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History | Symbols | Interesting Facts | Famous People
Three major groups of Native
Americans lived in the Mississippi region when European exploration of the
area began. The Chickasaw
lived in the north and east, the Choctaw in the central part, and the
Natchez in the southwest. In
1540, Spaniard Hernando De Soto became the first known European to enter
the Mississippi Valley. 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. 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 Natchez rose up against the colonists in 1729, France rallied to
destroy most of the Indian tribe the following year.
In 1736, the Chickasaw and British soldiers defeated the French in
northeast Mississippi. This
led to the French and Indian War (1754-1763).
The Treaty of Paris, signed after the war, gave England all the
land east of the Mississippi River. Mississippi
was divided into two main parts; the southern section to a British
province called West Florida and the remaining portion to the Georgia
colony. After
the Revolutionary War (1775-1783), the United States gained England’s
land east of the Mississippi River. Spain
had taken over Mississippi’s Gulf Coast that was located in West
Florida. In 1798, Congress
created the Mississippi Territory. The
Louisiana Purchase made the Mississippi River part of the United States in
1803. This encouraged growth
of the newly formed territory, because the river allowed Mississippi
trading ships to sail to the Gulf of Mexico. 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. Cotton
continued to grow in importance with the invention of the cotton gin in
1793. The farmers used slave
labor to operate the large cotton plantations.
By 1860, Mississippi’s black slaves outnumbered white people
437,000 to 354,000. Slavery
had become an intense debate between the Northern and Southern states. When Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the U.S. in
1860, many southerners feared he would end slavery in the South.
Mississippi seceded on Jan. 9, 1861, the second of eleven to
secede. These states formed
the Confederate States of America. Mississippian Jefferson Davis became the Confederacy’s 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. All
slaves were freed at the end of the war.
Mississippi was placed under military control. In Dec. 1869, the state passed a new constitution granting
black people the right to vote. On
Feb. 23, 1870, Mississippi was allowed to return to the Union. For a time, blacks in the state voted and some held
government positions. However
in 1890, a new state constitution was written that took away voting rights
from most black people. Segregation
began within schools, buses, and many public places.
Groups like the Ku Klux Klan were organized to terrorize black
people. 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. During
the 1920s, several legislative actions established a state commission of
education, a state library commission, and a highway-building program.
In 1927, a huge flood on the Mississippi River totaled over $204
million in damage and left thousands homeless.
Congress then established the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
responsible for controlling floods on the Mississippi River. During
the Great Depression (1929-1939), thousands lost their farms in
Mississippi. The price of
cotton fell from twenty cents a pound in the 1920s, to five cents by 1931.
State legislature created a program called Balancing Agriculture
With Industry (BAWI) in 1936. These laws freed new businesses from paying certain taxes and
provided bond money to build factories for new industries.
The discovery of petroleum at Tinsley in 1939 and Vaughan in 1940
also helped the economy in Mississippi. 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.
James Meredith was the first black student to enroll in the
University of Mississippi in 1962. The
fight for civil rights was long and often met with violence.
Two demonstrators were killed in 1962.
Medgar Evers of the NAACP was shot and killed in 1963 and three
civil rights workers were murdered near Philadelphia, Miss in 1964.
Other 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. |