Editing Oktibbeha County, Mississippi (section)

==History==
The name ''Oktibbeha'' is from a [[Choctaw language|Choctaw]] phrase meaning "ice, there in the creek."<ref name="msencyc"></ref>  Indian artifacts more than 2,000 years old have been found near ancient earthwork [[mound]]s located just east of Starkville, showing the area has been inhabited at least this long. The artifacts have been used to date the construction of the mounds to the [[Woodland period]], ending about 1000 A.D. The [[Choctaw people]] occupied extensive territory in this area for centuries prior to European encounter. European-American settlers named the Indian Mound Campground nearby for the earthwork monuments.

Artifacts in the form of clay pot fragments and artwork dating from that period have been found at the [[Herman Mound and Village site]], which is listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]]. It can be accessed from the Indian Mound Campground.

[[United States|American]] settlement of the area was started formally in the 1830s during the period of [[Indian Removal]] initiated by President [[Andrew Jackson]]. The Choctaw of Oktibbeha County ceded their claims to land in the area to the United States in the [[Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek]] in 1830. They were removed to other lands west of the Mississippi River, in [[Indian Territory]], part of what became the state of [[Oklahoma]].

Like the indigenous peoples before them, European Americans were drawn to the Starkville area because of two large natural springs. The [[Agency, Mississippi|Choctaw Agency]] was set up near what is now [[Sturgis, Mississippi|Sturgis]], first to trade and manage relations with the Choctaw. What was originally a trading post was located on [[Robinson Road (Mississippi)|Old Robinson Road]], about {{convert|1.5|mi|km|abbr=on}} east of the [[Noxubee River]].<ref name="Halbert">{{cite web|last=Halbert|first=H.S.|title=The Last Indian Council on Noxubee River|publisher=Mississippi Historical Society|year=1901|url=http://www.forgottenbooks.org/readbook_text/Publications_of_the_Mississippi_Historical_Society_v4_1000473765/273|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140424161459/http://www.forgottenbooks.org/readbook_text/Publications_of_the_Mississippi_Historical_Society_v4_1000473765/273|archive-date=April 24, 2014}}</ref> Later the Choctaw Agency organized the sale of the former Choctaw lands to migrants arriving from other areas of the United States.<ref>{{cite book|last=Jacobson|first=Judy|title=Alabama and Mississippi Connections: Historical and Biographical Sketches of Families who Settled on Both Sides of the Tombigbee River|publisher=Genealogical Publishing Company|year=1999|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QLAdK0_myJwC&pg=PR1|pages=25, 38–39|isbn=9780806348575}}</ref>

A lumber mill was established southwest of town; it produced [[Clapboard (architecture)|clapboards]], from which the settlement took its original name of Boardtown. In 1835, Boardtown was established as the county seat of [[Oktibbeha County]]. Its name was changed to Starkville in honor of [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]] hero [[General John Stark]].<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.starkville.org/tourism/history/timeline.html| title=Starkville's History| access-date=August 24, 2006| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060524050246/http://www.starkville.org/tourism/history/timeline.html| archive-date=May 24, 2006}}</ref>

After the Civil War, three groups of the [[Ku Klux Klan]] arose in the county: in Starkville, at Choctaw Agency (Sturgis), and in [[Double Springs, Mississippi|Double Springs]].<ref name="Reconstruction Part IV">{{cite news |last1=Browne |first1=Pastor Frederick Z. |title=Reconstruction in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi Part IV |work=East Mississippi Times |date=March 1, 1912}}</ref> They used violence against blacks to try to suppress their vote and maintain [[white supremacy]]. [[Freedmen]] had largely joined the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]], headed by President [[Abraham Lincoln]], who had gained their emancipation and supported constitutional amendments to grant them citizenship and the franchise. Every election cycle was accompanied by violence of white Democrats against the mostly black Republicans.

