Timeline Mississippi
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ALH: http://www.alhn.org/mississippi.htm
55.8Mil BC In 2008 scientists
reported that a small primate species, named Teilhardina magnoliana
lived about this time and inhabited what later became east-central
Mississippi.
(SFC, 3/4/08, p.A15)
1541 Mar 14, In the area of the
state of Mississippi Hernando de Soto and his men were attacked by
hundreds of Chickasaw Indians. 11 Spaniards were killed along with 15
horses and 400 pigs.
(ON, 4/01, p.5)
1717 In France John Law proposed a
company with exclusive rights to trade with and exploit the resources
of the Mississippi territory and to pay down the government's debt from
company profits. The regent and Parliament approved and the Companie
d’Occident (Company of the West) was established.
(WSJ, 7/19/00, p.B4)(Econ, 8/15/09, p.63)
1720 Mar 24, In Paris, banking
houses closed in the wake of financial crisis. The "Mississippi Bubble"
burst as panicked investors withdrew their money from John Law's bank
and Mississippi Company [see South Sea Bubble, Jan, 1720].
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R8)(HN, 3/24/99)(WSJ, 7/19/00, p.B4)
1736 May 26, British and Chickasaw
Indians defeated the French at the Battle of Ackia. In northwestern
Mississippi the Chickasaw Indians, supported by the British, defeated a
combined force of French soldiers and Chocktaw Indians, thus opening
the region to English settlement.
(AHD, 1971, p.11)(AP, 5/26/98)
1755-1835 Louis Zara (d.2001 at 91) covered this
period of the Eastern Mississippi Valley in his 1940 historical novel
“This Land Is Ours.”
(SFC, 10/24/01, p.C6)
1798 Apr 7, Territory of
Mississippi was organized.
(HN, 4/7/97)
1798 In Natchez the House on
Ellicott's Hill was built.
(SFEC, 6/6/99, p.T4)
1807 Sep 1, Former Vice President
Aaron Burr was found innocent of treason. [see 1806] Burr had been
arrested in Mississippi for complicity in a plot to establish a
Southern empire in Louisiana and Mexico. Burr was then tried on a
misdemeanor charge, but was again acquitted.
(www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/burr/burrchronology.html)(AP,
9/1/07)
1812 The Auburn mansion in Natchez
was built.
(SFEC, 6/6/99, p.T4)
1817 Mar 3, Mississippi Territory
was divided into Alabama Territory and Mississippi.
(SC, 3/3/02)
1818 The Monmouth mansion in
Natchez was built. It was later turned into a bed-and-breakfast inn.
(SFEC, 6/6/99, p.T4)
1820 The Rosalie mansion in
Natchez was built. It later served as the headquarters for Ulysses S.
Grant.
(SFEC, 6/6/99, p.T4)
1833 John Anderson, a
Kentucky-based slave trader, was one of 10 dealers who, during a
cholera epidemic, petitioned to move the Natchez, Miss., slave market
outside the city limits.
(WSJ, 12/2/04, p.D12)
1836 Isaac Wade Ross,
Revolutionary war hero, died in Mississippi. His will stipulated that
his slaves should be emancipated upon his death, but only if they
agreed to go to Liberia. The 1st of almost 200 were finally set free in
1848. In 2004 Alan Huffman authored "Mississippi in Africa: The Saga of
the Slaves of Prospect Hill Plantation and Their Legacy in Liberia
Today."
(SSFC, 2/1/04, p.M1)
1837 May 9, "Sherrod" burned in
Mississippi River below Natchez, Miss., and 175 died.
(MC, 5/9/02)
1840 May 7, A tornado struck
Natchez, Miss., killing 317 people and causing over a million dollars
in damage.
(SFC, 5/7/09, p.D8)
1841 Mar 1, Blanche K. Bruce,
senator of Mississippi 1875-1881, was born in Farmville, Va.
(HN, 3/1/98)(SC, 3/1/02)
1842 The governor’s mansion in
Jackson was built.
(WSJ, 10/14/97, p.A22)
1850 The Greek revival mansion,
later known as the Longfellow House, was built by a New Orleans slave
trader in Pascagoula.
(WSJ, 7/30/99, p.B1)
1852 A Greek revival mansion
overlooking the Tombigbee River was built by cotton planter Charles
McLaren. In 2004 the 8k square foot house was for sale at $1.5 million.
(WSJ, 11/19/04, p.W14)
1855 Apr 21, The 1st train crossed
the Mississippi River's 1st bridge.
(MC, 4/21/02)
1857 Jul 12, George E. Ohr
(d.1918), ceramics artist (the mad potter of Biloxi), was born in
Biloxi, Mississippi.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_E._Ohr)(ON,
11/06, p.11)
1857 The Stanton Hall mansion in
Natchez, one of the loveliest homes in America, was built.
(SFEC, 6/6/99, p.T4)
1858 The Magnolia Hall mansion in
Natchez was built.
(SFEC, 6/6/99, p.T4)
1860 Nov, Abraham Lincoln won the
US presidential elections with a majority of the electoral votes in a
4-way race. Following his election South Carolina seceded from the
Union followed by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and
Texas.
(WSJ, 9/19/97, p.A13)
1860 Longwood mansion, one of the
strangest in America, was built.
(SFEC, 6/6/99, p.T4)
1861 Jan 9, Mississippi
became the 2nd state to secede from the Union.
(HN, 1/9/98)(AP, 1/9/99)(MC, 1/9/02)
1861 Jan 10, US forts &
property were seized by Mississippi.
(MC, 1/10/02)
1861 Jan 21, U.S. Senator
Jefferson Davis of Mississippi and five other Southern senators made
emotional farewell speeches. Just weeks after his home state of
Mississippi seceded from the Union, Davis prepared to leave Washington,
D.C., and the country he had served as a soldier, cabinet member and
member of Congress. One more time, Davis enumerated the reasons why the
South felt secession was its only recourse: "...when you deny to us the
right to withdraw from a Government which...threatens to be destructive
to our rights, we but tread in the path of our fathers when we proclaim
our independence...." Davis then apologized to any senators he may have
offended, and finished his address by saying, "...it only remains for
me to bid you a final adieu."
(AP, 1/21/98) (HNPD, 1/21/99)
1861 Feb 4, Delegates from six
southern states met in Montgomery, Ala., to form the Confederate States
of America. They included Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia,
Louisiana and Texas. They elected Jefferson Davis as president of
Confederacy.
(AP, 2/4/97)(ON, 11/00, p.1)
1861 Feb 9, The Confederate
Provisional Congress, meeting in Alabama, declared all laws under the
US Constitution were consistent with constitution of Confederate
states. The Congress elected Jefferson Davis of Mississippi as
president and Alexander H. Stephens vice president. Jefferson Davis'
Mexican War exploits led him to the Confederate White House. In 2001
William C. Davis authored "The Union That Shaped the Confederacy:
Robert Toombs and Alexander H. Stephens."
(HN, 2/9/97)(AP, 2/9/99)(WSJ, 6/13/01, p.A18)(AH,
2/06, p.15)
1861 Sep 1, Ulysses Grant assumed
command of Federal forces at Cape Girardeau, MI.
(MC, 9/1/02)
1862 Feb 6, Ulysses S. Grant began
a military campaign in Mississippi. The Battle of Fort Henry, Tenn.,
began the Mississippi Valley campaign.
(HN, 2/6/99)(MC, 2/6/02)
1862 Apr 29, 100,000 federal
troops prepared to march into Corinth, Miss.
(MC, 4/29/02)
1862 May 29, Confederate General
P.T. Beauregard retreated to Tupelo, Mississippi. He had taken command
of the Trans-Mississippi area after the death of General Albert Sidney
Johnson.
(HN, 5/29/99)
1862 May 30, Confederate General
Beauregard evacuated Corinth, Mississippi.
(HN, 5/30/98)
1862 May 30, Union troops under
Union General Henry Halleck entered Corinth, Mississippi.
(HN, 5/30/99)
1862 Jul 15, Lt. Isaac Brown took
the Confederate ironclad C.S.S. Arkansas into the Mississippi River and
engaged 3 Union ships near Vicksburg. The CSS Arkansas vs. USS
Carondelet and Queen of the West engaged at Yazoo River.
