Mississippi

MS celebrates Jefferson Davis’ birthday, Memorial Day as state holiday. What to know

Published

6 months ago

May 21, 2025

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MS celebrates Jefferson Davis’ birthday, Memorial Day as state holiday. What to know

Mississippi observes Jefferson Davis’ birthday, combined with Memorial Day, as a state holiday.
This combined holiday is one of three Confederate holidays observed in Mississippi.
While other states have holidays honoring Davis, Mississippi is the only one to combine it with Memorial Day.
There have been unsuccessful attempts to remove Confederate holidays from the Mississippi state calendar.

Mississippi will honor Confederate President Jefferson Davis this three-day weekend.

The state isn’t the only one to honor him with a state holiday or local celebration, but it is the only one to combine it with Memorial Day.

It’s the third of three Confederate holidays on the state calendar, starting with a celebration of Robert E. Lee and Martin Luther King Jr. in February and Confederate Memorial Day in April.

Here’s what you need to know about when and why Mississippi celebrates Confederate holidays and what other states still honor them.

Why does Mississippi celebrate Jefferson Davis?

Davis was born in Kentucky on June 3, 1808, but Mississippi pairs it with Memorial Day on the last Monday in May. The president of the Confederacy spent most of his life in the Magnolia State and served it in both houses of the U.S. Congress.

The Davis family moved to the Mississippi Territory in 1812. In 1824, he graduated from West Point, the U.S. Military Academy and served in the U.S. Army, according to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

Davis settled near family near Vicksburg, planted cotton and owned slaves in Warren County.

In 1845, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and resigned in less than a year to fight with the Mississippi Rifles in the Mexican War. In 1847, he was wounded and later was appointed to fill a seat in the U.S. Senate.

In 1851, he resigned to run for governor of Mississippi but did not win. He campaigned for Franklin Pierce and served as the president’s secretary of war.

He was re-elected to the Senate in 1857.

He resigned and announced Mississippi was seceding from the Union four years later.

By October of 1861, he was president of the Confederate States of America.

After Lee surrendered, Davis and his family ran but were later captured. He was held on treason charges for two years. The federal government dropped charges against him in 1869.

By 1877, he moved to Beauvoir in Biloxi and died in New Orleans in 1889.

The Biloxi building now serves as a presidential library. It’s open daily and offers tours. The organization that maintains it will celebrate his 217th birthday on Saturday, May 31, with a showing of Shirley Temple’s “The Littlest Rebel” and a Mississippi Rifles Honor Salute. Admission is $15 per person, and movie tickets cost another $2.

Alabama also has a state holiday for Confederate President Jefferson Davis on the first Monday in June. In Florida, it’s a local observance, according to timeanddate.com, but not an official state holiday that offices and schools or businesses would close for.

Does anyone want Mississippi to drop Confederate holidays from the state calendar?

Yes. There were multiple bills to remove Lee’s birthday and Confederate Memorial Day from the state calendar in the most recent regular session of the Mississippi Legislature.

None were successful.

Mississippi still honors Robert E. Lee on MLK Day

Two U.S. states honor Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee on the federal holiday for Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is always scheduled to take place on the third Monday in January. President Ronald Regan signed the bill creating the holiday into federal law in 1983. It was first observed in 1986.

King was born on Jan. 15, 1929.

When the federal holiday was adopted in the 1980s, Mississippi and Alabama lawmakers opted to add it to an existing holiday honoring Confederate general Robert E. Lee. Many states in the South initially adopted this approach. Most, including Lee’s home state of Virginia, have since dropped celebrating Lee, who was born on Jan. 19, 1807.

Mississippi celebrates Confederate Memorial Day

Mississippi celebrated Confederate Memorial Day on Monday, April 28 this year. Only four states still honor the Civil War dead with a day off for public workers, though others still treat it as a holiday.

The Magnolia State takes it a step further and celebrates April as Confederate Heritage Month.

Confederate Memorial Day was created in Georgia on April 26, 1866. It honored the deaths of Confederate soldiers on the first anniversary of the day that Confederate Gen. Joseph Johnston surrendered the Army of Tennessee to Union Gen. William Sherman at Bennett Place, North Carolina.

Many in the Confederacy felt that negotiation marked the end of the Civil War. Lee had surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant two weeks earlier at Appomattox Court House, but Johnston stayed in the field with almost 90,000 soldiers.

The holiday spread to the other Confederate states. Some changed their celebration dates to something more locally significant.

In Alabama and Florida, it’s on the fourth Monday in April. Alabama treats it as an official holiday.

Texas celebrates it as a state holiday on Jan. 19.

North and South Carolina celebrate on May 10, but state offices close only in South Carolina.

June 3 is when Kentucky and Tennessee honor the dead from the Civil War, and Tennessee calls it Confederate Decoration Day.

Does Mississippi celebrate Juneteenth as a state holiday?

