Mississippi is one of the poorest and least-visited states in the US, but it has a cultural weight that far outstrips its size or wealth. This is where the blues were born -- in the cotton fields of the Delta -- and where the civil rights movement fought some of its most important and brutal battles. The state's history is complicated and painful, and that honesty is part of what makes it a fascinating place to travel.
The Mississippi Delta, the flat alluvial plain stretching from Memphis to Vicksburg, is ground zero for American music. Clarksdale, Indianola, and dozens of small towns along Highway 61 are dotted with juke joints, blues museums, and markers for the birthplaces and graves of legends like Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, and B.B. King. Oxford, home to the University of Mississippi, has a literary pedigree as the home of William Faulkner and a surprisingly vibrant food and bar scene around its town square.
Natchez on the river bluffs has the largest collection of antebellum homes in the South, a beautiful and uncomfortable reminder of the wealth built on slavery. Vicksburg has its Civil War battlefield. On the Gulf Coast, Biloxi and Gulfport offer casinos, seafood, and white sand beaches. The food across the state is outstanding -- catfish, tamales (a Delta specialty), barbecue, and some of the best soul food in America. Mississippi does not polish itself for visitors, and that is exactly why it rewards the ones who come.