(ON, 10/02, p.12)(MC, 7/15/02)
1862 Jul 24, Union fleets
abandoned their attack on Vicksburg, Miss.
(ON, 10/02, p.12)
1862 Oct 3, At the Battle of
Corinth, in Mississippi, a Union army defeated the Confederates.
(HN, 10/3/98)
1862 Oct 4, Battle of Corinth,
Mississippi, ended.
(MC, 10/4/01)
1862 Dec 5, Union general Ulysses
Grant’s cavalry received a setback in an engagement on the Mississippi
Central Railroad at Coffeeville, Mississippi.
(HN, 12/5/98)
1862 Dec 15, Nathan B. Forrest
crossed the Tennessee River at Clifton with 2,500 men to raid the
communications around Vicksburg.
(HN, 12/15/98)
1862 Dec 20, A relatively small
force of Southern cavalry troops made an unexpected raid on the Union
Arsenal at Holly Springs, Mississippi. This caused General Grant to
withdraw his entire army of 75,000 troops from Mississippi.
(www.civilwarweb.com/articles/07-99/hollyspg.htm)
1862 Dec 27, Battle of Chickasaw
Bluffs, Miss. (Chickasaw Bayou), began.
(MC, 12/27/01)
1862 Dec 29, Battle of Chickasaw
Bayou was fought by Sherman’s troops in order to gain the north side of
Vicksburg. Confederate armies defeated Gen. Sherman.
(HN, 12/29/98)(MC, 12/29/01)
1862 Confederate General Earl Van
Dorn attacked Union forces at the Mississippi railroad town of Corinth
in an effort to help Braxton Bragg’s invasion of Kentucky. With Union
interest concentrated chiefly on Bragg’s invasion of Kentucky, Union
General Grant’s command was scattered about western Tennessee and
northern Mississippi in several garrisons. Impetuous and aggressive (he
was a former Indian fighter), Van Dorn evaluated potential objectives
before deciding to attack the strongest, the one at Corinth, Miss. Two
strategic railroads, the Mobile & Ohio and the Memphis &
Charleston, linked up there, and control of the rails was, as always, a
paramount concern in the war.
(HNQ, 4/19/01)
1863 Mar 11, Union troops under
General Ulysses S. Grant gave up their preparations to take Vicksburg
after failing to pass Fort Pemberton, north of Vicksburg.
(HN, 3/11/99)
1863 Apr 24, Skirmish at Okolona,
Birmingham, Mississippi (Grierson's Raid).
(MC, 4/24/02)
1863 May 4, War correspondents
Richard T. Colburn, Junius H. Brown and Albert Dean Richardson were
captured enroute to Grant’s headquarters by a Confederate patrol near
Vicksburg, Miss. Colburn was soon released but Brown and Richardson
were sent to Libby Prison in Richmond, Va., and later to Salisbury
Prison in North Carolina. They managed to escape in Dec 1864 and
arrived in Knoxville, Tenn., on Jan 13, 1865.
(ON, 4/03, p.12)
1863 May 5, Battle of Tupelo, MS.
(MC, 5/5/02)
1863 May 12, With a victory at the
Battle of Raymond, Mississippi, Grant closed in on Vicksburg.
(SC, internet, 5/12/97)(HN, 5/12/99)
1863 May 14, Battle of Jackson, MS.
(MC, 5/14/02)
1863 May 16, At the Battle of
Champion's Hill, in Mississippi, the bloodiest action of the Vicksburg
Campaign, Union General Ulysses S. Grant repulsed the Confederates,
driving them into Vicksburg.
(HN, 5/16/99)
1863 May 17, Union General Ulysses
Grant continued his push towards Vicksburg at the Battle of the Big
Black River Bridge in Mississippi.
(HN, 5/17/99)
1863 May 18, Siege of Vicksburg,
MS.
(SC, 5/18/02)
1863 May 19, Union General Ulysses
S. Grant's first attack on Vicksburg, Miss., was repulsed.
(HN, 5/19/99)
1863 May 22, U.S. Grant’s second
attack on Vicksburg failed and a siege began.
(HN, 5/22/98)
1863 Jun 8, Residents of
Vicksburg, Miss., fled into caves as Grant’s army began shelling the
town.
(HN, 6/8/98)
1863 Jun 10, At the Battle of
Brice's Crossroads in Mississippi, Confederate General Nathan Bedford
Forrest with 3,500 troops defeated the Union troops of 8,000.
(HN, 6/10/98)(MC, 6/10/02)
1863 Jun 18, After repeated acts
of insubordination, General John McClernand was relieved by General
Ulysses S. Grant during the siege of Vicksburg.
(HN, 6/18/98)
1863 Jul 4, General U.S. Grant's
Union army captured the Confederate town of Vicksburg, Miss., after a
long siege during the Civil War. In 2009 Winston Groom authored
“Vicksburg 1863.”
(HN, 7/4/98)(IB, 12/7/98)(Econ, 4/4/09, p.88)
1863 Jul 5, Federal troops
occupied Vicksburg, Mississippi, and distributed supplies to the
citizens. The battles of Jackson and Birdsong Ferry, were fought in
Mississippi.
(HN, 7/5/98)(MC, 7/5/02)
1863 Jul 10-Jul 16, In the Battle
of Jackson, MS, federals captured Jackson with 1000 casualties vs. 1339
for the Confederates.
(MC, 7/10/02)
1863 Jul 13-15, Battle of Tupelo,
MS (Harrisburg).
(MC, 7/13/02)
1863 Nov 14, There was a skirmish
at Danville, Mississippi.
(MC, 11/14/01)
1864 Feb 13, Miridian Campaign
fighting at Chunky Creek and Wyatt, Mississippi.
(MC, 2/13/02)
1864 Feb 21-1864 Feb 22, Battle at
Okolona, Mississippi.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1864 Feb 22, Nathan Bedford
Forrest's brother, Jeffrey, was killed at Okolona, Miss. Nathan Bedford
Forrest (1821-1877) was a Confederate cavalry general.
(HN, 2/22/98)(WUD, 1994, p.558)
1864 Jul 14, At Harrisburg,
Mississippi, Federal troops under General Andrew Jackson Smith repulsed
an attack by General Nathan Bedford Forrest, one of Forrest's only two
defeats.
(HN, 7/14/98)
1864 Sep 16, Confederate General
Nathan Bedford Forrest led 4,500 men out of Verona, Miss. to harass
Union outposts in northern Alabama and Tennessee.
(HN, 9/16/98)
1866 Apr 2, Pres. ended war in
Ala, Ark, Fla, Ga, Miss, La, NC, SC, Ten & Va.
(MC, 4/2/02)
1866 In Mississippi a fifth of the
state’s revenues were spent on artificial arms and legs for Confederate
veterans.
(SFEC, 7/6/97, Z1 p.6)
1866 A white mob rushed a
courthouse in Carroll County, Miss., after 2 black men filed a lawsuit
against a white man. Over 20 blacks were murdered.
(WSJ, 10/17/08, p.A14)
1870 Feb 17, Mississippi became
the 9th state readmitted to US after Civil War. [see Feb 23]
(MC, 2/17/02)
1870 Feb 23, Mississippi was
readmitted to the Union. [see Feb 17]
(AP, 2/23/98)
1871 Mississippi purchased the
property of Oakland College and renamed it Alcorn University in honor
of James L. Alcorn, governor of the state. The college had closed its
doors at the beginning of the Civil War so that its students could
answer the call to arms.
(www.alcorn.edu/about/history.htm)
1874 Mar 5, Blanche Kelso Bruce
(1841-1898), elected by the Mississippi Legislature, formally entered
the US Senate. Bruce was the first full-term African American Senator
(1874-1881). In 2006 Lawrence Otis Graham authored “The Senator and the
Socialite: The True Story of America’s First Black Dynasty.”
(SSFC, 7/2/06,
p.M1)(www.csusm.edu/Black_Excellence/documents/pg-b-bruce.html)
1875 Jul 4, White Democrats killed
several blacks in terrorist attacks in Vicksburg.
(Maggio, 98)
1878 The name of Alabama’s Alcorn
University was changed to Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College
(Alcorn A&M).
