At one time in Mississippi’s history, the Natchez Trace was a series of roads and trails that connected the region to areas far beyond the boundaries of Mississippi. It is a road that has always been drenched in myth and folklore. Today, the Natchez Trace Parkway is a scenic route that extends from Nashville, Tennessee, to Natchez, Mississippi.
Mississippi Studies Framework: Competencies 1, 3, 4
Lucy Somerville Howorth once described herself as a lawyer, politician, and feminist. She believed that girls and women should have the same access to college, a career, and professional promotions as society offered to boys and men. It really was not a radical idea in her day, but many women were afraid to be called a “feminist.” Not Lucy, who once said, “I glory in being a feminist.”
“I think that life has to be lived positively and affirmatively,” Lucy Somerville Howorth once declared to an interviewer. Students will find in this lesson numerous examples across diverse areas where Mrs. Howorth lived a life true to her declaration. As an activist, she was involved in issues that ranged from social and economic fairness and justice for women and Black people, to political campaigning and holding office, to conservation and stewardship.
United States Senator John Sharp Williams, of Yazoo County, Mississippi, launched his political career in 1892, when he defeated a Populist opponent in his congressional district and entered the United States House of Representatives the following year. The Mississippi Democrat won re-election to Congress seven times before securing a seat in the United States Senate for a six-year term that began in March 1911. He had no opposition in winning a second Senate term and decided to retire when it ended in March 1923.
Any reference to art in Mississippi and the South since the early part of the 20th century would not be complete without Marie Hull. Her art and life as a painter and teacher have influenced hundreds of young artists to make their way in art.
From the 1975 Marie Hull Exhibit brochure
Marie Atkinson made the discovery at the age of twenty, that she “wanted to paint more than anything else.”
Native Mississippi artist Marie Hull approached her art as she approached life — as a series of learning adventures. Her adventures around the United States and Europe, as well as her interactions with people, served as an inspiration for her art. Her natural talent was not only shared through the creation of beautiful works of art, but through the sharing of her knowledge with her students. Throughout her lifetime, Marie Hull’s work was exhibited not only in her home state, but throughout the country and in some cities abroad.
Ask people to define “geography,” and most of them will initially say it is location — where a place is. The “where” is certainly central to geography, and with tools such as maps and global positioning technology, geography is the subject best equipped to address a question about location. However, a simple exercise will illustrate that geography is much more than just location.
The geography of an area is what makes a location unique and distinguishes it from any other place. With its beaches, Spanish moss, magnolias, white-tailed deer, and the great Mississippi River, Mississippi is unique and rich in natural beauty. Along with this natural beauty, a distinct way of life that is rich in history and a culture deeply rooted in the diversity of its people can be found here in the Magnolia State. It is this human and physical geography that makes Mississippi distinguishable from the other forty-nine U.S. states.
Hazel Brannon Smith was a southern belle whose life was anything but typical compared to the women of her time. Upon graduation from college, she relocated from Alabama to Holmes County, Mississippi, where she became the owner of two local newspapers. While faced with great resistance and pressure from segregationists, she courageously reported the news during a turbulent time in the history of the state and nation.
In May 1964 Hazel Brannon Smith, editor and publisher of the Lexington Advertiser, won a Pulitzer Prize for “steadfast adherence to her editorial duties in the face of great pressure and opposition” from the Holmes County Citizens’ Council, which had formed in 1954, and from its segregationist supporters. The Lexington Advertiser served the small community of Lexington, Mississippi, the county seat of Holmes County.