Home State Wide 2025 Year in Pictures

2025 Year in Pictures

Mississippi Today
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What does a year look like across Mississippi? It looks like workdays, storms, wins, grief and quiet moments. This photo review brings together images by Mississippi Today photojournalists Vickie D. King and Eric J. Shelton. The photos span January through December 2025 across towns, cities and rural roads. Assignments took us to courtrooms, political debates, classrooms, fields, churches and front porches. We worked separate beats and shared the same goal. We recorded daily life as it happened.

Randy “Silly Billy” McDonald, relaxing at his vintage clothing store in Jackson, Wedneday, Jan. 15, 2025. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
Jackson State head football coach T.C. Taylor raises the championship trophy during a parade celebrating the Tigers’ HBCU National Championship. The parade was held in downtown Jackson, Friday, Jan. 17, 2025. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
James Bowley at his Jackson home, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. Bowley was a religious studies professor at Millsaps College, but was terminated after expressing political views. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
Incumbent Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba, left, and Tim Henderson were among the candidates participating in a forum held at the Willowwood Community Center in south Jackson, Thursday, March 20, 2025. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
Sen. John Horhn expresses an opinion on Jackson’s water woes while Delano Funchess awaits his turn during a mayoral candidate forum held at the Willowwood Community Center in south Jackson, Thursday, March 20, 2025. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
Tracy Harden, owner of Chuck’s Dairy Bar, stands outside her U.S 61 restaurant in Rolling Fork, Monday, March 24, 2025, on the two-year anniversary of a deadly EF-4 tornado that ravaged the town, claiming 15 lives. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
Tylertown tornado damage, Monday, March 17, 2025. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
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Former Mississippi House Speaker Pro Tem Robert Clark Jr. lies in state at the Mississippi Capitol Rotunda on Sunday, March 9, 2025, in Jackson. Clark was elected in 1967 as the first Black legislator in the state during the 20th century. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
A truck sits in high water after the owner parked and then boated to his residence on Chickasaw Road in Vicksburg as a rising Mississippi River causes backwater flooding, Friday, April 25, 2025. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba consoles his daughter Alake’ Maryama at his watch party upon losing his bid for reelection, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
Prison reform advocate Mitzi Magleby, left, and the Rev. Jeff Hood, Execution Intervention Project co-founder, protest the state’s upcoming executions during a press conference on the steps of the Supreme Court, Wednesday, May 28, 2025, in Jackson. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
Lauren Swann of New Albany looks out at the Red Hill Bottom acreage in the Fairfield Community where she and her husband Rhett grow cotton, saying she hoped for no more rain, Thursday, May 15, 2025. Heavy rains made the fields too muddy for farm equipment, delaying planting. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
“My brand blends our southern culture and community together,” said ‘Sippsi Good Tea founder Christina Berry, at her tea shop located in the Pinnacle Building in downtown Jackson, Wednesday, June 18, 2025. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
Demonstrators gathered on the south lawn of the Mississippi Capitol to protest President Donald J. Trump during a “No Kings” rally Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025, in Jackson. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
After learning the basics of the game from Mississippi Brilla FC soccer club members, Stewpot summer camp counselor Sydalgia Neal, center, leads the charge to score a goal, Thursday, June 12, 2025, in Jackson. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
The Sky Imposed Its Will entertains fans of “noise” music during “A Night of Noise Benefitting the Animal Rescue Fund of Mississippi,” at Urban Foxes in Jackson, Friday night, July 25, 2025. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
People read about the life and death of Emmett Till as they tour the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum on Friday, July 25, 2025, in Jackson. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
Hezekiah Watkins, center, shares his experiences as a civil rights activist with Wisconsin residents touring the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, Friday, July 25, 2025, in Jackson. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
It’s the joy of the ride for Nelson “Andy” Wade, showing off his mechanical bull riding skills during a horse show appreciation event held at Cooper Down, Sunday, Aug. 24, 2025, in Terry. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
Hannah Campo of Jackson, left, who is in recovery, receives a naloxone HCI nasal spray treatment from Brittany Denson, Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025, at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church in Jackson. Benson and other volunteers were passing out the opioid overdose treatments in the area in an effort to combat opioid overdose deaths.
Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
“Those bullets came right through my bedroom walls and ricocheted throughout the place,” said Latisha Feazell, a resident of Pine Ridge Gardens Apartments, better known as Rebelwood, in south Jackson, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2025. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
Mary Sawyer, left, with her niece Rakisha Harney at Sawyer’s Pine Ridge Gardens apartment, Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025. The apartment complex in south Jackson is better known as Rebelwood. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
