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o Work begins on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, o Governor William Waller's administration aggressively involves blacks and women in government through key Cabinet, Board and judicial appointments.
•	1976-
O Governor Cliff Finch calls a special session of the Legislature to restructure the states savings and loan associations, averting a financial crisis, o Governor Finch succeeds in reuniting the long- separated Loyalist and Regular factions of the Mississippi Democratic Party.
•	1978-
O After 36 years of service, U.S. Senator James 0. Eastland retires.
O Sixteenth Section Lands and Lieu Lands Act transfers control of Sixteenth Section Lands from county boards of supervisors to local boards of education and requires fair-market rental value on those lands.
•	1979-
o Mattie T. Consent Decree initiates procedures providing equal education for handicapped children in the states public schools, o Devastating flood inundates the dty of Jackson and many towns south along the Pearl River.
•	1982-
O Governor William F. Winter calls a special legislative session, resulting in adoption of the historic Education Reform Act, pioneering nationwide school reform.
o Jackson hosts the International Ballet Competition.
•	1983 - Judge Lenore Prather becomes Mississippi's first woman Supreme Court justice.
•	1984-
O Public Radio in Mississippi goes on the air. o Governor Bill Allain implements a massive program of governmental reorganization.
•	1985 - Justice Reuben Anderson becomes Mississippi's first black Supreme Court Justice.
•	1986-
O The Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway is completed, o Yazoo City lawyer Mike Espy is elected to the U.S. House, the first black congressman from Mississippi since Reconstruction.
•	1987-
o Senator John C. Stennis, dean of U.S. Senators serving 40 years, announces he will not seek reelection, o Ray Mabus is elected governor, the nation's youngest at 39.
•	1988 - A voluntary county unit system law is signed by Governor Mabus.
•	1989-
O Fifth District congressman Larkin Smith dies in a plane crash near Hattiesburg. State Senator Gene Taylor of Bay St. Louis wins a spirited special election to succeed him.
•	1990 - Mississippi National Guard men and women play important roles in Operation Desert Storm for America in the Middle East.
•	1991-
o Mississippi becomes the nation’s 21st state to allow its citizens to register to vote by mail.
o Kirk Fordice becomes Mississippi's first Republican governor since Reconstruction.
•	1992 - Tornadoes hit Brandon and other parts of Mississippi killing fifteen and injuring about 300 others
•	1994 - One of the nation’s strongest lobbying reform laws is passed by the Mississippi Legislature.
21th century
•	2000 - David Ronald Musgrove becomes Mississippi's sixty-second Governor.
Mississippi, Timeline of State History - SHG Resources
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