1. In 1817, Mississippi was officially admitted to the United States as the 20th state on December 10th, but on December 7th, General Andrew Jackson captured Pensacola, Florida and effectively ended Spanish control in the area.

2. On December 7, 1862, Confederate General John C. Pemberton defeated Union General William T. Sherman in the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou, which was part of the Vicksburg Campaign during the American Civil War.

3. In 1941, the United States entered World War II after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th. Many Mississippians served in the war effort, including over 370,000 registered for the military draft and thousands of women who joined the workforce to support the war industry.

4. On December 7, 1954, Emmett Till, a 14-year-old African American boy from Chicago, was brutally beaten and murdered in Money, Mississippi for allegedly whistling at a white woman. His death became a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights Movement.

5. In 1998, Mississippi officially ratified the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which abolished slavery and involuntary servitude. The state initially rejected the amendment in 1865 but ultimately ratified it almost 133 years later. On December 7th of that year, the Secretary of State finally made the ratification official.