"Here's to the State of Mississippi" is a

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...

protest song A protest song is a song that is associated with a movement for social change and hence part of the broader category of ''topical'' songs (or songs connected to current events). It may be folk, classical, or commercial in genre. Among social mov ...

Phil Ochs Philip David Ochs (; December 19, 1940 – April 9, 1976) was an American songwriter and protest singer (or, as he preferred, a topical singer). Ochs was known for his sharp wit, sardonic humor, political activism, often alliterative lyrics, and ...

, an American topical singer and songwriter in the 1960s. Ochs is best known for his

anti-war An anti-war movement (also ''antiwar'') is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term anti-war can also refer to pa ...

and

freedom Freedom is understood as either having the ability to act or change without constraint or to possess the power and resources to fulfill one's purposes unhindered. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving on ...

songs. "Here's to the State of Mississippi" was released in 1965 as the last track on his album ''

I Ain't Marching Anymore ''I Ain't Marching Any More'' is Phil Ochs' second LP, released on Elektra Records in 1965. History Ochs performs alone on twelve original songs, an interpretation of Alfred Noyes' " The Highwayman" set to music (much as Poe's "The Bells" had be ...

''. The song criticizes the state of

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

for its oppression of

African Americans African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

. It describes how

Jim Crow laws The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sout ...

and

white supremacy White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White su ...

in the

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

maintained the inequality of African Americans in states such as Mississippi. "Here's to the State of Mississippi" touches on segregation, corrupt and biased school systems, the frequent murders of African Americans and civil rights activists and the crookedness of government officials who ignored or collaborated in the murders. Ochs was inspired to write this song following a visit to the state as a volunteer for the Mississippi Caravan of Music.Bowser, K (Director). (n.d.). ''Phil Ochs: There But For Fortune''

ideo file IDEO () is a design firm, design and consulting firm with offices in the U.S., England, Germany, Japan, and China. It was founded in Palo Alto, California, in 1991. The company's 700 staff uses a design thinking approach to design products, serv ...

Retrieved February 20, 2018 from https://www.hoopladigital.com/play/10023677 The Caravan worked in conjunction with

Freedom Summer Freedom Summer, also known as the Freedom Summer Project or the Mississippi Summer Project, was a volunteer campaign in the United States launched in June 1964 to attempt to register as many African-American voters as possible in Mississippi. ...

, a volunteer-based campaign that began in June 1964. The campaign aimed to register black voters in a place where the voting rights for blacks were nearly non-existent. The Caravan supported the mission of Freedom Summer through motivational songs and participation in campaign projects throughout the state. Ochs was deeply affected by what he saw and experienced in Mississippi. One incident in particular that shook the Freedom Summer campaign were the

murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner The murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner, also known as the Freedom Summer murders, the Mississippi civil rights workers' murders, or the Mississippi Burning murders, refers to events in which three activists were abducted and murdered in ...

. Within the first month of the Freedom Summer campaign, civil rights activists, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner were arrested in

Philadelphia, Mississippi Philadelphia is a city in and the county seat of Neshoba County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 7,118 at the 2020 census. History Philadelphia is incorporated as a municipality; it was given its current name in 1903, two year ...

. The three were released after a few hours. However, as they drove through

Neshoba County, Mississippi Neshoba County is located in the central part of the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2020 census, the population was 29,087. Its county seat is Philadelphia. It was named after ''Nashoba'', a Choctaw chief. His name means "wolf" in the ...

later that day, they were pulled over again and abducted by officers working with the

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...

. The three were reported missing and an FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) investigation began with a large-scale search of the area. The investigation revealed that the activists were beaten and shot to death. Their bodies were found buried beneath a dam. Ochs sings, "If you drag her muddy rivers, nameless bodies you will find," which refers to the FBI's search for Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner. While searching for the three civil rights activists, Navy divers and FBI agents found the mangled bodies of

Charles Eddie Moore ''Mississippi Cold Case'' is a 2007 feature documentary produced by David Ridgen of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation about the Ku Klux Klan murders of two 19-year-old black men, Henry Hezekiah Dee and Charles Eddie Moore, in Southwest Missis ...

and

Henry Hezekiah Dee ''Mississippi Cold Case'' is a 2007 feature documentary produced by David Ridgen of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation about the Ku Klux Klan murders of two 19-year-old black men, Henry Hezekiah Dee and Charles Eddie Moore, in Southwest Mississ ...

, both 19-year-old men who had been kidnapped, beaten and tortured, and then dropped alive into the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

by Klan members a month earlier. They also found the bodies of 14-year-old Herbert Oarsby and five other African Americans who remain unidentified; none of their kidnappings had attracted attention outside their local communities.Lynching of Chaney, Schwerner & Goodman
~ Civil Rights Movement Archive

Adaptation

Phil Ochs released the song "Here's to the State of Richard Nixon" as a single in 1974. Ochs replaces 'Mississippi' with '

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

' in the lyrics. Ochs also changed some verses to reflect criticisms about the Nixon administration.

Cover versions

Additional civil rights songs by Phil Ochs

* "The Ballad of Medgar Evers" (1964) * "William Moore" (1964) * "The Ballad of Oxford" (mid-1960s) * "Going Down To Mississippi" (mid-1960s) * "Colored Town" (mid-1960s) * "Days of Decision" (1965) * "

Love Me, I'm a Liberal "Love Me, I'm a Liberal" is a satirical song by Phil Ochs, an American singer-songwriter. Originally released on his 1966 live album, '' Phil Ochs in Concert'', "Love Me, I'm a Liberal" was soon one of Ochs's most popular concert staples. Introd ...

" (1966)

References

External links

"Here's to the State of Mississippi"
on YouTube {{authority control 1964 songs Civil rights movement in popular culture Phil Ochs songs Protest songs Songs against racism and xenophobia Songs about Mississippi Songs written by Phil Ochs

Adaptation

Cover versions

Additional civil rights songs by Phil Ochs

See also

References

External links