My Mississippi Manifest Destiny: Jewish Mississippi

As they have in the other forty-nine states, Jews have played a role in the development of Mississippi. According to Mississippi Now, a publication of the Mississippi Historical Society, Jews first came to what is now the Magnolia State in the 1700s, and it's believed that that the first Jewish service was held in Natchez in 1800. The first Jewish congregation was founded there--B'nai Israel (Children of Israel). In the bottom photograph is the current synagogue, that temple, replacing one that had burned in 1903, held its first service in 1905.

According to the same source, the Jewish population in Mississippi peaked in 1927 when 6,420 Jews lived there. Now only about 1,500 Jews call Mississippi home. As they did elsewhere in the USA, Jews faced anti-Semitism in Mississippi, but also success. And as they did in northern states, Jews gravitated towards owning their own retail establishments, but their children, after graduating from college, often moved on to what they thought were better opportunities in large cities.

The Jewish population in Mississippi was first concentrated in the Delta, now Jackson is the center of Judaism there. The state capital and largest city, along with Hattiesburg, are the only cities with full-time rabbis in Mississippi.

In the Delta region, just north of Natchez is Port Gibson, a town so beautiful, it's said that General Ulysses S. Grant refused to burn it during the Civil War. In 1891, the Gemiluth Chessed synagogue, pictured on top, added to the beauty of Port Gibson. It is a Moorish Revival structure, and it's believed to be the only such synagogue in Mississippi. Gemiluth Chessed no longer holds services, the Jewish population in Port Gibson is now quite small.

North of Port Gibson is Vicksburg, I will post several entries about that historic city next week. Within the Vicksburg National Military Park is a Jewish cemetery, Anshe Chesed. the first burial took place there in 1865, predating the creation of the military park by forty years. Heavy fighting took place on what is now the grounds of the cemetery during the Vicksburg siege.

Moving into the 21st century: Vicksburg's mayor is fifth-generation Mississippian Lawrence Leyens. He's Jewish.

Next: Mississippi's Coca Cola museums

Previous My Mississippi Manifest Destiny posts:

Prison laborer in Louisiana
Natchez Part Three
Natchez Part Two, Forks of the Road
Natchez Part One
The Father of Waters
Logging
The Natchez Trace Part Four, Ghost Town
The Natchez Trace Part Three
The Natchez Trace Part Two, Indian Mounds
The Natchez Trace Part One
$aving$ in Tupelo
Where Elvis bought his first guitar
Elvis Presley's birthplace
The Battle of Tupelo
Corinth
Shiloh Part Four
Shiloh Part Three
Shiloh Part Two
Shiloh Part One
Carl Perkins
The Varsity Theatre in Martin, Tennessee
Lincoln and Kentucky
Metropolis

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