Jackson

The Mississippi State Capitol in Jackson, Mississippi, is the state capitol building of the U.S. state of Mississippi, housing the Mississippi... Legislature. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969 and designated a Mississippi Landmark in 1986. The Mississippi State Capitol is located in Jackson and has been the home of Mississippi's state legislature since 1903. It is the third capitol building in Jackson. The building was built on the site of the old state penitentiary and was created by Theodore Link, an architect from St. Louis, Missouri. The building cost $1,095,681, which was paid by the Illinois Central Railroad in the form of back taxes they owed to the state. The building, which is in the Beaux-Arts architectural style, was designed to house all branches of the Mississippi state government, although now the judicial branch is housed in the Gartin Justice Building across High Street. The walls of the rotunda are Italian white marble with a base of New York jet-black marble. Eight large columns are art marble known as scagliola.
more

Fountainhead in Jackson, Mississippi, also known as J. Willis Hughes House, is a Usonian house designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright. It was built... in 1950 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
more

Woodrow Wilson Bridge in Jackson, Mississippi is an open-spandrel concrete arch bridge over the Pearl River. It was built in 1925. It was designated... a Mississippi Landmark in 1987 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
more

Sims House in Jackson, Mississippi was built in 1905. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

The Eudora Welty House in Jackson, Mississippi was the home of author Eudora Welty for nearly 80 years. It was built by her parents in 1925. In it... she did all her writing, in an upstairs bedroom. Welty created the garden over decades. The house was first declared a Mississippi Landmark in 2001, added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002, and declared a National Historic Landmark in 2004. This was part of a raised awareness of the significance of authors and literary life in the United States. The house was restored by the Eudora Welty Foundation and State of Mississippi. In 2006 the house and garden were opened to the public as a museum. The renovation of the house and garden is part of a larger effort to celebrate and promote Mississippi's literary heritage as a means of developing tourism to the state.
more

Margaret LeAnn Rimes Cibrian , best known as LeAnn Rimes, is an American country/pop singer. She is known for her rich vocals and her rise to fame as... an eight-year-old champion on the original Ed McMahon version of Star Search, followed by the release of the Bill Mack song "Blue" when she was 13 to become the youngest country music star since Tanya Tucker in 1972. Rimes made her breakthrough into country music in 1996 with her debut album, Blue, which reached #1 on the Top Country Albums chart and was certified multiplatinum in sales by the Recording Industry Association of America . The album's eponymous leadoff single, "Blue," was originally intended to be recorded by Patsy Cline in the early 1960s. It became a Top 10 hit and Rimes gained national acclaim for her similarity to Cline's vocal style. When she released her sophomore studio effort in 1997, You Light up My Life: Inspirational Songs, she moved towards country pop material, which set the trend for a string of albums released into the next decade. Rimes has won many awards, including two Grammys, three ACMs, a CMA, 12 Billboard Music Awards, and one American Music award.
more

Cassandra Wilson is an American jazz musician, vocalist, songwriter, and producer from Jackson, Mississippi. Described by critic Gary Giddins as "a... singer blessed with an unmistakable timbre and attack [who has] expanded the playing field" by incorporating country, blues and folk music into her work, Wilson has won two Grammy Awards. Cassandra Wilson is the third and youngest child of Herman Fowlkes, Jr., a guitarist, bassist and music teacher; and Mary McDaniel, an elementary school teacher who eventually earned her PhD in education. Between her mother’s love for Motown and her father’s dedication to jazz, Wilson’s parents sparked her early interest in music. Wilson’s earliest formal musical education consisted of classical lessons; she studied piano from the age of six to thirteen and played clarinet in the middle school concert and marching bands. When she tired of this training, she asked her father to teach her the guitar. Instead, he gave her a lesson in self-reliance, suggesting she study Mel Bay method books. Wilson explored guitar on her own, developing what she has described as an “intuitive” approach.
more

Thomas William "Tom" Lester is an American actor and evangelist. He is best known for his role as farmhand, Eb Dawson on the television series Green... Acres, and appeared in the movies Gordy and Benji. Lester was born in Laurel, Mississippi. A young boy in 1948, he became a Born-again Christian and became involved in the Baptist church. At that time, he said he thought the Lord's plan for his life would deliver him to Hollywood, California, to embark on an acting career. He discussed his plans and his dream of becoming an actor with his parents. After he graduated from Laurel High School, he attended the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi, where he received a B.S. degree in Chemistry and Biology. He also briefly attended graduate school at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, but acting became his main interest. After college, he taught school in Purcell, Oklahoma, but he left for Los Angeles, California. In his early 20s, he attended the First Baptist Church of Beverly Hills, California. After Green Acres, Lester was typecast. He returned home to his parents in Laurel, Mississippi.
more

Rebecca Walker is an author and film actor.