(www.alcorn.edu/about/history.htm)
1882 Feb 7, American pugilist John
L. Sullivan became the last of the bare-knuckle world heavyweight
champions with his defeat of Patty Ryan in Mississippi City.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_L._Sullivan)
1884 Feb 19, A series of tornadoes
left an estimated 800 people dead in 7 US states (Miss, Ala, NC, SC,
Tenn., Ky & In).
(WSJ, 9/13/01, p.B11)(MC, 2/19/02)
1884 Mar 12, Mississippi
established the first U.S. state college for women.
(HN, 3/12/98)
1884 Albert T. Morgan (d.1922), a
Union veteran who settled in Yazoo, Miss., authored his memoir “Yazoo:
On the Picket Line of Freedom in the South: A Personal Narrative.” He
later became a Mississippi state senator.
(WSJ, 2/9/08,
p.W10)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_T._Morgan)
1886 Mar 17, The Carrollton
Massacre in Mississippi occurred and 20 African Americans were killed.
(HN, 3/17/98)
1880 Blanche Kelso Bruce
(1841-1898), US Senator from Mississippi, lost his senate seat. Pres.
Garfield appointed him registrar of the Treasury.
(WSJ, 7/12/06, p.D12)
1889 Jul 8, In Mississippi Jake
Kilrain (1859-1937) fought boxing champion John L. Sullivan in the last
world heavyweight championship prizefight decided with bare knuckles
under London Prize Ring rules in history. Sullivan defeated Kilrain in
a match that went to 75 rounds.
(AH, 2/06,
p.29)(http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Sullivan_-_Kilrain_Fight)
1890 Mississippi set the pattern
for Black disenfranchisement “based on the perception of blacks as by
nature inferior and ignorant and hence unfit to vote.”
(SFCM, 2/11/01, p.12)
1891 Charley Patton, Delta
bluesman, was born.
(SFEm, 3/14/99, p.34)
1893 Oct 1, In the 3rd worst
hurricane in US history 1,800 people were killed in Mississippi.
(MC, 10/1/01)
1894 A great fire swept through
Biloxi, Mississippi.
(ON, 11/06, p.11)
1897 Sep 25, William Faulkner
(d.1962), American author, was born in New Albany, Miss. His books were
mostly set in Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi. and include “The Sound
and The Fury” and “Intruder in the Dust.” "The poet's voice need not
merely be the record of man; it can be one of the props, the pillars to
help him endure and prevail."
(AP, 9/25/97)(HN, 9/25/98)
1898 Sep, Jimmy Rogers, country
singer, was born in Meridian, Miss. He died at 35 of tuberculosis. In
1997 Bob Dylan produced the album “The Songs of Jimmy Rogers: A
Tribute” by a variety of artists. His biography was written by Nolan
Porterfield: “Jimmy Rogers: The Life and Times of America’s Blue
Yodeler.”
(SFEC, 8/17/97, DB p.56)(WSJ, 9/26/97, p.A20)
1888 Blanche Kelso Bruce
(1841-1898), former US Senator from Mississippi, was named recorder of
deeds in Washington DC under Pres. Benjamin Harrison.
(WSJ, 7/12/06, p.D12)
1900 Apr 30, Engineer John Luther
"Casey" Jones of the Illinois Central Railroad was killed in a
Cannonball Express wreck near Vaughan, Miss., after staying at the
controls in an effort to save the passengers.
(AP, 4/30/99)
1901 Aug 3, John Stennis,
Sen-D-Miss, was born.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1902 Nov 16, A cartoon appeared in
the Washington Star, prompting the Teddy Bear Craze, after President
Teddy Roosevelt refused to kill a captive bear tied up for him to shoot
during a hunting trip to Mississippi.
(HN, 11/16/00)
1903 Jan 2, President Theodore
Roosevelt closed a post office in Indianola, Mississippi for refusing
to hire a black postmistress.
(HN, 1/2/99)
1906 Gov. James Kimble denounced
black men as fiends and argued that lynching was the only way to
control a barbarous race.
(WSJ, 1/14/02, p.A16)
1907 Jul 7, Robert Heinlein
(d.1988), science-fiction author, was born in Butler, Miss. "Goodness
without wisdom always accomplishes evil."
(V.D.-H.K.p.383)(AP, 5/25/99)(AP, 7/7/07)
1908 Feb 17, Walter Lanier “Red”
Barber, baseball announcer for the Cincinnati Reds, the Brooklyn
Dodgers and the New York Yankees, was born in Columbus, Miss.
(HN, 2/17/01)(AP, 2/17/08)
1908 Sep 4, Richard Wright
(d.1960), novelist who wrote about the abuses of blacks in white
society, best known for “Native Son” (1940), was born near Natchez,
Miss.
(SSFC, 8/12/01, DB p.61)(AP, 9/4/08)
1909 Apr 13, Eudora Welty
(d.2001), Southern writer, was born in Jackson, Miss. Her books
included “Delta Wedding” and “The Optimist's Daughter” (1972). In
1998 Ann Waldron published "Eudora Welty: A Writer’s Life."
(SFEC, 11/22/98, BR p.4)(SFEC, 12/6/98, BR p.8)(HN,
4/13/01)
1910 Jun 20, Chester Arthur
Burnett (d.1976) was born in West Point, Mississippi. He later became
known as the blues singer Howlin’ Wolf.
(SSFC, 7/4/04, p.M6)(www.britannica.com)
1911 Mar 26, Tennessee Williams
(d.1983), American dramatist, was born in Columbus, Miss. His plays
included "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" and "A Streetcar Name Desire."
(HN, 3/26/01)(AP, 3/26/02)(http://tinyurl.com/s8zm5)
1911 May 8, Robert Johnson
(d.1938), bluesman, was born.
(HT, 5/97, p.40)(SFEM, 9/26/99, p.12)
1913 Sep 28, Race riots in
Harriston, Mississippi, killed 10 people.
(HN, 9/28/98)
1917 John Lee Hooker (d.2001),
blues musician, was born in Clarksdale.
(SFC, 6/22/01, p.A1)
1918 Jan 8,
Mississippi became the first state to ratify the proposed 18th
amendment to the US Constitution, which established Prohibition.
(AP, 1/8/08)
1918 William Faulkner (1897-1962),
American novelist, enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force as a cadet
pilot. Before he finished his basic training, World War I ended and he
returned to his home in Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner was awarded the
Nobel Prize for Literature in 1949 and the Pulitzer Prize in 1955.
(HNQ, 10/29/01)
1920 Apr 20, Tornadoes struck
northern Alabama and Mississippi. The final Alabama death toll reached
92 people. As many as 219 people were reportedly killed.
(www.srh.noaa.gov/bmx/significant_events/climate/top10.php)(SFC,
4/20/09, p.D8)
1923 Apr 25, Albert King, blues
singer/guitar (Bad Look Blues), was born in Mississippi.
(SS, 4/25/02)
1925 Sep 16, Blues musician B.B.
King ("Blues Boy") was born in Mississippi. In the mid-1950s, while
King was performing in Twist, Arkansas, some audience members got into
a fight over a woman named Lucille. They knocked over a kerosene stove
and set the place on fire. Everybody ran outside...but when King
realized he left his guitar inside, he rushed back to retrieve it. From
then on, King named all his guitars "Lucille."
(www.britannica.com)(www.wordiq.com/definition/B._B._King)
1926 Jul 2, Medgar Evers, American
civil rights leader in Mississippi, was born. He was murdered in front
of his house in 1963 by Byron DeLa Beckwith.
(HN, 7/2/99)(SFC, 1/22/01, p.A22)
1927 Aug 1, In Bristol, Tennessee,
the Carter Family (A.P., wife Sara, and cousin Maybelle) came down from
the mountains of Virginia and began recording their country style
“hillbilly” music for Ralph Peer of the Victor Talking Machine
Co. Jimmy Rogers (1898-1933) came from Mississippi to record.
(Hem., 4/97, p.68)(WSJ, 8/1/02, p.A1)
1928 Dec 30, Bo Didley, blues
composer and singer famous for his Mockingbird song, was born in
McComb, Mississippi. His music included “Pretty Thing,” “Diddy Wah
Diddy,” “Who Do You Love,” “Hey Bo Didley,” and “Hush Your Mouth.” The
Bo came from boxing.
(SFEC, 8/25/96, DB p.71)(HN, 12/30/98)
1929 Charley Patton recorded "Moon
Goin' Down," "Pony Blues" and "When Your Way Gets Dark" for Paramount's
"race" records.
