Mississippi State Guide

Mississippi is a southern state of the United States. It is considered part of the Deep South. The state takes its name from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary. Famous Mississippians include Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederacy, author William Faulkner and recent Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott.

Mississippi State Guide - Name

The name Mississippi, which means "great river," comes from either Ojibwe, a Native American language spoken around the river's headwaters, or some other closely related Algonquian language. Nicknames for Mississippi are the Magnolia State and the Hospitality State.

Mississippi State Guide - Geography

Mississippi is bordered on the north by the state of Tennessee; on the east by Alabama, on the south by Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico; and on the west by Louisiana and Arkansas (across the Mississippi River).

Major rivers include Mississippi River, Big Black River, Pearl River, Yazoo River, Pascagoula River, and Tombigbee River. Major lakes include Ross Barnett Reservoir, Arkabutla Lake, Sardis Lake, and Grenada Lake.

The highest point in Mississippi, part of the foothills of the Cumberland Mountains is Woodall Mountain. Hardly a mountain, Woodall Mountain is only 806 feet (246 m) above sea level. The lowest point is along the shore at the Gulf of Mexico; sea level. The Mean Elevation is 300 feet (91 m) above sea level.

Most of Mississippi is part of the East Gulf Coastal Plain, and the rest of the state is made up of a section of the Mississippi Alluvial Plain. The East Gulf Coastal Plain is generally composed of low hills, such as the Pine Hills in the south and the North Central Hills. Somewhat higher elevations are in the Pontotoc Ridge and the Fall Line Hills in the northeast. Yellow-brown loess soil is in the west, and a region of fertile black earth, part of the Black Belt, is in the northeast. The coastline, which includes large bays at Bay Saint Louis, Biloxi, and Pascagoula, is separated from the Gulf of Mexico proper by the shallow Mississippi Sound, which is partially enclosed by Petit Bois, Horn, Ship, and Cat islands. The Mississippi Alluvial Plain, known also as the Mississippi Delta, is narrow in the south and widens north of Vicksburg. The region has rich soil, partly made up of silt deposited by floodwaters of the Mississippi River.

Areas under the management of the National Park Service include:

* Brices Cross Roads National Battlefield Site near Baldwyn
* Gulf Islands National Seashore
* Natchez National Historical Park in Natchez
* Natchez Trace Parkway
* Tupelo National Battlefield in Tupelo
* Vicksburg National Cemetery in Vicksburg
* Vicksburg National Military Park also in Vicksburg

Mississippi State Guide - Climate

Mississippi has a warm humid subtropical climate with long summers and short, mild winters. Temperatures average about 82°F (about 28°C) in July and about 48 °F (about 9 °C) in January. The temperature varies little across the state in summer, but in winter the region near Mississippi Sound is significantly warmer than most of the rest of the state. The recorded temperature in Mississippi has ranged from -19 °F (-28.3 °C), in 1966, at Corinth in the northeast, to 115 °F (46.1 °C), in 1930, at Holly Springs in the north. Yearly precipitation generally increases from north to south. Thus, Clarksdale, in the northwest, gets about 50 inches (about 1,270 mm) of precipitation annually and Biloxi, in the south, about 61 inches (about 1,550 mm). Small amounts of snow fall in northern and central Mississippi, although snow is not unheard of around the southern part of the state.

In the late summer and the fall, the state (especially the southern part) is often affected by hurricanes moving north from the Gulf of Mexico, and occasionally impacted by major hurricanes, which can be quite devastating in coastal communities. Thunderstorms are common in Mississippi, especially in the southern part of the state. On average, Mississippi has around 27 tornadoes annually with the northern part of the state more vulnerable earlier in the year and the southern part becoming more vulnerable a little later.

Mississippi State Guide - Ecology

Mississippi is heavily forested, with over half of the state's acreage covered by wild trees (mostly pine trees, but Mississippi has an abundance of other trees (cottonwood, elm, hickory, oak, pecan, sweet gum, and tupelo). Lumber is a prevalent industry in Mississippi.