Lanier High School head football coach Tommy Kelly during practice Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025, in Jackson. Kelly played in the NFL for Oakland Raiders, New England Patriots and Arizona Cardinals before retiring in 2014. His Lanier Bulldogs were undefeated through the first eight games of the 2025 season. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
James Anderson, age 102, at his Goodman home, Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
The Venerable Bhikkhu Pannakara, at the front of the line, is the spiritual leader of the Walk for Peace. He led other Buddhist monks and their dog, Aloka, as they crossed the Natchez-Vidalia Bridge from Louisiana and arrived in Natchez, Friday, Dec. 5, 2025, on Day 41 of their 2,300-mile pilgrimage to Washington to promote peace and kindness. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
On Day 41 of their pilgrimage for peace, several Buddhist monks from Fort Worth, Texas, arrived in Natchez from Louisiana, Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. The monks’ journey to Washington will cover 2,300 miles. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
Willie Hamblin waits for transportation beneath the UMMC sign at the Jackson Medical Mall in Jackson, Mississippi, on Monday, March 3, 2025. The University of Mississippi Medical Center is in the process of relocating some of its services from the mall, citing challenges with building infrastructure and city services. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
Jermany Gray, a PrEP user and advocate for better access and awareness of the medication, poses for a portrait at Smith Park in Jackson, Miss., Tuesday, March 25, 2025. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
Children hold signs advocating for Medicaid during a press conference at the Mississippi Capitol in Jackson, Miss., on Tuesday, March 11, 2025. The event was organized by the Mississippi Coalition for Citizens with Disabilities and the Mississippi Down Syndrome Advocacy Coalition. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
Sen. Hob Bryan reacts during the Senate Finance Committee meeting at the Mississippi Capitol in Jackson, Miss., on Monday, March 17, 2025. The committee was debating House Bill 1, which aims to eliminate the state income tax. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
Jackson mayoral candidate John Horhn walks into his election night party with his family at The Rookery in Jackson, Miss., on Tuesday, April 1, 2025. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
Katiee Evans reflects on her experience with drug addiction and recovery at the Fairland Center in Dublin, Miss., on Monday, April 28, 2025. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
Tyler Yarbrough, director of Mississippi Delta Programs at the Partnership for a Healthier America, poses for a portrait outside East Gate Gardens, the Clarksdale neighborhood where he grew up, Friday, May 2, 2025. The neighborhood is located less than half a mile from the newly opened J’s Grocery. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
Al Jones, owner of J’s Grocery, embraces Tyler Yarbrough, director of Mississippi Delta Programs at the Partnership for a Healthier America, during the ribbon-cutting ceremony in Clarksdale, Miss., Friday, May 2, 2025. The event marked the grand opening of the community-focused grocery store. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
Marla Demita holds her 10-month-old son, Dean Demita, while working at the front desk of Yazoo City Animal Hospital, Thursday, June 12, 2025, in Yazoo City, Miss. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
A participant takes a photo at the Democracy in Action Convening, held in honor of Medgar Evers’ centennial, at the Jackson Convention Center in Jackson, Miss., on Friday, June 27, 2025. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
Luna Scott, left, holds her sister Juniper Shows at their home in Vicksburg, Miss., on Thursday, July 3, 2025. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
Manuel Killebrew, funeral home director at Delta Burial Corp., oversees a wake at the funeral home in Marks, Miss., on Friday, July 10, 2025. The business is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
Manuel Killebrew, funeral home director at Delta Burial Corp., points to a photo of the founding members while sharing the funeral home’s history in Marks, Miss., on Friday, July 10, 2025. The business, established in 1925, is celebrating a century of service in the Mississippi Delta. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
Lee Davis talks about a blighted property next to his home on Margaret Walker Alexander Drive in Jackson, Miss., on Wednesday, July 16, 2025. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
Vicky Pitts at her home in Laurel, Miss., on Tuesday, June 3, 2025, holds a photo showing her appearance after a revision surgery performed by facial plastic surgeon Dr. Adair Blackledge. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
Central District Public Service Commissioner De’Keither Stamps speaks at the Neshoba County Fair on Thursday, July 31, 2025, in Philadelphia, Miss. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
April Smith, a resident at Blossom Apartments, shows the bandages covering her recent surgical scars in Jackson, Miss., on Wednesday, July 23, 2025. Residents at the apartment lost water service after JXN Water shut it off because of large unpaid bills by the property owner. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
Recent Forest Hill High School and Hinds Community College graduate Jayme Anderson holds his honor cords at his home in Jackson, Miss., on Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. Anderson earned millions of dollars in college scholarships and is preparing to leave for school. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
Former Mayor Joe Shegog sits in a church in Marks, Miss., on Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025. Marks has struggled with frequent flooding and limited resources to improve infrastructure, highlighting how climate change and a lack of funding are putting vulnerable communities at risk.  Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

