1. Columbus Day: October 12 is known as Columbus Day, a federal holiday that commemorates Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas. In Mississippi, like in the rest of the United States, Columbus Day is observed on the second Monday of October.

2. Choctaw Nation: On October 12, 1820, the United States signed the Treaty of Doak's Stand with the Choctaw Nation. The treaty ceded about 1.6 million acres of Choctaw lands in Mississippi to the United States in exchange for other lands in modern-day Oklahoma.

3. Hurricane Opal: On October 12, 1995, Hurricane Opal made landfall in the Florida Panhandle, causing extensive damage across the southeastern United States, including Mississippi. The storm caused over $3 billion in damages and claimed over 50 lives.

4. Ole Miss Riot: On October 12, 1962, a riot broke out at the University of Mississippi in Oxford over the enrollment of James Meredith, the first African American student at the school. The riot resulted in two deaths and numerous injuries, but Meredith was eventually able to enroll and graduate.

5. B.B. King's Birthday: October 12 is also the birthday of B.B. King, one of the most influential blues musicians of all time. King was born in Itta Bena, Mississippi, in 1925 and went on to become a Grammy-winning artist and a global ambassador for the blues.