Water Ways: Ebbs and Flows of Mississippi History

There are few states where water has been more central to its history and culture than Mississippi. From ship-building on the coast to Native American migration along rivers and streams, from Civil Rights Movement wade-ins to Civil War strategy, water has played a central role in how and why the Magnolia state looks and operates as it does today. Jim Giesen will tell three interrelated histories of water in Mississippi to make the case that Mississippians today often overlook both the breadth and variety of ways that water has affected the history of their state. Depending on the location of the talk he will choose three topics with particular local resonance. From massive natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina and the 1927 Mississippi River Flood, to create success stories like the ship-building and fishing industries, to less well-known incidents where water played an important role in the development of small communities and towns, the talk will tell not just the well-known water histories of the state, but show  how water has become an often overlooked factor in our past, present, and future.

Speakers Expertise:

Dr. James C Giesen is an Associate Professor at Mississippi State University in the division of agricultural, rural, and environmental history. Giesen also serves as the executive secretary of the Agricultural History Society and editor of the University of Georgia Press series Environmental History and the American South. Giesen’s book titled, “Boll Weevil Blues: Cotton, Myth, and Power in the American South” published in 2011, was the winner of both the 2012 Deep South Book Prize as well as the 2013 Francis Butler Simkins Award from the Southern Historical Association for the best first book on Southern History.