SUNFLOWER COUNTY 

 

A Place of Legends and Democrats

 

Sunflower County is one of the most heavily Democratic Counties in Mississippi with all its elected county leaders hailing from our party. Sunflower County elected officials are 100 percent Democrats and it has a large and active Democratic Executive Committee.

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The county’s history, however is rife with political contradictions. On the one hand, it is the birthplace of the national Citizens’ Council movement and the home of U.S. Sen. James O. Eastland and U.S. District Court Judge William Harold Cox. On the other hand, it was a hotbed of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s which culminated in Freedom Summer in 1964 and the home of Fannie Lou Hamer and Charles McLaurin.

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It also has a rich cultural history. Located in the Heart of the Mississippi Delta, it nurtured such music legends as Charley Patton, B.B. King, Pop Staples and Johnny Russell. It also is the home of Craig Claiborne (gourmet, chef and former longtime Food Editor for the New York Times), author Steve Yarbrough and actor Willie Best. Sunflower County also counts as its native son renowned athletes Archie Manning, Sam Lacey, Coolidge Ball and Micheal Spurlock.

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Must-see attractions in Sunflower County include the world-class B.B. King Museum and Delta Heritage Center in the county seat of Indianola, historic blues site Dockery Farms near Ruleville and the Fannie Lou Hamer Memorial Garden and Museum in Ruleville.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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