Stephen Adams, member of the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate
[6] Billy Brasfield, (Makeup Artist) also known as Billy B.[7]
Reuben Davis, Congressman and Confederate general.
John Gregg, Confederate general in the Civil War.
Moses Hardy, formerly oldest living American man, one of the oldest veterans of World War I.
Booker T. Washington White, more often known as Bukka White, Blues musician]].
Eugene Sykes, Justice of the Supreme Court of Mississippi and the first chairman of the Federal Communications Commission
Amory
Notable People
John Dye, actor
Gary Grubbs, actor
Lucille Bogan, controversial early blues singer
Mitch Moreland, professional baseball first baseman and right fielder in the Texas Rangers organization
Marty Funderburk, Multi Dove Award nominated Christian songwriter, SoGospel News Songwriter of the Year 2009, producer and artist, currently resides in Nashville, TN and has over 600 songs in his catalog.
Trivia
Blue Suede Shoes was written by Carl Perkins during a trip to Amory for a concert with Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash in 1955
Baldwyn
Notable People
Laura Pendergest-Holt
Batesville
Notable People
Deshea Townsend - Pittsburgh Steelers defensive back
Dwayne Rudd - former NFL player for the Minnesota Vikings, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Oakland Raiders, and Cleveland Browns.
Soulja Boy Tell 'Em – rapper
Peria Jerry - Atlanta Falcons defensive tackle
Ronnie Musgrove - politician, born in Tocowa and raised in Batesville
Wally Pang, Afro-Chinese American politician and restaurant owner
Bay St. Louis
On August 29, 2005 at 10:00 a.m. CDT, Hurricane Katrina made its final landfall near Bay St. Louis, at the mouth of the Pearl River, with a 28-foot (8.5 m) storm surge. Hurricane Katrina came ashore during the high tide of 9:15AM, +2.3 feet more,[4] causing a storm tide over 30 feet (9.1 m) deep. USGS Topographical maps show a common 25 feet (7.6 m) elevation contour line running throughout a ridge along old HWY 90 (Old Spanish Trail) in the western edge of the city. It was primarily this area which did not see the surge inundation of Hurricane Katrina
Belzoni
The area was named Farm-Raised Catfish Capital of the World in 1976 by then Governor Cliff Finch, since it produces more farm-raised catfish than any other U.S. county
Belzoni is known for the World Catfish Festival held every April
Belzoni, Mississippi was the site of a murder of an early civil rights pioneer. The Rev. George W. Lee, an African-American minister who was seeking voting rights for the disenfranchised blacks of the Mississippi Delta, was murdered in 1955 in "Bloody Belzoni" by racists committed to upholding segregation.[5] His killers were never found, as the governor of Mississippi, Hugh L. White, refused to investigate the case.[6] Many consider him the first martyr of the modern Civil Rights movement
Notable People
Lawrence Gordon, film producer & former president of 20th Century Fox and American International Pictures[11]
Don Gorton, Commissioner, Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board
Madolyn Hardy, first Miss Mississippi in 1934[12]
Denise LaSalle, Blues singer
Ethel Wright Mohamed, 'Grandma Moses of Stitchery' [13]
Pinetop Perkins, Blues musician.
Monroe Swan, Wisconsin State Senate
Jean Terrell, is R&B and jazz singer, replaced Diana Ross in The Supremes in 1970.[12]
Herb Washington, track and field athlete and Major League Baseball player.
Annette Polly Williams, Wisconsin State Assembly
Bolton
Notable People
Bo Carter - Early blues singer and guitarist
Cleveland Green - Former NFL player for the Miami Dolphins
Alan Huffman - Writer & journalist (Mississippi in Africa)
Calvin Smith - Olympic Gold and bronze medal winning athlete
Bennie Thompson - Member of the United States House of Representatives
Walter Vinson – jazz
Booneville
Notable People
Travis W. Childers, Congressman, House of Representatives, D-MS 1st District, 2nd term [5]
Harold Bishop, Jr., professional football player
Billy McCoy, speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives
Will Estell, author, magazine publisher, and writer
"Mean" Gene Kelton, singer-songwriter, blues musician, and band leader of Mean Gene Kelton & The Die Hards
George E. Allen, American political figure and head football coach for 1 game at Cumberland University
Jim Drerwy, Booneville High School Head Football Coach and Mississippi's all-time winningest High School Football coach [1]
Michael Rubenstein, executive director of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and award-winning sportscaster
Brandon
Notable People
Devin Britton, professional tennis player
Jerious Norwood, professional football player
Louis H. Wilson, Jr., Commandant of the Marine Corps and member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Justin Mapp, professional soccer player
Brookhaven
Notable People
Lance Alworth, member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and College Football Hall of Fame, attended Brookhaven High School.[6]
David Banner, rapper, grew up in Brookhaven.
Bruce Brady, sculptor, author. Designed the Conerly Trophy and founded the non-profit organization Catch-A-Dream to benefit ill children.
Jim Brewer, Maxwell Street blues musician, was born in Brookhaven.[citation needed]
Bernie Ebbers, former CEO of WorldCom, lived both in and near Brookhaven before being sent to prison for white-collar fraud.[citation needed]
Charles Henri Ford, artist and writer[citation needed]
Ruth Ford, actress[citation needed]
Earsell Mackbee, football player[citation needed]
Robert W. Pittman, founder MTV and former CEO and COO of AOL), was raised in Brookhaven.[13][citation needed]
Dr. J. Kim Sessums, artist. Designed the African-American Monument in the Vicksburg National Military Park
Caledonia
The school's baseball team is often one of the best in the state, winning several state championships in the 1970s and 1980s
Elmore James
Canton
Notable People
Thea Bowman (1937-1990), Catholic sister, Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration
The Canton Spirituals, gospel recording group
Annie Bell Robinson Devine (1912-2000), civil rights activist
George Doherty (1920–1987), football player, Buffalo Bills
Scott Field (1847-1931), United States Congressman from Texas
L. C. Greenwood (1946-), Pittsburgh Steelers, Super Bowl IX, Super Bowl X, Super Bowl XIII, Super Bowl XIV
Caroline Herring, folk singer
Elmore James (1918-1963), blues singer, slide guitarist S
Lonny Landreth (1951-), blues guitar player
Samuel Mockbee (1944-2001), Architect
Anne Moody (1940-), civil rights activist, author Coming of Age in Mississippi based on her work with CORE
John Henry Rogers (1845-1911), United States Congressman from Arkansas and a federal judge, who grew up near Madison and practiced law in Canton
William M. Walton (1932-1915), Texas Attorney General
David P. Stewart (1963-), Author, Abingdon Press
Mississippi Blues Trail Canton is officially on the Mississippi Blues Trail.
Elmore James, a legendary blues singer and a familiar figure in Canton, learned electronics by working in a radio repair shop on Hickory Street. Canton is rich in blues history centered around the juke joints of Hickory Street, known to locals as "The Hollow", as well as other places in Canton. A Mississippi Blues Trail historic marker was placed in Canton on Hickory Street to honor the great contribution of James to the development of the blues in Mississippi.
Other noted blues performers associated with Canton include Grady Champion, Little Brother Montgomery, William “Do-Boy" Diamond, and Johnnie Temple. Musicians include studio guitarist Bucky Barrett, slide guitarist Sonny Landreth. Gospel singers include the Canton Spirituals and Reverend Cleophus Robinson.[4] In his dedication of Hickory Street, Governor Haley Barbour said, With his innovative contributions to the electric slide guitar style, legendary Elmore James is among the many reasons Mississippi is truly the birthplace of America’s music. Like so many others, Elmore’s work was greatly influenced by his childhood home in Canton, where he joined the ranks of musicians like B.B. King and Little Milton to play the blues on Hickory Street. Today’s blues trail marker not only recognizes the achievements of the talented Elmore James but also pays tribute to Canton’s colorful blues heritage.
Movies filmed in Canton
1974 Thieves Like Us 1988 Mississippi Burning 1998 Waking in Mississippi 1996 A Time to Kill 2000 My Dog Skip 2000 O Brother, Where Art Thou? 2001 The Ponder Heart 2001 Biker Zombies from Detroit 20008.
Carthage
Earl Williamson, a local politician in Shreveport who was a confidant of Louisiana Governors Huey Pierce Long, Jr., and Earl Kemp Long, was born in Carthage in 1903.
Charleston
Notable People
Academy Award winning actor Morgan Freeman
Eldra Buckley, running back for the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles
Charleston High School held its first integrated prom in June 2008,[3] which was the subject of the 2008 HBO documentary Prom Night in Mississippi. The documentary focused on Charleston High School and the efforts to have a mixed prom instead of segregated proms, one for whites and the other for blacks
The African American exodus from Mississippi was recounted with Clarksdale triangulated with Chicago and Washington D.C. in the award winning book "The Promised Land: The Great Black Migration and How it Changed America" by Nicholas Lemann. "The Promised Land" was later produced as a documentary film series by the History Channel narrated by award-winning actor and Morgan Freeman, who is also a co-owner of the local Ground Zero Blues Club
Clarksdale has been historically significant in the development of the blues, a form of music distinctively African American. The Mississippi Blues Trail, now being implemented, is dedicating markers for historic sites such as Clarksdale's once racially segregated Riverside Hotel where Bessie Smith died following an auto accident on Highway 61. The Riverside Hotel is just one of many historical blues sites in Clarksdale
Delta Blues Museum In 1979 the Carnegie Public Library under the direction Library Director Sid Graves began a nascent display series which later became the nucleus of the Delta Blues Museum[8]. Graves single-handedly nurtured the beginnings of the museum in the face of an indifferent community, often storing displays in the trunk of his car. When the fledgling museum was accidentally discovered by Billy Gibbons of the rock band ZZ Top through contact with Howard Stovall Jr. the Delta Blues Museum became the subject of national attention as a pet project of the band and the Museum began to enjoy national recognition. In 1995 the museum grew to include a large section of the newly renovated library building and remained under the control of the Carnegie Library Board. The Museum then spent most of 1996 in a converted retail storefront on Delta Avenue under the direction of a politically connected former Wisconsin native, the late Ron Gorsegner. In the late 1990s Coahoma County would finally provide funds to form a separate Museum Board of Directors comprised mainly of wealthy local white blues fans and to renovate the adjoining Illinois Central Railroad freight depot providing a permanent home for the Delta Blues Museum.
