Sumner

History

The heavily wooded swamp along the Tallahatchie River was historically part of the Choctaw Nation, one of the Five Civilized Tribes of the Southeast. Ceding large amounts of territory to the United States, they were forced to remove to Indian Territory in the 1830s under the Indian Removal Act. Afterward the US government sold the lands to European-American families. Among the early settlers were the Sumner family. The bottomland was covered by trees, vines, and underbrush when the pioneers started clearing the land for agriculture. The wealthiest men developed their property through the labor of enslaved African Americans. Their work on cotton plantations produced the commodity crop that was the basis of the economy for decades. Sumner was not incorporated until 1900; it was named after its founder and first mayor, Joseph Burton Sumner. In 1902 the county was divided into two districts, on either side of the Tallahatchie River, which was a barrier to cross-county transportation. Charleston was the original county seat, located east of the river in the first area of European-American settlement. Sumner was designated as the seat of the western district. The Tallahatchie County Courthouse in Sumner was built in 1902 on a lot donated by Joseph B. Sumner, who also donated the lot for the jail. The courthouse burned in 1908 and was rebuilt in 1909. Cotton continued to be the major commodity crop of the area well into the 20th century. The county seat also served as the market town for that district. This courthouse was the site of the September 1955 murder trial of two white men, J.W. Milam and Roy Bryant, charged in the lynching and murder of Emmett Till that year in adjoining Leflore County. (His beaten and mutilated body was found on the bank of the river in…

Geography

Sumner is located at (33.969867, -90.369636). According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all land.

Race & ethnicity

Largest nearby schools

• WEST TALLAHATCHIE HIGH SCHOOL
  High · WEBB · 260 students · 10.4:1 ratio
• R H BEARDEN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
  Elementary · SUMNER · 253 students · 11.5:1 ratio
• NORTH DELTA ALTERNATIVE SCHOOL
  High · Webb