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- Mississippi joined the Union on December
10, 1817, to become the 20th state. Mississippi
is the second of eleven states to secede from the Union on
Jan. 9, 1861. Mississippi is readmitted to the Union
in 1870.
Area - 46,907 sq.
miles Capital
- Jackson
© Copyright 2005
Roger W Hancock
Motto - Virtute et armis
(Latin - By valor and arms) Nickname
- Magnolia State
- Exploring for Spain,
Hernando De Soto discovers the Mississippi River in 1540. Spain
later lays claim to the area.
- A French expedition in 1699 by Pierre le Moyne d'Iberville
founds the first permanent settlement in the lower Mississippi
Valley to established France's claim to the area. The
settlement was Old Biloxi, near today's Ocean Springs.
- The French and Indian War begins in 1754 and ends in
1763.
- The 1763 Treaty of Paris gave England all the land east
of the Mississippi River.
- The original Mississippi Territory is created in 1798.
- Congress divides the Mississippi Territory in 1817, into
the state of Mississippi and the Alabama Territory.
- Mississippi joined the Union on Dec. 10, 1817 to
become the 20th state.
- Jackson, one of the first planned cities in the nation becomes
the Capital of Mississippi in 1822.
- Slavery is confined to the South with the Compromise of
1850.
- Mississippi is the second of eleven states to secede from
the Union on Jan. 9, 1861.
- Jefferson Davis becomes the first and only president of
the Confederate States of America in 1861.
- Slavery is abolished in 1863 by the adoption of the
Emancipation Proclamation.
- The Civil War ends in 1865.
- The reconstructed government of Mississippi is rejected by the
U.S. Congress. A military government is established.
- A new constitution is passed in 1869 granting the right
to vote, to Blacks.
- Mississippi is readmitted to the Union in 1870.
- Senator Hiram R. Revels, a minister from Natchez,
Mississippi, is the first black senator in American history. He
serves from January 1870 to March 1871.
- In 1890, a new state constitution is written that takes
away voting rights from most Blacks.
- Mississippi adopts statewide prohibition in 1908.
- Two women in 1923 are elected to the State Legislature,
Senator Belle Kearny and Representative Nellie Nugent
Somerville.
- The state enacts the first sales tax that becomes
effective in 1932.
- The U.S. Supreme Court rules in 1954
that segregation in public schools is unconstitutional.
- NAACP field secretary, Medgar Evers, is assassinated in 1963.
In 1964 Byron De La Beckwith is tried twice in 1964, both trials
result in hung juries. Thirty years later Beckwith will be found
guilty.
- Desegregation of non-public schools,
restaurants, and public places throughout the state begins in
1964.
- In 1968 Circuit Court judge 0. H. Barnett rules the Choctaw
Indians are subject to tribal laws, a reversal of the 1830's
ruling abolishing tribal government.
© Copyright 2005
Roger W Hancock
- In 1969, the U.S. Supreme Court in 1969 orders an
immediate end to all segregated public schools.
- Backs and women are recruited in 1972 for key Cabinet,
Board and judicial appointments by the administration of
Governor William Waller.
- U.S. Senator James 0. Eastland retires in 1978 after
36 years of service.
- Judge Lenore Prather becomes Mississippi's first woman
Supreme Court justice in 1983.
- Justice Reuben Anderson is Mississippi's first black
Supreme Court Justice, taking office in 1985.
- In 1986 Yazoo City lawyer Mike Espy is elected the first
black U.S. congressman from Mississippi since Reconstruction.
- Senator John C. Stennis after serving 40 years, announces
he will not seek reelection in 1987.
- Ray Mabus in 1987 becomes the youngest governor in the nation
at age 39.
- Mississippi becomes the 21st state in 1991 to allow voter
registration by mail.
- In 1991, Kirk Fordice becomes Mississippi's first
Republican governor since Reconstruction.
- 1997 Mississippi settles its tobacco litigation in 1997 that
requires the tobacco companies to pay the state about $4 billion
over the next 25 years.
- Voters decide in 2001 to retain the Confederate emblem on
the state flag by a margin of nearly 2 to 1.
-Gov. Ronnie Musgrove signed a 2001 law that mandates public
schools display In God We Trust in classrooms, cafeterias
and auditoriums.
One Vote Counts in Mississippi.
Sources - http://www.shgresources.com
- http://timelines.ws/states/MISSISSIPPI.HTML
- http://www.infoplease.com/spot/civilrightstimeline1.html
- http://www.clarionledger.com/news/0307/26/ma05.html -
http://www.elmersflag.com/products.cfm
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._state_mottos -
http://www.livgenmi.com/statemotto.htm |
