Mississippi By Anthony Walton: An Analysis

In this paper I will inform you with a few of these events and topics such as the Civil war, slavery, as well as facts of the state. I hope my readers walk away with a new respect and outlook of Mississippi and learn how the past can affect the future, as well as the beauty.

Phillips writes that the defining characteristic of a ‘Southerner’ is a feeling of white racial solidarity which casts all other social considerations in the shade; it is the “cardinal test of a Southerner.” When Phillips touches upon the subject of non-slaveholding whites, he emphasizes their zeal for the primacy of white civilization as an end unto itself. He relates two contemporary accounts of non-slaveholders, one a tinner and the other an overseer, to demonstrate this fervor but pointedly devalues their economic attachments to slavery, writing, “Both of them, and a million of their non-slaveholding like, had a still stronger social prompting: the white men’s ways must prevail; the Negroes must be kept innocuous.” Phillips rejects out of hand the sway of overt pecuniary motives against the weight of racial ones and this rejection is so absolute in part because “it is otherwise impossible to account

The tensions of the Civil War are very much still alive in the Southern United States one hundred and fifty years after the Confederacy surrendered to Union forces to end the war. While the tensions may have mitigated away from full-fledged war between North and South, there still remain tensions along racial and cultural lines well beyond the war. In Tony Horwitz’s Confederates in the Attic these long standing tensions left over from the war are delved into by Horwitz as he makes his way across the south to see how the old Confederacy is viewed in the modern world of the United States. What Horwitz found was a dualistic society differing views on the Confederacy and the events of the Civil War. Dualities left from the war in aspects such as racial tensions, the meaning of the Confederate flag even between North and South entirely. Those living in the South can be seen holding a resonating connection to the Civil War. It becomes clear in Confederates in the Attic the Civil War not only became the catalyst of such dualities in Southern society, but still further shape and perpetuate these dualities long after the Civil Wars conclusion.

James Meredith’s successful campaign to gain admission to the Univeristy of Mississippi, ‘Ole Miss’, and desegregate education in the state most resistant to integration of educational institutions, has become a crucial episode in civil rights history. Ole Miss transformed Mississippi politics and contributed to a cultural shift in the region, as well as invigorated local civil rights activists and those in neighboring states 1. The historic showdown between James Meredith and the

The novel primarily utilizes a traditional view point. The author views reconstruction in a negative light and as a time when power-hungry Radicals used their political power to punish the south, in contrast to the president’s attempts to revive, instead of change, the South.

Early in the 1950s education in Mississippi was segregated. The Brown versus Board education decision caused complete panic in Mississippi due to the fact that it challenged everything Mississippi had ever known. Throughout the state opinions and reactions carried, but in Sunflower county the opinion of prominent whites were clear: Blacks would not be welcome in schools with their children. Two months after the Brown vs Board decision was announced the first Indianola County Citizens Council was held. At this first meeting men of power met to discuss how they were going to stop blacks from organizing in their county. “Herman Moore, president of the Indianola Bank, open the convocation; “This meeting should have been held 30 years ago.. when it was noticeable that the Negro was organizing.”(Moye65) this statement set the tone for how a whole

“Originally published in 2006, Mississippi Politics quickly became the definitive work on the state’s political history, campaigns, legislative battles, and litigation, as well as how Mississippi shaped and was shaped by national and regional trends.” While the second edition of the book still shows Mississippi’s gradual change from a blue state to a red state, it also examines the aftermath of Haley Barbour’s re-election campaign in 2007 along with the 2008 presidential elections. The one thing that I found most interesting about this book has nothing to do with its contents but everything to do with the two authors Jere Nash and Andy Taggart. Jere Nash is a well known Democrat who has held many political positions including chief of