(SFEm, 3/14/99, p.34)
1929 Charles Henri Ford (d.2002 at
94) founded “Blues: A Magazine of New Rhythms,” while living at home in
Columbus. He edited 8 issues.
(SFC, 10/1/02, p.A18)
1930 Mar 21, Otis Spann, blues
singer, was born in Jackson, Miss.
(WSJ, 6/28/00, p.A20)
1931 Jan 17, James Earl Jones,
actor (Darth Vader, Exorcist II, Soul Man), was born in Miss.
(MC, 1/17/02)
1932 The Natchez Garden Club began
the Pilgrimage old-house tours when a freeze killed all the local
flowers just as garden tours were scheduled to begin.
(SFEC, 6/6/99, p.T4)
1933 Mar 18, Unita Blackwell, 1st
black mayor in Mississippi, was born.
(MC, 3/18/02)
1933 Sep 1, Conway Twitty [Harold
Jenkins], country singer (Hello Darlin'), was born in Miss.
(SC, 9/1/02)
1934 Feb 7, 1st contract for TVA
power was in Tupelo, Miss.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1934 Charlie Patton,
Mississippi bluesman, died. His music is on the album “Founder of the
Delta Blues” (Yazoo). His song “Dry Well Blues” described the
disastrous 1930 Lula draught.
(NH, 9/96, p.62)(NH, 10/96, p.66)
1935 Jan 8, Rock 'n' roll legend
Elvis Presley, “The King," was born in Tupelo, Miss. The most popular
singer of the 1950s and 60s. Best known for “Hound Dog,” “Jailhouse
Rock” and “Love Me tender.” He also starred in over thirty films.
(SFC, 8/11/97, p.A1)(AP, 1/8/98)(HN, 1/8/99)
1936 Apr 5, Tupelo, Mississippi,
was virtually annihilated by a tornado and 216 died.
(MC, 4/5/02)
1936 Nov, Robert Johnson,
Mississippi blues guitarist, his first of 5 sessions.
(SFC, 9/23/98, p.E3)
1937 Jun 27, Robert Johnson, blues
guitarist, recorded “Traveling Riverside Blues and 10 other songs in
Dallas for the American Record Corp. He also “Come On in My Kitchen.”
(SFC, 7/25/97, p.D5)(BS, 5/3/98, p.7E)
1937 Sep 26, Bessie Smith, known
as the ‘Empress of the Blues,’ died in a car crash on Highway 61 near
Clarksdale, Mississippi.
(HN, 9/26/00)(HT, 5/97, p.40)
1938 Aug 13, Robert Johnson, blues
guitarist, was poisoned by a bartender at a roadhouse outside of
Greenwood, Miss.
(SFC, 9/23/98, p.E3)
1938 Aug 16, Robert Johnson (27),
bluesman, musician and king of the Mississippi Delta blues, died 3 days
after ingesting whiskey laced with poison (probably strychnine). He has
2 grave sites around Morgan City. Columbia Records issued the first
Robert Johnson LP in 1961 titled “King of the Delta Blues Singers” and
“Robert Johnson: The Complete Recordings” in 1990. His music is on “The
Complete Plantation Recordings” (Chess/MCA). Peter Guralnick later
wrote his biography. His tunes included “Love in Vain,” “Cross Road
Blues” and “Ramblin on My Mind.” In 1998 the video documentary “Can’t
You Hear the Wind Howl? The Life and Music of Robert Johnson” was
released. In 1999 Robert Mugge premiered his film "Hellhounds On My
Trail: The Afterlife of Robert Johnson."
(HT, 5/97, p.41)(NH, 9/96, p.54)(HT, 5/97,
p.41)(SFC, 9/23/98, p.E3)(WSJ, 10/16/98, p.W12)(SFEM, 9/26/99, p.12)
1939 Jun 6, Marian Wright Edelman,
first African-American woman to be admitted to the Mississippi Bar, was
born. She was the founder of the Children's Defense Fund.
(HN, 6/6/00)
1939 In Jackson the weekly
Advocate newspaper, a news source for black residents, was founded.
(SFC, 1/27/98, p.A4)
1940 Apr 23, Some 200 people died
in a fire at the Rhythm Night Club in Natchez, Miss.
(AP, 4/23/08)
1943 Tammy Wynette (d.1998 at 55),
country singer, was born as Virginia Wynette Pugh on a cotton farm in
Itawamba County. In 1968 she recorded her hit song “Stand by Your Man.”
(SFC, 4/798, p.A7)
1946 Dec 25, Jimmy Buffett, singer
and writer, was born in Pascagoula. He recorded “Margaritaville” in
1977.
(SSFC, 4/28/02, Par p.22)
1947 Early Wright (d.1999 at 84)
became the first black disc jockey in Mississippi at WROX Radio in
Clarksdale.
(SFC, 12/15/99, p.B2)
1954 Jan 29, Oprah Winfrey,
actress, TV host (Color Purple, Oprah), was born in Mississippi.
(MC, 1/29/02)
1954 May 17, Blacks hailed the
Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka decision. Whites in the Deep
South called the day "Black Monday." A movement called Citizens’
Councils, led by Mississippi Circuit Court Judge Tom P. Brady, grew to
encompass virtually the state's entire white business class. Council
members published a book entitled “Black Monday” which outlined their
simple beliefs: African Americans were inferior to whites and the races
must remain separate. "If in one mighty voice we do not protest this
travesty on justice, we might as well surrender," Brady wrote.
(www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/till/peopleevents/e_councils.html)(MT, summer
2003, p.19)
1954 Jul 25, Walter Payton,
Chicago Bear football running back, was born in Columbia, Miss.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Payton)
1955 Mar 5, A truck driver from
Tupelo, Miss., made his first-ever TV appearance on this night. Elvis
Aron Presley was featured on "Louisiana Hayride". This prompted
promoters to send Elvis to New York City to audition for Arthur
Godfrey's immensely popular and career-making "Talent Scouts" program.
Talent coordinators and Godfrey are said to have passed on Elvis
appearing on the show. Not much later, he was tossed out of the Grand
Ole Opry as well, and told to "go back to driving a truck." In a little
over a year, however, the nation was caught up in Presley-mania which
continues even today.
(www.imdb.com/title/tt1087605/)(www.scottymoore.net/tourdates50s.html)
1955 Aug 28, Emmett Till (14), a
black teen-ager from Chicago, was abducted from his uncle's home in
Money, Miss., by white men after he had supposedly whistled at Carolyn
Bryant, a white woman; he was found murdered three days later.
Eyewitnesses linked Carolyn’s husband Roy Bryant and half-brother J.W.
Milam to the murder. Bryant and Milam were indicted Sep 10 for a trial
on Sep 19. Both were acquitted by an all-white jury. Bryant and Milan
later confessed to the killing in a magazine interview. The area was a
cotton-trading center where the white Citizens Councils maintained
their regional headquarters. In 2004 the US Justice Dept. opened a
criminal investigation into the case. In 2005 the US Senate
acknowledged a share in the boy’s death.
(AP, 8/28/99)(SFC, 5/11/04, p.A4)(SFC, 6/14/05,
p.A2)(SFC, 9/9/05, p.F5)(SFC, 3/17/06, p.A5)
1955 The father of serial killer
Gerald Gallego died in the gas chamber for killing 2 law enforcement
officials. Gerald Gallego was convicted for ten murders committed
between 1978-1980.
(SFC,10/28/97, p.A17)
1956 Apr 18, Eric Roberts, actor
(Pope of Greenwich Village, King of Gypsies), was born in Miss.
(MC, 4/18/02)
1956 Dr. Arthur Guyton (d.2003 at
83) of the Univ. of Mississippi authored his “Textbook of Physiology.”
(SFC, 4/16/03, p.A20)
1957 Mississippi created the
Sovereignty Commission to fight against the Civil Rights movement. It
informed the police about planned marches and encouraged police
harassment of African-Americans who cooperated with civil rights groups.
(WSJ, 6/11/99, p.A8)
1958 Sep 6, Miss Mississippi Mary
Ann Mobley was crowned Miss America 1959 in Atlantic City, N.J.
(AP, 9/6/08)
1961 May 24, The Freedom Riders
were arrested in Jackson, Mississippi.