Derrick Evans, a community activist and resident of Turkey Creek, talks about the historic area in Gulfport, Miss., on Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

Left: Irene Avalos, 10, and Abby Sandoval, 9 pose for a portrait during the Festival Hispano de Pascagoula at Beach Park in Pascagoula, Miss., on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025. Right: Megan Santamaria and Aitana Garcia wear traditional Costa Rican outfits during the festival. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
A memorial for Trey Reed, who was found dead hanging from a tree, is seen on Delta State University’s campus in Cleveland, Miss., on Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
Sen. Chad McMahan, R-Guntown, left, and Sen. David Parker listen to presenters during the Senate Education Committee hearing at the state Capitol in Jackson, Miss., Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
The Prancing J-Settes perform in the JSU homecoming parade on Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025, in Jackson, Miss. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
Antionette McKay, with the Mississippi People’s Movement, stands with other protesters holding “Stop Drax” signs outside the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality in Jackson, Miss., on Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025. The group gathered as state officials weighed a permit that would set new limits on how much pollution Drax can release into the air. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
Jaiilah Marie Holmes, Miss Thomas Edwards High School, prepares for the start of the homecoming coronation in Ruleville on Oct. 23, 2025. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
Candy is given to spectators as they watch the Greenwood High School homecoming parade on Oct. 10, 2025. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
Greenwood High band members practice before participating in the school’s homecoming parade near downtown Greenwood on Oct. 10, 2025. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
Lewisburg Elementary School physical education teacher Jason Reid does his pre-trip inspection for his afternoon bus route on Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025, in Olive Branch, Miss. Teachers are pushing for higher pay and warning they may leave the state for better salaries, as lawmakers prepare to discuss raises and education funding during the 2026 legislative session.  Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
Chief Shaka Zulu performs during the 82nd National Folk Festival on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025, in Jackson. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
The Campbell Brothers perform during the 82nd National Folk Festival on Friday, Nov. 7, 2025, in Jackson. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
Oka Homma Alla Hilha Alhiha performs during the 82nd National Folk Festival on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025, in Jackson. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
Paula Merchant gathers with other protesters at the intersection of Cobblestone Drive and Highway 51 in Madison on Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025, to oppose ICE raids. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
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