Carson Whitsett was an American keyboardist, songwriter, and record producer. Carson Whitsett joined his older brother Tim's band, Tim Whitsett... & The Imperials and quickly became a stand-out on the B-3 organ. Following the breakup of the band, Whitsett spent time in Canada playing with Eric Mercury before an invitation to Stax Records where Tim Whitsett was now in charge of the label's East Memphis publishing arm. Carson's playing inspired bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn and drummer Al Jackson, Jr. to reemerge, along with Stax session guitarist Bobby Manuel in place of Steve Cropper, as The MG's, releasing an album in 1973. Whitsett moved to Malaco Records, where he played in the house band, appearing on Paul Simon's There Goes Rhymin' Simon album, Anita Ward's Ring My Bell, Dorothy Moore's Misty Blue, albums by Connie Francis and fellow Mississippian Paul Davis, one of the highest selling Blues albums of all time in Z. Z. Hill's Down Home Blues, and numerous albums by such legends as Bobby "Blue" Bland, Little Milton, and former Stax sensation Johnnie Taylor.
more

Daniel Curtis Lee is an American actor, comedian, and rapper. He is best known in Nickelodeon's Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide, in which... he played the nerdy Simon Nelson-Cook, known as "Cookie" or "P Cookie". Lee has also appeared in other television shows such as First Monday and The Shield, and motion pictures such as Friday After Next. He recently starred in Zeke & Luther as Kojo. He likes to disguise himself as "Keante Balelo". Daniel was born in Jackson, Mississippi. He is currently a member of the Hollywood Knights, the Celebrity basketball team. He is currently doing alot of work with Disney. He also posts videos on YouTube on the channel DanDonthefly of him rapping.
more

Cassandra Wilson is an American jazz musician, vocalist, songwriter, and producer from Jackson, Mississippi. Described by critic Gary Giddins as "a... singer blessed with an unmistakable timbre and attack [who has] expanded the playing field" by incorporating country, blues and folk music into her work, Wilson has won two Grammy Awards. Cassandra Wilson is the third and youngest child of Herman Fowlkes, Jr., a guitarist, bassist and music teacher; and Mary McDaniel, an elementary school teacher who eventually earned her PhD in education. Between her mother’s love for Motown and her father’s dedication to jazz, Wilson’s parents sparked her early interest in music. Wilson’s earliest formal musical education consisted of classical lessons; she studied piano from the age of six to thirteen and played clarinet in the middle school concert and marching bands. When she tired of this training, she asked her father to teach her the guitar. Instead, he gave her a lesson in self-reliance, suggesting she study Mel Bay method books. Wilson explored guitar on her own, developing what she has described as an “intuitive” approach.
more

Rebecca Walker is an author and film actor.

Charles "Papa Charlie" McCoy was an African American delta blues musician and songwriter. Born in Jackson, Mississippi, McCoy was best known by the... nickname 'Papa Charlie'. He became one of the major blues accompanists of his time. A guitarist and mandolin player, he played in the Mississippi area with his band, The Mississippi Hot Footers. McCoy recorded several sides with Bo Carter as the 'Mississippi Mud Steppers'. Among the tracks recorded with Carter were two variations of Cow Cow Davenport's "Cow Cow Blues" . The first, an instrumental, was released as "The Jackson Stomp". The second, with lyrics and vocals by McCoy, as "The Lonesome Train, That Took My Girl From Town". They also wrote and recorded "The Vicksburg Stomp" which was resurrected and recorded by Mike Compton, of O Brother, Where Art Thou? fame. His nimble, sensitive guitar work enriched recordings from performers including Tommy Johnson and Ishman Bracey.
more

Kansas Joe McCoy was an African American Delta blues musician and songwriter. McCoy played music under a variety of stage names but is best known as... "Kansas Joe McCoy". Born in Raymond, Mississippi, he was the older brother of the blues accompanist Papa Charlie McCoy. As a young man, McCoy was drawn to the music scene in Memphis, Tennessee where he played guitar and sang vocals during the 1920s. He teamed up with future wife Lizzie Douglas, a guitarist better known as Memphis Minnie, and their 1929 recording of the song "Bumble Bee" on the Columbia Records label was a hit. In 1930, the couple moved to Chicago where they were an important part of the burgeoning blues scene. Following their divorce, McCoy teamed up with his brother to form a band known as the Harlem Hamfats that performed and recorded during the second half of the 1930s. In 1936, the Harlem Hamfats released a record with the song "The Weed Smoker's Dream" on it. McCoy later refined the tune, changed the lyrics and titled the new song "Why Don't You Do Right?" for Lil Green, who recorded it in 1941.
more

Lauren Lorraine Jones is an American fashion designer, business woman, former film and television actress, model, former Barker's Beauty on The... Price Is Right, entrepreneur, and the CEO and Co-Founder of her eponymous brand product marketing company, Lauren Jones Footwear. Jones was raised in Jackson, Mississippi, the only child of Debra Martinson Pearsall and James Harrison Jones Junior, and the granddaughter of "Ageless Hero" Gloria Martinson, founder of the non-profit organization, Gleaners, and Mike Martinson, Founder and CEO of the Dobbs Maynard Advertising Agency, who was often referred to as "The King Maker" due to his strong political influence and clout. Her mother is of Scandinavian descent. Her maternal great-grandparents immigrated to the US through Ellis Island from Oslo, Norway. Jones is also the great-niece of State Representative Rita Martinson . She attended junior high school at St. Andrew's in Ridgeland, Mississippi, where she played Juliet in a school production of William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet.
more

Catherine "Cat" Cora is a Greek-American professional chef best known for her featured role as an "Iron Chef" on the Food Network television show... Iron Chef America and as co-host of Around the World in 80 Plates on Bravo. Cora, a Greek American, was born in Jackson, Mississippi, where she was raised in a Greek community. Her grandfather and father were both restaurateurs. When she was 15 years old, she brought a business plan to her father and grandfather, knowing they could help her. Cora's style of cooking was influenced by Julia Child, Barbara Tropp, M.F.K. Fisher and her grandmother, Alma. After receiving her Bachelor of Science degree in Exercise Physiology and Biology at the University of Southern Mississippi, she enrolled at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. Cora has appeared on Simplify Your Life. She was also a co-host of the Food Network show Kitchen Accomplished.
more