question: Prior to serving as a member of the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States from Mississippi, William S. Barry served as a member of which majority-black district in the state, covering much of western Mississippi?
answer: Mississippi's 2nd congressional district
context: Title: William S. Barry
  Passage: William S. Barry (born William Taylor Sullivan Barry; December 10, 1821 – January 29, 1868) was an American politician who served as member of the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States from Mississippi.  Prior to this Barry served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Mississippi's 2nd congressional district.
  Title: Thomas Hart Ruffin
  Passage: Thomas Hart Ruffin (September 9, 1820 – October 17, 1863) was a Congressional Representative from North Carolina; born in Louisburg, North Carolina, September 9, 1820; attended the common schools; graduated from the University of North Carolina Law School, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 1841; lawyer, private practice; circuit attorney of the seventh judicial district of the state of Missouri 1844-1848; elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-third and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1853 – March 3, 1861); delegate to the Confederate Provisional Congress at Richmond, Va., in July 1861; during the American Civil War served in the Confederate Army as colonel of the First North Carolina Cavalry, Confederate States of America; mortally wounded in action on October 14, 1863, at Auburn, Virginia; died October 17, 1863 in Grace Church Hospital, Alexandria, Virginia; interment in the private cemetery on the Ruffin homestead, near Louisburg, N.C.
  Title: Francis S. Bartow
  Passage: Francis S. Bartow (born Francis Stebbins Bartow; September 6, 1816 – July 21, 1861) was a licensed attorney turned politician, serving two terms in the United States House of Representatives and becoming a political leader of the Confederate States of America.  Bartow was also a colonel in the Georgia Militia commanding the 21st Oglethorpe Light Infantry during the early months of the American Civil War.  Bartow was a delegate from Georgia's 1st congressional district to the Southern Convention in Montgomery, Alabama becoming an inaugurating member of the Confederate Provisional Congress—leading efforts to prepare defensive forces for an impending federal invasion which did occur, protracting into The American Civil War of 1861–65.
  Title: Provisional Congress of the Confederate States
  Passage: The Provisional Congress of the Confederate States, also known as the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States of America, was a congress of deputies and delegates called together from the Southern States which became the governing body of the Provisional Government of the Confederate States of America (CSA) from February 4, 1861, to February 17, 1862.  It sat in Montgomery, Alabama, until May 20, 1861, when it adjourned to meet in Richmond, Virginia, on July 20, 1861.  It added new members as other states seceded and directed the election on November 6, 1861, at which a permanent government was elected.
  Title: Confederate States Army
  Passage: The Confederate States Army (C.S.A.) was the military ground force of the Confederate States of America (Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861-1865).  On February 28, 1861, the Provisional Confederate Congress established a provisional volunteer army and gave control over military operations and authority for mustering state forces and volunteers to the newly chosen Confederate president, Jefferson Davis (1808-1889), a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy on the Hudson River at West Point, New York, and colonel of a volunteer regiment during the Mexican–American War (1846-1848), later a United States Senator from Mississippi and U.S. Secretary of War in the administration of 14th President Franklin Pierce (1853-1857).  By March 1861, the Provisional Confederate Congress expanded the provisional forces and established a more permanent Confederate States Army.
  Title: Francis Burton Craige
  Passage: Francis Burton Craige (March 13, 1811 – December 30, 1875) was a Congressional Representative from North Carolina; born near Salisbury, North Carolina, March 13, 1811; attended a private school in Salisbury, and was graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1829; editor and proprietor of the Western Carolinian 1829–1831; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1832 and commenced practice in Salisbury; one of the last borough representatives in the State house of representatives 1832–1834; elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-third and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1853 – March 3, 1861); chairman, Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds (Thirty-third Congress); delegate to the State secession convention in 1861 and introduced the Ordinance of Secession in the form in which it was adopted; delegate to the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States which met in Richmond, Virginia, in July 1861; died in Concord, North Carolina, while attending the courts of that county, December 30, 1875; interment in Old English Cemetery, Salisbury, North Carolina.
  Title: Albert Rust
  Passage: Albert Rust (c. 1818 – April 4, 1870) was an American politician who served as a delegate from Arkansas to the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1862.  A member of the Democratic Party, Rust was the U.S. Representative from Arkansas 's 2 congressional district , serving from 1859 to 1861.  Rust also served as a senior officer of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.
  Title: Mississippi's 2nd congressional district
  Passage: Mississippi's 2nd congressional district (MS-2) is the only majority-black district in the state, covering much of western Mississippi.  The district includes most of Jackson, the riverfront cities of Greenville and Vicksburg, and the interior market cities of Clarksdale, Greenwood, and Clinton.  The district is approximately 275 mi long, 180 mi wide and borders the Mississippi River; it encompasses much of the Mississippi Delta, and a total of 15 counties and parts of several others.
  Title: Robert Ward Johnson
  Passage: Robert Ward Johnson (July 22, 1814 – July 26, 1879) was an American politician who served as a Confederate States Senator from Arkansas (1862-1865).  He previously served as a U.S. Representative (1847-1853), Senator (1853-1861), and delegate to the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States (1861-1862).
  Title: Congress of the Confederate States
  Passage: The Confederate States Congress was both the provisional and "permanent" legislative assembly of the Confederate States of America that existed from 1861 to 1865.  Its actions were for the most part concerned with measures to establish a new national government for the Southern "revolution", and to prosecute a war that had to be sustained throughout the existence of the Confederacy.  At first, it met as a provisional congress both in Montgomery, Alabama and Richmond, Virginia.
citations: William S. Barry Mississippi's 2nd congressional district