“After the Civil War, Black Mississippians had economic power, voting rights, and citizenship. They used their majority to elect African-Americans to office up and down the ballot.”

American lawyer and politician

Alphonso Michael Espy, known as Mike Espy, is an American lawyer and politician. He served as the 25th U.S. secretary of agriculture from 1993 to 1994, and was the first African American and the first person from the Deep South to hold that office. A Democrat, Espy also represented Mississippi's 2nd congressional district in the U.S. House from 1987 to 1993. His public life is tied to agriculture policy and Mississippi politics, especially the years he spent in Congress and at the Agriculture Department.