Many important battles were fought in or on the borders of Mississippi．The Battle of Vicksburg became a turning point in the war．For 47days，Union forces fought the Confederate Army，both sides suffering many casualties（人员伤亡）．Food became scarce（缺乏的，不足的）．Finally，the Confederates surrendered the city on July 4，1863．This Union victory gave the North control of the Mississippi River．Two years later the war ended and all slaves were freed at the end of the war．Mississippi was placed under military control．In Dec．1869，the state passed a new constitution granting black people the right to vote．On Feb．23，1870，Mississippi was allowed to return to the Union．For a time，blacks in the state voted and some held government positions．
The people suffered much privation（缺乏，穷困），and the land underwent great devastation（毁坏）；by 1865the state was in economic ruin．For 25years following the Civil War，Mississippi’s former slaves and their former owners grappled（格斗）with the political，social，and economic consequences of emancipation（释放，解放）．In Dec．1869，the state passed a new constitution granting black people the right to vote．On Feb．23，1870，Mississippi was allowed to return to the Union．For a time，blacks in the state voted and some held government positions．The white minority could not or would not accept a biracial［代表两种人种的（尤指黑人与白人）］society based on equality of opportunity．And in 1890，a new state constitution was written that took away voting rights from most black people．Segregation（种族隔离）began within schools，buses，and many public places．Groups like the Ku Klux Klan were organized to terrorize（恐吓，恐怖统治）black people．
Although many suffered from poverty following the war，the early 1900s brought great progress in industry，agriculture，and education in Mississippi．The construction of railroads allowed access to forests in southeast Mississippi，creating a boom in the lumber industry．State projects to drain many of the swampy（沼泽的，湿地的）areas in Mississippi provided more suitable land for farming．An illiteracy（文盲）commission，established in 1916，started education programs for adults who could not read or write．
During the 1920s，several legislative actions established a state commission of education，a state library commission，and a highway－building program．In 1927，a huge flood on the Mississippi River totaled over 204million in damage and left thousands homeless（无家的，无家可归的）．Congress then established the U．S．Army Corps of Engineers responsible for controlling floods on the Mississippi River．
During the Great Depression（1929—1939），thousands lost their farms in Mississippi．The price of cotton fell from twenty cents a pound in the 1920s，to five cents by 1931．State legislature created a program called Balancing Agriculture With Industry（BAWI）in 1936．These laws freed new businesses from paying certain taxes and provided bond money to build factories for new industries．The discovery of petroleum（石油）at Tinsley in 1939and Vaughan in 1940also helped the economy in Mississippi．
During World War II（1939—1945），several war plants opened in Mississippi．As machines replaced farm workers，industrial development was encouraged during the 1960s．In 1963，a huge oil refinery（精炼厂）opened in Pascagoula．The following year，the Mississippi Research and Development Center was established．The center encourages new industries to come to the state，and helps those already established to expand．By 1966，more Mississippians worked in manufacturing than in agriculture．
Like other states，Mississippi had severe racial problems．But in 1954，the U．S．Supreme Court ruled that segregated public schools to be unconstitutional（违反宪法的）．James Meredith was the first black student to enroll in the University of Mississippi in 1962．The fight for civil rights was long and often met with violence．Two demonstrators were killed in 1962．Medgar Evers of the NAACP（abbr．National Association for the Advancement of Colored People（美国）全国有色人种协进会）was shot and killed in 1963and three civil rights workers were murdered near Philadelphia，Miss in 1964．Other schools，restaurants，and public places throughout the state did not begin integration（综合）until 1964．In 1969，the U．S．Supreme Court ordered an immediate end to all segregated public schools．
Since the 1980s，Mississippians have turned to industries other than agriculture．Catfish farming has boomed in Delta，one of the country’s poorest regions．Furniture production has become a great Mississippi industry．In 1990，state lawmakers（立法者）voted to allow dockside dockside［（在）码头邻区的］gambling，now found on the Gulf Coast and the Mississippi River．More than 30，000now work in this new industry．Money spent in tourism doubled between 1990and 1994．However，many high school and college graduates leave Mississippi to find better jobs．State leaders are still striving to attract industries that require greater skills and pay higher wages．
Today，Mississippi like many other southern states as an economic and，to and extent，cultural backwater struggling to remake itself．In the last quarter of the 20th Century，manufacturing plants located to small towns in the south to take advantage of cheap labor．Many such companies did so with a negative attitude toward southerners，and have further hurt the region．The trailer（拖车）trash（垃圾）antics（滑稽的动作）of the Clintons（one of whom was from Illinois，not the south）has further hurt the image and the economies of southern states．
Yet，there are bright spots on the horizon（地平线）．Southern universities，free of some of the political baggage associated with other universities，have attracted outstanding researchers．Innovative companies，drawn by the favorable social and tax climate，have moved to the south to pillage（掠夺）it，but to embrace（拥抱）it and help it grow．