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.
Progressivism was a political movement that originated as a response to the economic, political, and social problems brought about by industrialization. Poverty, child labor, unsafe factories, and crowded living conditions are just a few of the issues that Progressives worked diligently to reform. Mississippi led the nations in two areas of Progressive concern, but lagged behind the nation in the areas of woman suffrage and race relations. Progressivism came to a close in the state of Mississippi as well as the nation as the United States entered World War I.
As the United States entered World War I in 1917, the nation stood divided on the country’s entry. Even within our own state, public opinion was divided. As political turmoil brewed in the state over the U.S. war effort, many men answered the call of duty while others opposed the country’s war effort. The viewpoints of Mississippians can best be seen in the actions and through the words of Mississippi’s two U.S. senators, John Sharp Williams and James K. Vardaman.
A study of the Girls’ Tomato Club movement in Mississippi offers a brief glimpse into the lives of a portion of the state’s female population at the turn of the century. From a very modest beginning, the movement became a part of the national 4-H Club network and was a predecessor to women’s home demonstration clubs which played a significant role in both the education and social life of rural women.
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.
In the 19th century, a large seafood industry developed on the Mississippi Gulf Coast due in large part to new canning methods, production of commercial ice, financial investors, and the development of the railroad in the region. By the early 1900s, the coastal city of Biloxi became known as the “Seafood Capital of the World.” Workers migrated to the city for seasonal work in the factories, settled in the area, and added to the cultural landscape.