A Little Tipsy

The new JXN Icons mural is gorgeous! It faces the museum plaza. 

There's a new special exhibit up at the Museum of Mississippi History, and you're going to want to see it. It's called Mississippi Distilled, and it examines the state's long (and very colorful) history with Prohibition and liquor. (Now, you KNOW that as soon as I heard about it, I had to see for myself.) 

It. Is. A. Hoot! If you know much about Mississippi, you know that we hopped on the Prohibition bandwagon years before the rest of the nation. And even when we "repealed" Prohibition in 1966, every county in the state was still default dry unless it VOTED to be wet. We didn't actually reverse that status quo until this year. Yeah. I'm not kidding. This year. 2020. So now, our counties are default wet unless they vote to be dry. (Took a global pandemic, but we finally admitted that we want a stiff drink every once in a while.) 

Sometimes, mama needs her tonic. 

At any rate, this exhibit is such a charmer! Visitors will learn all about the wettest dry state in the nation, including our proud moonshining tradition. (Little old Kiln, Mississippi, was once known as the Moonshine Capital of the World. No lie.) You'll also discover all the creative ways Mississippians got around those restrictive liquor laws, including building floating bars in the middle of the Mississippi River and selling/consuming alcohol as "health tonic." 

The related merchandise in the museum shop is a pleasure to peruse and definitely worth a look! 

Your admission fee to the special exhibit also covers access to the Museum of Mississippi History itself, where artifacts provide context and commentary on everything from Mississippi's native peoples to the origin of the word "redneck." (Plus, the introductory video is narrated by Morgan Freeman. What's not to love?)

On your way out of the museum, be sure to make time to admire the impressive new JXN Icons mural, which faces the museum plaza. It features colorful depictions of Eudora Welty, Medgar Evers, Thalia Mara and David Banner. Perfect for a fun photo op! 

There are all kinds of exhibits at the Museum of Mississippi History that 
help you understand how far we've come.