History Degrees in Mississippi

Mississippi opened two museums on the same day in December 2017, in the same building, for its bicentennial. One tells the state’s history from prehistory forward; the other covers the civil rights movement as it happened in Mississippi. They share an auditorium, classrooms, and a workshop, and they have eight galleries each. Building them as a single project instead of two separate institutions was a deliberate choice about how a state presents its own past, and it is a more interesting starting point than any single event in it. The universities made a comparable choice, and carry more research depth than the state’s size would predict.

Mississippi has 14 colleges and universities offering history degrees, with 27 programs among them: 17 bachelor’s degrees, 7 master’s degrees, and 3 doctorates.

All three of the schools in our ranking are R1 research universities teaching history at every level, which is rare for a state this size.

Top History Schools in Mississippi

Fourteen schools in Mississippi offer history, so we publish the top three. Our scoring uses the same four factors as every state we cover: history degree offerings and program variety (40%), student outcomes (25%), reputation (20%), and affordability (15%). Mississippi and Southern Mississippi tie for depth at 4 programs each. Outcomes favor Mississippi at 72% and Mississippi State at 67% completing in four years. Reputation cannot separate anyone, because all three are R1. Affordability barely can either, with the three priced at $9,772, $9,998, and $10,202. Here are Mississippi’s best history degrees.

Most Affordable History Degrees in Mississippi

Most affordable history degrees in Mississippi

Rank	School	Program	Tuition per year
1	Mississippi Valley State University	Bachelor's in History	$7,692
2	Mississippi University for Women	B.A. in History	$8,492
3	Delta State University	B.A. in History	$8,605
4	Alcorn State University	Bachelor's in History	$8,785
5	Jackson State University	B.A. or B.S. in History	$8,965
6	University of Mississippi	B.A. in History	$9,772
7	University of Southern Mississippi	Bachelor's in History	$9,998
8	Mississippi State University	B.A. in History	$10,202
9	Tougaloo College	Bachelor's in History Education	$12,407
10	William Carey University	Bachelor's in History	$15,480

Annual in-state tuition and fees. Public universities take the first eight places, and all three of our ranked schools are among them. Tougaloo College, a historically Black college, is unusually inexpensive for a private institution at $12,407.

History Education in Mississippi

The striking thing about Mississippi is how concentrated the quality is. All three schools in our ranking are R1 research universities, all three hold a history doctorate, and all three teach the subject at every level. Only a handful of states have a published ranking where every school covers all three levels, and Mississippi is the only one where every school in that list is also R1. For a state with 27 history programs in total, that is a lot of research capacity.

It is also inexpensive and almost entirely public at the useful end. The eight public universities take the first eight places on the affordability list, running from $7,692 to $10,202, and all three ranked schools sit among them. Only two private colleges make the list at all, and Tougaloo College at $12,407 is remarkable for a private institution, well under half what most private colleges charge elsewhere in the South.

Specialization is thin, which is the trade-off. Southern Mississippi’s B.A. in Art History with Museum Studies is the state’s only museum program, and it is unusual for putting museum training into an undergraduate degree rather than a master’s. There is one public history program in the state and no doctoral specialization beyond general history. A student who wants a named field will be choosing an adviser, not a degree title.

Distance study is limited to 3 online programs, two master’s and one bachelor’s. Our guide to online history degrees covers the wider field.

Transfer is well designed and checkable in advance. Graduate with an AA from a Mississippi community or junior college and complete the 30-hour IHL Board core curriculum with a C or better in each core course, and the core requirement is satisfied at every public university in the state. Better still, the Mississippi Articulation Transfer Tool lists which community college courses are accepted into each baccalaureate program at the eight public universities, so you can check individual courses before enrolling rather than after. Details are with the Mississippi Community College Board.

Becoming a History Teacher in Mississippi

Mississippi certifies Social Studies for grades 7 through 12, so the credential covers geography, government, and economics alongside history.

The route runs through either an approved teacher education program or an alternate route, and then three separate Praxis assessments: the Core Academic Skills for Educators, the Subject Assessment for social studies, and the Principles of Learning and Teaching. Three tests is more than most states require, so build the sequence into your planning early instead of treating it as a final-year task.

Before committing to the classroom route, look at the pay figures in the next section. Mississippi’s secondary teaching salaries sit well below the national median, and that is worth weighing against the state’s genuinely low tuition.

Confirm current requirements with the Mississippi Department of Education before choosing a program.

History Careers in Mississippi

History Careers in Mississippi

Occupation	Mississippi jobs	Mississippi median	vs. U.S. median
Secondary school teachers	10,400	$50,980	-29%
Postsecondary history teachers	210	$63,450	-24%
Curators	30	$40,600	-36%
Historians	90	$46,010	-40%
Archivists	not published	not published	n/a

Employment and wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, 2025. Mississippi’s archivist figures were withheld entirely, both the count and the wage.

Every published occupation here pays well below the national median, and two of the figures are the most difficult on this site.

Curators earn a median $40,600, which is 36% below national and the lowest figure for that occupation of any state in the country. South Carolina is next at 26% below. The count is only 30 positions, so this is a very small market as well as a poorly paid one, and it sits awkwardly beside the fact that Mississippi trains museum studies students at Southern Mississippi.

Historians earn $46,010, 40% below national, which ties Wisconsin for the second-largest shortfall anywhere behind Utah.

The bulk of the employment is in classrooms: 10,400 secondary teaching posts, paying 29% under national. Postsecondary history teaching is 24% below across 210 jobs, which is a reasonable number of college teaching posts for a state with three doctoral departments feeding them.

The fair summary is that Mississippi offers an unusually strong and inexpensive research education and a difficult local job market. For students prepared to move after graduating, three R1 doctorates priced between $9,772 and $10,202 in state is a genuinely good proposition. For students intending to stay, these numbers need looking at directly.

History Resources in Mississippi

• Two Mississippi Museums, Jackson. The Museum of Mississippi History and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, opened together in December 2017 in a single 200,000 square foot complex with eight galleries each. The civil rights museum has been described as the first state-funded museum of its kind in the country.
• Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Jackson, which runs both museums and holds the state’s archival collections. It is the place to start for primary research on any Mississippi topic, and having the archives and the museums under one agency means the collections and the public interpretation are closely linked.

Frequently Asked Questions