Alabama and Mississippi
Alabama and Mississippi (Reegan singing)
Two bordering Southern states in these United States that are about as “Southern” as you can get.
One time I mixed them up on a map in a video because my brain messes up sometimes.
But yeah, both are in what’s known as the “Deep South,” and unfortunately, both have bad reputations.
Theo Von: I don't know if you guys have ever been to Mississippi or not
If you haven't, let me save you a little bit of travel cash, ok?
Go home. Urinate in your toilet, and then get in there with it.
Ew! Mississippi!
Bill Maher: Too creepy for an Alabama mall?
That's like being too fat for the Iowa state fair.
When I searched “Alabama jokes” on YouTube, a video about incest was one of the top results. I’m not joking.
Anyway, so while a lot of people joke about how bad they are, in this video I’m taking a serious look at the two states.
First of all, Alabama is just slightly bigger than Mississippi. Both have a small border with the Gulf of Mexico.
Both have a humid subtropical climate and get A LOT of rain.
Both have long, hot, humid summers and short, mild winters. You are rarely going to see snow in these two states.
You will see lots of thunderstorms, and the occasional hurricanes.
And surprisingly, some of the worst tornadoes in American history have gone through both states.
Mississippi has a more flat topography compared with Alabama.
A big reason why is because Alabama has the southern tip of the Appalachian Mountains.
Alabama has a bigger population. Almost 2 million more people.
Both are not that urban compared with the rest of the United States.
Jackson is Mississippi’s only city with more than 100,000 people, whereas Alabama has five with over 100,000.
Mississippi is also one of the few states in the country that has a shrinking population in recent years.
Alabama residents are older than Mississippi residents, on average.
Perhaps because more retirees have recently been moving to Alabama?
And they don’t call it the “Bible Belt” for nothing. Both states are religious, man.
83% of Mississippi residents identify as Christian. In Alabama, it’s 86%.
A lot of those Christians identify as Evangelical, and specifically Baptists are the largest Evangelical group in both states.
Both states have a high percentage of African Americans relative to the rest of the country. (26.6% AL, 37.4% MS)
In fact, Mississippi has the highest percentage of African American residents of all states in the country.
A big reason why there are so many African Americans in both states is the legacy of slavery.
Many of their ancestors were forced to live in this part of the country as slaves.
Still, the majority of residents in both states today trace their ancestry to Europe.
Before Europeans arrived, there of course were indigenous tribes who lived in the area for thousands of years.
When the Spanish arrived in the 1500s, they encountered both the Chickasaw and Choctaw in what would become the two states.
In Mississippi, other tribes they encountered included the Natchez, Yazoo, and Biloxi.
In Alabama, the Cherokee, Creek, Koasati, and Alibamu, aka Alabama, which is where the state got its name.
Mississippi got its name from, well...the Mississippi River. But the Chippewa Indians gave the name to the river.
To the Chippewa, Mississippi literally means “great river.” And yeah, this major river borders Mississippi to the west.
The Spanish did not really settle the area that would become the two states. Beginning in the late 1600s, the French did, though.
But after they lost to the British in the Seven Years’ War, the British took over the area.
After the American War of Independence, the area was divided, with the Spanish getting the southern portion in what was known as West Florida, and the newly formed United States the majority of it in the north.
In 1798, the United States Congress created Mississippi Territory out of what used to be western Georgia, although southern border disputes with Spain were constant.
This line went north and south quite a bit, depending on who was drawing up the maps.
In the early 1800s, American settlers from back east began to move west to the area.
After lots of pressure, several treaties, and a bit of hostilities, the majority of American Indians were pushed further west onto reservations on the Plains to make room for these new settlers.
In 1817, Congress split Mississippi Territory by dividing it into two roughly equal parts, trying to be as fair as possible while making them similar in size to Georgia.
So now there was Alabama Territory to the east and the STATE of Mississippi to the west.
That’s right, Mississippi became a state before Alabama. So take THAT, Alabama! Hahahahahahahaha
Yeah Alabama became a state two years later.
Meanwhile, the United States and Spain signed what became known as the Adams–Onís Treaty, giving both states unfettered access to the Gulf of Mexico!
Yay, I finally got to use unfettered in a video. It only took 8 and a half years.
Slaves made a lot of money for a relatively small group of wealthy plantation owners in the two states in the years before the American Civil War.
Much of the states are in a region historically known as the Black Belt, named so for its dark, fertile soil.
The big cash crop in the Black Belt? Cotton.
