1. On June 20, 1838, the Cherokee Nation was forcefully removed from their ancestral lands in Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama and forced to march to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma) in what is now known as the Trail of Tears. Many Cherokee died along the way due to disease, starvation, and exposure to the elements.

2. On June 20, 1863, Confederate troops under the command of General John C. Pemberton surrendered to Union forces led by General Ulysses S. Grant in the Siege of Vicksburg, a pivotal battle in the American Civil War. The surrender of Vicksburg gave the Union control of the Mississippi River and split the Confederacy in half.

3. On June 20, 1964, civil rights activists Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney were murdered near Philadelphia, Mississippi by members of the Ku Klux Klan. The three activists, who were working to register black voters in the state, became known as the "Mississippi Burning" victims and their deaths helped galvanize support for the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

4. On June 20, 1990, blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter Stevie Ray Vaughan performed at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi, Mississippi as part of his "In Step" tour. The concert would be one of Vaughan's last before his untimely death in a helicopter crash later that year.

5. On June 20, 2015, Mississippi State University pitcher Jacob Lindgren was drafted in the second round of the Major League Baseball draft by the New York Yankees. Lindgren, a left-handed reliever, had set the school record for strikeouts per nine innings and became the highest-drafted player in Mississippi State history.