(HN, 5/24/98)
1961 Sep 20, James Meredith was
refused access as a student in Mississippi. [see Sep 20 1962]
(MC, 9/20/01)
1961 Nov 29, Freedom Riders were
attacked by white mob at bus station in Miss.
(MC, 11/29/01)
1962 Jul
6, William Cuthbert Faulkner (b.1897), US writer (Nobel 1949), died in
Oxford, Miss. In 2004 Jay Parini authored “One Matchless Time: A Life
of William Faulkner.”
(WSJ, 10/28/04,
p.A1)(www.olemiss.edu/depts/english/ms-writers/dir/faulkner_william/)
1962 Sep 20, Black student James
Meredith was blocked from enrolling at the University of Mississippi by
Governor Ross R. Barnett. Meredith was later admitted. A Life Magazine
photograph around this time showed 7 sheriffs gathered at Ole Miss to
keep Meredith out. In 2003 Paul Hendrickson authored “Sons of
Mississippi: A Story of Race and Its Legacy,” in which he uncovered the
lives of the 7 sheriffs.
(AP, 9/20/97)(SSFC, 4/6/03, p.M1)
1962 Sep 24, US Circuit Court of
Appeals ordered James Meredith admitted to the Univ. of Miss. The
University of Mississippi agreed to admit James Meredith as the first
black university student, sparking more rioting.
(HN, 9/24/98)(MC, 9/24/01)
1962 Sep 30, Black student James
Meredith succeeded on his fourth try in registering for classes at the
University of Mississippi. He became the first black to enroll at Old
Miss Univ. and 13,500 Federal troops were required to back him up. U.S.
Marshals escorted James H. Meredith into the University of Mississippi;
two died in the mob violence that followed. Meredith was also noted for
starting the "March Against Fear" to encourage voter registration by
Southern African Americans. While on the march he was hit with a
snipers bullet. Other Civil Rights leaders including MLK continued the
march. Meredith was able to complete the march in Jackson, Mississippi.
(TMC, 1994, p.1962)(AP, 9/30/97)(HN, 9/30/98)
1962 Oct 1, James Meredith became
1st black at U of Mississippi. [see Sep 30]
(MC, 10/1/01)
1963 Jun 12, Medgar Evers (37),
leader (field director) of the NAACP in Mississippi, was fatally shot
in front of his home in Jackson by the KKK. An informant in the KKK,
Delmar Dennis (1940-1996), later served as a key prosecution witness in
convicting Byron De La Beckwith for the slaying. Beckwith was convicted
of murdering Evers and sentenced to life in prison; he died in 2001 at
age 80. A book by Bill McIlhany titled “Klandestine” recounts the
story. In 1996 Whoopi Goldberg starred in the film “Ghosts of
Mississippi” as the widow of Medgar Evers. In 1998 Willie Morris wrote
“The Ghosts of Medgar Evers: A Tale of Race, Murder, Mississippi, and
Hollywood.”
(SFC, 6/5/96, p.C5)(NYT, 6/7/96, p.B14)(AP,
6/12/97)(SFEC, 2/1/98, BR p.5)(SFC, 1/22/01, p.A22)
1963 Jul 22, John C. Satterfield,
a litigator from Yazoo City selected to lead the Coordinating Committee
for Fundamental American Freedoms, received the first private
contribution to its lobby, a $10,000 check from Morgan Guarantee drawn
on the account of Wickliffe Preston Draper of NY.
(WSJ, 6/11/99, p.A8)
1963 Aug 18, James Meredith became
the first black to graduate from the University of Mississippi.
(AP, 8/18/97)(HN, 8/18/98)
1963 Sep 12, The Mississippi State
Sovereignty Commission, an agency created to fight the civil rights
movement, received a telegram from Morgan Guarantee Trust concerning an
anonymous gift for $100,000. The gift was later discovered to be from
Wickliffe Preston Draper of New York.
(WSJ, 6/11/99, p.A1)
1963 Ralph Roberts, former
marketer of Muzak and owner of a belts and suspenders company, acquired
a 1,200-subscriber, community antenna, television system (American
Cable Systems) in Tupelo, Miss. In 1969 it was incorporated in
Pennsylvania and renamed Comcast. The company went public in 1972
(SSFC, 2/15/04, p.I6)
1864 Feb 5, Federal forces
occupied Jackson, Miss.
(HN, 2/5/99)
1964 May 2, In Mississippi Charles
Moore (19) and Henry Dee (19) were beaten and killed by local members
of the Ku Klux Klan. Their mutilated bodies were later found in the
Mississippi River while federal authorities searched for civil rights
workers Goodman, Chaney and Schwerner. Charles Marcus Edwards and James
Ford Seale were arrested for the crime, but neither was tried. In 2007
James Ford Seale (71) was arrested and charged with two counts of
kidnapping and one count of conspiracy to commit kidnapping. In 2008 an
appeals court ruled that the statue of limitations had expired
overturning Seale’s conviction.
(SFC, 7/15/05, p.A5)(AP, 1/25/07)(AP,
1/26/07)(www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26633038/)
1964 Jun 21, Civil rights workers
Michael H. Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James E. Chaney disappeared in
Philadelphia, Miss.; their bodies were found buried in an earthen dam
six weeks later.
(AP, 6/21/97)
1964 Jun 21, Byron de la Beckwith
was arrested for the murder of Medgar Evers. He was found guilty 30
years later.
(MC, 6/21/02)
1964 Jun 21, Three young civil
rights workers, Andrew Goodman 20, Michael Schwerner 24, and James
Chaney 21, disappeared near Meridian, Mississippi. Their car was found
burning late in the day. 40 days later their bodies were found buried
in an earthen dam near Philadelphia, Miss. 8 Klansman went to prison on
federal conspiracy charges but none served more than 6 years, and
murder charges were never filed. The event inspired the 1988 film
Mississippi Burning. In 2005 Edgar Ray Killen (80) was arrested in
Philadelphia, Miss., and convicted of manslaughter in the abduction and
killing of the 3 voter-registration volunteers. He was sentenced to
three 20-year terms. Billy Wayne Posey (73), a key suspect in the
killings, died in 2009.
(SFEC, 2/16/97, p.A12)(AP, 6/21/97)(HN,
6/21/01)(SFC, 6/22/05, p.A1)(WSJ, 6/24/05, p.A1)(SSFC, 8/16/09, p.A9)
1964 Jun 25, President Lyndon
Johnson ordered 200 naval personnel to Mississippi to assist in finding
three missing civil rights workers.
(HN, 6/25/98)
1964 Aug 4, The bodies of missing
civil rights workers Michael H. Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James E.
Chaney were found buried in an earthen dam in Nashoba County,
Mississippi. Schwerner and Goodman were Jewish-Americans from Pelham
and New York City respectively and Chaney was a Black from Meridian,
Mississippi. The three civil rights workers had disappeared from
Philadelphia, Mississippi, on June 21, 1964, not long after they had
been held for six hours in the Neshoba County, Mississippi jail on
charges of speeding. Their burned car was discovered on June
23rd, prompting a search by the FBI for the three young men.
Their story became the basis for the movie Mississippi Burning,
starring Gene Hackman, Willem Defoe and Frances McDormand in 1988. In
2005, on the forty-first anniversary of the crime, Edgar Ray Killen
(80) an ordained Baptist minister, was found guilty of three counts of
manslaughter.
(AP, 8/4/97)(WSJ, 1/16/98, p.A12)
1965 Jan 16, Eighteen were
arrested in Mississippi for the murder of three civil rights workers.
(HN, 1/16/99)
1966 Jan 10, In Mississippi Vernon
Dahmer, a revered civil rights leader, was killed in a firebombing. In
1998 Klansmen Sam Bowers (1924-2006), Deavours Nix (72) and Charles
Noble (55) were arrested for the murder. 8 men in 2 cars loaded with
shotguns and 12 gallons of gasoline attacked Dahmer’s home. Billy Roy
Pitts participated and later testified how Bowers had called meetings
and presided over the planning of the bombing. Bowers was convicted in
his 5th trial and sentenced to life in prison where he died.
(SFC, 5/29/98, p.A5)(SFC, 8/17/98, p.A5)(SFC,
8/20/98, p.A12)(WSJ, 8/24/98, p.A1)
1966 Mar 3, An F5 tornado hit
Jackson, Miss. 57 people were killed and nearly 1000 homes destroyed.
