JACKSON, Miss. ( WJTV ) – The 165th Mississippi State Fair will likely excite many across the state, but two major parts of its history are largely unknown or forgotten.
Much of the cultural identity of Jackson and Mississippi is tied to the fair. The Mississippi Agricultural Bureau and the Mississippi Agricultural Society sponsored the first state fair back in 1858. The fair on the 105-acre Mississippi State Fairgrounds now brings in over 500,000 people and $50 million of economic impact annually . Simply put, it offers many things to many people every October.
However, two things related to the fair’s past and present are largely unknown. Below is the overview.
Segregation
Like many aspects of Mississippi life, officials segregated the state fair. By the 1960s, the fair had days where only white or Black residents attended. Residents, community and civil rights groups led a boycott of the fair in 1962. Only 3% of Black residents went to it that year.
In the summer of 1965 , state legislators were in a special session to repeal Mississippi’s discriminatory voting laws. About 500 people came to the capital to protest their legitimacy as representatives of all Mississippians. About half of the protestors were teenagers.