Mississippi Blues Trail marker Clarksdale has received a historic marker as a site on the Mississippi Blues Trail by the Mississippi Blues Commission in recognition of its importance in the development of the blues in Mississippi. The marker is on Stovall Road at the cabin site of famed bluesman Muddy Waters. He lived there from 1915 until 1943 while he worked on the large Stovall cotton Plantation before moving to Chicago. A second Mississippi Blues Trail historic marker is placed at the Riverside Hotel that provided lodging for black entertainers passing through the delta. [9][10] In August 2009 a marker devoted to Clarksdale native Sam Cooke was unveiled, just in front of the New Roxy Theatre
Notable People
James L. Alcorn
Earl Barron
Eddie "Bongo" Brown
Earl L. Brewer
Charlie Conerly
Sam Cooke
Nate Dogg
Henry Earl Hooker
John Lee Hooker
Son House
Big Jack Johnson
Trumaine McBride
Terrence Metcalf
Johnny B. Moore
Jim O'Neal Charles
L. Sullivan Super Chikan Wright Thompson
Ike Turner
Muddy Waters
Tennessee Williams
James (Jimbo) Mathus
Larry A. Thompson
Cleveland
A marker was placed in Cleveland designating the nearby Dockery Plantation, built by Will Dockery, as a site on the Mississippi Blues Trail is an acknowledgment of the important contribution of the plantation to the development of the blues in Mississippi.[4][5] Governor Haley Barbour stated - "I’m pleased to include Dockery Plantation on the Mississippi Blues Trail. Apart from the town’s unique historical legacy, which includes printing its own money, Dockery was home to famed Bluesman Charley Patton and played a significant role in the development of the Delta Blues."
Cleveland, MS was recognized as one of the best "100 small towns in America"
Clinton
Mississippi College, a Christian university located in Clinton, is the oldest college in the state of Mississippi, founded January 24, 1826. Mississippi College is the second oldest Baptist university in the world, and was also the first coeducational college in the United States to grant a degree to a woman.
Notable alumni:
Earle S. Banks, Mississippi state representative
Ross Barnett, Mississippi Governor (1960-1964) [3]
Albert Gallatin Brown, Mississippi Governor (1844-1848) [4]
Harry Craft, MLB player and manager
Ted DiBiase Jr., Professional Wrestler currently in WWE
Bernard Ebbers, former WorldCom CEO
Jenna Edwards, Miss Florida (America) 2004-2005, Miss Florida (USA) 2006-2007
Major Everett, former NFL player for Philadelphia Eagles, Cleveland Browns and Atlanta Falcons
Barry Hannah, Author
Scott Leehy, state district judge in Monroe, Louisiana
Andrew H. Longino, Mississippi Governor (1900-1904) [5]
Fred McAfee, of the NFL's New Orleans Saints
Larry Myricks, 1988 Olympic bronze-medalist in the long jump.
Michael Passons, Gospel Music Artist
Jerrod Rayborn, Poet
Karen Ray, Executive Director of the Republican Party of Arkansas
Amy Tuck, Mississippi Lt. Governor
Henry L. Whitfield, Mississippi Governor (1924-1927) [6]
Jalin Wood, Miss Mississippi (America) 2004-2005, Miss Mississippi (USA) 2006-2007
Daniel Jones (chancellor), Current Chancellor of the University of Mississippi, former Dean of the University of Mississippi Medical Center School of Medicine
In September 1875, the Clinton Riot occurred in downtown Clinton during a political rally of about 3000 people. The riot was racially and politically motivated, related to the contemporary Reconstruction movement under the Republican-led U.S. government. Approximately 50 people were killed, mostly African-American, and all Republican. The lack of response from the U.S. government in retaliation signaled the beginning of the end of reconstruction
During World War II, Camp Clinton was established, a German POW camp south of town which housed about 3,000 German soldiers. Most of the prisoners were from the Afrika Korps. Of the 40 German generals captured in the war, Camp Clinton housed 35 of them. The German soldiers provided the labor to build a replica model of the Mississippi River Basin for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, used for flood prevention.
Clinton, the smallest city to ever host a Fortune 500 company, was the headquarters for WorldCom from the mid-1990s to until 2002.
Notable People
Mandy Ashford - singer (member of innosense with Britney Spears), model
Lance Bass - pop singer, actor and producer; member of the pop group 'N Sync
Robert Chisolm - singer for the band Jonezetta.
Richard H. Booth - artist[11]
James Dotson Byrd - inventor, developed the plastic used as a heat shield in the NASA Space Program[12]
Keith Carlock - drummer for Sting and Steely Dan[13]
Cynthia F. Cooper - auditor, whistleblower
George Dale - former State of Mississippi Insurance Commissioner
Ted DiBiase - professional wrestler, minister
Ted DiBiase, Jr.- professional wrestler
Jenna Edwards - model, former Miss Teen All-American, former Miss Florida
Meredith Edwards - country music singer
Shelly Fairchild - country music singer
Taryn Foshee - 2006 Miss Mississippi
Sam Gore - artist, sculptor
James E. Graves, Jr. - judge, Supreme Court of Mississippi
Barry Hannah – writer, professor
Natalee Holloway - went missing in Aruba after graduating from Mountain Brook High School
Jaret Holmes - former Chicago Bears, New York Giants and Jacksonville Jaguars placekicker
Daniel Curtis Lee – actor
Robert S. McElvaine - writer, professor
Chase Quarterman - artist
Jeff Savage - Grammy Award Winning and Dove award winning producer and songwriter (see TobyMac, dcTalk, Jars of Clay, Natalie Imbruglia and Plumb)
Scott Savage- former drummer of Grammy and Dove award winning band Jars of Clay
Leon Seals - former Buffalo Bills and Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle
Wyatt Waters – artist
Collins
Notable People
Collins was the home of Dale Houston, a rock and roll singer whose I'm Leaving It Up To You reached No. 1 in 1963.
Collins was also the birthplace of film legend Dana Andrews and Gerald McRaney, TV and film star (Simon and Simon, Major Dad, Deadwood) and home to him and his wife, TV and film star Delta Burke.
Collins is also the birthplace and home of NFL stars Steve McNair and Correll Buckhaulter and former NBA star Randolph Keys.
Walter Payton
Columbia
Historic Home of Mississippi Rodeo
In the mid 1930s, two Columbia, Mississippi cowboys – Earl and Weldon Bascom – made Columbia the historic “Home of Mississippi Rodeo." Known as the “Founding Fathers of Mississippi Rodeo," the Bascom brothers pioneered the sport in Mississippi, producing the first rodeo in Marion County in 1935. Originally from Alberta, the Bascoms cowboyed for the nearby Hickman Ranch. Both of these cowboys married local girls. This first rodeo of 1935 was held at Columbia’s City Park and is now known in rodeo history as the world’s first outdoor night rodeo held under electric lights. In 1936, Earl Bascom, an inventor as well as a trained artist, designed and supervised the construction of Mississippi’s first permanent rodeo arena in Columbia. Earl Bascom has been called the “Father of Modern Rodeo", having helped pioneer the sport with his many rodeo innovations. To this day, rodeo remains a popular sport in Columbia and Marion County.
Notable People
Walter Payton - NFL player
Gerry E. Hinton (1930–2000) - former member of the Louisiana State Senate and the Slidell, Louisiana, City Council
Hugh L. White - former Governor of Mississippi
Corinth
Corinth's location at the junction of two railroads made it strategically important to the Confederacy during the American Civil War. Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard retreated to Corinth after the Battle of Shiloh, pursued by Union Major General Henry W. Halleck. General Beauregard abandoned the town when General Halleck approached, letting it fall into the Union's hands. Since Halleck approached so cautiously, digging entrenchments at every stop for over a month, this action has been known as the Siege of Corinth. The Union sent Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans to Corinth as well and concentrated their forces in the city. The Second Battle of Corinth took place on October 3–4, 1862, when Confederate Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn attempted to retake the city. The Confederate troops won back the city for a very brief period but were quickly forced out again on the same day when the Union troops were reinforced.
Notable People
Corinth is the hometown of famed early American aviator Roscoe Turner,
noted American screenwriter and novelist Thomas Hal Phillips,
noted Mississippi artist and poet J. E. Pitts,
Poet and Philosopher Rufus Turner
the rock band Saving Abel,
home to film star Michael Conner Humphreys, who appeared as young Forrest Gump in the 1994 Academy Award winning film, Forrest Gump.
In addition, Film Director and CEO/President of D
O Promotions, LLC, De'Wayne Lamont Sorrell is originally from Corinth, MS.
Crystal Springs
Notable People
Larry Grantham, American Football League linebacker and member of the New York Jets (Super Bowl III Champions),
blues guitarist Tommy Johnson,
Pat Harrison (D-MS), member of the U.S. Congress in the 1920s and 1930s.
Alton D. Slay Four Star General, United States Air Force.
Decatur
Notable People
Medgar Evers, Civil Rights Activist
Marcus Thames, professional baseball player
Charles Evers, first post-Reconstruction African American mayor in Mississippi
Archie Manning, former NFL quarterback[citation needed]
Booboo Davis, blues singer, released an album entitled Drew, Mississippi[citation needed]
Rob Dixon and Jason King, members of rock band Quintaine Americana, both grew up in Drew
Pops Staples and Cleotha Staples, members of The Staple Singers
Durant
Notable People
Thomas Howell Binford (August 25, 1896) was born in Durant. Officer during the Battle of the Java Sea. Knight in the Order of William for bravery in battle.
