Mississippi : the name and the place -- Two worlds collide : Spanish explorers and American indians -- French colonies -- The British period, 1763-1781 -- Spanish rule, 1781-1798 -- The territorial period, 1798-1817 -- The new state, 1817-1832 -- Antebellum politics -- Antebellum life -- Mounting sectional strife -- Secession and Civil War -- Reconstruction in Mississippi -- Bourbons and populists -- Into the twentieth century : economic and social trends -- Progressive "rednecks" -- A new era, the 1920s -- The Depression years -- A rich cultural heritage -- The World War II era -- The fifties -- Religious life -- The second Reconstruction -- Times of transition -- The social environment -- Recent political trends -- Tumultuous trends in education -- Recent economic trends -- Into the twenty-first century -- Living in the twenty-first century -- Appendix I: European rulers with relation to Mississippi during the colonial and territorial periods -- Appendix II: Members of the U.S. Congress, 1817-1861 -- Appendix III: Mississippi symbols and facts -- Appendix IV: Total population, 1800-2010 -- Appendix V: Racial population changes, 1800-2010.