1. In 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, was ratified by Mississippi. This made it one of the last Confederate states to officially conform to the amendment after it was passed by Congress the year prior.

2. On February 3, 1870, Hiram Revels was sworn in as the first African American senator in the United States, representing Mississippi during the Reconstruction era. He stood up for civil rights legislation and lobbied against the disenfranchisement of African Americans in the South.

3. In 1939, civil rights activist Medgar Evers was born in Decatur, Mississippi. Evers led voter registration initiatives in the state and acted as a field secretary for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He was assassinated in 1963 in Jackson, Mississippi.

4. February 3, 1946 marked the establishment of Mississippi Valley State University in Itta Bena, Mississippi. It was created as a historically black university and has since been recognized for its liberal arts programs and research efforts.

5. In 2012, a large tornado outbreak swept across Mississippi and eventually killed three people. The tornadoes caused significant damage to homes, businesses, and public infrastructure across the state. The outbreak was part of a larger system that affected several states in the southeastern United States.