Absolom M. West (planter, politician, Civil War general, labor organizer and Vice Presidential candidate, 1818–1894) owned a plantation near Durant prior to the American Civil War.
Ellisville
Notable People
Lance Bass, pop singer and member of 'N Sync, raised in Ellisville
Chris McDaniel, State Senator, Attorney and host of the nationally syndicated "The Right Side Radio Show."s
Buddy Myer, standout second baseman for the MLB Washington Senators in 1930s, one of the best Jewish middle infielders ever to play in the Majors
Harry Craft, Major League Baseball Player and Manager, First Manager of the Houston Colt .45's and Minor League manager of Micky Mantle (who credited Craft with making him into the great hitter that he was)
Adam Walters member of Albuquerque based christian rock band, Old Man Shattered. Sold over 25,000 albums, formally signed to sony owned Acoustic Live. Performed with such bands as RED, Seventh Day Slumber, storyside: B and The Wedding. Performed at such major festivals as Spirit West Coast, In California.
Luke McDaniel who also recorded under the stage name Jeff Daniels, was an American country singer and songwriter. McDaniel was born in Ellisville, Mississippi
Red West Actor (Played "Red" in Roadhouse), and high school friend of Elvis Presley. Played Football at Jones County Junior College in Ellisville.
Billy Cannon an All-American football player, 1959 Heisman Trophy winner and 2008 inductee into the College Football Hall of Fame from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, and one of the American Football League's most celebrated players. Attended Jones County Junior College in Ellisville
Eupora
Notable People
S. Newton Berryhill, Mississippi's "Backwoods Poet," (Source: Webster County History, 1984)
Gen. William F. Brantley, 1830–70, Attorney and Confederate States of America commander from Greensboro (Source: Webster County History, 1984)
Glenda Shaw Brown, portrait artist
Paige Cothran, writer and former NFL player
Tom Dumas, cotton farmer, fiddler and banjo picker (Source: Webster County History, 1984)
Harold Boyd "Cubby" Easterwood, All-American football hero, (Source: Webster County History, 1984)
Dr. W.W. Gore, Sage of Webster County (Source: Webster County History, 1984)
Kelli Jackson, Miss Rodeo America 2010 (Source: The Webster Progress-Times, 2009)
Marckell Patterson, professional basketball player
Charlotte Ann "Chalie" Carroll Ray, former Miss Mississippi
Donald C. Simmons, Jr, American educator, writer, poet and documentary film producer).)[3][4]
Robert Perkins Sugg, Mississippi Supreme Court justice, 1971-83 (Source: Webster County History, 1984)
Charlie Ross, state senator and former candidate for Lt. Governor
Don Snyder, National Champion of the Tobacco Spitters, 1969-75 (Source: Webster County History, 1984)
O.L. Waits, Webster County's most decorated World War II soldier (Source: Webster County History, 1984)
Fayette
The first African American mayor in post-Reconstruction America, Charles Evers, was elected by the people of Fayette in 1969.
Notable People
Richard H. Truly - Eighth NASA administrator.
Florence
Notable People
Jason Dottley - Memphis-born stage actor and television actor/producer (Sordid Lives, Southern Baptist Sissies; [1],[2])
Paul McCoy - Lead singer of the Christian Rock band 12 Stones.
Forest
Notable People
"Big Boy" Crudup (blues musician - wrote "That's All Right (Mama)", b. 1905), honored with a Mississippi Blues Trail marker.[4]
James Eastland (1904–1986), United States Senator from Mississippi
T-Model Ford (blues musician, b. 1924)
Andrew R. Johnson (1856-1933), Louisiana state senator from 1916-1924 and mayor of Homer in the 1910s, was reared in Scott County near Forest.
Lewis Nordan, writer
Todd Pinkston, NFL wide receiver, Philadelphia Eagles
Cardis Cardell Willis, comedian
Kevin Sessums, writer
Fulton
Controversy
April 3, 2010: School officials canceled the local prom in response to a court order requiring them to let a local student attend with her same-sex date. Allegations were made against the school of being biased and "unfair"[1]. In response to the canceled prom, locals decided to hold two private proms outside the school system's jurisdiction—one that was announced publicly, and one secret private prom [2]. The girl and her same-sex date were directed to attend the publicly announced event, attended by only a handful of students, instead of the secret private prom that most students attended. Also left out of the secret private prom were two students with learning difficulties.
Greenwood
Greenwood's Grand Boulevard was once named one of America's ten most beautiful streets by the U.S. Chambers of Commerce and the Garden Clubs of America
Mississippi Blues Trail Markers
Radio station WGRM on Howard Street was the location of B.B. King's first live broadcast in 1940. On a Sunday night King performed live gospel music.[6] In dedication to this event, the Mississippi Blues Trail has placed its third historic marker in this town at the site of the former radio station.[7][8] Another Mississippi Blues trail marker is placed near the grave of blues singer Robert Johnson.[9] There is also a Blues Trail marker at the Elks Lodge.[10]
Notable People
Valerie Brisco-Hooks, Olympian
Fred Carl, Jr., founder and CEO of Viking Range Corp.
William V. Chambers, personality psychologist
Byron De La Beckwith, white supremacist, assassinated Civil Rights leader Medgar Evers
Carlos Emmons, professional football player
Betty Everett, R&B vocalist and pianist
Alphonso Ford, professional basketball player
Webb Franklin, United States Congressman
Morgan Freeman, Oscar-winning actor
Jim Gallagher, Jr., professional golfer
Bobbie Gentry, singer/songwriter
Gerald Glass, professional basketball player
Guitar Slim, blues musician
Kent Hull, professional football player
Tom "Hambone" Hunley, real-life "Hambone" depicted in J.P. Alley's syndicated cartoon feature, Hambone's Meditations
Alvin C. Cockrell, Jr. was awarded a Navy Cross in World War II.
Benjamin Morgan Palmer, 19th century Presbyterian minister, made Hazlehurst his families' home in the summer of 1862 as he served as chaplain with the Washington Artillery of New Orleans.
Mablean Ephriam, who presides over the syndicated daytime courtroom TV show Divorce Court, is a Hazlehurst native.
John Epperson, actor and singer best known for his performance as Lypsinka, was born in Hazlehurst.
Beth Henley, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, although born in Jackson, spent much of her childhood in this town, where her father grew up. The play for which Henley won the Pulitzer, Crimes of the Heart, is set in Hazlehurst.
Robert Johnson, the seminal delta blues musician, was born in Hazlehurst; between the Copiah County courthouse and the Trustmark bank, there's a small monument in memory of his birth.
Emmett Honeycutt, a fictional character from the TV show Queer as Folk.
Shelby Ford, Mississippi State graduate and diplomat to the state of Missouri
Hernando
Notable People
Frank Stokes, blues musician
Robert Wilkins, blues musician
Garfield Akers, blues musician
Jim Jackson, blues musician
North Mississippi Allstars, blues-rock band
Garrison Starr, singer/songwriter
George "Wild Child" Butler, blues musician
Marshall Grant, Johnny Cash's former bass player
Gerald Chatham, Lead prosecutor, as district attorney, in Emmett Till case
Edward Eugene Harper, wanted by the FBI and on the Most Wanted List
Kevin Dockery, cornerback for the Saint Louis Rams
Jerry Lee Lewis, rock n roll singer
Paul Burlison, Father of the fuzz guitar sound [rock a billy] Rock n Roll Trio
Holly Springs
Holly Springs is the site of Rust College, a historically black liberal arts college established in 1866 by the Freedman's Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal church
Notable Alumni:
Alexander Preston Shaw Methodist Bishop and notable Preacher
Ruby Elzy pioneer black opera singer who created the role of Serena in George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess
Ida B. Wells newspaper editor, feminist and anti-lynching crusader
Anita Ward African-American singer of disco hit "Ring My Bell"
Students Running Guns to Chicago
The handgun used to kill Chicago Police Officer Thomas Wortham IV was one tied to a group of Rust College students. The students would buy firearms from communities around Rust College and sell them to another Rust College student, Quawi Gates, who is a life-long Chicago gang member. Gates' criminal record includes a 2000 burglary charge in which he performed community service and was released. It is thought that guns purchased from Rust College students are connected to over 100 shootings and murders in the Chicago area
Notable People
Seth Adams, University of Mississippi American football quarterback.
Robert Belfour (born 1940), blues musician.
R. L. Burnside (1926–2005), blues musician.
Cassandra "Cassie" Davis (born July 11, 1964) is an American actress.
Clifton DeBerry (1924–2006), born in Holly Springs, was the first black American nominated for President of the United States by a political party (Socialist Workers Party, 1964, 1980).
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885), wintered in Holly Springs prior to his attack on Vicksburg, Mississippi during the Civil War.
Syl Johnson (born 1936), blues and soul singer.
Junior Kimbrough (1930–1998), blues musician.
Jeremy LeSueur (born 1980), University of Michigan American football defensive back.
Paul Maholm (born 1982),former Mississippi State Bulldog and current member of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
American Baseball Player Jerome Moss (born 1947), served as the first Black postmaster. Named the New Post Office "Ida B. Wells branch."
Hiram Rhodes Revels (1822–1901), first African-American to serve in the United States Senate, taught at Shaw University (present-day Rust College), and buried in Holly Springs's Hillcrest Cemetery .
Shepard Smith (born 1964), Fox News Channel anchor born in Holly Springs. Also attended high school at Marshall Academy the private school in town.
James F. Trotter (1802–1866), judge and U.S. Senator who resided in Holly Springs until his death.
Ida B. Wells (1862–1931), civil rights and anti-lynching activist born in Holly Springs.
Absolom M. West (1818–1894), planter, politician, Civil War general and labor organizer, resided in Holly Springs after the American Civil War until his death.
Mel and Tim (Mel Hardin and Tim McPherson), soul musicians from Holly Springs who recorded at Stax Records.
