Jackson, Mississippi in Requiem for a Nun (Location)

The city of Jackson was founded in 1821 to be the capital of Mississippi, which had achieved statehood in 1817. Its history from aboriginal times to the present is the subject of the prose narrative that begins "Act II" of Requiem. Locations within the area of the city that are mentioned in that section include Le Fleur's Bluff, the site of the trading post on the Natchez Trace that was there when the "three Commissioners" arrived to establish the capital's location (84), and the airport and radio stations of 1950 (88). Other locations that figure in the account are three Negro colleges (87), the Governor's mansion (87), Millsaps College (88), the Governor's office (89) - and dominating the section and the skyline, the capital building with "The Golden Dome" that gives Act II its title (79). Jackson is also the family home of Temple Drake. This location also includes Clinton, Mississippi, 10 miles from downtown Jackson and one of the places to which, in the state's early years, the legislators thought about moving the capital.