Promise and Peril, 1903–1927

Mississippi's New Deal Conservation Areas

Theme and Time Period

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) is the most prominent of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal conservation programs. Between 1933 and 1942 CCC labor provided the fuel that created conservation areas across the 48 states. That prominence is rooted in the physical legacy of parks, forests, and wildlife refuges that still endure. While that legacy is most evident in its first state parks, a broader exploration will reveal a much larger statewide conservation effort.

A Brief History of Camp Shelby

Introduction

When the United States entered World War I in 1917, it was poorly prepared for the challenges ahead. Training a large army required military camps with adequate housing and supplies. To address this need, President Woodrow Wilson commissioned Army General John J. Pershing, Commander of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF), to construct thirty training camps and cantonments across the country, including Camp Shelby.

A Brief History of Camp Shelby

Theme and Time Period
Camp Shelby is a 134,000-acre camp near Hattiesburg that annually trains an estimated 100,000 National Guard personnel and reservists from across the nation.

Okolona Industrial School Lesson Plan

Overview

Okolona Industrial School was founded by Wallace Aaron Battle in 1902, citing the size of Mississippi’s Black population and the high rate of illiteracy as the catalysts for his decision. The school was located in northeastern Mississippi and provided industrial and teacher training for Black residents of the state. Battle structured the school after Booker T. Washington’s curriculum at the Tuskegee Institute.

Okolona Industrial School

Theme and Time Period
Founded in 1902 by Wallace Battle, the Okolona Industrial School offered industrial and teacher training for generations of Black men and women in northeastern Mississippi. The institution was one of the most successful industrial schools in the state, having a plant of 380 acres in Chickasaw County and a valuation of nearly a quarter million dollars by the 1920s.

Minnie Geddings Cox and the Indianola Affair, 1902-1904 Lesson Plan

Overview

In January 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt refused to accept the resignation of Minnie Geddings Cox, postmistress for the city of Indianola and Mississippi’s first African American postmistress. Roosevelt subsequently closed Indianola’s post office, and it remained closed for more than a year. The newspapers called the incident the “Indianola Affair.” Raised by business owner parents and educated at one of the premier schools for aspiring African American women, Cox sought opportunities beyond the traditional expectations for women of the time.

Minnie Geddings Cox and the Indianola Affair, 1902-1904

Theme and Time Period

In January 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt refused to accept the resignation of Minnie Geddings Cox, postmistress for the city of Indianola and Mississippi’s first African American postmistress. Roosevelt subsequently closed Indianola’s post office, and it remained closed for more than a year. The newspapers referred to the post office closing as the “Indianola Affair.” Cox’s role in the Indianola Affair, however, has been reduced to a footnote in early twentieth-century United States history.

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