Editor’s note: Linda Williams-Short, the mayor of Mayersville, leads one of Mississippi’s smallest towns. This piece is part of an ongoing Mississippi Today Ideas series showcasing perspectives of mayors across the state.

When you think about the Mississippi Delta, you might not always think about Mayersville.

But this small but mighty town I’m proud to lead is as important as any in the Delta, and we are making great strides. We like to think of Mayersville as being a small town with big dreams. We live by that motto.

Perhaps these strides we have made would be considered baby steps in larger cities, but in Mayersville, population 433, according to the 2020 Census, these steps can be considered monumental to our town’s survival.

We strive to follow the lead of former Mayersville Mayor Unita Blackwell, who was the first Black woman mayor of a Mississippi town. She was a leader for all of us in Mayersville, and she inspired me to enter politics.

And today we still follow her lead in working to improve housing in Mayersville and the overall economic condition of all our residents.

We have faced the adversities of other small Delta towns. Through the decades we also have faced natural disasters, including barely missing a direct hit from the awful 2023 tornado that reaped destruction on many of our south Mississippi Delta neighbors.

The natural disasters Mayersville have faced go way back including the historic and devastating 1927 flood that resulted in the levy that separates our town from the direct access to the Mississippi River that was key to our economy decades ago.

Despite the obstacles, town leaders and I are committed to improving the health and well-being of our constituents. As part of this effort, the town of Mayersville became the second smoke-free community in the state of Mississippi.

Since being elected mayor in 2001, we have worked, following in the tradition of Unita Blackwell, to build seven new homes within Mayersville. That might not seem like a big deal, but in a town of our size and with the housing issues we face, we are proud of this accomplishment.

We have strived to repair the town’s failing infrastructure and to bring healthy food options to the community through a partnership with the Mississippi Food Network. We also are working with the Delta Health Center to provide a clinic to assist residents who have limited transportation options.

And like other small Delta towns, tourism is critical. To that end, I helped found the Mayersville Annual Homecoming Festival. This festival brings former and current residents together annually from all over the United States.

These efforts are important to me because Mayersville, which is the county seat for Issaquena County, is important to me. I am a lifelong resident.

I am the youngest daughter of the late Saul & Edie B. Williams. For 29 years I have been married to Larry D. Short. He is my lifelong partner and love of my life. I am the mother of James Jr., Jeremy, JaSona, Kiara, Katerri and the late Jercelle and proud grandmother of 13 grandchildren. I have been a member of one of our great and impactful churches — Rose Hill M.B. Church — for 49 years, and I currently serve as the senior choir director. In addition to being mayor, I am a small business owner operating as Tony’s Grocery and Celle’s Estate Housing complex.

I am passionate, dedicated, driven in terms of my job as mayor of Mayersville.

But my story is not unique. In Mayersville, we all pitch in for the betterment of our town and its residents.

In Mayersville, we live by the motto, “Always service over self.” I am proud to take that motto to heart every single day.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Feb. 25, 1870

Two days after Mississippi was readmitted to the Union, Hiram Revels became the first Black American elected as a U.S. senator. 

“All men are created equal, says the great Declaration,” Republican Sen. Charles Sumner of Massachusetts said, “and now a great act attests this verity. Today we make the Declaration a reality…. The Declaration was only half established by Independence. The greatest duty remained behind. In assuring the equal rights of all we complete the work.” 

Born free in North Carolina, Revels became a national force in an office once held by Jefferson Davis, the former president of the Confederacy. 

A minister by trade, Revels sought to improve the education of others, working with Black Americans in Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky and Tennessee. 

In 1854, he was imprisoned for preaching to the Black community. After that, he moved to Baltimore, where he served as principal of a Black school. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, he helped recruit two Black regiments from Maryland and later served as chaplain for Black soldiers fighting in Mississippi. 

After the war ended, he worked for a church in Kansas. On the train, the conductor asked him and his family to move to the smoking car. They refused, and the conductor relented. Not long after, he and his family settled in Natchez, Mississippi, where he was elected as an alderman. Winning over both Black and white with his calls for cooperation, he was elected to the Mississippi State Senate, one of more than 30 African Americans to serve in the Legislature during Reconstruction. 

