Day 2: Clarksdale, Mississippi

Prior to the Civil War, the dangers of annual floods left the rich cotton-producing lands of the Mississippi Delta largely undeveloped. However, once its flooding was controlled with the creation of the Levee system, the Delta began to produce the richest plantations in the Cotton Belt. Thus, the region became the capital of the sharecropping system. The Delta's current economic woes can be attributed to its isolation, which was caused by a lack of accessibility, and to the mechanization of farming that eliminated thousands of jobs.