A monkey named Jocko who lived at the Great Southern Hotel in Gulfport, the biggest cabbage in Coahoma County, and lots and lots of crime: these are the stories found in Mississippi’s historical newspapers. Ranging from the late 1800s to midcentury, these newspaper articles from across the state are given context (and some fact-checking) in this presentation.
What can old news tell us about Mississippians of the past? We can learn what was important and interesting to them, through both the “news” articles and the advertisements. We can learn what trends came and went and how attitudes changed. We can learn how easy it was to shape the public’s perception of events, and what power someone writing and article for a newspaper had in the days before fact-checking and accountability. Learning what information people had about an event or person helps to inform why those people were the way they were.
While some remain mysteries (including why the Mitchell brothers, farmers from Jonestown, were looking for a million frogs in an advertisement), the interesting and odd news items that made it into the papers are researched and explained. Topics discussed include embezzlements, murders, bootlegging, accidental deaths in large dough mixers, hookworms, fish falling from the sky, and a Holmes County psychic, among others.