Final answer:
The levees at Mounds Landing broke on April 21, 1927, during the Great Mississippi Flood. These failures highlight the consequences of natural disasters and inadequate infrastructure, demonstrated by subsequent events like Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which disproportionately affected African American communities.
Step-by-step explanation:
When Did the Levees Break at Mounds Landing?
The levees at Mounds Landing broke during the catastrophic Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, which remains one of the most destructive river floods in the history of the United States. The levees gave way on April 21, 1927, leading to widespread inundation of the Mississippi Delta. This egregious failure of the levee system at Mounds Landing was the result of untamed natural forces coupled with inadequate flood control infrastructure.
The Impact of Levee Failures
The breaking of the levees is emblematic of both the natural disasters that can befall a region as well as the human failure in preventing such disasters. Failures like these can result in economic inequality and racial divisions, as exemplified by the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. During Katrina, the storm's powerful surge overwhelmed the New Orleans' levees, causing them to fail and tragically resulting in the loss of lives and devastation of communities, particularly impacting African Americans.