Mississippi

Mississippi, a state located in the Southeastern United States. It is bordered to its north by Tennessee; to its east by Alabama; south by the Gulf of Mexico; southwest by Louisiana; and northwest by Arkansas. Mississippi’s western boundary is largely defined by the Mississippi River. Mississippi is the 32nd largest and 35th-most populous of the 50 U.S. states and has the lowest per-capita income in the United States. Jackson is the capital of the state and its largest city. Greater Jackson is the state’s most populous metropolitan area, with a population of 591,978 in 2020.

Mississippi was admitted to the Union on December 10, 1817. Mississippi was the nation’s largest cotton-producing state by 1860. 55% of the state’s population was slave-owning. Mississippi declared its secession and became the seventh Confederate State, the largest slave-holding state in the country, on January 9, 1861. It was returned to the Union after the Civil War on February 23, 1870.