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.
“Southern blacks not only out-sang, out-marched, and out-prayed their oppressors, but they also out-thought them.”
Adam Fairclough, historian
James “Cool Papa” Bell was the first native Mississippian to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The Starkville native’s professional career began in 1922 when he signed with the St. Louis Stars. Aside from playing for five years in several Latin American leagues, Bell spent the majority of his career playing for various teams in the Negro Leagues.
Cool Papa Bell is considered to be the fastest man ever to play professional baseball. His achievements, in the Negro Leagues and in Latin America, earned his induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, in 1974. His Hall of Fame plaque reads in part, “… Contemporaries rated him fastest man on the base paths.”
When Mississippi became a United States territory in 1798, its first government was made up of a territorial governor, a secretary to the governor, and three judges. Washington, Mississippi, served as the territorial capital. That is where the first Mississippi Constitution was drafted and sent to the United States Congress for the territory’s admittance in the Union as a state. On December 10, 1817, Mississippi became the twentieth state, and since then, Mississippi’s citizens and officials shaped state government into what it is today.
The election year cycle brings extra attention every four years to statewide government offices. How those offices affect our lives between elections is the focus of this lesson plan.
Mississippi Studies Framework: Competencies 1, 4, and 5
Grades 6 (with modifications) through 12
The Mississippi History Now profiles on Mississippi’s governors offer brief summaries of the personal and political lives of each of the state’s chief executives. Although students usually are aware of the current governor and perhaps can name others who have served in the position, rarely is there enough time in the classroom to permit them a more personal glimpse into the lives of those who have served in the state’s highest elected position. Students can use these gubernatorial biographies in a variety of ways.
While the nation was transformed economically by the Second World War effort, individual states were changed as well. Evidence of this transformation can still be seen within Mississippi through the state’s military facilities and manufacturing companies. These types of industries were created for national defense during World War II and still impact the state’s economy today.
Mississippi Studies Framework: Competencies 1, 2, 3, and 4
Grades 7 through 12
1927—what a year! Charles Lindbergh flew to Paris, Babe Ruth hit sixty home runs, and the first talking movie was released. Perhaps of even more significance to citizens who lived along the Mississippi River, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers also had announced its certainty that the levee system along the Mississippi River would prevent future floods.