1. In 1862, the Second Battle of Corinth began in Mississippi during the American Civil War. Confederate forces launched a surprise attack on Union troops stationed in the town of Corinth, but the Union was ultimately able to repel the Confederates and maintain control of the town.

2. On August 2, 1927, Mississippi executed Willie Mae Dean, a 21-year-old African American woman who had been convicted of the murder of her employer's two-year-old daughter. Her case became controversial due to the circumstances surrounding her confession, which critics claimed may have been coerced.

3. The University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, Mississippi, officially opened its doors on August 2, 1955. The center offered a range of medical services and research programs, and today is one of the state's leading medical institutions.

4. In 1964, civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer gave a powerful speech at the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Hamer, who had been jailed and beaten for her activism in Mississippi, spoke out against the violence and discrimination faced by black people in the Deep South.

5. On August 2, 1986, Mississippi writer William Faulkner was honored with a release of a U.S. Postal Service stamp in his honor. Faulkner, who was born in New Albany, Mississippi, is considered one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century and is best known for his novels set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County.