Racial violence and intimidation remained commonplace well into the new century. Hinds County led the state in the number of lynchings, and most victims were African American men. In the summer of 1920, a Simpson County tenant farmer disputed what he claimed were inaccuracies in his account with his white landlord. This escalated into a violent confrontation and spread, resulting in the deaths of three African Americans and one white. Later that year, an African American Hinds County farmer agreed to work for a white farmer in exchange for a hog. Claiming his dissatisfaction with the work performed, the white farmer demanded that the hog be returned. A fight ensued in which the African American farmer killed the white farmer. The farmer was later lynched by an angry mob, and his mother-in-law who lived in Rankin County was also hanged. By 1920, the Capital Area shared most of the concerns that defined the rest of the state, region, and nation. Educational changes, economic strains and booms, health crises, labor reforms, and violence caused the political divisions that defined the post-Reconstruction period. The remnants of slavery resurfaced through disfranchisement, segregation, and lynching. At the same time, limited progress broke through as educational opportunities proliferated and local economies diversified. However, the population boom that would make the Capital Area a true center of commerce, culture and politics, however, still lay ahead. Culture and Activism in the Capital Area The hard times precipitated by World War I and later by economic depression accelerated changes in the Capital Area. War mobilization helped drive economic growth that carried into the 1920s, but this boom would give way to the Great Depression of the 1930s that brought extreme levels of poverty to Mississippi’s. Deforestation from clear cutting in the region’s pine forests coupled with over-farming in the cotton belt to create an environmental crisis and leave the state with few economic alternatives. The passage of the Mississippi Industrial Act in 1936 helped address the problem by awarding financial assistance to cities and counties interested in cultivating industry. The Crystal Springs Shirt Company in Copiah County resulted from that assistance, and there were many other examples across the state. Soon, World War II would initiated economic progress through wartime contracts in Madison and Hinds counties, both of which also served as military training sites. By war’s end, however, Mississippi’s economy once CAL-MAINE FOODS Fred Adams launched his first commercial egg farm in 1958 in Edwards. By 1963, Adams’s operation expanded to become the largest egg farm in the world. Six years later, Adams Food, Inc., merged with Dairy Fresh Products Company and Maine Egg Farms to create Cal-Maine Foods, which continues to supply eggs across the United States from California to Maine. In 1999, Cal-Maine sold about 10 percent of all the eggs on the market in the United States. In fiscal year 2016, the Company sold approximately 1,053.6 million dozen shell eggs which represents about 23 percent of domestic shell egg consumption. PHOTO COURTESY OF CAL-MAINE FOODS LELAND SPEED A Mississippi native, Leland Speed is a leading Jackson- based real estate developer and has encouraged Mississippi to become more involved in international trade. Speed created the Eastover neighborhood, and has used his influence to not only improve Mississippi’s economy, but also Mississippi’s education system. He has served as chairman for the Jackson State University Development Foundation. The library at Mississippi College also bears his name. Starting in the late 1970s, Speed acquired multiple national real estate investment trusts in several states and brought all management functions of properties to Mississippi, now known as Eastgroup Properties. PHOTO COURTESY OF UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI THE CAPITAL AREA 227