Damages were estimated at $18 million.
(SFC, 3/3/09, p.D6)
1966 Jun 6, Black activist James
Meredith was shot and wounded as he walked solo along a
Mississippi highway to encourage black voter registration.
(AP, 6//97)(HN, 6/6/98)
1966 Jun 23, Civil Rights marchers
in Mississippi were dispersed by tear gas.
(HN, 6/23/98)
1966 Ben Chester White (66) was
killed with 12 shots from an assault rifle and one shogun blow to the
head at Homochito National Forest near Natchez. In 1999 one of the 3
alleged killers said the killing was orchestrated to bring Martin
Luther King to the area for assassination. Ernest Henry Avants was
acquitted of the killing in 1967. The jury had not been informed that
he had confessed. He was arrested again in 2000 by federal prosecutors.
(SFC, 11/29/99, p.A3)(SFC, 6/8/00, p.A6)
1967 Feb 28, In Mississippi 19
were indicted in the slayings of three civil rights workers in 1964.
Samuel H. Bowers and 6 others were convicted on federal charges in
1970. Bowers was released in 1976.
(HN, 2/28/98)(SFC, 8/18/98, p.A5)
1967 Aug 11, Roy M. Wheat
(20) led a team from Company K, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, providing
security for a Navy construction crew on the Liberty Road in Quang Nam
Province, Vietnam. Lance Corporal Roy Wheat accidentally triggered a
well-concealed, bounding type anti-personnel mine. He yelled for team
members Lance Corporals Vernon Sorenson and Bernard Cannon to run. Then
he flung himself onto the mine as it exploded, absorbing the tremendous
impact with his body. Roy Wheat was killed, but his companions were
spared certain injury and possible. Marine Roy M. Wheat was the only
Mississippian to earn the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War.
(HN, 9/19/01)
1967 Oct 20, Seven men were
convicted in Meridian, Miss., of violating the civil rights of three
murdered civil rights workers.
(AP, 10/20/97)
1968 Feb 19, Mississippi state
troopers used tear gas to stop Alcorn A&M demonstrations.
(http://tinyurl.com/c5flal)
1969 Aug 17, Hurricane Camille hit
the Gulf Coast at Pass Christian, Miss., leaving 256 people killed in
Louisiana and Mississippi. Damage was later estimated at $3.8 billion.
(AP, 8/17/97)(SFEC, 6/6/99, p.A17)(AP, 8/30/05)
1970 Apr 12, In Mississippi Rainey
Pool, a black one-armed farmer, was beaten and tortured by a mob in
Belzoni and his body was dumped off a bridge into the Sunflower River.
In 1999 James "Doc" Caston (66), Charles Caston (64) and Hal Crimm (50)
were sentenced to 20 years in prison for their part in the killing. Joe
Watson pleaded guilty and testified in exchange for a reduced sentence.
(USAT, 11/18/99, p.3A)
1970 May 15, Phillip Lafayette
Gibbs and James Earl Green, two black students at Jackson State
University in Mississippi, were killed when police opened fire during
student protests.
(AP, 5/15/97)
1971 Feb 21, A series of tornadoes
cut through the lower Mississippi River Valley. The two-day outbreak,
which produced 19 tornadoes, killed 123 people across 3 states,
including 11 in Louisiana, 110 in Mississippi, and 2 in North Carolina.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_Valley_tornado_outbreak_of_February_1971)
1971 May 25, Jo Etha Collier (18),
a black woman, was killed by 3 drunken white males in Drew, Miss.
(www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSvcid=54001&GRid=26897581&)
1971 Jun 1, The two-room shack in
Tupelo, Mississippi, where Elvis Presley was born, was opened to the
public as a tourist attraction.
(www.guardian.co.uk/music/2006/jun/18/39)
1971 A 29-year litigation began
over a federal and state suit to desegregate Mississippi's public
universities. In 2004 a federal appeals court upheld a settlement to
allocate $503 million over 17 years toward balanced integration.
Continued litigation was denied.
(SFC, 1/28/04, p.A3)
1974 Apr 3, A series of 148 deadly
tornadoes struck wide parts of the South and Midwest before jumping
across the border into Canada; some 330 people were killed in 13 states
(Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi,
North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West
Virginia. Total property damage was estimated at $600 million. In 2007
Mark Levine authored “F5: Devastation, Survival, and the Most Violent
Tornado Outbreak of the 20th Century.”
(AP, 4/3/99)(WSJ, 9/13/01, p.B11)(SSFC, 9/4/05,
p.A7)(WSJ, 6/16/07, p.P10)
c1975 Rev. Don Wildmon of Tupelo
founded the National Federation for Decency. It was later renamed the
American Family Association.
(WSJ, 8/14/01, p.A1)
1977 Oct 20, Three members of the
rock group Lynyrd Skynyrd were killed in the crash of a chartered plane
near McComb, Miss.
(AP, 10/20/97)
1979 The Delta Blues Museum opened
in Clarksdale.
(HT, 5/97, p.38)
1982 Aug 28, LeAnn Rimes, country
pop singer, was born in Jackson, Miss.
(SSFC, 1/23/05, Par p.14)
1983 Bernie Ebbers and other
founders worked out the details for starting Long distance Discount
Service (LDDS) in Hattiesburg, Miss. The company changed its name to
WorldCom in 1995 and merged with MCI in 1997. Ebbers resigned in 2002
and in 2003 WorldCom agreed to pay $500 million to settle civil fraud
charges.
(SFC, 5/20/03, p.B10)
1987 Dec 6, In Missouri 3 Satanist
teenagers bludgeoned a comrade to death for "fun."
(MC, 12/6/01)
1989 May 11, US Federal Judge
Walter Nixon (61) of Mississippi was impeached by the House of
Representatives. The US Senate voted to remove Nixon from the bench on
November 4, 1989. He had been convicted in 1986 on perjury charges and
sentenced to five years in prison.
(SFC, 9/18/08, p.A6)(http://tinyurl.com/3qfr28)
1990 May 10, Walker Percy
(b.1916), Mississippi-raised physician, novelist (Lancelot), died of
cancer in Covington, Louisiana. His book "The Moviegoer" was the 1962
winner of the National Book Award." His last book, The Thanatos
Syndrome, appeared in 1987.
(www.olemiss.edu/depts/english/ms-writers/dir/percy_walker/)(WSJ,
3/26/03, p.D8)
1990 The Mississippi Legislature
passed the Mississippi Gaming Control Act allowing casinos in counties
along the Mississippi River and the Gulf Coast.
(SFC, 9/6/05, p.A8)
1991 Rev. Don Wildmon began his
American Family Radio network with a station in Tupelo.
(WSJ, 8/14/01, p.A1)
1992 Dec 7, The Supreme Court
rejected a challenge to a Mississippi abortion law that required women
to get counseling and then wait 24 hours before terminating their
pregnancies.
(AP, 12/7/97)
1992 Kirk Fordice (1934-2004)
began serving 2 terms as governor of Mississippi.
(WSJ, 9/7/04, p.A1)
1992 Casinos began appearing in
Tunica, Miss., not long after the state authorized gambling in counties
adjacent to the Mississippi River and the Gulf Coast. A 12% state tax
included 4% for local use.
(SSFC, 1/11/04, p.A3)
1994 Feb 5, White separatist Byron
De La Beckwith was convicted in Jackson, Miss., of murdering civil
rights leader Medgar Evers in 1963, and was immediately sentenced to
life in prison.
(AP, 2/5/99)
1995 Mar 16, Mississippi formally
ratified 13th Amendment and abolished slavery.
(www.thehistorymakers.com/timeline/index.asp?string=1995)
1995 Mississippi passed a
“truth-in-sentencing” law that required all felons to serve 85% of
their sentences.
(WSJ, 9/6/01, p.A8)
1996 Apr 13, Larry Wayne
Shoemaker, a white supremacist, shot 11 people and killed one before
committing suicide inside an abandoned restaurant in Jackson, Miss. He
left behind neo-Nazi notes.
1997 Mar 1, Severe storms hit
Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi, and spawned tornadoes in
Arkansas blamed for two dozen deaths.
(AP, 3/1/98)
1997 Jun 3, Harvey Johnson became
the first black mayor of Jackson, the state capital. He took his oath
of office on Jul 7.