In 1876, for example, a group of 18 white men known as White-Liners, led by Dorsey Outlaw, surrounded the Republican Club in Chapel Hill near [[Agency, Mississippi|Choctaw Agency]]. They fired upon the black members from ambush, shooting several in the back. Charles Curry was killed instantly, and 36 blacks were wounded, four of them possibly mortally. Jeff Gregory died the following day. The same group of White-Liners traveled to [[Artesia, Mississippi|Artesia]] the next day to intimidate black voters there, and on to [[Columbus, Mississippi|Columbus]] the next day.<ref>{{cite news|title=A Night of Horrors|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83016555/1876-10-06/ed-1/seq-1|access-date=December 17, 2017|publisher=New Orleans Republican|date=October 6, 1876}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Full text of "Mississippi: Testimony as to denial of elective franchise in Mississippi at the elections of 1875 and 1876, taken under the resolution of the Senate of December 5, 1876"|url=https://archive.org/stream/mississippitesti00unit/mississippitesti00unit_djvu.txt|access-date=December 18, 2017|date=December 5, 1876|publisher=Washington, Govt. Printing Office }}</ref>

Following Reconstruction, white conservative Democrats dominated the state legislature.  [[Mississippi State University]] (originally known as Agricultural and Mechanical College of the State of Mississippi<ref>{{Cite web |title=History |url=https://www.dafvm.msstate.edu/about/history |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220123215920/https://www.dafvm.msstate.edu/about/history |archive-date=January 23, 2022 |access-date=August 27, 2022 |website=www.dafvm.msstate.edu |publisher=[[Mississippi State University]]}}</ref>) was founded near Starkville in 1878 as a [[land-grant university]]. It has become a major research university.

===20th century to present===
In 1912 Mann Hamilton, a black man, was accused of assaulting June Bell, a white woman, at Bell's school house near [[Maben, Mississippi|Maben]]. Although Sheriff Nickles tried to gain custody of the suspect, he was directed to the wrong location. Hamilton was captured, [[Lynching in the United States|lynched]], and hanged by a white mob without any trial.<ref name="Hamilton Lynching">{{cite news|title=A Quiet Lynching|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn87065612/1912-02-16/ed-1/seq-1|access-date=December 18, 2017|publisher=The Starkville News|date=February 16, 1912}}</ref> This was one of six lynchings of African Americans committed by whites in the county in the post-Reconstruction period and extending into the early 20th century.<ref>[https://eji.org/sites/default/files/lynching-in-america-third-edition-summary.pdf "Supplement: Lynchings by County/ Mississippi: Oktihebba", 3rd edition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171023063004/https://eji.org/sites/default/files/lynching-in-america-third-edition-summary.pdf |date=October 23, 2017 }}, p. 7, from ''Lynching in America: Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror'', 2015, Equal Justice Institute, Montgomery, Alabama</ref>

In 1960, seven black men from [[Little Rock, Arkansas]] used the only restroom at Weaver's Amoco in [[Osborn, Mississippi|Osborn]]; it was designated for whites only. They were arrested at Mayhew Junction in Lowndes County, and required to pay a $200 per person bond. According to the law, they faced a maximum penalty of six months in jail and fines of $500 each. The case was widely anticipated as the first test of the state's sit-in law, but was settled when the defendants unexpectedly pleaded guilty and paid small fines at the county court in Starkville the next day.<ref name="Weavers">{{cite news |title=Negro Group Enters White Cafe in State |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/40975255/negro_group_enters_white_cafe_in_state/ |access-date=December 23, 2019 |via=Newspapers.com |newspaper=Clarion-Ledger |date=April 23, 1960}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Sitdowners' Guilty Pleas Bring $15 fine. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/40975640/sitdowners_guilty_pleas_bring_15_fine/ |access-date=December 23, 2019 |via=Newspapers.com |location=Greenville, Mississippi |newspaper=The Delta Democrat-Times |date=April 24, 1960 |ref=Sitdowners}}</ref>

Since the late 20th century, Oktibbeha, along with [[Clay County, Mississippi|Clay]] and [[Lowndes County, Mississippi|Lowndes]] counties, has been designated as the [[Golden Triangle (Mississippi)|Golden Triangle]] in Mississippi. The three counties share a goal of collaborative economic development; they have had a history of rural and agricultural development.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.msstate.edu/about/history/|title=History|last=Team|first=ITS Web Development|website=Mississippi State University|language=en|access-date=March 17, 2018}}</ref>