Other than the wealthy plantation owners who controlled just about everything in the two states, there were also hundreds of thousands of poor, subsistence farmers in the two states.
Just before the Civil War, almost half of Alabama (45%) and more than half of Mississippi residents (55%) were enslaved.
Mississippi was the second state to secede from the Union and join the Confederate States of America, and Alabama was the fourth.
After the Confederates lost the Civil War, Alabama was much more cooperative with the Union in order to be readmitted.
In fact, Mississippi refused to ratify the 13th Amendment, the Amendment that abolished slavery, and it was the first state to enact was known as the Black Codes, or laws passed to limit the freedom African Americans now had and essentially keep them as slaves in an indirect way.
After the Reconstruction period, BOTH states were guilty of passing what became known as Jim Crow laws, which enforced racial segregation.
The economies of both states really struggled after the Civil War, and never really took off again until well into the next century.
Because of this, the two states were constantly trying to play catch up with the rest of the country.
In the late 1800s and first half of the 1900s, both states remained mostly rural and their economies both relied heavily on agriculture.
Alabama and Mississippi were both infamous for their racial segregation and discrimination. Oh, and lynchings of African Americans.
Residents of European descent in both states often boldly proclaimed white superiority.
And they clung to their Confederate heritage, putting up a bunch of statues of Confederate Civil War generals, many which still stand to this day, and proudly waving the Rebel flag, even though the flag never actually represented the Confederate States of America.
Oh yeah, speaking of which, this is Mississippi’s flag today.
Anyway, the racial segregation and discrimination was one big reason why many African Americans fled the two states in what was known as the Great Migration.
During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, several of the protests that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and others led were in, you guessed it, Alabama and Mississippi, where much of the injustice was happening.
Mississippi was where 14-year old Emmett Till was brutally killed.
Montgomery, Alabama was where the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing killed these four girls
And don’t forget Selma. There’s a whole movie about that.
Needless to say, in recent years both states have tried to put their past behind them.
Not only have leaders in both states led efforts to be more inclusive, I have found that claims that residents there are still racist are exaggerated, to say the least.
Even this dude, the longest-serving governor in Alabama history, George Wallace, had a change of heart.
He used to be one of the strongest defenders of racial segregation.
Later in life, he changed his mind, publicly apologizing and appointing African Americans to his staff.
And today where can you find arguably one of the best Civil Rights museums in the country? Jackson, Mississippi.
Today, the economy of both states is more diverse.
Top industries in both include healthcare, manufacturing, and retail.
Alabama’s economy is stronger than Mississippi’s. Still, Alabama can’t brag too much.
Out of the 50 states, its GDP per capita is ranked 45th. Mississippi’s is dead last.
Yep, it has the lowest GDP per capita in the country.
According to Forbes magazine, Alabama is a better state for business, but both have a similar projected job growth.
Alabama does also currently have a lower unemployment rate. (3.7%-4.9%)
The poverty rate in both states continues to be well above the national average, but Alabama’s is lower than Mississippi’s. (16.9%-19.8%)
And Alabama has more residents with college degrees and more of its students graduate high school.
Well dang, Mississippi, I’m sorry to make you look so bad with all these statistics.
Oh wait, here’s one to make you look better. Mississippi has less crime than Alabama. Yay. Less crime! (sigh)
The cost of living in both states is ridiculously low compared to most of the rest of the country.
Overall, Mississippi residents pay more in taxes. Ah, so maybe THAT’S why they are moving to other states?
Residents in both states are generally pretty conservative. In recent decades, they’ve reliably voted for Republicans.
The last time they both voted for a Democrat for President was Jimmy Carter in 1976, mostly because he was a fellow Southerner.
Gambling is legal in Mississippi, but not in Alabama.
While researching for this video, I often found that Alabama and Mississippi have much more in common than they do differences.
Unfortunately, both often rank near the bottom or at the bottom of national lists.
Like how they are the two least healthy states in the country. Hey, but that’s because they both have fantastic food, right?
But sure, while both have their problems, I can tell you both have their bright spots.
When we went to Huntsville, Alabama last November I was very impressed with the city, and I keep hearing great things about Fairhope, Alabama and Oxford, Mississippi.
Well that’s the video. What should I do now?
Forrest Gump: You should go home to GREENBOW, ALABAMA!
Sorry, Forrest. That’s not a real place.
It's summer time! Which is why I haven't shaved.
So which is better? Alabama or Mississippi?
Let me know in the comments below.
I know, Alabamians are all saying right now "Thank God for Mississippi."
I tried to make Mississippi look better. I'm sorry.
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