Nearly 10,000 BCE, or BC, Native American or
Paleo-Indians appeared in the what today is referred to as the South. Descendant
Native American tribes include the Chickasaw and Choctaw. Other tribes who inhabited
the territory of Mississippi (and whose names were honored in local towns) include
the Natchez, the Yazoo, and the Biloxi. The first Spanish explorer to reach the
area was Hernando De Soto, who discovered the mouth of the Mississippi River in
the mid-1500's. When gold was not found abundantly, those exploring the region left.
Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle, traveled down the Mississippi River in 1682.
He claimed the entire Mississippi Valley, including present-day Mississippi, for
France and named it Louisiana in honor of King Louis XIV.
Soon French settlements were established along
the Gulf of Mexico coastline from New Orleans to Mobile, including several in Mississippi.
As word spread north about the value of this new territory, settlers by the thousands
began to arrive. In 1699, Pierre le Moyne founded the first French settlement at
Old Biloxi (now Ocean Springs). Pierre's brother, Jean Baptiste le Moyne, established
Fort Rosalie (now Natchez) in 1716. Three years later, black slaves arrived to work
in the colonist's tobacco, rice, and indigo fields. During the early 1700s, thousands
of settlers moved to Mississippi.
When the French and Indian War ended in 1763,
the French sway over Mississippi lands was over, the British took control, and turf
battles with the Spanish continued for another 20 years, or so.
In 1783 the British (by treaty) gave their
West Florida lands to Spain. Ironically, in 1783, the Treaty of Paris formally ended
the American Revolutionary War, and in defeat, all British controlled lands (including
most of Mississippi) were ceded to the U.S.
During the early 1800s, cotton became Mississippi's
major crop. The industry continued to grow as the Natchez Trace connected Mississippi
with Nashville, Tennessee. By 1810, the Mississippi Territory extended over all
present-day Alabama, Mississippi, and parts of Florida. In 1817, Congress divided
the Mississippi Territory into the state of Mississippi and the Alabama Territory.
On Dec. 10, 1817, Mississippi joined the Union
and became the 20th state. Its population had almost reached 60,000 people.
Riches gained from the endless toil of black
slaves in the south (over 400,000 in Mississippi alone) was a hot-button issue between
North and South, and that debate was at the forefront of America's Civil War (1861-1865).
Mississippi (pro slavery) 
seceded from the Union in 1861 and with eleven other states
formed the upstart Confederate States of America, with Jefferson Davis (from Mississippi)
as its first and only President. Many important battles were fought in or on the
borders of Mississippi. The Battle of Vicksburg became a turning point in the war.
For 47 days, Union forces fought the Confederate Army, both sides suffering many
casualties. Food became scarce. Finally, the Confederates surrendered the city on
July 4, 1863. This Union victory gave the North control of the Mississippi River.
Two years later the war ended.
The southern states were placed under military
control, and in Mississippi a revised constitution gave all of the former slaves
the right to vote. Subsequently, in 1870, that action helped Mississippi rejoin
the union. In 1890 Mississippi's constitution was revised once again, but this time
it took the right to vote (away) from black people; schools and public places were
now segregated, and the Ku Klux Klan and others began provoking racial hatred and
violence.
Although many suffered from poverty following
the war, the early 1900s brought great progress in industry, agriculture, and education
in Mississippi. The construction of railroads allowed access to forests in southeast
Mississippi, creating a boom in the lumber industry. State projects to drain many
of the swampy areas in Mississippi provided more suitable land for farming. An illiteracy
commission, established in 1916, started education programs for adults who could
not read or write.
Then, in 1929, America's stock market crashed,
the Great Depression took a strong hold, and Mississippi would suffer once again.
During the Great Depression the price of cotton (almost unbelievably) bottomed-out
at 5 cents a pound, thousands lost their farms. During World War II (1939-1945),
several war plants opened in Mississippi. As machines replaced farm workers, industrial
development was encouraged during the 1960s. In 1963, a huge oil refinery opened
in Pascagoula. The following year, the Mississippi Research and Development Center
was established. The center encourages new industries to come to the state, and
helps those already established to expand. By 1966, more Mississippians worked in
manufacturing than in agriculture.
Like other states, Mississippi had severe racial
problems. But in 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that segregated public schools
to be unconstitutional. Most schools, restaurants, and public places throughout
the state did not begin integration until 1964. In 1969, the U.S. Supreme Court
ordered an immediate end to all segregated public schools.
Today, agriculture continues as a major segment
of the state's economy. For almost four decades soybeans occupied the most acreage,
while cotton remained the largest cash crop. In 2001, however, more acres of cotton
were planted than soybeans, and Mississippi jumped to second in the nation in cotton
production (exceeded only by Texas). The state's farmlands also yield important
harvests of corn, peanuts, pecans, rice, sugar cane, and sweet potatoes as well
as poultry, eggs, meat animals, dairy products, feed crops, and horticultural crops.
Mississippi remains the world's leading producer of pond-raised catfish.
Mississippi Famous People
- Jimmy Buffett (1946 - ) Singer, songwriter; born in Pascagoula.
- Bo Diddley
(1928 - ) Guitarist; born in McComb.
- William Cuthbert Faulkner (1897 - 1962)Author, famous for
works such as The Sound in the Fury and Go Down, Moses; born in New Albany.
- Elizabeth
Lee Hazen (1885 - 1975) Inventor, developed the world's first useful antifungal
antibiotic, Nystatin.
- Faith Hill (1967 -
) Famous singer; grew up in Star.
- B.
B. King (1925 - ) Guitarist, often called the King of the Blues; born in
Indianola.
- James
Earl Jones (1931 - ) Entertainer, possesses one of the most instantly recognizable
voices in entertainment history; born in Arkabutla.
-
Elvis Presley (1935 - 1977) Popular rock-and-roll singer; born in East
Tupelo.
- Jerry Rice
(1962 - ) Football player, considered the greatest wide receiver ever to play in
the NFL; born and raised in Crawford.
- Hiram R. Revels (1822 - 1901) Clergyman, first African American
to sit in the U.S. Senate (1870 - 1871).
- Sela Ward - (1956 - ) Star of the 1990's sitcom hits Sisters and Once &
Again; born in Meridian.
- Tennessee Williams (1911 - 1983) Playwright, received
Pulitzer prizes for A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; born in
Columbus.
-
Oprah Winfrey (1954 - ) Talk-show host; born in Kosciusko.