Trivia
In recent years Holly Springs has been used as a filming location, most notably for Robert Altman's Cookie's Fortune, which is also set in the town.
Mississippi's highest temperature ever recorded occurred here on July 29, 1930 reaching 115 degrees Fahrenheit.
Father Tim Kavanagh, the fictional protagonist of Jan Karon's novels, was born in Holly Springs.
Doctor on sit-com Tyler Perry's House of Payne claimed Holly Springs was his birthplace.
Cassi Davis on sit-com Tyler Perry's House of Payne was born in Holly Springs.
B.B. King grew up in Indianola as a child and comes to the blues festival named for him every year. King referenced the city with the title of his 1970 album Indianola Mississippi Seeds. The B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center, a $14 million facility dedicated to King and the blues, opened in September 2008.[4] Many street names are named after King and his music, including B.B. King Road, Lucille St. (named after his guitar), and Delta Blues St.
It is the birthplace of famous blues musician Albert King.
Henry Sloan lived in Indianola, and Charley Patton died near the city.
The Mississippi Delta Blues Society was established on December 10, 2003 in Indianola to exchange information about Blues related events, and will support community events and activities in the Delta. The Society's mission is to promote the Blues in the Mississippi Delta, and to support its musicians and area Blues clubs.
Notable People
Indianola is the hometown of the legendary B.B. King,
David Lee Durham.
Actress Mary Alice is also from Indianola.
Internationally-known horticulturist and author Felder Rushing is from Indianola,
New York Times food critic and author Craig Claiborne was from nearby Sunflower.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Michael Spurlock is also from Indianola.
The local radio station, WNLA-AM was at one time owned and operated by Edward O. Fritts, who would later serve for many years as the President of the National Association of Broadcasters.
In the media
Indianola serves as the basis for the fictional "Loring, Mississippi" in works by Steve Yarbrough, including The End of California.[citation needed]
Parts of the film The Chamber, starring Gene Hackman, were filmed in downtown Indianola. The film was adapted from the John Grisham novel of the same name.
From 1932 until 1934, Hortense Powdermaker conducted an anthropological study of the African-American community in Indianola, which served as the basis for her book, After Freedom: A Cultural Study In the Deep South and mentioned in her book "Stranger and Friend. The Way of an Anthropologist".
John Dollard spent five months in Indianola conducting research for his 1937 book, Caste and Class in a Southern Town, which examined how those factors affected race relations in the rural South.[1]
While Indianola was not named in the book, the eponymous "Southern Town" was based on the data he collected there
Itta Bena
Notable People
Itta Bena is the birthplace of blues musician B. B. King and civil rights activists James Bevel and Marion Barry, the latter of whom was the former mayor of Washington, D.C. It was on a march between Itta Bena and nearby Greenwood where Stokely Carmichael coined the rallying phrase "Black power!"
In popular culture
The town is immortalized in the song "Tall Boy" by Widespread Panic
The name of the city is used in the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou? as the place where "Baby Face" George Nelson robs a bank with the main characters Ulysses Everett McGill, Pete and Delmar O'Donnell.
The Yellow Creek Nuclear Plant a canceled nuclear power plant project near Iuka, Mississippi.
Woodall Mountain, the highest point in Mississippi, is located just south of Iuka. In 1904, water from Iuka's mineral springs won first prize for the purest and best mineral water at the World's Fair in St. Louis. Civil War Woodall Mountain was the scene of fighting during the American Civil War. On September 19, 1862, the Battle of Iuka took place there. Union General William Rosecrans occupied the mountain and used it to launch artillery barrages on the town of Iuka. The battle was a victory for the Union.
Kosciusko
Birthplace for several notable people, including Oprah Winfrey.
Blues Highway
As from April 2009, Kosciusko will feature as part of the Mississippi Blues Trail.[4]
Notable People
Dave Barnes, singer-songwriter and musician (Razor & Tie)
Oprah Winfrey, television host/personality (Harpo Productions), who lived in Kosciusko up to age six
Charlie Musselwhite, blues musician
James Meredith, civil rights figure
Roy Oswalt, American baseball player
Topher Payne, playwright/author
Jade Harris- Tha Joker, rapper
Laurel
Laurel is home to the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art (Mississippi's oldest art museum).
Notable People
Jake Allen (born 1985), NFL player for the Cleveland Browns
Lance Bass (born 1979), pop singer and member of 'N Sync, born in Laurel
Ralph Boston (born 1939), Olympic Gold Medalist [4]
Jason Campbell (born 1981), Oakland Raiders quarterback [5]
Blanche DuBois (born 1919), principal (fictional) character in Tennessee Williams' play A Streetcar Named Desire
Mary Elizabeth Ellis, actress and daughter of local dentist Ed Hinton (born 1948), sportswriter [6]
David Huff, singer, songwriter, recording artist with David and the Giants
Mark Landis (born 1955), art dealer, philanthropist, donor to Savannah College of Art and Design, University of Southern Mississippi[citation needed]
Tom Lester (born 1938), actor who played "Eb" on the sitcom Green Acres[7][8]
Mundell Lowe (born 1922), an American Jazz guitarist and music composer of film and television was born in Laurel. [9]
Doug Marlette (1949–2007), Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist, lived in Laurel as a child[1]
Charles Marsh, a writer and professor at the University of Virginia, lived in Laurel from 1967 until 1973[2]
Mary Mills (born 1940), U.S. Women's Open Golf Championship winner, born in Laurel
Kenny Payne (born 1966), Former professional (NBA) basketball player and played on the 1986 NCAA National Championship team from Louisville. Assistant coach at the University of Oregon [10]
Clinton Portis (born 1981), Washington Redskins running back [11]
Parker Posey (born 1968), actress and daughter of local Chevrolet retailer Chris Posey [12]
George B. Price (born 1929), Brigadier General, U.S. Army, brother of Leontyne Price Leontyne Price (born 1927), opera soprano and star of the Metropolitan Opera. [13]
James Street (1903–1954), journalist, minister, and writer [14]
Ray Walston (1914–2001), actor (some sources claim he was born in New Orleans, where he spent his childhood) [15]
Lloyd Wells, a country and jazz guitarist, grew up in Laurel and is an inductee of the Mississippi Music Hall of Fame. [16]
Frank Gardiner Wisner (1909–1965) head of Office of Strategic Services operations in southeastern Europe at the end of World War II, and head of the Directorate of Plans of the Central Intelligence Agency during the 1950s
Leakesville
Notable People
Don Churchwell - NFL player
Wilmer Mizell - MLB pitcher and congressman
Bill Hicks - Comedian, buried in Leakesville.
Al Fike - Christian Comedian
Leland
The town is located in the heart of the Mississippi Delta on the banks of Deer Creek, which is decorated each Christmas season with floats that bring visitors from afar to view the colorful displays.
The community is touted as being the birthplace of Kermit the Frog, a famous Muppet created by Jim Henson, who was born in nearby Greenville, Mississippi. The city has a museum along the banks of Deer Creek celebrates Henson's accomplishments.
Notable People
Muppet creator Jim Henson was from Leland.
Wadada Leo Smith, a jazz trumpeter and composer, is from Leland.
Blues musician Johnny Winter spent part of his childhood in Leland, where his father was mayor in the 1930s.
Singer/actress Thelma Houston was born in Leland.
Lexington
Notable People
Bill Ginn, Grammy-nominated keyboardist and arranger B.B. King, lived in Lexington when he was 15
Charles Harrison Mason, founder of the Church of God in Christ
Edmond Favor Noel, Governor of Mississippi
Lonnie Pitchford (1955-1998, blues musician born in Lexington
Hazel Brannon Smith (1914-1994), first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing (1914-1994)
Otis "Big Smokey" Smothers, bluesman born March 21, 1929 in Lexington
Hattie Winston, American television, film and Broadway actress
Monroe Saffold Jr., American bodybuilder, first place Masters Mr. America AAU, tall division 1990
Long Beach
A productive truck farming town in the early 20th century, citizens of Long Beach proclaimed the city to be the "Radish Capital of the World."
Louisville
The American Heritage "Big Red" Fire Museum is located in Louisville. This museum features a collection of restored antique fire equipment and fire engines.[4]
The Strand Theatre, in downtown Louisville, is an historic movie theater which now serves as an art and music venue. Louisville native Carl Jackson plays an annual Christmas concert at the theater to raise money for the building's restoration.[5]
Lucedale is home of the annual Christian music festival Praise in the Park[1]. The festival is usually held on the third Saturday in October in the Lucedale City Park. In 2008, the fifth annual event drew its largest crowd of 12,136 worshippers from eight different states. The headliners for the fifth annual event were Casting Crowns and 33 Miles. Casting Crowns returns to headline the 2010 event which will be on Saturday, October 23rd.
Notable People
Ruthie Bolton, former basketball player in the WNBA and at the Olympic Games
Eric Moulds, wide receiver for the Tennessee Titans in the NFL
Claude Passeau, Major League Baseball pitcher
Carolyn Haines, author, also credited as Caroline Burnes
David L. Cook, Christian Recording Star and comedian
Macon
Notable People
Jesse Fortune, blues singer
Madison
Top 100 Places to Live 2008 10 Best Towns for Families In 2007, The City of Madison was selected by Family Circle magazine as one of the nation's "10 Best Towns for Families."[3] The article appears in the magazine's August 2007 edition. The publication announced the results of its search to identify the best communities across the country that combine big-city opportunities with suburban charm, a blend of affordable housing, good jobs, top-rated schools, wide-open spaces and a lot less stress
In 2005, CNN/Money Magazine listed Madison as the 56th best place to live in the United States
Notable People
John Henry Rogers, United States Congressman from Arkansas and a federal judge
Magee
The Sanitarium Museum, a museum of memorabilia from the old Tuberculosis (TB) hospital, includes the old telephone switchboard, a patient bedroom with nightstand, equipment and many photographs. It is located on Highway 49 North two miles north of Magee
Marks
Marks is notable for being the starting point of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's Poor People's Campaign in 1968
McComb
During the 1960s, McComb played a critical role in the Civil Rights Movement. It was the location of SNCC's first voter registration project which was met with violence and intimidation on the part of authorities and the KKK. More than 100 McComb high school students were arrested in 1961 for protesting the murder of voter-registration activist Herbert Lee and the expulsion of Brenda Travis.[1] McComb was the setting for several bombings involving racial strife.