Mississippi State Guide - History

Mississippi was part of the Mississippian culture in the early part of the second millennium AD; descendant Native American tribes include the Chickasaw and Choctaw. Other tribes who inhabited the territory of Mississippi (and whose names became those of local towns) include the Natchez, the Yazoo, and the Biloxi.

The first European expedition into the territory that became Mississippi was that of Hernando de Soto, who passed through in 1540. The first settlement was that of Ocean Springs (or Old Biloxi), settled by Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville in 1699. In 1716, Natchez was founded on the Mississippi River (as Fort Rosalie); it became the dominant town and trading post of the area. After spending some time under Spanish, British, and French nominal jurisdiction, the Mississippi area was deeded to the British after the French and Indian War under the terms of the Treaty of Paris.

The Mississippi Territory was organized on April 7, 1798, from territory ceded by Georgia and South Carolina; it was later twice expanded to include disputed territory claimed by both the U.S. and Spain. Land was purchased (generally through unequal treaties) from Native American tribes from 1800 to about 1830.

Mississippi was the 20th state admitted to the Union, on December 10, 1817.

When cotton was king during the 1850s, Mississippi plantation owners — especially those of the Delta and Black Belt regions — became increasingly wealthy due to the high fertility of the soil and the high price of cotton on the international market. The severe wealth imbalances and the necessity of large-scale slave populations to sustain such income played a heavy role in both state politics and in the support for secession.

Mississippi was the second state to secede from the Union as one of the Confederate States of America on January 9, 1861. During the Civil War the Confederate States were defeated. Under the terms of Reconstruction, Mississippi was readmitted to the Union on February 23, 1870.

Mississippi was considered to typify the Deep South during the era of Jim Crow. A series of increasingly restrictive racial segregation laws enacted during the first part of the 20th century resulted in the emigration of almost half a million people, three-quarters of them black, in the 1940s. However, at the same time, Mississippi became a center of rich, quintessentially American music traditions: gospel music, country music, jazz music, blues, and rock and roll all were invented, promulgated, or heavily developed by Mississippi musicians. Mississippi was also noted for its authors in the early twentieth century, especially William Faulkner and Tennessee Williams.

Mississippi was a focus of the American Civil Rights Movement. Most white Mississippians, through their politicians and involvement in the White Citizens' Council movement, and the violent tactics of its Ku Klux Klan members and sympathizers gave Mississippi a reputation as a reactionary state during the 1960s. The only nuclear weapons ever detonated east of the Mississippi were near Hattiesberg.

Perhaps symbolic of its reactionary reputation, the state was the last to repeal prohibition and to (symbolically) ratify the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery, in 1966 and 1995 respectively--though these amendments were already legally in effect in Mississippi, as in the rest of the U.S.

On August 17, 1969, Category 5 Hurricane Camille hit the Mississippi coast, killing 248 people and causing US$1.5 billion in damage (1969 dollars). On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina caused even greater destruction across the entire 90 miles of Mississippi Gulf Coast from Louisiana to Alabama.

Mississippi State Guide - Population

As of 2005, Mississippi has an estimated population of 2,921,088, which is an increase of 20,320, or 0.7%, from the prior year and an increase of 76,432, or 2.7%, since the year 2000. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 80,733 people (that is 228,849 births minus 148,116 deaths) and an increase due to net migration of 75 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 10,653 people, and migration within the country produced a net loss of 10,578 people.

* The 2000 Census reported Mississippi's population as 2,844,658. The center of population of Mississippi is located in Leake County, in the town of Lena.

Mississippi State Guide - Economics

The Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates that Mississippi's total state product in 2003 was $72 billion. Per capita personal income in 2005 was $33,569, 50th in the nation (ranking includes the District of Columbia). In contrast to the lowest per capita income Mississippians consistently rank as one of the highest per capita in charitable contributions Generosity Index

Mississippi's rank as one of the poorest states can be traced to the Civil War. Before the Civil War, Mississippi was the fifth-wealthiest state in the nation. Slaves were then counted as valuable property and, in Mississippi, more than half the population was enslaved; in non-slave states, human capital was not included in estimates of wealth. Further, Mississippi's antebellum wealth rank should not be compared with today's GDP rank, which is an estimate of income; wealth and income are separate concepts. The war cost the state 30,000 men. Plantation owners who survived the war were virtually bankrupted by the emancipation of slaves, and Union troops left widespread destruction in their wake.

