Portal:Mississippi

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Mississippi (/ˌmɪsɪˈsɪpi/ (listen)) is a state in the Deep South region of the Southern United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Mississippi's western boundary is largely defined by the Mississippi River. Mississippi is the 32nd largest and 34th-most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Jackson is both the state's capital and largest city. Greater Jackson is the state's most populous metropolitan area, with an estimated population of 580,166 in 2018.

On December 10, 1817, Mississippi became the 20th state admitted to the Union. By 1860, Mississippi was the nation's top cotton-producing state and enslaved persons accounted for 55% of the state population. Mississippi declared its secession from the Union on March 23, 1861, and was one of the seven original Confederate States, which constituted the largest slaveholding states in the nation. Following the Civil War, it was restored to the Union on February 23, 1870.

Until the Great Migration of the 1930s, African Americans were a majority of Mississippi's population. Mississippi was the site of many prominent events during the civil rights movement, including the Ole Miss riot of 1962 by white students objecting to desegregation, the 1963 assassination of Medgar Evers, and the 1964 Freedom Summer murders of three activists working on voting rights. With large areas of agriculture and rural towns, Mississippi frequently ranks low among states in measures of health, education, and development, and high in measures of poverty. In 2010, 37.3% of Mississippi's population was African American, the highest percentage of any state.

Mississippi is almost entirely within the Gulf coastal plain, and generally consists of lowland plains and low hills. The northwest remainder of the state consists of the Mississippi Delta, a section of the Mississippi Alluvial Plain. Mississippi's highest point is Woodall Mountain at 807 feet (246 m) above sea level adjacent to the Cumberland Plateau; the lowest is the Gulf of Mexico. Mississippi has a humid subtropical climate classification. (Full article...)

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Hurt making a recording for the Library of Congress in July 1963

John Smith Hurt (March 8, 1893 – November 2, 1966), better known as Mississippi John Hurt, was an American country blues singer and guitarist.

Raised in Avalon, Mississippi, Hurt taught himself to play the guitar around the age of nine. He worked as a sharecropper and began playing at dances and parties, singing to a melodious fingerpicked accompaniment. His first recordings, made for Okeh Records in 1928, were commercial failures, and he continued to work as a farmer.

Dick Spottswood and Tom Hoskins, a blues enthusiast, located Hurt in 1963 and persuaded him to move to Washington, D.C. He was recorded by the Library of Congress in 1964. This helped further the American folk music revival, which led to the rediscovery of many other bluesmen of Hurt's era. Hurt performed on the university and coffeehouse concert circuit with other Delta blues musicians who were brought out of retirement. He also recorded several albums for Vanguard Records. (Full article...)

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Old Vicksburg, Mississippi courthouse, circa 1860.

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State symbols

Flower	Magnolia
Motto	Virtute et armis (By Valor and Arms)
Nickname	The Magnolia State
Toy	Teddy bear
Rock	Petrified wood
See:	Mississippi Symbols for more

WikiProjects

Hello! As a past or current member of WikiProject Mississippi, a WikiProject dedicated to developing and improving articles about Mississippi, you are cordially invited to edit, assess, and improve our coverage of all things Mississippi on Wikipedia!

Mississippi topics

Topics: Constitution - Governors - Lieutenant Governors - Legislature - Supreme Court - History - Music

Regions: Golden Triangle - Mississippi Plain - Mississippi Delta - Mississippi Gulf Coast - Natchez District - Pine Belt - Tennessee Valley

Cities: Biloxi - Clarksdale - Clinton - Columbus - Greenville - Gulfport - Hattiesburg - Jackson - Meridian - Olive Branch - Pascagoula - Pearl - Ridgeland - Southaven - Starkville - Tupelo - Vicksburg

History: State of Mississippi

Geography: Rivers - Lakes - Mountains - National forests - Islands - Wilderness areas - Natural disasters - Parks - State Parks

Education: Elementary schools - Middle schools - High schools - UIL

People: Actors - Writers - Musicians - Native American Tribes

Industries: Agriculture - Oil

CDPs: Byram - Diamondhead - Kiln - Lyman - Pearlington - Saucier - Shoreline Park - West Hattiesburg

Metros: Gulfport‑Biloxi - Hattiesburg - Jackson - Memphis - Pascagoula

Counties: Adams - Alcorn - Amite - Attala - Benton - Bolivar - Calhoun - Carroll - Chickasaw - Choctaw - Claiborne - Clarke - Clay - Coahoma - Copiah - Covington - DeSoto - Forrest - Franklin - George - Greene - Grenada - Hancock - Harrison - Hinds - Holmes - Humphreys - Issaquena - Itawamba - Jackson - Jasper - Jefferson - Jefferson Davis - Jones - Kemper - Lafayette - Lamar - Lauderdale - Lawrence - Leake - Lee - Leflore - Lincoln - Lowndes - Madison - Marion - Marshall - Monroe - Montgomery - Neshoba - Newton - Noxubee - Oktibbeha - Panola - Pearl River - Perry - Pike - Pontotoc - Prentiss - Quitman - Rankin - Scott - Sharkey - Simpson - Smith - Stone - Sunflower - Tallahatchie - Tate - Tippah - Tishomingo - Tunica - Union - Walthall - Warren - Washington - Wayne - Webster - Wilkinson - Winston - Yalobusha - Yazoo

Statistics: Population

Lists: Mississippi-related lists

Did you know...

...that condensed milk was invented and first canned in Liberty by Gail Borden?
...that the first bottle of Dr. Tichener's Antiseptic was produced in Liberty also?
...that the first female rural mail carrier in the United States was Mrs. Mamie Thomas? She delivered mail by buggy to the area southeast of Vicksburg in 1914.
...that in 1963 the University of Mississippi Medical Center accomplished the world's first human lung transplant and, on January 23, 1964, Dr. James D. Hardy performed the world's first heart transplant surgery?
...that the world's largest cactus plantation is in Edwards?
...that Burnita Shelton Mathews of Hazelhurst was the first woman federal judge in the United States and served in Washington, D.C.?
...that Mississippi was the first state in the nation to have a planned system of junior colleges?
...that David Harrison of Columbus owns the patent on the Soft Toilet Seat? Over 1,000,000 are sold every year.
...that the first football player on a Wheaties box was Walter Payton of Columbia?
...that the Vicksburg National Cemetery is the second largest national cemetery in the country? Arlington National Cemetery is the largest.
...that Pine Sol was invented in 1929 by Jackson native Harry A. Cole, Sr.?
...that root beer was invented in Biloxi in 1898 by Edward Adolf Barq, Sr. and is still sold today as Barq's Root Beer?
...that Natchez was settled by the French in 1716 and is the oldest permanent settlement on the Mississippi River? Natchez once had 500 millionaires, more than any other city except New York City.
...that S.B. Sam Vick of Oakland played for the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox? He was the only man ever to pinch hit for Babe Ruth.