Malcolm Boyd took part of COFO's Freedom House as a member of a clerical delegation to assist African-American voter registration.
On October 20, 1977, a chartered plane carrying members and crew of rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd crashed in a swamp near McComb, killing lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, Steve's sister Cassie (a backup singer), and road manager Dean Kilpatrick
Notable People
Adrian Brown, Major League baseball player with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Boston Red Sox and Kansas City Royals
John Brady, head coach of the Arkansas State University men's basketball team, former head coach of the LSU Tigers men's basketball coach
Bo Diddley, blues singer[4][5]
Jimmy Boyd, singer, musician, actor
King Solomon Hill, early blues musician
Steven Ozment, American historian
Omar Kent Dykes, blues singer and guitarist
Bobby Lounge, blues pianist and songwriter
Robert "Squirrel" Lester, singer in the soul music group The Chi-Lites.
Brandy Norwood, singer and actress
Matt Tolbert, Major League Baseball Player for the Minnesota Twins
William "Ray J" Norwood, singer and actor, brother of Brandy Norwood
Willie Norwood, singer
Edward Grady Partin, Teamsters Union figure, spent his last years in McComb but died in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.[6]
Britney Spears, pop singer
Jamie Lynn Spears, actress
Moorhead
The town includes the legendary blues crossroads "where the Southern cross the Dog".
It claims as a native son musician Johnny Russell
Morton
Famous natives B Angie B was born and raised in Morton.
Moss Point
Hurricane Katrina
On August 29, 2005, Moss Point was hit by the strong eastern side of Hurricane Katrina, when it passed 30 miles (48 km) east of central New Orleans with minimal gale-force winds. However, on the strong side of Hurricane Katrina, much of Moss Point was flooded or destroyed in one day, by the strong hurricane-force winds which lasted several hours and a storm surge exceeding 20 feet (6 m) in some sections.[3] Even though the City of Moss Point was almost completly destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, the city has been able to make a recovery without all the national attention as New Orleans did. Many residents feel as if other parts of the coast were pretty much ignored in the wake of New Orleans, a much larger city.
Notable People
John Brock, CEO of Coca-Cola Enterprises, born in Moss Point, and graduated from Moss Point High School in 1967.[5]
Robert C. Khayat, chancellor of the University of Mississippi
Don Hultz, NFL football player (birthplace)
George Wonsley, NFL football player (birthplace)
Mound Bayou
Notable People
Medgar Evers - civil rights activist
Fannie Lou Hamer - American voting rights activist and civil rights leader
T.R.M. Howard -civil rights leader
Mel Reynolds - former Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from Illinois
Natchez Trace Parkway
Natchez
Located along the Mississippi River, Natchez is the southern terminus of the Natchez Trace Parkway.
The city is famous in American history for its role in the development of the Old Southwest, particularly with respect to its location on the Mississippi River.
A cinema verite account of the 1966 Civil Rights actions by local NAACP leaders in Natchez was depicted by filmmaker Ed Pincus in his film "Black Natchez." The film highlights the attempt to organize a black community in the Deep South in 1965 during the heyday of the Civil Rights Movement. A black leader has been car-bombed and a struggle ensues in the black community for control. A group of black men organize a chapter of the Deacons for Defense—a secret armed self-defense group. The community splits between more conservative and activist elements.
Natchez is also home to Small Luxury Hotel Monmouth Plantation, a circa 1818 Mansion once owned by Mexican War hero John Anthony Quitman.
Disney's The Adventures of Huck Finn was partially filmed here in 1993.
The 1982 television movie Rascals and Robbers: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn was also filmed here. The television mini-series Beulah Land was also filmed in Natchez, as well a number of individual weekly shows of the TV drama The Mississippi, starring Ralph Waite.
Notable People
Campbell Brown, Emmy award-winning journalist who is currently a political anchor for CNN and formerly NBC grew up in Natchez and attended both Trinity Episcopal and Cathedral High School.
Varina Howell Davis, first lady of the Confederate States of America, was born, raised, and married in Natchez.
Novelist and motivational author Kenneth R. Besser grew up in Natchez.[21]
Novelist Richard Wright, author of Black Boy and Native Son, was born twenty-two miles east of Natchez.
Robert H. Adams, former United States Senator from Mississippi.[22]
William Wirt Adams, Confederate Army officer, grew up in Natchez.
Troyce Guice, Natchez restaurant owner, was twice a candidate for the United State Senate from Louisiana
Lynda Lee Mead, Miss Mississippi in 1959 and Miss America in 1960. A Natchez city street, Lynda Lee Drive, is named in her honor.
Mickey Gilley, a country music singer, was born in Natchez.
Minnesota Vikings cornerback Cedric Griffin was born in Natchez, but was raised in San Antonio, Texas.
University of Pittsburgh All-American defensive end Hugh Green was born and raised in Natchez.
Pro Football Hall of Famer Billy Shaw was born in Natchez.
Greg Iles, best-selling author of many novels set in Natchez, is a Natchez native.
Glen Ballard, a five-time Grammy Award winning songwriter/producer. Denise Gee, national food/home design writer and author of "Southern Cocktails", is a native of Natchez.
[23] Hound Dog Taylor, a blues singer and slide guitar player.
Pierre Adolphe Rost, a member of the Mississippi Senate and commissioner to Europe for the Confederate States.
Alexander O'Neal, R&B singer.
Nook Logan, Baseball player for the Washington Nationals. Regarded as one of the fastest players in the majors.
Anne Moody, Civil Rights activist and author of Coming of Age in Mississippi, attended Natchez Junior College.
Olu Dara, musician & father of rapper Nas.
General John Anthony Quitman - Mexican War hero, plantation owner, governor of Mississippi, owner of Monmouth Plantation.
Two-time PBR world champion bull rider Chris Shivers, who was born in Natchez and currently resides in Jonesville, Louisiana.
Don José Vidal, Spanish Governor of the Natchez District, is buried in the Natchez City Cemetery.[24]
Joanna Fox Waddill, American Civil War nurse known as the "Florence Nightengale of the Confederacy."
Les Whitt, director of the municipal zoo in Alexandria, Louisiana, and a musician who sometimes played with B.B. King.
Von Hutchins, NFL football player for the Atlanta Falcons
Je'Kel Foster, basketball player.
John J. Chanche, First Bishop of Natchez, is buried on the grounds of St. Mary Basilica
New Albany
Notable People
William Faulkner, Nobel Prize winning author.
Hubert D. Stephens, U.S. Senator from Mississippi.
Eli Whiteside, catcher for the San Francisco Giants.
Bettie Wilson, woman lived to 115
Newton
Country singer/songwriter Paul Overstreet was born in Newton.
Ocean Springs
Ocean Springs was the hometown of the late Walter Inglis Anderson, a nationally renowned painter and muralist.
The town plays host to several festivals, including its Peter Anderson Festival and The Herb Festival.
One of the oldest cities in the United States, Ocean Springs was founded in 1699, under the authority of King Louis XIV, as Fort Maurepas by Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville
Ocean Springs was in the international spotlight following Hurricane Katrina's landfall on August 29, 2005. The city, part of the Mississippi Gulf Coast directly hit by the storm, sustained significant damage. The Biloxi-Ocean Springs bridge, part of Highway 90 along the beach, was destroyed and was a widely broadcast visual testament to the hurricane's impact
Biloxi Bay Bridge
Hurricane Katrina's 28-foot (8.5 m) storm surge destroyed the Biloxi Bay Bridge, which connected Biloxi to Ocean Springs. The bridge was completed in 1962, and damaged in 1969 by Hurricane Camille. The Biloxi Bay Bridge replaced the aging War Memorial Bridge which opened in 1930. As of 2007, the majority of the bridge's remains have been removed via cranes based on barges located next to the bridge debris. A crane was nearly lost recently in the removal of a bridge remain. The bridge ruins, capturing the breathtaking results of the force of Hurricane Katrina, had become a popular hot spot of photographers, both professionals and amateurs alike. The construction for the new bridge was completed in April 2008. The new Biloxi Bay Bridge is 95' in height at its main span, and supports 6 lanes of traffic. As of November 1, 2007, two lanes of the new 6 lane bridge had been opened. The new bridge has a curving roadway due to the implemented design-build process. In order to speed the process of rebuilding, the main body of the bridge was moved outside of the previous bridge's debris area. The landing points for each side of US Highway 90 match up with the previous bridge
Okolona
Five skirmishes or battles between Union and Confederate forces occurred in and around Okolona, the most famous of which occurred in February, 1864. In a running cavalry clash between Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest and Union General Sooy Smith, the Federals were defeated just north and west of town. General Forrest's brother, Jeffery, was killed in the engagement. The Battle of Okolona was fought nearby in 1864.
Notable People
William Raspberry, columnist Raspberry, William (December 26, 2005). "What I'll Do Next". The Washington Post.
Jack Gregory, NFL Great and Member, Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame
Tim Bowens, NFL Player for the Miami Dolphins 10 seasons
Milan Williams, keyboardist and composer for the Commodores
Oxford has been named by USA Today as one of the top six college towns in the nation.
It is included in The Best 100 Small Towns in America
During the Civil Rights Movement, Oxford gained national attention in 1962 as a combination of the governor and University of Mississippi officials attempted to prevent James Meredith from integrating the University of Mississippi after he won a federal court case for admittance.
