Jerry Rice

Mississippi Valley State University is a historically black university located in Itta Bena, Mississippi, in the United States. MVSU is a member school of the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund. The institution, which opened in 1950, was created by the Mississippi Legislature as Mississippi... Vocational College. The legislature anticipated that legal segregation of public education was in danger (and would in four years be declared unconstitutional in the United States Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education the institution, hoping that its existence would draw African-American applicants who might have otherwise applied to attend Mississippi's premier whites-only institutions—the University of Mississippi, Mississippi State University, and the University of Southern Mississippi. Creating separate institutions of higher learning for Mississippi's black population, the state's political leaders hoped, would help ease the pressure to integrate the state's premier universities. To attract the support of those who opposed any government action to provide higher education to blacks, those proposing creation of M.V.C.
more

Starkville is a city in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, United States. As of 2008, the city population was 24,000. It is the county seat of Oktibbeha County. Starkville, also known as "Starkvegas" or "Starkpatch" is considered the Crowned Jewel of the Golden Triangle region of northeast Mississippi... which consists of Starkville, Columbus, and West Point. The campus of Mississippi State University is located adjacent to the east of Starkville. As of the fall of 2008, MSU is the state of Mississippi's largest university with 17,824 undergraduates, more than 4,000 graduate students, and more than 1,300 staff. The university is also the largest employer of Starkville and dominates the city's economy. Students have created a ready audience for the Magnolia Film Festival. Held every February, it is the oldest film festival in the state. Other major events held in Starkville and heavily supported by the MSU Student Body are the Dudy Gras Parade, Cotton District Arts Festival, Johnny Cash Flower Pickin' Festival, Old Main Music Festival, Ragtime Music Festival, and Bulldog Bash. The Starkville area has been inhabited for over 2100 years.
more