(SFC, 6/4/97, p.A3)(SFC, 7/8/97, p.A4)
1997 Jul 3, Mississippi became the
1st state to settle its tobacco suit, less than one week before the 1st
scheduled trial.
(http://tinyurl.com/amlhg)
1997 Oct 1, In Pearl, Mississippi,
Luke Woodham (16) stabbed his mother Mary (50) to death and went to
school and killed his former girlfriend and another student and wounded
7 others. Later Grant Boyette (18) was identified as the leader of the
Kroth cult, a Satanist group with a plan of destruction and
killing. Woodham was found guilty in 1998 of killing 2 classmates and
was sentenced to 2 life sentences plus 20 years. He was also found
guilty in the murder of his mother in a separate trial and the sentence
was raised to 3 life sentences plus 140 years.
(SFC, 10/2/97, p.A3)(SFC, 10/15/97, p.A6)(SFC,
6/2/98, p.A3)(SFC, 6/13/98, p.A3)(AP, 10/1/07)
1997 Dec, Frederick and Steven
Barthelme, published authors, were charged with felony conspiracy to
defraud the Grand Casino in Gulfport. The charges were later dropped
and in 199 they published "Doubledown," reflection on their gambling
and losses.
(WSJ, 11/19/99, p.W6)
1998 Jan 26, In Jackson the weekly
Advocate newspaper office was firebombed. The news source for black
residents was founded in 1939.
(SFC, 1/27/98, p.A4)
1998 Mar 17, After a 21-year court
fight the state unsealed over 124,000 pages of secret files of the
state Sovereignty Commission that revealed numerous illegal methods to
thwart the civil rights workers of the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s.
(SFC, 3/18/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 8, A line of storms
struck the southeast and killed at least 41 people. 32 were left dead
in Alabama, 8 in Georgia and 1 in Mississippi.
(SFC, 4/9/98, p.A3)(SFC, 4/10/98, p.A1)(WSJ,
4/10/98, p.A1)
1999 Aug 2, Willie Morris, writer
and editor for Harper's Magazine, died at age 64 in Jackson. His work
included "My Dog Skip" "The Courting of Marcus Dupree" and the
autobiography "North Toward Home."
(SFC, 8/4/99, p.C2)
1998 Aug 21, Samuel Bowers, a
73-year-old former Ku Klux Klan leader, was convicted in Hattiesburg,
Miss., of ordering a 1966 firebombing that killed civil rights activist
Vernon Dahmer. Bowers died in prison in November 2006 at age 82.
(AP, 8/21/08)
1998 Sep 15-Oct 1, Hurricane
Georges caused 602 deaths in the Caribbean and four in the United
States. The storm hit the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba, Puerto Rico,
Antigua, Guadeloupe, St. Kitts and Nevis, Anguilla and British and U.S.
Virgin Islands before striking Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and
Florida.
(AP, 9/11/04)(www.wunderground.com)
1999 Nov 2, In elections for
governor neither Ronnie Musgrove (43) nor Lt. Gov. Mike Parker won over
50% of the vote and the state constitution dictated that the House of
Representatives vote for a winner.
(SFC, 1/5/00, p.A2)
2000 Jan 4, Democrat Ronnie
Musgrove won the House vote for governor.
(SFC, 1/5/00, p.A2)
2000 Jun 15, Raynard Johnson (17)
was found hanging from a tree in his front yard in Kokomo.
Investigators ruled it a suicide but there was suspicion that he was
hanged for dating white girls. It was later reported that his
17-year-old girlfriend told him that she loved someone else just 2
hours before his death.
(SFC, 6/28/00, p.A7)(SFC, 7/15/00, p.A7)
2000 At Moss Point a chain
reaction of collision involved 16 cars, 2 tour buses, and 2-18
wheelers. At least 5 people were killed.
(SFC, 5/8/00, p.A10)
2001 Feb 24, A tornado in
Pontotoc, Mississippi, left 5 people dead.
(SFC, 2/26/01, p.A3)
2001 Mar 23, Gov. Ronnie Musgrove
signed a law that mandated public schools to display “In God We Trust”
in classrooms, cafeterias and auditoriums.
(SFC, 3/24/01, p.C1)
2001 Mar 27, The state legislature
committed $75 million over the next 5 years for campus improvements at
3 historically black universities following a long-standing
desegregation case.
(SFC, 3/28/01, p.A5)
2001 Apr 17, Voters decided to
keep the Confederate emblem on the state flag by a margin of 65 to 35%.
(SFC, 4/18/01, p.A3)
2001 cJul 23, Eudora Welty (92),
writer, died in Jackson, Miss. Her work included the 1941 collection “A
Curtain of Green and Other Stories” and the 1973 Pulitzer Prize winning
“The Optimist’s Daughter.”
(WSJ, 7/24/01, p.A1)(SFC, 7/24/01, p.A17)
2001 Nov 10, In Independence
manslaughter charges were filed against Christie Rene Greenwood (24),
the mother of 6 children (1-9) who died in a house fire after being
left alone.
(SFC, 11/12/01, p.A14)
2001 The state found itself with
more prison beds than prisoners and lawmakers wrote legislation that
set aside millions for “ghost inmates.’
(WSJ, 9/6/01, p.A1)
2002 Apr 1, The American Rivers
environmental group listed the most endangered US rivers and included
the Missouri, Big Sunflower (Mississippi), and Klamath (California) in
the top 11.
(SFC, 4/2/02, p.A3)
2002 Nov 10, A series of
pulverizing storms barreled through more than a half-dozen US states
including Tennessee, Ohio, Alabama, Mississippi and Pennsylvania,
killing at least 36 people. More than 100 were injured.
(SFC, 11/12/02, p.A4)(AP, 11/10/07)
2002 Dec 4, The governor of
Mississippi signed legislation capping punitive damage awards at $20
million.
(WSJ, 12/5/02, p.A1)
2002 Dec 5, Trent Lott, Senate
Republican leader from Mississippi, made remarks that supported Sen.
Strom Thurmond's 1948 segregationist platform. The resulting firestorm
prompted Lott to resign his leadership position. Strom Thurmond, the
oldest and longest-serving senator in history, celebrated his 100th
birthday on Capitol Hill.
(SFC, 12/13/02, p.A4)(AP, 12/5/03)
2002 Dec 20, Trent Lott (61) of
Mississippi stepped down as Senate Majority Leader two weeks after
igniting a political firestorm with racially charged remarks. Sen. Bill
Frist (50), a Tennessee heart surgeon, was expected to replace
him.
(SFC, 12/20/02, p.A3)(SFC, 12/21/02, p.A1)(AP,
12/20/03)
2002 Dec 19, A tornado in Newton,
Mississippi, hit stores and injured at least 50 people. Gov. Musgrove
declared a local state of emergency.
(WSJ, 12/20/02, p.A1)
2003 May, A Nissan factory in
Canton, Miss., rolled out its 1st car. Mississippi had lured in Nissan
with a $290 million package.
(Econ, 11/29/03, p.29)
2003 Jul 7, Robbers took $760,000
from a casino in Tunica, Miss.
(SSFC, 1/11/04, p.A3)
2003 Jul 8, In Meridian, Miss.,
Doug Williams (48), a white factory worker known as a racist who talked
about murdering others opened fire with a shotgun and a rifle at a
Lockheed Martin plant, killing four blacks and one white before
committing suicide.
(AP, 7/8/03)(SFC, 7/9/03, p.A6)
2003 Oct 1, A robber, dubbed the
"Honey Bun Bandit," struck the Grand Casino in Tunica, Miss., with a
fake bomb in a box containing honey buns.
(SSFC, 1/11/04, p.A3)
2003 Oct 6, A fire in Yazoo City,
Miss., left 5 children (1½-10) dead. Their mothers were at a
nightclub.
(SFC, 10/7/03, p.A1)
2003 Nov 4, Republicans picked up
two governorships in the South. Haley Barbour ousted Mississippi's
Democratic incumbent Ronnie Musgrove.
(AP, 11/5/03)(SFC, 11/5/03, p.A16)
2003 Casinos in the Mississippi
Delta reported 16 robberies and 7 botched tries at its 9 casinos.
Gambling brought in an annual $1.1 billion to the state.
