Overall rankings for Mississippi are dismal. the state ranks 51st in poverty (when DC included), Per US News & World Reports it ranks 50th in health care, 48th economically, and 46th in education. There is something wrong with the Democratic Party if it can not have programs which appeal to the people of Mississippi and make an effort to deserve and receive their support.
Surprisingly the Grant Presidential Library is at Mississippi State University. It opened November 2017.
We stopped on the way back to Pennsylvania from visiting our son in New Orleans. I was impressed.
After a little reflection it is an appropriate setting. Grant made his name the capture of Vicksburg (May 18 to July 4, 1863). The hardships of the siege and the stinging defeat caused the city to not officially celebrate the 4th of July until 1945. The National Park Service states the Vicksburg campaign--
This was the culmination of one of the most brilliant military campaigns of the war. With the loss of Pemberton’s army and this vital stronghold on the Mississippi, the Confederacy was effectively split in half. Grant's successes in the West boosted his reputation, leading ultimately to his appointment as General-in-Chief of the Union armies.
At the end of the siege starving people emerged from caves dug in the hill for protection from six weeks of bombardment. Knowing civil war history their descendants do not long for another one.
There is hope projections for this year’s governor’s race have the leading Democrat and Republican candidates tied.
Hillary Clinton won 26 of 82 counties. She got the most votes for a Democratic President not named Obama in Mississippi history. Sixteen states had a higher percentage of votes for Trump than Mississippi.
No public university flies the state flag because it includes the confederate battle flag.
There is a statue of James Meredith at Ole Miss. Clyde Kennard has a recent marker put up at the University of Southern Mississippi. (Kennard info)
The Democrats should have a goal of improving the most poverty stricken state in the nation.
I would love to hear “We won Mississippi Goddam!”