Notable People
William Faulkner adopted Oxford as his hometown after growing up there when his family moved to Oxford from nearby New Albany when he was three. Oxford is the model for the city "Jefferson" in his fiction, and Lafayette County, Mississippi, was the model for his fictional Yoknapatawpha County. His former home, Rowan Oak, now owned by the University of Mississippi and recently remodeled, is a favorite tourist attraction in Oxford. Several members of Faulkner's family still live in the Oxford and Lafayette County area.
John Grisham also has a home in Oxford. He received a J.D. from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1981 and practiced law in the Mississippi suburbs of Memphis for ten years before retiring to write full time. He and his family relocated to Oxford in the early 1990s.
Curtis Wilkie, Jane Ann Mullen, Beth Ann Fennelly, Ann Fisher-Wirth, Neil White and Tom Franklin are among the many writers who live in Oxford. Deceased authors Stark Young, Larry Brown, Willie Morris, and Barry Hannah also called Oxford home.
Richard Ford lived in Oxford for an extended period, as did Howard Bahr.
Oxford has been called the art center of the South.
Famous artists include photorealist painter Glennray Tutor; figurative painter Jere Allen; expressionist painter Paula Temple; portraitist Jason Bouldin, sculptor William Beckwith; sculptor Rod Moorhead; and primitive artist Theora Hamblett (1895–1977). New Orleans artist John McCrady (1911–1968) studied art at Ole Miss.
Secretary of the Interior Jacob Thompson (1810–1885) owned a manor called "Home Place" in Oxford that was burned down in 1864 during the Civil War by Union troops. A historical marker stands on the spot where it once stood.
L.Q.C. Lamar (1825–1893), U.S. senator and supreme court justice, resided in Oxford, where he served as professor of mathematics at the University of Mississippi, farmed, and practiced law. He was the son-in-law of university chancellor Augustus Baldwin Longstreet. Lamar's home in Oxford has recently been restored (2008) as a museum.
Adam Gussow, blues harp player for the Harlem street band Satan and Adam.
Movies
Oxford has been the setting for numerous movies, including Intruder in the Dust (1949, based on the Faulkner novel), Home from the Hill (1960), Barn Burning (1980, based on the Faulkner short story), Rush (1981 documentary), Heart of Dixie (1989), The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag (1992), Sorry, We're Open (2008 documentary), The Night of the Loup Garou (2009), and parts of The People vs. Larry Flynt (1997).
Square Books, a local bookstore founded in 1979, is consistently ranked among the best independent bookstores in the country. A sister store, Off Square Books, which is several doors down the street to the east, deals in used and remainder books and is the venue for a radio show called Thacker Mountain Radio, with host Jim Dees, that is broadcast state-wide on Mississippi Public Broadcasting. The show often draws comparisons to Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion for its mix of author readings and musical guests. A third store, Square Books Jr., deals exclusively in children's books and educational toys.
2008 Presidential Debate
More than 3000 journalists came to Oxford on September 26, 2008 to cover the first presidential debate of 2008, which was held at the University of Mississippi
Pascagoula
Pascagoula gained notoriety on October 11, 1973 when two local fishermen, Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker, claimed to have been abducted by aliens from a Pascagoula pier. The media frenzy that followed touched off national interest in UFOs and extraterrestrials unparalleled since the Roswell incident. In 1983, Hickson wrote a book about his ordeal entitled UFO Contact In Pascagoula.
Pascagoula also gained national attention in the 1980s, when novelty singer/songwriter Ray Stevens featured the town in his hit, "Mississippi Squirrel Revival." Stevens admits, though, that the song could have been set in any Southern town but the name Pascagoula easily rhymed with the word, hallelujah, which is heard frequently in the song.
This is also the spot where a little girl was found thrown into the Dog River on Dec. 5, 1982. The girl, thought to be between 18 months and two years old, has never been identified to this day. The unidentified toddler is buried in Jackson County Memorial Park. Deputy Moore and his wife stepped forward and made sure the little girl was given a proper funeral and burial in 1982. Approximately 200 people attended the young girl's funera
On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina's 20-foot (6.1 m) storm surge and 30–55 foot seawaves devastated Pascagoula,[11] much like Biloxi and Gulfport and the rest of the Mississippi Gulf Coast.[12] Katrina came ashore during the high tide of 6:12AM, 2.1 ft (0.64 m) more.[13] Nearly 92% of Pascagoula was flooded. Most homes along Beach Boulevard were destroyed, and FEMA trailers are now an omnipresent sight
Notable People
Former Republican Senator Trent Lott
Former professional wrestler Uncle Elmer (Stan Frazier)
It is the birthplace of well-known American singer and songwriter Jimmy Buffett, who also wrote a song about it called Pascagoula Run
Christian recording star and comedian, David L Cook
NFL players Jim Marcellas, Chuck Commiskey, Shane Matthews, Richard Harvey and Terrell Buckley
NBA forward Antonio Harvey
Major League Baseball players Harry "The Hat" Walker and Tony Sipp
Ira B. Harkey Jr., editor and publisher of Pascagoula (Miss.) Chronicle who won the Pulitzer Prize for his courageous editorials devoted to the processes of law and reason during the integration crisis in Mississippi in 1962
Pass Christian
On August 29, 2005, Pass Christian was almost completely destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Of the approximately 8,000 homes in Pass Christian, all but 500 were damaged or destroyed. In spite of the fact that the beachfront Scenic Drive follows the crest of a small bluff, affording it some elevation, most of the historic mansions along the road were severely damaged, and many also were destroyed.
Notable People
Phelan Beale, original owner of Grey Gardens Captain
John Handy, jazz musician
Jimmy Johnson, cartoonist and creator of the syndicated newspaper comic strip Arlo and Janis.
Tig Notaro, standup comedian.
Robin Roberts, ABC News' Good Morning America anchor who returned home to provide emotional coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Cultural References
The city is mentioned in the John Mellencamp song "Cuttin' Heads" from his 2001 album of the same name. Mellencamp pronounced the name incorrectly.
The city is mentioned in Poppy Z. Brite's novel Drawing Blood as one of the towns main character Zachary Bosch stops in during his travels.
Petal
The American Checkers Federation is based in Petal.
Tom Walters (safety for the Washington Redskins) is from Petal.
University of Alabama football legend, Ray Perkins, attended Petal High School where he was an All-American.
Petal is also the home town of Jerry Edwards, Executive Vice President of The Home Depot
Marty Stuart
Philadelphia
Large ceremonial Indian mound and cave at Nanih Waiya
Williams Brothers Store, a true old-fashioned general store founded in 1907 and featured in National Geographic in 1939 as a source of anything from “needles to horse collars", and still offering everything from bridles, butter and boots to flour, feed and fashion
Murders of three civil rights workers Philadelphia is known as the site of one of the most infamous race-related crimes in American history. Shortly after midnight on June 21, 1964, three civil rights workers were murdered by white supremacists on a highway outside of Philadelphia. The crime and decades-long legal aftermath inspired the 1988 movie Mississippi Burning.
Notable People
Marty Stuart, country music entertainer and Grand Ole Opry star
Billy Cannon, 1959 Heisman Trophy winner
Phillip Martin, Chief of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians
Fred McAfee, former member of the New Orleans Saints and Director of Player Development
Otis Rush, blues artist members of the country music band Pearl River
Stan Frazier, professional wrestler better known as Uncle Elmer Marcus Dupree, football player for the NFL and USFL, also known for building the Mount Nebo Baptist Church in Philadelphia. He is the focus of the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary The Best That Never Was by filmmaker Jonathan Hock
Picayune
The Stennis Space Center is 10 miles (16 km) away.
Notable People
Jonathan Bender, NBA player, New York Knicks
Jon Heidenreich, former WWE wrestler and NFL player, New Orleans Saints Rhyne Hughes MLB player, Baltimore Orioles
Pontotoc
The famous outlaws Jesse & Frank James and their notorious gang once hid at an old house which was used as a Union Army hospital during the Battle of Harrisburg or Battle of Tupelo. The house was located at a crossroad in east Pontotoc County, near the Lee County line.
Notable People
Soprano Ruby Elzy (1908–1943) was a pioneer black opera singer who created the role of Serena in George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess and became a star on Broadway and radio, in concerts and films. Elzy is buried in Pontotoc City Cemetery.
Singer/Songwriter/Musician Delaney Bramlett was born in Pontotoc.
Three time World Bodock Post Throwing Champion, Joseph Tucker, Template:Born 31 October 1983
Borden Deal (October 12, 1922(1922-10-12) – January 22, 1985), was an American novelist and short story writer.
Broadway and Hollywood actor Lanny Flaherty was born here on July 27, 1942.
Pontotoc is the birthplace of both Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker, Mississippi's United States Senators
Max Palmer, professional wrestler.
Gordon Easterling, International Fancy Guppy breeder 2009 IFGA winner.
Jim Weatherly, born in Pontotoc on March 17, 1943, famous musician/songwriter
Poplarville
It is the host to the annual Blueberry Jubilee. This event is known for its rides, craft vendors, rodeos, and availability of Blueberries in any possible consumable form.
History
Theodore G. Bilbo, US senator, was born in Juniper Grove, an eastern township of Poplarville in 1877.
Larkin I. Smith was born in Poplarville in June 1944.
On the night of April 24, 1959, Mack Charles Parker, an African-American, was abducted from the Pearl River County jail in Poplarville by a white mob and shot to death. His body was found in the Pearl River 10 days later. The FBI investigated and even obtained confessions from some of the eight white suspects. However, the county prosecutor refused to present evidence to a state grand jury and a federal grand jury refused to indict. The case focused national attention on the persistence of lynching in the South and helped accelerate the African-American Civil Rights Movement.