A decision in 1990 to legalize casino gambling along the Mississippi River and the Gulf Coast has led to economic gains for the state. However, an estimated $500,000 per day in tax revenue was lost following Hurricane Katrina's severe damage to several coastal casinos in August 2005. Gambling towns in Mississippi include the Gulf Coast towns of Bay Saint Louis, Gulfport and Biloxi, and the Mississippi River towns of Tunica, Greenville, Vicksburg and Natchez. Before Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, Mississippi was the second largest gambling state in the Union, ahead of New Jersey and behind Nevada.

On October 17, 2005, Governor Haley Barbour signed a bill into law that now allows casinos in Hancock and Harrison counties to rebuild on land (but within 800 feet of the water). The only exception is in Harrison County, where the new law states that casinos can be built to the southern boundary of U.S. Route 90.

Mississippi collects personal income tax within 3 tax brackets, ranging from 3% to 5%. The retail sales tax rate in Mississippi is 7%. Additional local sales taxes also are collected. For purposes of assessment for ad valorem taxes, taxable property is divided into five classes.

Mississippi State Guide - Law and Government

As with all other U.S. States and the federal government, Mississippi's government is based on the separation of legislative, executive and judicial power. Executive authority in the state rests with the Governor, currently Haley Barbour (Republican). The Lieutenant Governor, currently Amy Tuck (originally elected as a Democrat, she switched to the Republican Party in 2002), is elected on a separate ballot. Both the governor and lieutenant governor are elected to four-year terms of office. Unlike the federal government, but like many other U.S. States, most of the heads of major executive departments are elected by the citizens of Mississippi rather than appointed by the governor.

Legislative authority resides in the state legislature, composed of the Senate and House of Representatives. The lieutenant governor presides over the Senate, while the House of Representatives selects their own Speaker. The state constitution permits the legislature to establish by law the number of senators and representatives, up to a maximum of 52 senators and 122 representatives. Current state law sets the number of senators at 52 and representatives at 122. The term of office for senators and representatives is four years.

Supreme judicial authority rests with the state Supreme Court, which has statewide authority. In addition, there is a statewide Court of Appeals, as well as Circuit Courts, Chancery Courts and Justice Courts, which have more limited geographical jurisdiction. The nine judges of the Supreme Court are elected from three districts (three judges per district) by the state's citizens in non-partisan elections to eight-year staggered terms. The ten judges of the Court of Appeals are elected from five districts (two judges per district) for eight-year staggered terms. Judges for the smaller courts are elected to four-year terms by the state's citizens who live within that court's jurisdiction.

At the federal level, Mississippi's two U.S. senators are Trent Lott (Republican) and Thad Cochran (Republican). As of the 2001 reapportionment, the state has four congressmen in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Mississippi has 82 counties. Citizens of Mississippi counties elect the five members of their county Board of Supervisors from single-member districts, as well as other county officials.

Mississippi State Guide - Politics

Mississippi, like the rest of the American South, long supported the Democratic Party. Defeat in the Civil War at the hands of Abraham Lincoln, and the policies of Reconstruction, which included federally appointed Republican governors, led to considerable white Southern resentment toward the Republican Party. Following the Compromise of 1877, federal troops enforcing the provisions of Reconstruction were pulled out of the South. Thereafter the Democratic Party regained political control of the state, using methods designed to depress black voter turnout. The Mississippi state government was the first after the war to pass a law preventing black voters with the Grandfather Clause in 1890. After it was declared unconstitutional, it was replaced by a poll tax and literacy tests. By 1900, the vast majority of African Americans in the state were denied the right to vote. Not until 1966, following the passage of the Federal Voting Rights Act of 1965, would most regain the vote.

