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Mississippi

13 Things You'll Remember If You Grew Up In Mississippi In The 80's

By Daniella DiRienzo | Published July 15, 2015

Arguably one of the best decades of all time, the 1980’s were truly a unique period and, sometimes, you can’t help but to sit around and reminisce about the past. So, if you’re ready to take a trip back in time, check out the list below for some of the state’s most memorable events of the 1980’s.

1. Cheryl Prewitt from Ackerman, Mississippi won Miss America.

2. You sat in suspense along with the rest of America as you found out who shot J.R. Ewing.

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3. For the first time, the USA International Ballet Competition was held in Jackson.

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4. Mississippi appointed Judge Lenore Prather as its first female Supreme Court Justice.

5. The 80’s were good to B.B. King. During the decade he received a Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement and was inducted into both the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

6. Honorary Mississippian John Grisham published “A Time to Kill” - the author’s first novel.

7. The Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway was completed.

8. Congressman Larkin Smith, a Poplarville native, was killed in a plane crash near Hattiesburg.

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9. The men’s basketball team of USM won the National Invitation Tournament in Madison Square Garden, bringing home the state’s first basketball championship.

10. In April of 1983, extreme flooding occurred in the southern part of the state.

11. Followed a year later by a severe tornado outbreak which killed 15 people in Mississippi.

12. In 1987, Mississippian Kristi Addis won Miss Teen USA.

13. Mississippian Richard H. Truly became the first astronaut to head NASA.

This is just a portion of what happened in the state during the decade. What do you remember about growing up in Mississippi in the 1980’s?

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