Throwback Thursday: Mississippi & The Thirteenth Amendment 2013
Six years ago, today, Mississippi finally got around to ratifying The Thirteenth Amendment, 148 years later.
Mississippi […] only got around to officially ratifying the amendment last month — 148 years later — thanks to the movie “Lincoln.” The state’s historical oversight came to light after Mississippi resident Ranjan Batra saw the Steven Spielberg-directed film last November […]. After watching the film, which depicts the political fight to pass the 13th Amendment, Batra did some research. He learned that the amendment was ratified after three-fourths of the states backed it in December 1865. Four remaining states all eventually ratified the amendment — except for Mississippi. Mississippi voted to ratify the amendment in 1995 but failed to make it official by notifying the U.S. Archivist. Batra spoke to another Mississippi resident, Ken Sullivan, who contacted Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann about the oversight. Finally, on Jan. 30, Hosemann sent the Office of the Federal Register a copy of the 1995 resolution, and on Feb. 7, the Federal Register made the ratification official.
Two medical school colleagues, one an immigrant from India, the other a life-long Mississippian, joined forces to resolve a historical oversight that until this month had never officially been corrected. Dr. Ranjan Batra, professor of Neurobiology and Anatomical sciences at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, told ABC News he was inspired to investigate the history of the Thirteenth Amendment in his state after a viewing of the film “Lincoln.” […] Batra proceeded to do some investigating of his own, noticing on the website usconstitution.net, that there was an asterisk next to the state of Mississippi in connection with the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment.
Batra: “Mississippi gets a lot of bad press about this type of stuff and I just felt that it is something that should be fixed, and I saw every reason that could be done.” “Everyone here would like to put this part of Mississippi’s past behind us and move on into the 21 st century rather than the 19th.”
[…] Batra enlisted the help of University of Mississippi Medical Center colleague Ken Sullivan, who took an immediate interest in the story, calling the national archives to confirm that they had in fact never received the proper paperwork.
Batra: “The last paragraph [of the bill] directs the Secretary of State of Mississippi to inform the national archives of the law of the ratification which is exactly the way ratification is supposed to proceed, but that hadn’t been done for whatever reason.”
Sullivan: “For me it was just important that this part of history was done from our state.” “I know we have some dark spots in our history through the south, it still affects people’s opinions about Mississippi today.”
Sullivan and Batra are thankful the ratification question has finally been resolved. Now, that asterisk next to Mississippi can finally be removed.
The Mississippi Legislature had actually formally ratified the historic amendment in 1995, which even then was more than a century late […]. Throughout 1865, 26 states ratified the critical law, and in December of that year, the amendment was formally adopted into U.S. law after Georgia’s approval brought the number the required 27. Several states, including Kentucky and Delaware, waited decades to ratify the amendment, the last being Mississippi in 1995 — or so the state thought.
Better late than never, I suppose. Yikes. ~Vic
Cosmic-Observation 
February 7, 2019 at 11:11 PM
Fascinating post! I learned so much…
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February 8, 2019 at 12:01 AM
So did I. I read a lot & love history. I especially like the hidden gems, like my previous post on Paul Harvey.
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February 8, 2019 at 12:09 AM
“Mississippi gets a lot of bad press about this type of stuff”
Yep…It took a movie…
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February 8, 2019 at 12:16 AM
I know! DAMN. In everything I read, NO ONE knows why they waited to ratify until 1995 or, why said ratification never made it to the archives.
And, get this…Mississippi was also the last state to ratify the 19th Amendment…March 1984. GEEZUS.
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February 8, 2019 at 12:25 AM
And yet they wonder why… They couldn’t try more to be noticed.
I just read the Harvey post…sorry I’m behind but I would not have pictured Harvey doing that.
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February 8, 2019 at 7:19 PM
Well, it was 68 years ago…1951 & he was 32. It was a complete surprise to me. He was everyone’s grandfather on the radio telling stories. He was a young man, once. I was also surprised that he was intending to lie to his audience about it.
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February 8, 2019 at 7:59 PM
I grew up with uncle Paul…that is surprising…I wouldn’t take him for doing that… I loved his rest of the story stories.
Didn’t mean to comment on the wrong post!
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February 8, 2019 at 8:22 PM
Uncle Paul…yeah. Good description. Maybe as he aged, he regretted that kind of behavior. We all do a lot of stupid shit when we’re young.
Comment wherever you like! I’m not keeping score. 😁
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February 8, 2019 at 8:42 PM
Sometimes it’s hard to think of someone being young…he was just there…and old the whole time.
I appreciate it. I looked at it today and wondered what I was doing.
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February 8, 2019 at 11:41 PM
Heh. Some people are just born old.
There is a lot to keep up with in the blogosphere. I am forever getting your’s & Steve’s posts mixed up. I will respond to either of you, then, think “Now, where the hell was I?” LOL!
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February 8, 2019 at 11:56 PM
Lol… Our tastes are similiar. The Beatles and baseball especially. Many of the people that post on mine found me on his blog. I had no one reading mine and I searched for Beatles and I thought…hmmm. this guy likes them as much as I do and started to comment.
I met you on there..I believe if I remember right. I called you sir because I went to your blog and saw Chris Thomas and was in a hurry…yep…didn’t read close enough.
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February 9, 2019 at 12:52 AM
LOL!
I’m not a big Beatles fan (tho, I really liked that obscure song you posted, recently) but, I enjoy y’all’s posts.
I like baseball to a degree. I can’t watch the majors on TV. Boring. But…locally? Love AA & AAA. Lots of fun…
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February 9, 2019 at 1:26 AM
We have an AAA team here…The Sounds. I’m a Dodger fan…My father was a Brooklyn fan and passed it down.
We have the Titans in Nashville…I would trade them in a heartbeat for a MLB team.
My cousin played me a Beatles album in 2nd grade and I’ve been hooked ever since.
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February 9, 2019 at 2:45 PM
I love going to see the Durham Bulls. Parking sux, tho.
We are cursed with Cam Newton. 🙄
If there was a Beatles fan in my family, on either side, they were silent about it.
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February 9, 2019 at 2:58 PM
The two B’s were my childhood…Beatles, Baseball.
Minor league baseball is fun to watch. Sometimes I travel to Atlanta or Cincinnati when the Dodgers play and catch a MLB game.
Cam Newton…he was the next coming for a while.
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February 9, 2019 at 4:05 PM
I did get to see the Braves play in the summer of 1994 during a trip to Atlanta. That stadium was huge. Atlanta was preparing for the 1996 Olympics. I remember Coke rolling out the new bottle shapes there.
Cam…I wanna slap the stupid hats off.
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February 9, 2019 at 4:12 PM
You went to Fulton County Stadium I think…before they moved to Turner Field. I hate driving in Atlanta…I go down there where our other corporate office is…insane drivers.
Now that made me laugh!
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February 9, 2019 at 4:31 PM
I remember the MARTA buses and the Underground.
I’ve driven thru Atlanta, going back & forth between NC & Texas. They’re NUTS. If I see a peach on a plate or the yellow NY plate, I move over. Go for it…
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February 8, 2019 at 8:21 PM
I learn so much from you. Can’t believe it took so long for them to try and start moving towards modernity and decency.
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February 8, 2019 at 8:26 PM
I’m glad I can educate and glad you enjoy.
I was shocked when I stumbled across this. And, they were just as slow with the 19th Amendment…March 1984.
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February 9, 2019 at 5:48 AM
They were waiting for me to get here. Obviously. 🙄
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February 9, 2019 at 3:50 PM
😄
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