(SSFC, 1/11/04, p.A3)
2004 Jan 13, Haley Barbour was
sworn in as the 63rd governor of Mississippi. He became the 2nd
Republican governor to hold office since post Civil War Reconstruction.
(SFC, 1/14/04, p.A3)
2004 Mar 12, A dam break at Big
Bay Lake caused flooding in Mississippi's Lamar and Marion counties.
Over 50 houses and mobile homes were destroyed.
(USAT, 3/23/04, p.11A)
2004 May 8, Former Iraq hostage
Thomas Hamill returned home to a chorus of cheering family and friends
in Mississippi.
(AP, 5/8/05)
2004 Jun 16, Gov. Barbour of
Mississippi singed a law capping jury awards in most lawsuits.
(WSJ, 6/17/04, p.A1)
2004 Aug 27, A fire at a
University of Mississippi fraternity house killed 3 students.
(AP, 8/27/05)
2004 Sep 7, Kirk Fordice (70),
former Mississippi Gov. (1992-2000) died in Jackson, Miss.
(AP, 9/7/05)
2004 Sep 17, The violent remains
of Hurricane Ivan pounded a large swath of the eastern United States,
drenching an area from Georgia to Ohio. Ivan left 70 dead in the
Caribbean and 40 dead in the US including 4 in Alabama, 16 in Florida,
4 in Georgia, 4 in Louisiana, 3 in Mississippi, and 8 in North Carolina.
(AP, 9/17/04)(SFC, 9/18/04, p.A16)
2004 It was reported that McDonald
County, Miss., home to 13 million broiler chickens and a few hundred
thousand turkeys, had every stream on a government “impaired water
body” list.
(SSFC, 8/8/04, p.M2)
2005 Jan 6, Edgar Ray Killen
(b.1925) was arrested in Philadelphia, Miss., as a suspect in the 1964
abduction and killing of 3 voter-registration volunteers. He was found
guilty on June 21, 2005, the 41st anniversary of the murders, along
with Cecil Price (deputy sheriff of Neshoba at the time), of three
counts of manslaughter and gathering the group of men who hunted down
and killed two Jewish New Yorkers: Andrew Goodman (20) and Michael
Schwerner (24), and one black Mississippian, James Chaney (21).
(SFC, 1/7/05,
p.A1)(www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/06/21/mississippi.killings/)
2005 Jun 23, Former Ku Klux
Klansman Edgar Ray Killen was sentenced to 60 years in prison for the
1964 Mississippi slayings of three civil rights workers.
(AP, 6/23/06)
2005 Jul 10, In Mississippi 2
Canadian National Railroad freight trains collided outside Bentonia and
4 crewmen were killed.
(WSJ, 7/11/05, p.A1)
2005 Aug 29, Hurricane Katrina hit
the Gulf Coast near Buras, La., as a Category 3 storm. Katrina ripped
two holes in the curved roof of the Louisiana Superdome, letting in
rain as thousands of storm refugees huddled inside. In Mississippi many
of the 13 floating casinos in Biloxi and Gulfport smashed historic
homes and buildings. The Grand Casino Biloxi destroyed the historic
Hotel Tivoli. Storm surges and winds from Katrina unleashed at least 40
oil spills and some 193,000 barrels of oil and other petrochemicals
were driven across fragile marshy ecosystems southeast of New Orleans.
The death toll from Katrina eventually reached at least 1,600. An
estimated 300 Louisiana residents died out of state; some 230 people
perished in Mississippi. Property damage estimates were in the hundreds
of billions of dollars.
(SFC, 9/6/05, p.A1)(WSJ, 9/23/05, p.A1)(WSJ,
3/21/06, p.A1)(AP, 8/29/06)(Econ, 9/6/08, p.36)
2005 Aug 30, The death toll in
Mississippi from Hurricane Katrina passed 100. Flooding reached 11 feet
in Mobile, Ala. Breaches in at least 2 levees from Lake Pontchartrain
put parts of New Orleans under 20 feet of water. Mayor Ray Nagin
estimated that 80% of New Orleans was flooded. Tourists snapped
pictures of looters in the French Quarter.
(AP, 8/30/05)(SFC, 8/31/05, p.A10)
2005 Sep 2, Pres. Bush made a tour
of damages from Hurricane Katrina in Alabama, Mississippi and New
Orleans. He acknowledged that current relief results were not
acceptable.
(SFC, 9/3/05, p.A1)
2005 Dec 14, In Mississippi John
B. Nixon, Sr. (b.1928) was executed for the 1985 murder of Virginia
Tucker. At 77 years old, he was the oldest person executed since 1976
and, according to the Espy File the oldest person executed since Joe
Lee in Virginia at the age of 83 on April 21, 1916.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_B._Nixon,_Sr.)
2005 A US Census Bureau survey
showed that Mississippi had America’s highest poverty rate at 21.3%.
The national average was 13.3%.
(Econ, 1/6/07, p.27)
2006 Jun 15, Mississippi Gov.
Haley Barbour launched a Healthy Mississippi Summit to help fight
obesity.
(Econ, 6/24/06, p.40)
2006 Sep 15, In Jackson,
Mississippi, Mayor Frank Melton was indicted along with 2 police
bodyguards on numerous felony charges stemming from his crime-fighting
tactics.
(SFC, 9/16/06, p.A3)
2007 Feb 23, A Mississippi grand
jury refused to bring any new charges in the 1955 slaying of Emmett
Till, a black teenager who was beaten and shot after whistling at a
white woman, declining to indict the woman, Carolyn Bryant Donham, for
manslaughter. Democrat Tom Vilsack abandoned his bid for the presidency.
(AP, 2/23/08)
2007 Jun 14, In Mississippi
Klansman James Ford Seale (71) was convicted on federal charges of
kidnapping and conspiracy in the 1964 deaths of Charles Moore and Henry
Hezekiah Dee. Seale faced life in prison with sentencing on Aug 24.
(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jul 10, Doug Marlette (57),
Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist and writer, died in a car accident
near Holly Springs, Mississippi.
(SFC, 7/11/07, p.B5)(AP, 7/10/08)
2007 Aug 24, In Mississippi
Klansman James Ford Seale (71) was sentenced to 3 life terms in prison
for his role in the 1964 deaths of Charles Moore and Henry Hezekiah Dee.
(WSJ, 8/25/07, p.A1)
2007 Oct 30,
The US Supreme Court halted a Mississippi execution, their 3rd
reprieve since agreeing to rule on Kentucky’s lethal injection
procedure.
(WSJ, 10/31/07, p.A1)
2007 Nov 26, Mississippi Sen.
Trent Lott announced his retirement after a 35-year career in Congress.
(AP, 11/26/08)
2008 Jan 7, Jerry Fitch, a
Mississippi businessman, must pay more than 750,000 dollars in damages
to the man whose wife he wooed away, after the US Supreme Court
declined to hear an appeal in the case.
(AFP, 1/7/08)
2008 Feb 5, Storms swept across
Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas as Super Tuesday
primaries were ending. 31 people were killed in Tennessee, 13 in
Arkansas, 7 in Kentucky and four in Alabama. It was one of the 15 worst
tornado death tolls since 1950, and the nation's deadliest barrage of
tornadoes since 76 people were killed in Pennsylvania and Ohio on May
31, 1985.
(AP, 2/6/08)(AP, 2/7/08)
2008 Mar 11, Sen. Barack Obama
picked up five more delegates than Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in
Mississippi's Democratic primary.
(AP, 3/12/08)
2008 Mar 14, In Mississippi
Richard Scruggs, chief architect of the $206 billion tobacco settlement
in 1998, pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe a judge with $50,000 in
a dispute over legal fees.
(SFC, 3/15/08, p.A2)
2008 Aug 25, US immigration agents
uncovered some 350 suspected undocumented workers in a raid on the
Howard Industries electrical equipment plant in Laurel, Mississippi.
(SFC, 8/26/08, p.A4)
2009 Jan 7, A new federal report
said Mississippi now has the nation's highest teen pregnancy rate,
displacing Texas and New Mexico for that lamentable title.
(AP, 1/7/09)
2009 May 7, In Mississippi Jackson
Mayor Frank Melton (60), elected in 2005, died just as polls closed in
his unsuccessful bid for re-election.
(SFC, 5/8/09, p.B6)
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End of file.