The women who fought for the first state funded college for women in the United States were Sarah "Sallie" Eola Reneau, Olivia Valentine Hastings, and Annie Coleman Peyton. Three of the most stubborn, brilliant, and courageous women the antebellum South ever produced. These ladies were no shrinking violets. 

Alva Temple and three other Tuskegee Airmen won the 1949 inaugural USAF Gunnery Meet...essentially their version of Top Gun. Yet their names were never recorded as the winners and were listed as "unknown" until 1995 and their trophy stuck in the back of a storage closet at Wright Patterson AFB Museum. 

Mississippi author Julie Liddell Whitehead's new book Hurricane Baby is coming out this fall. Her publishing journey started with a short story within days of weathering Katrina in Brandon, MS and the book just kept growing from there. Follow along as she shares her book beginnings so far!

Mississippi Artist Lee Harper is an amazing miniature artist. She lives in Oxford, MS where she is a painter and miniaturist who takes commissions. 

See her work at: 

https://www.instagram.com/leeharperoxford/

https://www.tinyhistorystudios.com/

Stephen D. Lee was and is a controversial Southern figure; however, his emphasis on education was embraced not only by his son but by his direct descendants and their spouses. Their education has benefitted the world of aeronautics, law, forensic science, constitutional rights, and space exploration. 

Frances Glessner Lee, the Mother of Forensic Science, was the daughter-in-law of General Stephen D. Lee and his wife Regina. Her Nutshell Studies are still taught in homicide investigation training around the country. 

Sam Hairston was born in Lowndes County on the Hairston Plantation less than a month before the founding of the Negro League. He would grow up to play for the Birmingham Black Barons before being drafted by the Chicago White Sox. 

Columbus, MS had three different minor league baseball teams that supplied multiple players to the MLB: 

1907-1908 Columbus Discoverers (Cotton States League)

Former Red Sox Pitcher Ronnie Richardson shares his expertise with young men at his (soon to open) Mississippi Exclusive Pitching Academy in Columbus, MS. 

On Facebook: Mississippi Exclusive Pitching Academy w/Ronnie Richardson

Blewett H. Lee, son of Confederate General S. D. Lee was a pioneer in Aviation Law and ensuring religious freedom for more esoteric beliefs.