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Red River Parish, Louisiana | |
|---|---|
| Parish of Red River | |
 Red River Parish Courthouse in Coushatta | |
 Location within the U.S. state of Louisiana | |
 Louisiana's location within the U.S. | |
| Country |  United States |
| State |  Louisiana |
| Region | North Louisiana |
| Founded | March 2, 1871 |
| Named for | Red River |
| Parish seat | Coushatta |
| Largest municipality | Martin (area) Coushatta (population) |
| Incorporated municipalities | 4 (total)
|
| Area | |
| • Total | 1,040 km2 (402 sq mi) |
| • Land | 1,010 km2 (389 sq mi) |
| • Water | 30 km2 (13 sq mi) |
| • percentage | 9 km2 (3.3 sq mi) |
| Population (2020) | |
| • Total | 7,620 |
| • Density | 23/km2 (60/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC-6 (CST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) |
| Area code | 318 |
| Congressional district | 4th |
| Website | Red River Parish Police Jury |
Red River Parish (French: Paroisse de la Rivière-Rouge) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 7,620,[1] making it the fourth-least populous parish in Louisiana. The parish seat and most populous municipality is Coushatta.[2] It is one of the newer parishes, created in 1871 by the state legislature from parts of Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, Desoto and Natchitoches Parishes under Reconstruction.[3] The plantation economy was based on cotton cultivation, highly dependent on enslaved African labor before the American Civil War.
In 1880, the parish had a population with more than twice as many blacks as whites.[4] They were essentially disenfranchised in 1898 under a new state constitution after the white Democrats regained power in the state in the late 1870s through paramilitary intimidation at the polls. Most of the former slaves worked as sharecroppers and laborers, cultivating cotton. Because of the mechanization of agriculture, many blacks left the parish during the mid-20th century Great Migration to seek better job opportunities elsewhere. By 2000, the parish population was 9,622, with a white majority, but Coushatta itself was still two-thirds black.
- ^ "Census - Geography Profile: Red River Parish, Louisiana". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved January 22, 2023.
- ^ "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
- ^ "Red River Parish". Center for Cultural and Eco-Tourism. Retrieved September 5, 2014.
- ^ "IV: Red River Parish History". Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northwest Louisiana. Chicago: Southern Publishing Company. 1891. p. 209 – via HathiTrust.