Mississippi USA
Destination Travel Guides & Hotel Reservations
When cotton was king - and slavery was as yet unchallenged - MISSISSIPPI was the
nation's fifth wealthiest state. Since the Civil War, however, it has been the poorest,
its dependence on cotton now a handicap that makes it victim to the vagaries of the
commodities market. Widespread poverty has long endured alongside pockets of enormous
riches, and white Mississippi was notorious for violent resistance to black political
participation. Not until the early Seventies did the church bombings and murders come to
an end, and no one could claim that racial tension has ceased to exist. To some extent,
the economy has regenerated since Mississippi's first Republican governor in a century, Kirk
Fordice , decided to legalize gambling; the giant casinos may be lumbering eyesores
that seem pitifully out of place on the sweeping Delta flatlands, but they're sucking
considerable revenues across the state line from Memphis, Tennessee. Even today, you only
have to take a detour down some rural side road to encounter pockets of truly scandalous
black poverty, but with the profits from gaming being ploughed into education in
Mississippi's poorest counties, the state may finally manage to shake off its appalling
reputation for inequality.
While the major city is the capital, Jackson , historic river towns like Vicksburg
and Natchez provide good reasons to stay off the interstates, and blues fans
will need no encouragement to go exploring sleepy Delta settlements such as
Alligator or Yazoo City.
Reserve a Hotel Room in Mississippi USA
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