Each year on the Fourth of July, NPR hosts and reporters read the Declaration of Independence in full on-air. The reading is broadcast here on MPB Think Radio, and on hundreds more NPR member stations across the U.S.
This annual return to a founding document invites us to reflect on the principles and ideals on which the United States was built. To quote NPR, "the declaration is a document with flaws and deeply ingrained hypocrisies. It also laid the foundation for our collective aspirations, our hopes for what America could be."
Today in Mississippi is Confederate Memorial Day: a much different holiday, informed by a different founding document.
The Mississippi Declaration of Secession is shorter than the Declaration of Independence. It also lacks the idealism that Thomas Jefferson poured into his prose.
Mississippi's Declaration is instead dedicated to the defense of one racist institution.
We asked six leaders and scholars with Mississippi roots to read the document in full.