“We are in the midst of an exciting canvass,” he wrote a friend in a letter. “We are determined that Mississippi shall be settled on a basis of justice and political and legal equality.” 

He drew attention as soon as he arrived with his moving words. After Mississippi lawmakers appointed him to the U.S. Senate, a few tried to block him from taking office. Revels remained steadfast and took office. 

“I find that the prejudice in this country to color is very great, and I sometimes fear that it is on the increase,” he went on to say. “If the nation should take a step for the encouragement of this prejudice against the colored race, can they have any grounds upon which to predicate a hope that heaven will smile upon them and prosper them?”

He supported universal amnesty for former Confederates, requiring only their sworn loyalty to the Union. 

“I am in favor of removing the disabilities of those upon whom they are imposed in the South,” he said, “just as fast as they give evidence of having become loyal and being loyal.” 

After the end of his Senate term in 1871, he became the first president of Alcorn University, the first land-grant school for Black students. He later taught theology at Rust College and died of a stroke in 1901.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Senate passes its income tax cut plan

by Taylor Vance, Mississippi Today
February 24, 2025

The Senate voted Monday evening to pass a tax cut that reduces the state income tax and the sales tax on groceries while raising the gasoline tax, setting up negotiations with the House.

The measure passed the GOP-majority Senate 34-15, with four Democrats supporting it and four Republicans opposing it. It now heads to the House, whose leadership is advocating for its own plan, which would eventually eliminate the state individual income tax.

The Senate plan amounts to a net tax cut of $326 million, a more modest sum than the $1.1 billion net cut passed by the House. The Senate would reduce the state’s flat 4% income tax to 2.99% over four years, while the House would eliminate the income tax over more than a decade.

Senate Finance Chairman Josh Harkins, a Republican from Flowood, told reporters that the legislation was a responsible way to cut taxes while slightly increasing the gasoline tax to provide more revenue for infrastructure funding. 

“I think we’ve put forward a really good plan that helps families at the grocery store by lowering the sales tax on groceries,” Harkins said. “And it provides incentives and rewards work.” 

The Senate plan would reduce the state’s 7% sales tax on grocery items, the highest in the nation, to 5% starting July 2025. Municipalities receive a portion of grocery tax revenue, and the Senate plan would make cities whole. 

The Senate bill would raise the state’s 18.4-cents-a-gallon gasoline excise by three cents yearly over the next three years, eventually resulting in a 27.4 cents-per-gallon gas tax at completion. This is an effort to help the Mississippi Department of Transportation with a long-running shortfall of highway maintenance money.

Most of the chamber’s Democratic members opposed the plan over fears that the state could not afford to wipe out around half a billion dollars each year from its budget and still address some of the state’s critical issues such as public education and health care. 

“That’s a lot of money, and we need that money for basic infrastructure,” Democratic Sen. Hob Bryan of Amory said. “Everyone benefits from infrastructure.”

Some Democratic members attempted to amend the bill to eliminate the grocery tax or change the tax structure to avoid increasing the gas tax. But the GOP-majority chamber on party-line votes defeated the amendments. 

Four Republican senators voted against the final measure because it raised the gasoline tax, something they viewed as going against the GOP’s core ideology. 

Sen. Angela Burks Hill, a Republican from Picayune, told reporters the gas tax increase would hurt rural people the most because they have to drive further for work and to purchase groceries. 

“I’m just trying to follow my party’s platform of low taxes,” Hill said. 

Now that both chambers at the Capitol have passed separate tax proposals, the key question will be how much legislative leaders can compromise on a final package. House Speaker Jason White, a Republican from West, and Republican Gov. Tate Reeves have said abolishing the income tax is their primary goal this session. 

White previously told Mississippi Today that he’s willing to compromise with the Senate, but he wants a final tax cut that’s substantive and meaningful. 

“We’re not interested in a small piece of a tax cut while not addressing other issues,” White said. 

Reeves has thrown cold water on the Senate’s proposal because it doesn’t entirely eliminate the income tax. If lawmakers can’t agree on a proposal, he could call them into a special session to address taxes. 

Harkins, though, said he hopes lawmakers can “build consensus” on a final package during the regular session. House and Senate leaders will likely debate the measure for the next month. The deadline for lawmakers to approve tax and appropriations bills is March 31. 

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.