6 things you really ought to know about Alabama

1. The flag is white with a red St Andrew's cross, and the motto is "We dare to defend our rights."

2. There are two state birds (yellowhammer and wild turkey), two state fish (largemouth bass and fighting tarpon), two state flowers (camellia and oakleaf hydrangea), and three foods (pecan, blackberry and peach). I saw some camellia blossoms and possibly a largemouth bass, but I still can't quite picture a yellowhammer.

3. In the 1830s, the economy of central Alabama was built around large cotton plantations, mostly using slave labor. By 1860, the population of the state was more than 950,000, of whom more than half were enslaved African Americans.

4. The 1901 Alabama constitution effectively disenfranchised almost all African Americans and Native Americans, as well as many poor whites. By requiring a literacy test and imposing a poll tax, the number of African Americans registered to vote fell from more than 181,000 in 1900 to fewer than 3,000 in 1903. The situation worsened throughout the first half of the 20th century. This constitution also required schools to be segregated by race. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, more and more public spaces were segregated. Legal segregation ended in 1964, but longstanding customs often continued until challenged in court.

5. The first state capital, Cahaba, is now a ghost town.

6. Alabama averages more tornado fatalities per year than any other state.

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.