The state of Mississippi has officially ratified the 13th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, a long overdue motion to abolish slavery that originally began more than two centuries ago on December 6, 1865, but was never completed, according to the latest discovery by University of Mississippi professor Ranjan Batra and anatomical material specialist Ken Sullivan. The two academics apparently started looking into the status of the 13th amendment after watching Steven Spielberg's Oscar-nominated Lincoln and after learning that the ratification had never passed, they contacted Mississippi's secretary of state who arranged the passage of the bill which took place earlier this month on February 7.