregation
. The tactic resulted in defeat for Percy, who was attacked as a representative of the aristocracy and for taking a progressive stance on race relations; advocating education for blacks; and working to improve race relations by appealing to the planters’ sense of noblesse oblige
.
when it attempted to organize members in Washington County
during the years of its revival in the South and growth in the Midwest. On March 1, 1922 the Klan attempted to hold a recruiting session at the Greenville courthouse. Percy arrived during a speech by the Klan leader Joseph Camp, who was attacking blacks, Jews, and Catholics. After Camp finished, Percy approached the podium and proceeded to dismantle Camp's speech to thunderous applause, concluding with the plea, "Friends, let this Klan go somewhere else where it will not do the harm that it will in this community. Let them sow dissension in some community less united than is ours."
After Percy stepped down, an ally of his in the audience rose to put forth a resolution, secretly written by Percy, condemning the Klan. The resolution passed, and Camp ceased his efforts to establish the Klan in Washington County. Percy's speech and victory drew praise from newspapers around the nation.
When the river broke through the levees on April 21, 1927, it flooded Greenville and millions of acres of land throughout the Delta. Senator Percy appointed his son William Alexander Percy
(a World War I hero and a noted poet) to direct the Red Cross relief efforts for the blacks isolated on the intact levee. William Percy's first impulse was to evacuate the workers by steamboats to higher ground upriver. The planters protested to the senator, persuading him to direct his son to leave the blacks on the levee. The planters feared that if the blacks left the Delta, they would never return. Cotton, the commodity crop, required their intensive labor.
On the levee, the blacks filled and stacked sandbags, for which Percy set a pay scale of 75 cents per day. Others were put to unloading and distributing Red Cross food parcels, which were starting to come to Greenville by barge to feed the 180,000 displaced people and thousands of animals.
Percy ordered all Greenville blacks to the levee. The camp stretched seven miles. Percy ordered all the Red Cross work to be done for free; as this was needed to comply with Red Cross requirements that boats be unloaded with volunteer labor. There were too few tents, not enough food, and no eating utensils or mess hall for the blacks. Black men were not allowed to leave--those who tried were driven back at gunpoint by the National Guard
. The food they received was inferior to that reserved by the whites. Canned peaches came in, but were not distributed to blacks for fear it would "spoil them". Whites kept the better Red Cross food for themselves. Giving it to the blacks, one white man explained, "would simply teach them a lot of expensive habits".
Soon after the flood emergency months, the blacks started leaving the Delta. With their homes and crops destroyed, the sharecroppers saw little reason to stay. Within a year, 50% of the blacks in the Delta had left as part of the Great Migration
to northern industrial cities.
Greenville, Mississippi
Greenville is a city in Washington County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 48,633 at the 2000 census, but according to the 2009 census bureau estimates, it has since declined to 42,764, making it the eighth-largest city in the state. It is the county seat of Washington...
in the heart of the Delta
Mississippi Delta
The Mississippi Delta is the distinctive northwest section of the U.S. state of Mississippi that lies between the Mississippi and Yazoo Rivers. The region has been called "The Most Southern Place on Earth" because of its unique racial, cultural, and economic history...
. He attended the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
, where he was a member of the Chi Phi Fraternity. He served as United States Senator from Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
from 1910 to 1913. In 1922 he came to national notice by confronting Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
organizers in Greenville and uniting local people against them. During the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927
Great Mississippi Flood of 1927
The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 was the most destructive river flood in the history of the United States.-Events:The flood began when heavy rains pounded the central basin of the Mississippi in the summer of 1926. By September, the Mississippi's tributaries in Kansas and Iowa were swollen to...
, he directed the work of thousands of black laborers on the levees near Greenville, and prevented them from being evacuated when the levee was breached. They were forced to work without pay to unload Red Cross relief supplies.
Planter
Percy became an attorney in Greenville, MississippiGreenville, Mississippi
Greenville is a city in Washington County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 48,633 at the 2000 census, but according to the 2009 census bureau estimates, it has since declined to 42,764, making it the eighth-largest city in the state. It is the county seat of Washington...
. Some clients paid in horses, others in land, and Percy acquired a total of 20,000 acres. His plantation, called Trail Lake, was worked by black sharecroppers. Percy gave them a better share than many planters, set up schools on the property, allowed them to buy land, and made other changes to build a community.
Marriage and family
Soon after starting his law practice, Percy married Camille, a French Catholic woman. They had a son, William Alexander PercyWilliam Alexander Percy
William Alexander Percy , was a lawyer, planter, and poet from Greenville, Mississippi. His autobiography Lanterns on the Levee became a bestseller. His father LeRoy Percy was the last United States Senator from Mississippi elected by the legislature...
, born in 1885.
He became a lawyer and poet, serving with distinction in World War I. He is best known for his memoir, Lanterns on the Levee: Recollections of a Planter's Son. William Percy took in and adopted his cousin's three sons when they were orphaned as boys. They included Walker Percy
Walker Percy
Walker Percy was an American Southern author whose interests included philosophy and semiotics. Percy is best known for his philosophical novels set in and around New Orleans, Louisiana, the first of which, The Moviegoer, won the National Book Award for Fiction in 1962...
, who became a notable novelist, winning the National Book Award
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...
for his first book, The Moviegoer
The Moviegoer
The Moviegoer is the debut novel by Walker Percy published in 1961. It won a National Book Award in 1962. Time magazine included the novel in its "Time 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005"....
.
United States Senate
Following the vacancy of the seat held by Senator James GordonJames Gordon (Mississippi)
James Gordon was an American planter, writer, and politician from Okolona, Mississippi. He was a United States Senator for eight weeks, from December 27, 1909 to February 23, 1910....
, the Mississippi legislature convened to fill it. A plurality of legislators at the time backed the white supremacist James K. Vardaman
James K. Vardaman
James Kimble Vardaman was an American politician from the state of Mississippi, serving as Governor of Mississippi from 1904 to 1908 and in the U.S. Senate from 1913 to 1919. Vardaman, known as "The Great White Chief", advocated white supremacy...
, but the fractured remainder sought to thwart his extreme racial policies. A majority united behind Percy to block Vardaman's appointment. In 1910 Percy became the last senator chosen by the Mississippi legislature, prior to the adoption of the 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution mandating popular election of senators.
Percy held office until 1913. In 1912 he was challenged in the Democratic Primary under the new direct elections system by the populist
Populist
Populist may refer to:* A supporter of Populism, a political philosophy urging social and political system change that favours "the people" over "the elites", or favours the common people over the rich and wealthy business owners...
Vardaman, whose campaign Theodore Bilbo managed, stressing class tensions and racial segregation
Racial segregation
Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...
. The tactic resulted in defeat for Percy, who was attacked as a representative of the aristocracy and for taking a progressive stance on race relations; advocating education for blacks; and working to improve race relations by appealing to the planters’ sense of noblesse oblige
Noblesse oblige
Noblesse oblige is a French phrase literally meaning "nobility obliges".The Dictionnaire de l’Académie française defines it thus:# Whoever claims to be noble must conduct himself nobly....
.
Post-Senate career
Percy retired from politics to run his model plantation at Trail Lake, and to practice law for railroads and banks. British investors hired him to manage the largest cotton plantation in the country , for which he received 10% of the profits.Condemnation of the Ku Klux Klan
In 1922 Percy rose to national prominence for confronting the Ku Klux KlanKu Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
when it attempted to organize members in Washington County
Washington County, Mississippi
-National protected areas:*Holt Collier National Wildlife Refuge*Theodore Roosevelt National Wildlife Refuge *Yazoo National Wildlife Refuge-Demographics:...
during the years of its revival in the South and growth in the Midwest. On March 1, 1922 the Klan attempted to hold a recruiting session at the Greenville courthouse. Percy arrived during a speech by the Klan leader Joseph Camp, who was attacking blacks, Jews, and Catholics. After Camp finished, Percy approached the podium and proceeded to dismantle Camp's speech to thunderous applause, concluding with the plea, "Friends, let this Klan go somewhere else where it will not do the harm that it will in this community. Let them sow dissension in some community less united than is ours."
After Percy stepped down, an ally of his in the audience rose to put forth a resolution, secretly written by Percy, condemning the Klan. The resolution passed, and Camp ceased his efforts to establish the Klan in Washington County. Percy's speech and victory drew praise from newspapers around the nation.
Involvement in the 1927 Flood
During the Mississippi Flood of 1927, Delta residents began frantic efforts to protect their towns and lands, using black workers to raise the levees by stacking sand bags on the top of the established levee walls. Charles Williams, an employee of Percy's on one of the largest cotton plantations in the Delta, set up camps on the levee protecting Greenville. He supplied the camps with field kitchens and tents, as a place for thousands of plantation workers - all African Americans - to live while the men worked on the levee.When the river broke through the levees on April 21, 1927, it flooded Greenville and millions of acres of land throughout the Delta. Senator Percy appointed his son William Alexander Percy
William Alexander Percy
William Alexander Percy , was a lawyer, planter, and poet from Greenville, Mississippi. His autobiography Lanterns on the Levee became a bestseller. His father LeRoy Percy was the last United States Senator from Mississippi elected by the legislature...