On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina inflicted heavy damage on the small town. The storm's most powerful unofficially recorded gust of wind was reported at Pearl River Community College, at 135 mph (217 km/h). On September 5, 2005, Poplarville played host to a visit by George W. Bush, Laura Bush, and Governor Haley Barbour. The politicians visited Pearl River Community College in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Notable People
Glen Day, PGA Tour Golfer
Nate Smith, Pharm.D., made famous by being a prime suspect in the Great Cheerleading Fight before the Ole Miss upset against Florida on October 5, 2002
Whitney Miller, America's first MasterChef.
Port Gibson
Port Gibson has many historic buildings, including the Windsor Ruins, which have appeared in several motion pictures. Many of the town's historic buildings survived the Civil War because Grant believed the city too beautiful to be burned. Although Port Gibson no longer has a Jewish community, it boasts the only Moorish Revival building in Mississippi, the old Gemiluth Chessed synagogue.
Mississippi Blues Trail A historic marker has been placed by the Mississippi Blues Commission in Port Gibson commemorating the contribution the The Rabbit's Foot Company has made to the development of the blues in Mississippi. This places the site on the Mississippi Blues Trail
Notable People
Constance Cary Harrison, author, born in Port Gibson
Purvis
Tornadoes of 1908 On Friday, April 24, 1908, three F4 (207-260 mph) tornadoes left a line of destruction from Livingston Parish, Louisiana northeast to Wayne County. This line of storms left 143 people dead with 83 dead in Purvis alone. From the reports of Dr. H.R. Hermesch, Assistant Surgeon U.S. Navy and the Relief Committee at Purvis, we know that there were 83 dead, 340 wounded and 1935 destitute in the town of Purvis. The large “Town Clock" in the domed tower of the Courthouse of the time, sustained damage from flying debris and was stopped at 2:13 in the afternoon
1960's Vela Uniform/Project Dribble Nuclear Tests - Vela Uniform was an element of Project Vela conducted jointly by the United States Department of Energy (DOE) and the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA). Its purpose was to develop seismic methods for detecting underground nuclear testing. The Project Dribble program involved two nuclear detonations called Salmon and Sterling that were conducted within Tatum Salt Dome southwest of the Hattiesburg/Purvis area in the late 60's. The Sterling Event was the fourth nuclear detonation involved in a study, identified as Project Dribble, sponsored by the Department of Defense's Advanced Research Project Agency. Project Dribble involves the recording and identification of seismic signals from underground detonations. These studies are part of a seismic research program called Vela Uniform which is designed to improve the United States' capability to detect, identify, and locate underground nuclear detonations. Project Dribble's purpose was to give U.S. scientists experience in detecting underground nuclear tests in the Soviet Union. The first blast, a 5.3 kiloton bomb, took place in 1964 at the bottom of a 2,710-foot shaft 28 miles southwest of Hattiesburg and four miles northeast of Baxterville. The second bomb, much smaller, was exploded two years later within the cavity created by the first blast. (To be sure, these were only two of well over a thousand documented nuclear tests by the United States, with the vast majority taking place in Nevada.) [21]
Notable People
Lacey Chabert, film and television actress.
Billy Hudson Sr., CEO of Hudson Salvage (retired) and State Senator.[22]
In Pop Culture
Referenced in the song "Mississippi" off the CD The Good Times by Afroman. Afroman is said to be "swerving his Cadillac through Purvis."
Quitman
This is the hometown of San Antonio Spurs power forward Antonio McDyess.
CNN News anchor Anderson Cooper traces his ancestry to Quitman as his father, the writer Wyatt Emory Cooper, was born here before moving to New Orleans, Louisiana.
Raymond
The Battle of Raymond was fought by Confederate and Union soldiers near Raymond on May 12, 1863 as part of General Ulysses S. Grant's Vicksburg Campaign during the American Civil War. Four days later, the pivotal Battle of Champion Hill was won by Grant's troops and sealed the fate of Vicksburg. Grant stayed at Waverly, the plantation of by John B. Peyton, and Union soldiers used St. Mark's Episcopal Church as a hospital. Blood stains can still be seen on the church's floor today.
Notable People
Muna Lee, famous Pan-American poet and first wife of Luis Muñoz Marín (first democratically elected governor of Puerto Rico)
Jennifer Cooper, Collegiate athlete, runner. NCAA Division III National Championship Qualifier - Cross Country
Ridgeland
Country music artist Faith Hill was born in Ridgeland and raised in nearby Star.
Ripley
Colonel William Clark Falkner, great-grandfather of authors William Faulkner and John Faulkner, was a prominent resident of Ripley in the mid to late-19th century. W.C. Falkner's exploits in and around Ripley served as the model for Faulkner's character of Colonel John Sartoris
Ripley is the home of the First Monday Trade Day held the weekend prior to the first Monday of every month. It is one of the oldest outdoor flea markets in the United States. It started around the turn of the century at the old square but is now held south of Ripley along Highway 15 across from the Tippah County Fair Grounds. It has seen publicity by various news channels over the years for its tolerance of a controversial live animal market housed at the back edge of the trading grounds
Notable People
Super Bowl winner Jim Miller punted for the San Francisco 49ers when they won Super Bowl XVI. He is also known as the "bare-foot" punter.
Super Bowl winner Kendall Simmons was on offensive lineman for the Pittsburgh Steelers when they won Super Bowl XL.
Author John Grisham spent a few years of his childhood attending Ripley Elementary School.
The Grandparents of former President of the United States Bill Clinton are buried in Ripley.
Author Jeremiah Lewellen spent his formative years in Ripley.
Award winning gospel music artist Carroll Roberson resides in Ripley
Rolling Fork
Notable People
Fielding L. Wright, Governor of Mississippi
Slick Watts, NBA player
Muddy Waters, Musician, who mentioned Rolling Fork in his 1953 recording of the classic blues song, "Baby Please Don't Go
Rosedale
Historic marker - The Mississippi Blues Commission placed a historic marker at Rosedale's old Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad depot site, designating it as a site on the Mississippi Blues Trail. The marker commemorates the original lyrics of legendary blues artist Robert Johnson's "Traveling Riverside Blues" which traced the railway route which ran south from Friars Point to Rosedale among other stops, including Vicksburg and north to Memphis. The marker emphasizes that a common theme of blues songs was riding on the railroad which was seen as a metaphor for travel and escape. It also commemorates another common blues theme, life on the banks of a moody river bank as Charlie Patton's "High Water Everywhere."
Jimmy Rogers
Ruleville
Notable People
Fannie Lou Hamer, civil rights activist
Jimmy Rogers, Blues singer and musician
Ruleville is home to the John Wayne Museum, owned by Luster Bayless, founder of the American Costume Corporation and personal costume designer to John Wayne for over ten years.
Saltillo
Notable People
Gladys Love Smith Presley, mother of Elvis Presley (1912–1958)[3]
Joey Beachum, Winner of Jeopardy! College Championship (2008)
Senatobia
Notable People
Kamala, wrestler
O. B. McClinton, country and R&B singer/songwriter
Shaw
Notable People
David Honeyboy Edwards, blues singer and guitarist (b. 1915)
Dave Meadows "Boo" Ferriss, professional baseball player for the Boston Red Sox (b. 1921)
Paul Gallo, radio show host (b. 1947)
Shelby
Notable People
Fred Barnett - Philadelphia Eagles player.
Mississippi Slim - Blues musician.
Henry Townsend - Blues singer most associated with St. Louis, Missouri on the St. Louis Walk of Fame and a Mississippi Blues Trail marker.[5]
The campus of Mississippi State University is located adjacent to the east of Starkville
Popular Culture
Famous American pilot Charles Lindbergh made a successful landing on the outskirts of Starkville in 1927 during his famous Guggenheim Tour [8] and stayed at a boarding house in the Maben community. Lindbergh later wrote about that landing in his autobiographical account of his barnstorming days, titled "WE."
Starkville is purportedly the birthplace of Tee Ball, invented by Dr. Clyde Muse, a member of the Starkville Rotarians in 1961 [9]. Dr. Muse was also an educator in Starkville, having been principal of Starkville High School for many years. He also was a renowned baseball and basketball coach (one of his early teams won a State Championship. Members included Lewis Mallory, Jackie Wofford, Barry Wood, and Carse Smith.)
The town itself is considered to be the Baseball Capital of the South, having been the birthplace of National Baseball Hall of Famer Cool Papa Bell and Mississippi State University, whose Diamond Dogs have made nine trips to the NCAA Baseball College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.
Notorious American gangster Machine Gun Kelly lived in Starkville for two years while attending Mississippi State University. He enrolled in the university to study agriculture in 1917.
Johnny Cash was arrested for public drunkenness (though he described it as being picked up for picking flowers) in Starkville and held overnight at the city jail on May 11, 1965, which was the inspiration for his song "Starkville City Jail": "They're bound to get you, Cause they got a curfew, And you go to the Starkville city jail." The song appears on the album At San Quentin. Local oral tradition has it that he finished a gig at what is now the Dave's Darkhorse Tavern, and then walked a block west to the northwest corner of Lee Boulevard (now Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.) and Montgomery Street, where he helped himself to the flower bed at the front of the house. Each year the Johnny Cash Flower Pickin' Festival is held in Starkville, the city where Cash had been arrested over forty years earlier. The festival, where he was offered a symbolic posthumous pardon, honors Cash's life and music.[10] The festival was started by Robbie Ward, who urged the town to hold it annually based on the premise that: "Johnny Cash was arrested in seven places, but he only wrote a song about one of those places."[11] Performers at the festival have included Rosanne Cash, Carlene Carter, Jimmy Tittle, Marty Stuart, Billy Joe Shaver and Joanne Cash. Marshall Grant, a founding member of the Tennessee Three, helps organize the event.
A song titled "Starkville" appears on the Indigo Girls' 2002 album Become You.
Starkville also appears on a map of Mississippi in the controversial 2007 film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.
The Mississippi Horse Park in Starkville is a National Top 40 Rodeo Facility and is considered one of the top tourist attractions in North Mississippi.
Starkville has the Magnolia Film Festival, held annually in February. It is the oldest festival in the state for independent films.
