This text was obtained via automated optical character recognition.
It has not been edited and may therefore contain several errors.
• 1903 - A new capital building, constructed at a cost of $1 million, is dedicated in Jackson. • 1907- O The boll weevil arrives in Mississippi, destroying most of the state's cotton crop. o William H. Smith organizes the first of the state's "Com Clubs,” which leads to the formation of the 4-H Clubs of America. • 1908 - Mississippi adopts statewide prohibition. • 1909 - Dr. Laurence C. Jones founds the Piney Woods Country Life School for the vocational and secondary education of black students. • 1910 - Mississippi Normal College, now the University of Southern Mississippi, is organized. • 1916- o The Mississippi State Sanatorium for Tuberculosis is established, o Governor Theodore Bilbo establishes the state's first Highway Commission. • 1922 - The State Legislature authorizes a system of junior colleges, the first in the nation. • 1923 - Two women, Senator Belle Kearny and Representative Nellie Nugent Somerville, are elected to the State Legislature. • 1924 - Delta State Teachers' College, now Delta State University, is established. • 1927 - The Mississippi River floods 2,722,000 acres in the Delta. Thousands are left homeless. • 1929 - The Depression begins. • 1930 - Lock and dam system -- to facilitate navigation and control flooding -authorized by Congress. • 1932 o The state's first sales tax becomes effective. O The Natchez Pilgrimage, a nationally-famous tour of that area's antebellum homes, becomes an annual event. • 1936 - The State Legislature passes an amendment to balance agriculture with industry (BAWI Program). The Industrial Commission and the Advertising Commission are created to implement the program, which includes adoption of the nation's first industrial revenue bond. • 1939 - The state's first oil well is brought in near Tinsley, in Yazoo County. • 1940 - o Jackson College, having earlier moved from Natchez to Jackson, becomes a state institution, o Lock and dam system completed • 1941-1945 World War II promotes an industrial boom in the state. • 1946 - Mississippi Vocational College, now Mississippi Valley State University, is established. • 1954 - Brown vs. Board of Education, the Supreme Court's landmark ruling, lays groundwork for desegregation. • 1962 - James Meredith, the first black registrant, enters the University of Mississippi - the beginning of the end to segregation in public universities and colleges. • 1963 - Medgar Evers, NAACP field secretary, is assassinated. • 1964- O Congress passes the Civil Rights Act, outlawing segregation in public places. O Three civil-rights workers are murdered near Philadelphia, Miss • 1965 - Governor Paul B. Johnson, Jr., announces that the BAWI Program has achieved its goal. • 1968- O Circuit Court judge 0. H. Barnett rules that Choctaw Indians are subject to their tribal laws, a reversal of an 1830's ruling that abolished tribal government. o Robert dark begins serving his first term in the Mississippi House as its first modern-day black member. • 1969- o Unitary system of public education is mandated by federal courts, ending segregation in public schools, o Hurricane Camille wreaks havoc upon Mississippi's Gulf Coast and areas inland. • 1970 - Mississippi Authority for Educational Television is established and begins broadcasting. • 1972- Mississippi, Timeline of State History - SHG Resources 1 of 2
Mississippi General Document (004)