(a World War I hero and a noted poet) to direct the Red Cross relief efforts for the blacks isolated on the intact levee. William Percy's first impulse was to evacuate the workers by steamboats to higher ground upriver. The planters protested to the senator, persuading him to direct his son to leave the blacks on the levee. The planters feared that if the blacks left the Delta, they would never return. Cotton, the commodity crop, required their intensive labor.
On the levee, the blacks filled and stacked sandbags, for which Percy set a pay scale of 75 cents per day. Others were put to unloading and distributing Red Cross food parcels, which were starting to come to Greenville by barge to feed the 180,000 displaced people and thousands of animals.
Percy ordered all Greenville blacks to the levee. The camp stretched seven miles. Percy ordered all the Red Cross work to be done for free; as this was needed to comply with Red Cross requirements that boats be unloaded with volunteer labor. There were too few tents, not enough food, and no eating utensils or mess hall for the blacks. Black men were not allowed to leave--those who tried were driven back at gunpoint by the National Guard
National Guard
The term National Guard originally referred to a French citizen militia . The term is now used in many countries. Depending on the country in question, "national guard" may refer to an organized militia, a military force, a paramilitary force, a gendarmerie, or a police force:- Americas :* National...
. The food they received was inferior to that reserved by the whites. Canned peaches came in, but were not distributed to blacks for fear it would "spoil them". Whites kept the better Red Cross food for themselves. Giving it to the blacks, one white man explained, "would simply teach them a lot of expensive habits".
Soon after the flood emergency months, the blacks started leaving the Delta. With their homes and crops destroyed, the sharecroppers saw little reason to stay. Within a year, 50% of the blacks in the Delta had left as part of the Great Migration
Great Migration (African American)
The Great Migration was the movement of 6 million blacks out of the Southern United States to the Northeast, Midwest, and West from 1910 to 1970. Some historians differentiate between a Great Migration , numbering about 1.6 million migrants, and a Second Great Migration , in which 5 million or more...
to northern industrial cities.
Other Percys
- Charles "Don Carlos" Percy
- Sarah DorseySarah DorseySarah Dorsey was an American novelist and historian.-Biography:Born Sarah Anne Ellis to Thomas George Percy Ellis and Mary Malvina Routh in Natchez, Mississippi, she became a novelist and historian. She was known as the "companion" of Jefferson Davis, to whom she proved a great boon in his...
- Kate FergusonKate FergusonKate Ferguson was a notorious "southern belle", who hailed from two of the South’s most prominent families. She was born Catherine Sarah Lee, to the southern poet Eleanor Percy Lee and William Henry Lee, cousin of General Robert E. Lee. Her life was mired in scandal, mostly through her husband,...
- Eleanor Percy LeeEleanor Percy LeeEleanor Percy Lee, born Eleanor Percy Ware , was an American writer of the South who co-authored two books of poetry with her sister Catherine Anne Warfield, which were published in the 1840s...
- Thomas George PercyThomas George PercyThomas George Percy, Sr. was an 18th-century wealthy American cotton planter and settler of Alabama.-Biography:Son of Charles "Don Carlos" Percy, , an adventurer from Ireland with pretensions to blood lines of the Dukes of Northumberland, Thomas George Percy was born in Alabama in the late 1780s...
- Walker PercyWalker PercyWalker Percy was an American Southern author whose interests included philosophy and semiotics. Percy is best known for his philosophical novels set in and around New Orleans, Louisiana, the first of which, The Moviegoer, won the National Book Award for Fiction in 1962...
- William Alexander PercyWilliam Alexander PercyWilliam Alexander Percy , was a lawyer, planter, and poet from Greenville, Mississippi. His autobiography Lanterns on the Levee became a bestseller. His father LeRoy Percy was the last United States Senator from Mississippi elected by the legislature...
- Catherine Anne WarfieldCatherine Anne WarfieldCatherine Anne Warfield was an American writer of poetry and fiction in the South. Together with her sister Eleanor Percy Lee, she was first of the published authors in the Percy family. The most noted authors have been William Alexander Percy and Walker Percy of the twentieth century...
External links
- American Experience: "Fatal Flood" - Percy bio and involvement in the Mississippi Flood of 1927
- 1927 Flood