The shining black pipelines and the derricks brought new jobs to the region as well. Between 1900 and 1910, Caddo Parish's population leaped from 44,500 to 58,200. And many of these newcomers were blacks, lured from the rural South and the parched farms of Mississippi and Arkansas in particular. The younger generation left their tedious, backbreaking work at local farms to try for a taste of the economic and social benefits of the oil boom, gravitating toward Shreveport, trading rural dances for the red-light districts centered on Fannin Street.
Wolfe/lornell. The Life And Legend Of Leadbelly (pp. 6-7). Kindle Edition.
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