For 116 years (from 1876 to 1992), Mississippians only elected Democratic governors. Over the same period, the Southern Democratic Party dominated other state and federal elections in Mississippi. However, since the 1960s the Republican Party has become competitive in statewide elections, and, in recent years, it has become dominant in the state's federal elections, winning the state's electoral votes in every election since 1980.

Mississippi is one of the most conservative states in the US, and with religion often playing a large role in citizens' political views. Liquor laws are particularly strict and variable from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Liquor sales are frequently banned on Sunday. Many counties allow no alcoholic beverage sales ("dry"), while others allow beer but not liquor, or liquor but not beer. Some allow beer sales, but only if it is warm. These laws make roads leading from dry to wet counties hazardous on weekend evenings as inebriated residents return home. In 2004, 86% of voters amended the state constitution to ban any legal rights for same sex couples- the highest level of support any such initiative has received in the United States.

Mississippi State Guide - Education

Until the Civil War era, Mississippi had only a small number of schools and no educational institutions for blacks. The first school for blacks was established in 1862, and a system of public education was started in 1870, but as late as the early 20th century, there were few schools in rural areas. Blacks and whites attended separate public schools in Mississippi until the 1960s, when they began to be integrated following a 1954 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that racially segregated public schools were unconstitutional. In the late 1980s, the state had 954 public elementary and secondary schools, with a total yearly enrollment of about 369,500 elementary pupils and about 132,500 secondary students. Some 45,700 students attended private schools. In 2004, Mississippi was ranked last among the fifty states in academic achievement by the American Legislative Exchange Council's Report Card on Education, with the lowest average ACT scores and spending per pupil in the nation.

Colleges, universities and community colleges

* Alcorn State University
* Belhaven College
* Blue Mountain College
* Coahoma Community College
* Copiah-Lincoln Community College
* Delta State University
* East Central Community College
* East Mississippi Community College
* Hinds Community College
* Holmes Community College
* Itawamba Community College
* Jackson State University
* Jones County Junior College
* Magnolia Bible College
* Meridian Community College
* Millsaps College
* Mississippi College
* Mississippi Delta Community College
* Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College
* Mississippi State University
* Mississippi University for Women
* Mississippi Valley State University
* Northeast Mississippi Community College
* Northwest Mississippi Community College
* Pearl River Community College
* Reformed Theological Seminary
* Rust College
* Southwest Mississippi Community College
* Tougaloo College
* University of Mississippi
* University of Mississippi Medical Center
* The University of Southern Mississippi
* Wesley Biblical Seminary
* Wesley College
* William Carey College

Mississippi State Guide - Miscellaneous Topics

The state takes its name from the Mississippi River, which flows along the western boundary. The name itself comes from either the Ojibwe, a Native American language spoken around the river's headwaters, or some other closely related Algonquian language, meaning "great river." Other nicknames attached to Mississippi are the Magnolia State and the Hospitality State.

It is common for young children in the United States to count "One-Mississippi, two-Mississippi" during games like hide and seek to approximate counting by seconds.

The Teddy Bear gets its name from a hunting trip in 1902, to Sharkey County Mississippi, by President Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt, when Roosevelt refused to shoot a captured bear.

In 1936 Dr. Leslie Rush, of Rush Hospital in Meridian, performed the first bone pinning in the United States. This led to the development of the "Rush Pin" which is still in use to this day.

The first woman federal judge in the United States was Burnita Shelton Matthews of Burnell (Hazelhurst) MS, Appointed by Harry S Truman on October 21, 1949.

The first human lung transplant was performed in 1963 by Dr. James D. Hardy of the University of Mississippi in Jackson. In 1964, Dr. Hardy performed the first chimpanzee to human heart transplant with some success, the heart continued to beat for 90 minutes after transplant.

Former astronaut and administrator of NASA Richard H. Truly is from Fayette. Educated in Mississippi and Georgia, Truly was in charge of reforming NASA (1989 to 1992) in the era immediately following the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. He was the first former astronaut to head NASA.

The world-renowned USA International Ballet Competition takes place in Jackson, MS once every four years

Article Source: Wikipedia