No. Mississippi does not honor Juneteenth, though it is a federal holiday.

Juneteenth is a federal holiday that honors June 19, 1865, when enslaved people in Texas were set free. The order for the state came about two and a half years after the 1862 Emancipation Proclamation.

Civil War reenactors teach living history in Mississippi

When are Mississippi state holidays in 2025?

Many state holidays in Mississippi sync up with federal holidays, but not all of them, according to the list from the Department of Finance and Administration.

Wednesday, Jan. 1: New Year’s Day.
Monday, Jan. 20: Birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert E. Lee.
Monday, Feb. 17: Washington’s Birthday.
Monday, April 28: Confederate Memorial Day.
Monday, May 26: National Memorial Day and Jefferson Davis’ birthday.
Friday, July 4: Independence Day.
Monday, Sept. 1: Labor Day.
Tuesday, Nov. 11: Veterans Day or Armistice Day.
Thursday, Nov. 27: Thanksgiving Day.
Thursday, Dec. 25: Christmas Day.

2025 US federal holiday schedule

Here are the federal holidays in 2025, according to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management:

Wednesday, Jan. 1: New Year’s Day.
Monday, Jan. 20: Birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. and Inauguration Day.
Monday, Feb. 17: Washington’s Birthday.
Monday, May 26: Memorial Day.
Thursday, June 19: Juneteenth National Independence Day.
Friday, July 4: Independence Day.
Monday, Sept. 1: Labor Day.
Monday, Oct. 13: Columbus Day.
Tuesday, Nov. 11: Veterans Day.
Thursday, Nov. 27: Thanksgiving Day.
Thursday, Dec. 25: Christmas Day.

Bonnie Bolden is the Deep South Connect reporter for Mississippi with Gannett/USA Today. Email her at bbolden@gannett.com.

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Mississippi

Good Housekeeping names 23 best city vacations. See why Jackson made the list

Published

14 hours ago

November 19, 2025

Press Room

Good Housekeeping names 23 best city vacations. See why Jackson made the list

Looking for new places to go, explore? Jackson, Mississippi, is one of 23 cities that Good Housekeeping named the best city vacations for 2026. Whether you should add the City with Soul to your travel bucket list or live nearby and need to get a different view of local history and attractions, there’s something here for you.

Good Housekeeping pointed out that the city has a range of fun and educational experiences, “the state capital is far from one-note. A vibrant music and culinary scene gives this vacation spot an appealing rhythm.”

To pick the best travel destinations for cities, tours, cruises, resorts and more, Good Housekeeping worked with 125 testers to pick the best of the best. They worked with experts and consumers to evaluate trips, experiences and services around the world.

“Music flows from historic venues and neighborhood stages, and the culinary scene is quickly earning a reputation as one of the most diverse and dynamic in the South. From family-friendly attractions and engaging museums to lively festivals and a thriving arts community, Jackson offers travelers an experience that is authentic, soulful, and entirely its own,” Visit Jackson wrote in a news release.

Each tester shared photos and video from their trip and filled out a detailed survey. The considered things like value, attractions, available lodging and safety.

Jackson checked the right boxes. Here’s what the tester said about their trip and the three placed to visit or stay that Good Housekeeping says you “won’t want to miss.”

What can I do in Jackson? Good Housekeeping has suggestions

Good Housekeeping highlighted three specific places to visit that highlight the City with Soul’s place in Civil Rights history and show how it’s a creative, vibrant community:

Medgar & Myrlie Evers monument highlights Civil Rights icons

At the Medgar & Myrlie Evers Home National Monument, Visit Jackson says you can walk “in the footsteps of legends.”

“The city was — and remains — the beating heart of the American civil rights movement, inviting visitors to engage deeply with this legacy through powerful landmarks,” Visit Jackson wrote.

Medgar and Myrlie Evers worked together in the American Civil Rights Movement. Medgar, the NAACP field secretary for Mississippi, was assassinated at their home on June. 12, 1963. His death, the first slaying of a national leader in the movement, helped lead to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Mylie Evers-Williams has also served as chair for the NAACP and published books about Civil Rights. She worked for more than 30 years to get justice for her husband.

Learn about Mississippi, Civil Rights history

Two Mississippi Museums have immersive exhibits that help people understand how the decisions of the past affect the state today, and Good Housekeeping specifically highlighted the Civil Rights museum.

The Mississippi Civil Rights Museum shows how leaders like Fannie Lou Hamer and James Meredith continue to influence change. From the struggle for freedom to looking at modern Black empowerment, exhibits inform and ask visitors what comes next for us.

“Visiting the city’s Mississippi Civil Rights Museum was an incredibly moving experience for me,” said the Good Housekeeping tester, a Black mom of two.

She said the best bit of the trip came from the museum. “The gumbo I ordered at the museum’s Nissan Café was by far one of the most delicious things I’ve eaten in my life!”

