Jan. 19, 1856

Mississippi native Bridget “Biddy” Mason, who was enslaved with her family of 13, successfully sought their freedom in a landmark court case. 

In 1847, she and her family were forced to travel West with Robert Smith, a slaveholder who joined the Mormon migration to Utah. She walked 1,700 miles behind a 300-wagon caravan that ended up in Salt Lake Valley and had the responsibility for setting up and breaking camp for her slaveholder. 

She also cooked meals, herded cattle, served as a midwife and took care of her three daughters, 10, 4 and a newborn. Three years later, Smith ignored Mormon leader Brigham Young’s warning that slavery was illegal in California and headed for the Golden State anyway. Out of fear he would lose their services, Smith decided to send them to Texas, but a sheriff’s posse intercepted them before they could leave the state. 

After spending five years still enslaved, Mason fought back and sued for her freedom in court. Although state law barred people of color from testifying, Los Angeles District Judge Benjamin Hayes listened to her story. Days later, Hayes ruled in her favor, citing the state’s constitutional prohibition of slavery. 

Mason worked with a doctor and became a savvy businesswoman. She bought land and organized what is believed to be the first Black church in Los Angeles, the First A.M.E. Church. She became known as “Grandma” Mason, and by the time she died in 1891, she had used her wealth, estimated to be $10 million in modern dollars, to aid charities, shelter the impoverished, visit the prisoners and start an elementary school for Black children. 

“If you hold your hand closed,” she said, “nothing good can come in. The open hand is blessed, for it gives in abundance even as it receives.” 

The city of Los Angeles now features Biddy Mason Memorial Park, which celebrates her life.

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

Gov. Tate Reeves and members of the state’s Republican leadership should send President Joe Biden a thank you card as he leaves office.

After all, the plans of Reeves and others to eliminate the state income tax, which accounts for about 30% of the state general fund revenue, would not appear nearly as doable if not for the actions of the outgoing president.

No doubt, the tremendous cash surpluses that Reeves and other state Republicans cite when defending their plan to eliminate the state’s income tax would not exist if not for the billions of dollars in federal funds that have been pumped into the state during Biden’s presidential tenure. Economists agree that those billions greatly boosted the Mississippi economy, leading to a record spike in state revenue collections.

Reeves and other Republican leaders sound an awful like the turtle bragging for being on top of the fence post and not acknowledging he surely had help in reaching that lofty position.

The American Rescue Plan Act, which was passed during the Biden presidency, provided $3.5 billion in direct funding to state and local governments and educational entities in Mississippi as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. That money is still being spent in the state, growing the economy and hence growing state revenue.

And that $3.5 billion does not even take into account cash payments made directly to Mississippi people and businesses. It also does not take into account other programs, such as enhanced federal subsidies to help Mississippians purchase health insurance.

Further, economic development projects that Reeves and other leaders boast are being built in Mississippi at least in part because of tax incentives offered in Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. These projects taking advantage of the tax breaks include the manufacturer of electric batteries for commercial vehicles in Marshall County, and the massive data centers planned in Madison and Lauderdale counties coupled with the solar farms that are part of those projects.

And even beyond those other listed initiatives, Biden’s historic infrastructure bill will provide Mississippi an estimated $4.4 billion, including $100 million for broadband expansion that Reeves and others often tout.

This past summer, House Speaker Jason White hosted a summit to tout his efforts to eliminate the income tax. There, Senate Finance Chair Josh Harkins, R-Flowood, acknowledged that he and other state leaders had help building those cash surpluses just as the turtle had help reaching the top of the fence post.

Harkins pointed out that the state, its citizens and businesses received about $33 billion in federal COVID-19 relief funds that have artificially bolstered state revenue. He said time might be needed to look at the financial condition of the state after the impact of those COVID-19 funds had faded.

Even recent years of high inflation, which Reeves and other Republican leaders repeatedly blame on Biden, have helped bolster state revenue collections that have led to the record surpluses.

Mississippi has a high sales tax, including a high sales tax on groceries. When the cost of a dozen eggs or any other retail items goes up, that results in more sales tax revenue for the state.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out the 7% sales tax on a dozen eggs costing $4.30 instead of $3 generates more revenue for the state.

So if Reeves and other Republicans prevail in eliminating the state income tax this year, they should join hands, face northward, and shout a resounding, “Thanks, Joe Biden!”

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

Jan. 18, 1962

Officials at Southern University at Baton Rouge, Louisiana — under pressure from the state — closed the doors after students protested those kicked out of school for taking part in sit-ins. 

State police occupied the campus to try and end these protests, and when SNCC field secretary Dion Diamond tried to meet with students, police jailed him on charges of criminal anarchy for “attempting to overthrow the state of Louisiana.” 

The white guards told Black inmates if they gave Diamond a difficult time, “you may get time off for good behavior,” he recalled. After the guards left, the inmates promised to protect him instead. He wound up serving 60 days in jail before being released. 

He was only 15 when he began his activism, sitting at “whites-only” lunch counters. When he was involved in a 1960 sit-in in Arlington, Virginia, American Nazi leader George Rockwell spewed insults at him. 

In May 1961, he became a Freedom Rider. He said he was thinking it might be a long weekend; instead it turned out to be two and a half years. After he and other riders arrived in Jackson, Mississippi, where they were arrested and sent to the state’s worst prison, Parchman, because the city ran out of jail space. 

In all, Diamond was arrested about 30 times. He remains grateful for the experience. “Any time I pick up a historical publication,” he told NPR, “I feel as if a period or a comma in that book is my contribution.”

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