The story of the descendants of Wong On offers a multi-faceted look at the intersection of the African American and Chinese immigrant communities.

The Real History of the Complex Relationship Between Chinese and Black Americans in the Mississippi Delta

The remarkable success of the movie “Sinners” has sparked a renewed interest in how the two communities wrestled with life under Jim Crow

The mosasaur vertebra measured more than seven inches wide.

Geologists Stumble Upon Remains of Giant ‘Sea Monster’ in Mississippi, Likely the Largest Mosasaur Ever Identified in the State

Researchers uncovered one vertebra, and based on its size, they estimate the massive creature was at least 30 feet long when it roamed the shallow seas that covered the region roughly 66 million years ago

John J. Egan's massive 24-panel Panorama of the Monumental Grandeur of the French Colonial Mississippi Valley depicts the Natchez revolt. Created in 1850, the panorama features scenes from across the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys.

On This Day in History

In a ‘Horrific’ Attack Meant to Scare the Intruders, Natchez Warriors Revolted Against the French, Killing 230 Colonists

The 1729 attack in present-day Mississippi was part of a vicious cycle of violence and retribution

This specimen is the first complete tusk of its kind found in Mississippi.

Cool Finds

Rare Seven-Foot Mammoth Tusk Unearthed in Mississippi Creek

The enormous fossil belonged to a Columbian mammoth, a larger relative of the woolly mammoth

Louisiana Purchase State Park in Holly Grove, Arkansas, lies on the spot where the land surveys of the new territories originated.

How the United States Laid Claim to the Mississippi River, One Mile at a Time

Thomas Jefferson imagined the waterway as the heart of his “empire of liberty” as he dispatched surveyors to measure a land already occupied by Native Americans

The Mississippi John Hurt Museum stood on the eastern edge of the Mississippi Delta.

Fire Destroys Museum Honoring Legendary Blues Musician Mississippi John Hurt

The three-room shack in the town of Avalon, Mississippi, was once the singer and guitarist’s home

President Harry S. Truman speaks from the dais at the Convention Hall as Kentucky Senator Alben Barkley (seated onstage in black suit) looks on during the 1948 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.

Untold Stories of American History

The 1948 Democratic National Convention Is the Missing Link in Civil Rights History

Civil rights activists failed to expel an all-white, segregationist delegation. But their efforts foreshadowed later milestones in the fight for equality

Researchers estimate the states with the highest rates of Alzheimer's disease are Maryland, New York and Mississippi.

Here’s Where the Highest Rates of Alzheimer’s Are in the United States

A first-of-its-kind report estimates Alzheimer’s disease prevalence in 3,142 counties across the nation

The exterior of Club Ebony, taken before the renovation

Club Ebony, Historic Stop Along the Chitlin Circuit, Reopens

The legendary Black-owned nightclub hosted the likes of Tina Turner, Ray Charles and more

Lost fishing gear can continue to catch and ensnare prey, a destructive outcome called ghost fishing.

The Pioneering Project Paying for Ghost Fishing Gear

A new program is rewarding shrimpers who collect and recycle derelict crab traps

Barges stranded by low water in the Mississippi River in Rosedale, Mississippi, a small town near where the lion fossil was found

Drought Reveals Rare American Lion Fossil in Dried-Up Mississippi River

Low water levels have also stranded barge traffic and threatened drinking water

Deinocheirus walks across a landscape dotted with ponds. Fossils found recently in eastern North America provide evidence that similar dinosaurs lived on our continent.

Giant Ostrich-Like Dinosaurs Once Roamed North America

Rare finds in Mississippi paint a picture of these creatures’ lost world

Pruitt took roughly 88,000 photographs of life in and around Columbus, Mississippi, between 1916 and 1960. Pictured: a Black baptismal group on the bank of the Tombigbee River, circa 1930s

Chronicling the Triumphs—and Tragedies—of Life in the Deep South

A new book and traveling exhibition highlight the work of Mississippi photographer O.N. Pruitt

“The history of racial violence is often erased and highly contested in the battle to define American memory," says the museum's director Anthea Hartig, "and this vandalized sign demonstrates the ramifications of ongoing efforts of remembrance and social justice."

Smithsonian Displays Bullet-Riddled Sign That Documented Emmett Till’s Horrific Murder

A month-long exhibition invites conversations addressing ongoing racism in America

The worn hands and nubby fingernails of Bentonia, Mississippi, bluesman Jimmy "Duck" Holmes reflect his years of experience. Holmes is one of the last bluesmen who play a style known as Bentonia blues.

At an Old Juke Joint in Mississippi, the Blues Are Alive

Jimmy Holmes is the last in a line of music legends as he seeks to keep a singular American art form thriving

One of the more than 100 earthen mounds preserved at the Mounds State Historic Site

Why Did Cahokia, One of North America’s Largest Pre-Hispanic Cities, Collapse?

A new study challenges the theory that resource exploitation led to the Mississippian metropolis’ demise

The William F. Winter Archives and History Building in Jackson, Mississippi

Mississippi Returns Hundreds of Native Americans’ Remains to Chickasaw Nation

Decades after their bones were placed in storage, the state has repatriated the remains of 403 Indigenous ancestors

Rocky Vaughan designed the new state flag, which features a magnolia blossom—the state flower—encircled by 20 stars representing Mississippi's status as the 20th state to enter the Union and one star representing Indigenous Native Americans.

Mississippi Voters Approve New Design to Replace Confederate-Themed State Flag

The redesigned banner—approved by on Tuesday by 68 percent of voters—features a magnolia bloom and the words “In God We Trust”

Civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer's searing speech about the brutality she'd endured because, as a voting rights activist, she wanted black Americans "to become first-class citizens," made primetime before the 1964 DNC officially kicked off.

100 Years of Women at the Ballot Box

Fannie Lou Hamer’s Dauntless Fight for Black Americans’ Right to Vote

The activist did not learn about her right to vote until she was 44, but once she did, she vigorously fought for black voting rights

The Mississippi Delta, seen from space in 2001.

America's Waterways: The Past, Present and Future

The 70 Million-Year-Old History of the Mississippi River

Dive into the secret past and uncertain future of the body of water that has defined a nation

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