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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.
Although Greyhound serves most of Mississippi, including the Delta,
only along the coastal stretch are services at all frequent. Jackson
has the only airport of any size, while Amtrak trains from New Orleans
head north to Memphis by way of Jackson and Greenwood; northeast
to Atlanta, passing through a succession of unexciting small towns;
and along the coast to Florida, stopping at Biloxi. Trips on the
Mississippi itself are run on expensive luxury cruisers.
See what Mississippi car rentals has to offer today. Choose a link
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