Walter Payton

Jackson State University is a historically black university in Jackson, Mississippi, United States. Founded in 1877 in Natchez, Mississippi by the American Baptist Home Mission Society of New York, the Society moved the school to Jackson in 1882, renaming it Jackson College, and developed its... present campus in 1902. It became a state-supported public institution in 1940. A member-school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, JSU holds an important place in the history of US civil rights. Jackson State University started as Natchez Seminary, a private school, under the auspices of the American Baptist Home Mission Society of New York, to educate Mississippi's newly freed and underprivileged blacks. Jackson State University is located in Jackson, the capital city and the cultural, political, geographic and business center of Mississippi. The campus is a 245-acre campus with 51 academic and administrative buildings. The main campus is located on JR Lynch St between Prentiss and Dalton St. Ayer Hall was constructed in 1903 and is the oldest structure on campus.
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Columbia is a city in Marion County, Mississippi, which was formed six years before Mississippi was admitted to statehood. Columbia was named for Columbia, South Carolina, from which many of the early settlers had migrated. The population was 6,603 as of the 2000 census. It is the county seat of... Marion County. Columbia is located at 31°15′24″N 89°49′44″W / 31.25667°N 89.82889°W / 31.25667; -89.82889 . It is located on the east bank of the Pearl River and is 81 miles south of Jackson, Mississippi and 103 miles north of New Orleans, Louisiana. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 6.4 square miles , all land. As of the census of 2000, there were 6,603 people, 2,497 households, and 1,620 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,033.5 people per square mile . There were 2,821 housing units at an average density of 441.6 per square mile . The racial makeup of the city was 62.56% White, 35.64% African American, 0.39% Native American, 0.44% Asian, 0.18% from other races, and 0.79% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.77% of the population.
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