The Museum of Mississippi History also takes you through 15,000 years, from mound builders to juke joints. Exhibits introduce you to the first people who lived here; walk through eras including the Civil War and Reconstruction; and take a look at the creative soul of the state.

Stay in historic Jackson property

The Good Housekeeping tester stayed at The Orchid Bed & Breakfast. Mississippi’s first Black-owned bed and breakfast is on the National Register of Historic Places. The home was built in 1888 for the founder of Millsaps College. According to the B&B’s website, Webster Millsaps served in the Confederate army, and his family owned enslaved people in Copiah County.

Owners Jason and Katrice Thomson have renovated and restored the home. Ten of the 11 rooms are named after strong women in their families, according to the website. The 11th, Lily, is “dedicated to all of the other Black women—known and unknown—who have made a significant impact on our lives, our communities, and our great state.”

Bonnie Bolden is the Deep South Connect reporter for Mississippi with USA TODAY Network. Email her at bbolden@gannett.com.

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Mississippi

Traffic stop uncovers 9 kilos of cocaine in car batteries on Mississippi River levee

Published

1 day ago

November 18, 2025

Press Room

Traffic stop uncovers 9 kilos of cocaine in car batteries on Mississippi River levee

ST. JAMES PARISH, La. (WAFB) – Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries agents, working with deputies from St. Charles and St. John parishes, seized nine kilograms of suspected cocaine during a Nov. 14 traffic stop along the Mississippi River levee system in St. James Parish.

Agents were patrolling the levee when they stopped a vehicle and called for assistance from a St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office deputy with a drug-sniffing dog. The canine alerted to possible narcotics inside the vehicle, and officers detained the driver and moved him to a St. John Parish Sheriff’s Office facility.

Search warrants were secured for the vehicle. During the search, LDWF agents and deputies from both parishes found two large vehicle batteries on the rear floorboard. Inside each battery, they discovered four compressed blocks of suspected cocaine that had been epoxied and sealed into the casing.

Authorities arrested a driver after finding compressed blocks of suspected cocaine sealed inside two car batteries during a Nov. 14 traffic stop.(LDWF)

A test of powder from one of the blocks indicated a presumptive positive result for cocaine.

Agents arrested the driver and seized both the vehicle and the narcotics. Because of the quantity recovered, authorities contacted the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana. The driver was booked for possession with intent to distribute cocaine.

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Mississippi

Mississippi Lottery Mississippi Match 5, Cash 3 results for Nov. 17, 2025

Published

2 days ago

November 18, 2025

Press Room

Mississippi Lottery Mississippi Match 5, Cash 3 results for Nov. 17, 2025

The Mississippi Lottery offers several draw games for those aiming to win big. Here’s a look at Nov. 17, 2025, results for each game:

Winning Mississippi Match 5 numbers from Nov. 17 drawing

04-15-25-28-33

Check Mississippi Match 5 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Cash 3 numbers from Nov. 17 drawing

Midday: 3-2-4, FB: 8

Evening: 4-7-3, FB: 5

Check Cash 3 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Cash 4 numbers from Nov. 17 drawing

Midday: 2-3-2-6, FB: 8

Evening: 7-1-2-8, FB: 5

Check Cash 4 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Cash Pop numbers from Nov. 17 drawing

Midday: 04

Evening: 05

Check Cash Pop payouts and previous drawings here.

Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results

Story continues below gallery.

Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your lottery prize

Winnings of $599 or less can be claimed at any authorized Mississippi Lottery retailer.

Prizes between $600 and $99,999, may be claimed at the Mississippi Lottery Headquarters or by mail. Mississippi Lottery Winner Claim form, proper identification (ID) and the original ticket must be provided for all claims of $600 or more. If mailing, send required documentation to:

Mississippi Lottery Corporation

P.O. Box 321462

Flowood, MS

39232

If your prize is $100,000 or more, the claim must be made in person at the Mississippi Lottery headquarters. Please bring identification, such as a government-issued photo ID and a Social Security card to verify your identity. Winners of large prizes may also have the option of setting up electronic funds transfer (EFT) for direct deposits into a bank account.

Mississippi Lottery Headquarters

1080 River Oaks Drive, Bldg. B-100

Flowood, MS

39232

Mississippi Lottery prizes must be claimed within 180 days of the drawing date. For detailed instructions and necessary forms, please visit the Mississippi Lottery claim page.

When are the Mississippi Lottery drawings held?

Cash 3: Daily at 2:30 p.m. (Midday) and 9:30 p.m. (Evening).
Cash 4: Daily at 2:30 p.m. (Midday) and 9:30 p.m. (Evening).
Match 5: Daily at 9:30 p.m. CT.
Cash Pop: Daily at 2:30 p.m. (Midday) and 9:30 p.m. (Evening).

This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Mississippi editor. You can send feedback using this form.

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