Grenada () is a city in Grenada County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 13,092 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Grenada County.
History
Grenada was formed in 1836, after federal removal of the Choctaw people who had previously occupied this territory. It was the result of the union of the two adjacent towns (separated by the present-day Line Street) of Pittsburg and Tulahoma (or Tullahoma), founded, respectively, by Franklin Plummer and Hiram Runnels.
Development included stores and businesses that supported the county court and market days. Plantations were first developed along the Yalobusha River for transportation and access to water. Cotton was the major commodity crop, dependent on the labor of African slaves.
In 1851, Grenada townspeople founded the Yalobusha Baptist Female Institute for education of their young White women. In 1882, the school was taken over by the Methodists and renamed as Grenada College. Classified in the 20th century as a junior college, it encountered financial troubles during the Great Depression. The church closed the college in 1936 and transferred its assets to Millsaps College.
On December 20, 1862, Confederate general Earl Van Dorn, whose troops were encamped in Grenada, led the three brigades under his command in a raid that destroyed the Union supply depot at Holly Springs, Mississippi.
In 1885 two men, Perry McChristian and Felix Williams, were accused of murdering two peddlers and were lynched. During the lynching, they implicated two black men, Bartley James and John Campbell, who were then also lynched by a mob of White men.
Civil rights era
In 1966, Martin Luther King Jr. and Dick Gregory spent a week demonstrating in Grenada against discrimination and for voters' rights. During that time, town officials cooperated and protected marchers with local police. Six black voter registrars were hired and registered 1,000 black residents during that week. After the march passed through, the county fired the registrars and the town never entered the new black voters on official rolls; they had to start over again to gain official voter registration.
As the civil rights movement continued to press in 1966 and 1967 for voter registration and opportunities in employment, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) ran a civil rights organizing project in Grenada which lasted at least 11 months. They worked to register voters and gain concessions for hiring black Americans in local businesses and restaurants. These were still segregated, despite the federal anti-segregation and voting rights laws.
In August 1966, a federal judge ordered Grenada to allow black students to enroll in the previously all-White schools. White leaders used threats of eviction and firing to coerce black parents to withdraw their children from school. While the intimidation caused 200 out of 450 students to withdraw, the remaining 250 students attempted to enter school on September 12, 1966. A group of White people met them at the school and chased them away, pursuing them through the streets and beating the children with chains, pipes and clubs. The group went so far as to beat reporters as well. The group repeated this for the first week of school, while local law enforcement did not intervene. Federal protection for the children began on September 17, and 13 members of the group were arrested.
Geography
The Yalobusha River flows through Grenada. Grenada Lake is located a short distance east of the city.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and 0.03% is water.
Climate
Demographics
2020 census
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 12,700 people, 5,100 households, and 2,988 families residing in the city.
2000 census
As of the census of 2000, there were 14,879 people, 5,701 households, and 3,870 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 6,210 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 49.28% White, 49.34% African American, 0.16% Native American, 0.50% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.12% from other races, and 0.56% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.70% of the population.