Mississippi
and several natural disasters Mississippi is far less developed than most other states. While there are pockets of prosperity, mostly near Memphis and the Louisiana border, most of Mississippi has a lower standard of living than the rest of the USA. Paving conditions of roads are poor due to an underfunded transportation department, and even some things such as modern plumbing may not be up to standards found else where. These are periennial problems for the state which they have recently been seeking to redress in the Federal arena. So far success has been slow in coming, and with the destruction of Biloxi-Gulfport by Katrina, the state has been in an even worse condition.
|
Mississippi Population Density Map |
Population
| Historical populations |
|---|
Census
year | Population |
|---|
|
| 1800 | 7,600 |
| 1810 | 31,306 |
| 1820 | 75,448 |
| 1830 | 136,621 |
| 1840 | 375,651 |
| 1850 | 606,526 |
| 1860 | 791,305 |
| 1870 | 827,922 |
| 1880 | 1,131,597 |
| 1890 | 1,289,600 |
| 1900 | 1,551,270 |
| 1910 | 1,797,114 |
| 1920 | 1,790,618 |
| 1930 | 2,009,821 |
| 1940 | 2,183,796 |
| 1950 | 2,178,914 |
| 1960 | 2,178,141 |
| 1970 | 2,216,912 |
| 1980 | 2,520,638 |
| 1990 | 2,573,216 |
| 2000 | 2,844,658 |
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 [
1].
Racial makeup and ancestry
The Census Bureau considers
race and Hispanic origin to be two separate categories. This data, however, is only for non-Hispanic members of each group: non-Hispanic Whites, non-Hispanic Blacks, etc. For more information on race and the Census, see
here.People of
Hispanic origin, who may be of any race, comprised 1.4% of the population in 2000, and an estimated 1.5% in 2003.
Until about 1940,
blacks made up a majority of Mississippians. Due to the
Great Migration the state's black population declined, but it has recently begun to increase, due mainly to a higher
birthrate than the state average. In many of Mississippi's public school districts, a majority of students are black. [
4] Blacks are a majority in the northwestern Yazoo Delta, the southwestern, and central parts of the state.
Nearly 10,000 Native Americans (mostly Choctaw) live in the east-central section of the state. The small
Chinese population found in the
Delta is descended from farm laborers brought there from
California in the 1870s. The Chinese did not adjust well to the Mississippi plantation system, however, and most of them became small merchants. The coastal fishing industry has attracted
Southeast Asian refugees.
More than 98% of the
white population of Mississippi is native-born, predominantly of
Northern European descent. According to the 2000 census, the largest ancestries are
American (14.2%),
Irish (6.9%),
English (6.1%),
German (4.5%), and
Italian (1.42%). People of
French Creole ancestry form the largest demographic group in Hancock County on the Gulf Coast. The black, Choctaw (in Neshoba County), and Chinese segments of the population are also almost entirely native-born.
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, 50
th in the nation (ranking includes the District of Columbia).
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 is served by six
interstate highways:
*
Interstate 10*
Interstate 20*
Interstate 55*
Interstate 59*
Interstate 110*
Interstate 220and fourteen main
U.S. Routes*
U.S. Route 11*
U.S. Route 45*
U.S. Route 49*
U.S. Route 51*
U.S. Route 61*
U.S. Route 65*
U.S. Route 72*
U.S. Route 78*
U.S. Route 80*
U.S. Route 82*
U.S. Route 84*
U.S. Route 90*
U.S. Route 98*
U.S. Route 278as well as a system of
State Highways. Two further interstate highways are proposed:
Interstate 69 and
Interstate 269.
For more information, visit the
Mississippi Department of Transportation website.
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.
(See: List of Governors of Mississippi)(See: List of Lt. Governors of Mississippi)(See: List of State Treasurers of Mississippi)(See: Mississippi general election results, 2003) 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.
(See: List of state legislatures of the United States.)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.
(See: List of United States Representatives from Mississippi)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.
(See: List of Mississippi counties)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 black Mississippians were denied the right to vote. Not until
1966, following the passage of the
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 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 an
Alcoholic beverage control state.
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.
Colleges, universities and community colleges
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.
*
Scouting in MississippiState symbols
State motto:
"Virtute et Armis" (By Valor and Arms)
State song:
"Go, Mississippi", adopted 1962
Patron saint:
Our Lady of Sorrows State flower and
state tree:
Magnolia State bird:
Mockingbird State beverage:
Milk State fish:
Largemouth Bass State insect:
Honeybee State water mammal:
Bottlenose Dolphin State shell:
Oyster State fossil: A whale fossil nicknamed "Ziggy"
State land mammals:
White-tailed Deer and
Red FoxState waterfowl:
Wood duck State stone:
Petrified wood State wildflower: Coreopsis
State butterfly:
Spicebush Swallowtail State dance:
Square Dance Statehood Quarter was minted in 2002.
Pledge to the Flag: "I salute the flag of Mississippi and the sovereign state for which it stands with pride in her history and achievements and with confidence in her future under the guidance of Almighty God."
USS Mississippi was named in honor of this state.
Famous Mississippians
Mississippi has produced a number of notable and famous individuals, including authors
William Faulkner and
Eudora Welty, musician
Elvis Presley, blues musicians
B.B. King,
Muddy Waters, and
Robert Johnson, novelist
John Grisham, entertainers
Oprah Winfrey and
Jim Henson, author
Richard Wright, actor
Morgan Freeman, playwright
Tennessee Williams,
rap music singer
David Banner,
punk metal band
The Cooters, opera singer
Leontyne Price, athletes
Brett Favre,
Jerry Rice,
Archie Manning,
Walter Payton, and
Roy Oswalt and
country music singers
Jimmie Rodgers,
Tammy Wynette,
LeAnn Rimes, and
Faith Hill.
See List of Mississippians*
State of Mississippi*
Mississippi Employment Data*
Mississippi Authors*
The Mississippi Writers Page*
Mississippi Arts*
Mississippi State Facts*
Mississippi Teacher Corps*
Go Oxford
