Scott Colom's path to a historic U.S. Senate upset ran through the Mississippi Delta — where Emmett Till was abducted, Fannie Lou Hamer fought for the ballot and the blues became an American art form.Why it matters: Nearly 150 years after Reconstruction, Mississippi sent a Black American to the U.S. Senate for the first time since 1881. The votes pushing Colom toward that milestone came from communities where Black residents spent generations fighting for the ballot.