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Also, I don't think many people realize how black (37.4 percent) and impoverished (21.6 percent) Mississippi really is. Mississippi has a HUGE underclass for a state so small, and that's really almost impossible to overcome.
yes the rigid class system in the deep south is awful that is why i left.
Mississippi has always been more rural than the other southern states. The largest city, Jackson (98,000 in 1950), followed by Meridian (40K), never anywhere near the class of New Orleans (570K), Memphis (400K), Atlanta and Birmingham (350K each), so when it came time for the south to develop and industrialize, Mississippi had no urban anchor to attract attention. All those other cities were able form central hubs for regional development.
Also, Mississippi had no educational foundation to build on. Ole Miss accommodated only about 4,000 students then, so there was little capacity to build an expanding educated work force.
Hard to believe that 65 years ago, Birmingham and Memphis were bigger than Atlanta.
IMO, the main reason why Mississippi lags is because it is very lack in natural resources. It has a very small coastline, but no major port, and most of the rest of the state is dominated by the Delta. Very rich farmland, and that's about it. There's no gas or oil, no minerals for mining, no mountains for recreation. It's a very bland state geographically, perhaps no more bland than Nebraska or Kansas. But then, those states don't have the stigma of racism, poverty and negative history that Mississippi has.
An effective state leadership should have been able to attract at least a decent-size manufacturing sector by now, but the other problems that plague Mississippi are just too huge to overcome. For one, recruiting new business requires money. And that's just something Mississippi doesn't have a lot of.
Now that I think about it, geography does indeed play a role here. You mentioned that with the lack of a major port, but also the fact that the fall line barely extends into the state is probably also significant. Those fall line cities were important because they could harness hydroelectric power to run mills and factories.
Also, there's no major military installation in Mississippi which is interesting.
Now that I think about it, geography does indeed play a role here. You mentioned that with the lack of a major port, but also the fact that the fall line barely extends into the state is probably also significant. Those fall line cities were important because they could harness hydroelectric power to run mills and factories.
Also, there's no major military installation in Mississippi which is interesting.
The Air Force does have Columbus AFB and Keesler AFB in the state. While Columbus is rather small even by Air Force standards, Keesler is a major Tech School base.
The Air Force does have Columbus AFB and Keesler AFB in the state. While Columbus is rather small even by Air Force standards, Keesler is a major Tech School base.
Also, I don't think many people realize how black (37.4 percent) and impoverished (21.6 percent) Mississippi really is. Mississippi has a HUGE underclass for a state so small, and that's really almost impossible to overcome. And as I said before, there's very little wealth or natural resources in the state to offset that poverty.
Sure, Georgia is over 30 percent black as well, but Georgia's AA population is better educated, heavily middle class to even uber-rich upper class, and mostly professional. There's no black middle class in Mississippi, relatively speaking. To this day, the majority of black families live on rural farms.
I don't know if I would say that there is no Black middle class in MS. I'm sure that Jackson has quite a few middle class Black folks that work or graduated from the Historically Black Colleges and the other state universities. So, I don't believe that is true.
As for MS not growing like other Southern states, I think that some of the reasons have been touched on. I also think it still has a stigma to overcome and it needs an infrastructure educationally and logistically that would attract more companies, but isn't completely there yet.
Not true at all. Louisiana is doing much much better than Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas. And our cities are a hell of a lot better than Mississippi's. There is not even really a city outside of Jackson.
It helps that Louisiana had a huge petro-chemical resource available to be tapped, and a navigable shipping access to the sea.
I don't know if I would say that there is no Black middle class in MS. I'm sure that Jackson has quite a few middle class Black folks that work or graduated from the Historically Black Colleges and the other state universities. So, I don't believe that is true.
As for MS not growing like other Southern states, I think that some of the reasons have been touched on. I also think it still has a stigma to overcome and it needs an infrastructure educationally and logistically that would attract more companies, but isn't completely there yet.
I'm surprised though Jackson or MS capitalize on a few more things. I mean labor has got to be cheap down there. Also, tourism can't be too bad, even if they are on the dirty part of the coast it's still a coast. Also, with a conservative government, you'd think they'd try to attract investors. There has to be a few rich Mississipians out there. Could part of the problem with the schools be that there are a lot of private schools? I know in a lot of towns the whites will attend a private school, while blacks attend the public school, and that a few towns still have separate proms and things of that nature.
Is Oklahoma really that bad? OKC seems like a decent city. I can see rural oklahoma being pretty bad, but OKC and Tulsa can't be doing too terrible. The cities thing makes sense. If a state has a thriving main city it does well. Honestly, Nebraska does well because Omaha and Lincoln do well. Kansas does okay because of the KC suburbs, though Wichita I hear isn't that great economically. Jackson just doesn't seem like a very influential city or economically well off. At least Alabama has Birmingham and Mobile
Oklahoma City is doing fine economically. The issue is more a matter of taste. Hardcore evangelical Christianity is some people's cup of tea, but not others. It's a city with all types of people, like any other, but the majority are not shy to make themselves known...
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