55 Facts About Mississippi

Mississippi is the 32nd largest and 35th-most populous of the 50 U S states and has the lowest per-capita income in the United States.

Mississippi declared its secession from the Union on January 9, 1861, and was one of the seven original Confederate States, which constituted the largest slaveholding states in the nation.

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.

Mississippi produces more than half of the country's farm-raised catfish, and is a top producer of sweet potatoes, cotton and pulpwood.

Mississippi is almost entirely within the Gulf coastal plain, and generally consists of lowland plains and low hills.

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The Mississippi Territory was later twice expanded to include disputed territory claimed by both the United States and Spain.

Mississippi was a slave society, with the economy dependent on slavery.

On January 9, 1861, Mississippi became the second state to declare its secession from the Union, and it was one of the founding members of the Confederate States.

Pockets of Unionism in Mississippi were in places such as the northeastern corner of the state and Jones County, where Newton Knight, formed a revolt with Unionist leanings, known as the "Free State of Jones.

Mississippi Delta contained so much fertile bottomland that had not been developed before the Civil War, 90 percent of the land was still frontier.

Mississippi became a dry state in 1908 by an act of the state legislature.

Blacks and whites in Mississippi generated rich, quintessentially American music traditions: gospel music, country music, jazz, blues and rock and roll.

Mississippi was a center of activity, based in black churches, to educate and register black voters, and to work for integration.

Mississippi earned a reputation in the 1960s as a reactionary state.

Mississippi continued as the only African American in the state legislature until 1976 and was repeatedly elected into the 21st century, including three terms as Speaker of the House.

Mississippi ratified the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, in March 1984, which had already entered into force by August 1920; granting women the right to vote.

In 1987, 20 years after the U S Supreme Court had ruled in 1967's Loving v Virginia that a similar Virginian law was unconstitutional, Mississippi repealed its ban on interracial marriage, which had been enacted in 1890.

Previous flag of Mississippi, used until June 30, 2020, featured the Confederate battle flag.

Mississippi became the last state to remove the Confederate battle flag as an official state symbol on June 30, 2020, when Governor Tate Reeves signed a law officially retiring the second state flag.

Mississippi is bordered to the north by Tennessee, to the east by Alabama, to the south by Louisiana and a narrow coast on the Gulf of Mexico; and to the west, across the Mississippi River, by Louisiana and Arkansas.

Mississippi has a humid subtropical climate with long, hot and humid summers, and short, mild winters.

The temperature varies little statewide in the summer; however, in winter, the region near Mississippi Sound is significantly warmer than the inland portion of the state.

Small amounts of snow fall in northern and central Mississippi; snow is occasional in the southern part of the state.

Climate change in Mississippi encompasses the effects of climate change, attributed to man-made increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide, in the U S state of Mississippi.

Studies show that Mississippi is among a string of "Deep South" states that will experience the worst effects of climate change in the United States.

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Mississippi is heavily forested, with over half of the state's area covered by wild or cultivated trees.

Mississippi has one of the richest fish faunas in the United States, with 204 native fish species.

Mississippi has a rich freshwater mussel fauna, with about 90 species in the primary family of native mussels.

Mississippi is home to 63 crayfish species, including at least 17 endemic species.

From 2000 to 2010, the United States Census Bureau reported that Mississippi had the highest rate of increase in people identifying as mixed-race, up 70 percent in the decade; it amounts to a total of 1.

South Midland terms in northern Mississippi include: tow sack, dog irons (andirons), plum peach (clingstone peach), snake doctor (dragonfly), and stone wall (rock fence).

Mississippi has the largest percentage of African-American same-sex couples among total households.

Mississippi has the highest rate of infant and neonatal deaths of any U S state.

Age-adjusted data shows Mississippi has the highest overall death rate, and the highest death rate from heart disease, hypertension and hypertensive renal disease, influenza and pneumonia.

In 2011, Mississippi had the fewest dentists per capita in the United States.

Mississippi had the highest rate of obesity of any U S state from 2005 to 2008, and ranks first in the nation for high blood pressure, diabetes, and adult inactivity.

The planter aristocracy, the elite of antebellum Mississippi, kept the tax structure low for their own benefit, making only private improvements.

In 1900, two-thirds of farm owners in Mississippi were blacks, a major achievement for them and their families.

Gambling towns in Mississippi have attracted increased tourism: they include the Gulf Coast resort towns of Bay St Louis, Gulfport and Biloxi, and the Mississippi River towns of Tunica, Greenville, Vicksburg and Natchez.

In 2012, Mississippi had the sixth largest gambling revenue of any state, with $2.

Mississippi, like the rest of its southern neighbors, is a right-to-work state.

Proportion of federal spending in Mississippi is directed toward large federal installations such as Camp Shelby, John C Stennis Space Center, Meridian Naval Air Station, Columbus Air Force Base, and Keesler Air Force Base.

Mississippi is one of five states that elects its state officials in odd-numbered years.

Mississippi holds elections for these offices every four years, always in the year preceding presidential elections.

In 2004, Mississippi voters approved a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and prohibiting Mississippi from recognizing same-sex marriages performed elsewhere.

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Mississippi is one of the most anti-abortion states in the United States.

Mississippi is one of thirty-one states which practice capital punishment.

Section 265 of the Constitution of the State of Mississippi declares that "No person who denies the existence of a Supreme Being shall hold any office in this state.

Gun laws in Mississippi are among the most permissive in the country, with no license or background check required to openly carry handguns in most places in the state.

Mississippi led the South in developing a disenfranchising constitution, passing it in 1890.

Mississippi has six airports with commercial passenger service, the busiest in Jackson.

Until the Civil War era, Mississippi had a small number of schools and no educational institutions for African Americans.

In 2008, 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 sixth-lowest spending per pupil in the nation.

In contrast, Mississippi had the 17th-highest average SAT scores in the nation.

In 2007, Mississippi students scored the lowest of any state on the National Assessments of Educational Progress in both math and science.