Did you know that Mississippi was the last state to officially ratify the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery? On February 7, the state finally submitted the required documentation to ratify the amendment. That means on February 7, slavery was officially banned in Mississippi. I'm talking about February 7, 2013: Mississippi Officially Abolishes Slavery, Ratifies 13th Amendment.And it might have stayed that way on the books, if not for an amateur history buff named Ranjan Batra, professor of Neurobiology and Anatomical sciences at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, who was inspired to look into the Thirteenth Amendment and his state's history after watching the movie Lincoln. Imagine his surprise when he found out Mississippi never got around to actually ratifying the amendment:
