6 Mississippi facts that have me thinking

 Since we'd never been in Mississippi before, this visit opened our eyes to a lot of history, geography, and culture. These things stood out in our research:

1. Most U.S. farm-raised catfish are produced in Mississippi catfish aquaculture farms, though we didn't see any.

2. Over half the state's area is covered by wild trees (mostly pine, cottonwood, elm, hickory, oak, pecan, sweetgum, and tupelo), which may be the reason I didn't see the catfish farms.

3. The state beverage is milk; the state toy is the teddy bear

4. Mississippi was the second state to secede (on January 9, 1861). 90% of the Mississippi Delta area was still frontier after the Civil War.

5. In the late 1800's, 2/3 of farmers owning land in the Delta were African Americans; agricultural depressions led to farmers losing the land they had developed. Many became sharecroppers by 1910, and by 1920, many had left Mississippi for cities in the North. Still, in 2010, 37% of Mississippians were African Americans, which is the highest percentage for any US state.

6. The state has the highest rate of infant and neonatal death in the US. It often ranks last for health and educational attainment. Median household incomes (and living costs) are the lowest in the nation. However, Mississippi has ranked as the most religious state in the country since 2011.