Racial discrimination and segregation prevailed in Mississippi through the 20th century. The state became a hub of American music traditions at the center of gospel, jazz, country and rock and roll., While four others eventually passed the amendment, Mississippi did not symbolically and officially adopt it until 1995 – and didn’t officially notify Washington of the vote until 2013.,īlues music originating in the Mississippi Delta after the Civil War was rooted in African spiritual music and songs slaves sang as they worked in the fields.

The 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery, was ratified after three-fourths of the states passed it in 1865 at the close of the war. The state suffered greatly during the war, losing nearly 10,000 soldiers.,

The state’s location alongside the Mississippi River made it a strategic military location during the Civil War. The Magnolia State was the second state to secede from the Union in 1861. Through the mid-19th century, slave labor propelled Mississippi to become the top cotton producer in the country., The Mississippi Territory was organized in 1798, and it joined the Union as the 20th state in 1817.

In 1763, the Treaty of Paris relegated the Mississippi region to the British., White explorers arrived in Mississippi in 1540, and the area was passed among the Spanish, British and French until the French and Indian War.