The annual Cotton District Arts Festival in Starkville, held in the Historic Cotton District the 3rd weekend of April, is considered to be one of the top arts festivals in the state, drawing a record crowd of nearly 25,000 in 2008. On hand for the festivities were Y'all Magazine, Southern Living Magazine and Peavey Electronics, over 100 of the state's top artisans and 25 live bands.
Starkville is also the home of Bulldog Bash, Mississippi's largest open-air free concert.
Located on the MSU campus, the Cullis and Gladys Wade Clock Museum boasts an extensive collection of mostly American clocks and watches dating as far back as the early 18th century. The collection of over 400 clocks is the only one of its size in the region.
Notable People
Birthplace of: Cool Papa Bell, African-American baseball great, 1903–1991
Antuan Edwards, NFL player
Shauntay Hinton, Miss USA 2002
Jasmine Murray, beauty queen, and top 13 finalist on American Idol
Hayes Jones, gold medalist in the 110-meter hurdles at the Tokyo 1964 Olympics
Freddie Milons, wide receiver, University of Alabama, later played for the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles
Jess Mowry (born 1960), American writer of juvenile books
Travis Outlaw, NBA player for the Los Angeles Clippers
Jerry Rice, College Football Hall of Fame wide receiver. NFL wide receiver for the San Francisco 49ers, Oakland Raiders, and Seattle Seahawks, three-time Super Bowl champion; set and still holds multiple NFL and NCAA records for receiving
Ray Mabus, current Secretary of the Navy, former US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, and former governor of Mississippi.
Julio Borbon, current starting Centerfielder for the Texas Rangers baseball team. He also played college baseball at the University of Tennessee most members of the Southern rock group Crossin Dixon[citation needed]
Historian Amy Tuck, Mississippi's former Lieutenant Governor Educated in: Cully Cobb, donor/namesake of Cobb Institute of Archeology at MSU
Rich Fields, announcer, The Price is Right
Edwin Granberry, one of the writers of the comic strip Buz Sawyer
John Grisham, acclaimed author of international best-selling novels A Time to Kill, The Firm, The Pelican Brief, The Runaway Jury, The Client, The Chamber, etc.
G.V. 'Sonny' Montgomery, U.S. congressman
Hartley Peavey, founder of Peavey Electronics, one of the world's largest manufacturers of sound amplification equipment
Jimmy G. Shoalmire, historian at MSU, 1967–1979
John C. Stennis, U.S. Senator
Miles O'Keefe, actor
Rafael Palmeiro, professional baseball player
Will Clark, professional baseball player
Bailey Howell, NBA Basketball Player
Dee Barton, composer
Machine Gun Kelly, Prohibition-era gangster
Shane McRae, actor, appeared in Hack, guest-starred on One Life to Live, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, and was one of the stars of the ill-fated sitcom Four Kings
Major General William M. Miley (Bud Miley), U.S. 17th Airborne Division World War II, former assistant professor of military science at Mississippi State University
Del Rendon, singer and guitarist (Puerto Rican Rum Drunks)
Latavious Williams, NBA Basketball Player
Tunica
Until the early 1990s the town was one of the most impoverished places in the United States, semi-famous for the particularly deprived neighbourhood known as "Sugar Ditch Alley", named for the open sewer located there.[1]
The town now lies on the fringe of a growing gambling resort area, with major casinos attracting visitors from nearby Memphis, Tennessee, West Memphis, Arkansas and all over the Southeast. The Tunica area is now the third-largest gaming region in the United States[1], after Las Vegas and Atlantic City
Before and After Katrina - Waveland, MS
Waveland
The city of Waveland, Mississippi was 'ground zero' of Hurricane Katrina's landfall on August 29, 2005. The city received massive damage and is still in the process of recovering and rebuilding. South of the CSX railroad, the area was almost completely destroyed. The rest of the city took heavy flooding. In a news report, state officials said Waveland took a harder hit from the wind and water than any other town along the Gulf Coast, and that the town was obliterated. Thirty-six years earlier, in 1969, Waveland had been severely damaged by Hurricane Camille
Notable People
Waveland is the birthplace of jazz clarinetist Johnny Dodds.
Michael Grimm - Soul singer and winner of season 5 of America's Got Talent
Waynesboro
Three Major League Baseball players were born in Waynesboro...Claude Passeau (1909), Paul Busby (1918), and Jeff Branson (1967).
West Point
Notable People
John Bryan, Jr., who was chairman of Sara Lee Corporation,
David Halberstam, a Pulitzer prize winning journalist whose first post-collegiate job was for West Point's Daily Times Leader.
Toxey Haas, founder of Mossy Oak Camouflage Company, one of the largest camouflage brands in the United States, also calls West Point home.
West Point is also the home of Tony Marshall, author of the book The Drunken Hamster Electric Boogaloo.
Lenore Prather, the first woman chief justice in Mississippi's history, also has close ties to West Point.
West Point was also the birthplace of blues musician "Howlin' Wolf" Chester Burnett (1910–1976). Burnett was born in the area of West Point now known as White Station.
Arthur O'Neal, a native of West Point and graduate of West Point High School, holds or once held many school and league baseball records for West Point (United States Military Academy, New York). He is considered one of the greatest baseball players in Army's history
Wiggins
Wiggins has long been known for its pickle production, and at one time boasted of being home to the world's largest pickle plant.
Notable People
William Joel Blass, attorney and educator
Chris Boykin, CEO of Big Black Inc.
Anthony Herrera, actor, soap opera star
Boyce Holleman, attorney and actor
Fred Lewis, Toronto Blue Jays outfielder
Stevon Moore, retired from NFL Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens.
Taylor Spreitler, actress
Emilie Blackmore Stapp, author and philanthropist
Winona
Notable People
William Billingsley, Naval pilot
Little Sammy Davis, blues musician
Jane Holmes Dixon, Episcopal Bishop of Washington Pro-Tempore[citation needed]
Wade Griffin, NFL football player
E. W. Hammons, film producer
James Michael Tyler, actor
Chip Oliver, NFL football player [4]
Donald H. Peterson, astronaut
Roebuck Staples, Gospel and R&B musician
Chris White, NFL football player
Gil Peterson, Hollywood actor ("The Cool Ones" 1967) and recording artist (Ace Label)
Civil rights and anti-segregationist activists, including Fannie Lou Hamer stopped to eat in Winona on their way to Charleston, South Carolina. On June 9, 1963, Hamer was on her way back from Charleston, South Carolina with other activists from a literacy workshop. Stopping in Winona, Mississippi, the group was arrested on a false charge and jailed by white policemen. Once in jail, Hamer and her colleagues were, per orders of local law officers, beaten savagely by inmates of the Montgomery County jail, almost to the point of death.
While touring the country, Martin Luther King Jr. made a stop in Winona during which he was ambushed by the local barber, Ryan Lynch, an outspoken white supremacist. Lynch rushed Dr. King with the razor from his shop, but King was saved by his assigned bodyguard - a local police officer named Garrit Howard. Howard stopped Lynch without even using his firearm, but rather by quickly grabbing the phonebook from a nearby phone booth and striking Lynch in the face as he charged
Yazoo City
Yazoo City is the childhood home of blues musician Tommy McClennan,
writer Willie Morris
inspirational speaker Zig Ziglar.
Jerry Clower, born and raised near Liberty, Mississippi, became famous while a resident of Yazoo City.
Haley Barbour, current Governor of Mississippi[11]
Thea Bowman, Roman Catholic sister, Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration
Jerry Clower, comedian who lived much of his life in Yazoo City.
Mike Espy, Secretary of Agriculture from 1993 to 1994 and Member U.S. House of Representatives, 2nd district of Mississippi from 1987-1993.
Lawrence Gordon, producer of Die Hard and other films.
Lynn Hamilton, actress.
Michael Henderson, R&B singer.
T. J. Huddleston, Sr., entrepreneur.
Tommy McClennan, blues musician.
Mike Miley, MLB player and Louisiana State Quarterback
Willie Morris, writer who was born in Jackson, MS but grew up in Yazoo City.
Della Reese, jazz singer.
Stella Stevens, actress,
Michael Passons, "Contemporary Christian Musician", founding former member of the Christian music group, Avalon.
Zig Ziglar, Personal development speaker and trainer.
Norman Albert Mott, member of the Mississippi Legislature in 1911.
In Popular Culture
Yazoo City is shown in the background in the movie Borat. It is in the scene where Borat visits the news station, WAPT 16 in Jackson. Specifically, Yazoo City is mentioned by the weatherman. However, on the U.S. map which shows Borat's travels through America, it is implied that this scene happened in either Georgia or Alabama. Yazoo City is referenced in the 1986 movie Crossroads. Yazoo is also referenced as the lone non-New Jersey site that makes toxic waste in the United States in the 1989 movie Fletch Lives. Chevy Chase's character, Irwin M. Fletcher, flew to Yazoo to visit Bly Bio Chem, where he was greeted by Hedley Dan Duke, played by Phil Hartman. (It was the scene where Fletch delivered the classic "I.R. Pissed" line.) In the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou? character "Delmar O'Donnell" (Tim Blake Nelson), refers to Yazoo as the place where he robbed a Piggly Wiggly. Also, the movie's Woolworth's scene was filmed in what used to be a hardware store in Yazoo City. Finally, in the movie, "George 'Baby Face' Nelson" robbed a bank, which he said is located in Itta Bena, Mississippi, but actually that was filmed in the old Bank of Yazoo City building in downtown Yazoo City. Miss Firecracker was filmed on location in Yazoo City in the 1980s. The movie featured Holly Hunter, Tim Robbins, Mary Steenbergen, Scott Glenn and Alfre Woodard. Yazoo City was the main location for the book and the movie, My Dog Skip. However, the movie was not filmed in Yazoo City, but rather in Canton, Mississippi, which is located in Madison County, Mississippi, and is about 30 miles southeast of Yazoo City.