Analyzing how Parchman reflects the intertwined themes of reform and race, we must look back into the history of the state, to see what caused the instability that led to reform and the role that citizens played. The Civil War is just ending and the South lost not only did they lose the battle , but they also lost their family members, homes, land and most of all for some they lost their slaves. During the war Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed all slaves in territories that opposed the Union. Oshinsky paints a beautiful picture of the scenes that had unfolded when he wrote that, “Few could escape the consequences of this war. Mississippi was bankrupt. Its commerce and transportation had collapsed. The railroads and levees lay in ruins. Local governments barely functioned.” (p.12) The world that many white southerners had come to know was now destroyed. Being placed under these conditions, outraged many white southerners. Adding fuel to the fire, the fact of knowing that former slaves were now equal to even the poorest of whites, did not set well. The author states that, "this hatred had many sources. The ex-slave had become a scapegoat for the South’s humiliating defeat. John F.H. Claiborne, Mississippi’s most prominent historian, blamed him for causing the war and for helping the North to prevail.” ( Oshinsky, 1996, p. 14) Carl Schdrz, a reformer from the North, became very concerned about how blacks would be treated, with rising sense of

Within the past week or two there had been a brutal attack in Virginia, because of the different views and opinions on the statue of Confederate general Robert E Lee, if it should stay or be removed. I have come to believe that since the general was a “Confederate’” general that the question arose, should Mississippi be to able to keep its state flag presenting the emblem of the confederate flag, or should it be stripped from the sky. In this essay I will present to you why I believe that the Mississippi flag should stay flying high in the sky. I will also present when, why and how the flag is important to us as a country.

Although I wasn’t in Mississippi during the ‘Freedom Summer’, I had a solid understanding of how life was during the ‘Freedom Summer’. This was years of racism and segregation towards the blacks in the US during the Civil Rights Movement. My aspect type was racism, and I learned of its impact on life through our analysis in the class of The Color Purple (1982) by Alice Walker, an epistolary novel about the lives of black people in rural dominated white racist Georgia during the 1920’s-50’s. Furthermore, we discussed Nelson Mandela’s Inaugural Speech in class, and how Mandela fought for Independence from the white racist government. With extra research of the Freedom Summer project launched by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating

References are vital to explain cultural differences. Certain historical accounts provide students with a platform to interpret and analyze struggles and breakthroughs in modern culture. Main lectures for the class will come from William Alexander Percy: The Curious Life of a Mississippi Planter and Dancing in Hellfire. Opposition to sexual freedom is, in its entirety, nothing more than discrimination. Discrimination is some form plaques Mississippi in the modern progressive movement. Holding on to traditional values forms the basis of Southern Culture. William Alexander Percy provides insight during the Jim Crow south. William Percy’s story originates from the elite planter society which dominated Southern Mississippi in post Antebellum society.

Mississippi history is a sad history of slavery and oppression. It is a history of racism and refusal to let go of segregationist ideals. Mississippi history is enough to give many the blues. In fact, the Blues style music originated in Mississippi and gravitated outward from there. .Mississippi history and Blues history are intertwined. Delta Blues is a blues style that originated in the Mississippi Delta and influenced many musicians. Another musical art form, Jazz may be considered an offspring from the Blues and also started in the South. There are many Blues musicians and singers that come from Mississippi or have become linked to Mississippi for various reasons. Bessie Smith, Charley Patton, Muddy Waters, and Cassandra Wilson have

Hayden starts the text by showing how most of America see’s the state, Mississippi, as a whole. In this part of the article the reader is introduced to the stereo typical Mississippi. “ The south is associated with the CIvil war forces that threatened to break the country apart

The Columbian University journalism professor Nicholas Lemann’s aim of writing this book is to look at the brutal campaign of fraud and violence during the mid-1870s that ultimately led to the restoration of conservative, white governments in some southern states. The author focuses on the reconstruction of Mississippi. He stirs memories of the murderous Southern resistance and to civil rights movements 90 years later. Lemann writes at an era when neo-Confederate sympathies have cropped up again in southern politics, and amid several reports of the suppression of the minority voting throughout the country. Mr. Lemann presents the last battle of the Civil War.

I was in Starkville, Mississippi. I will never forget that moment that Alabama had victory against Mississippi State, and was aired on national news. Derrick Henry just sprinted to the endzone for the last touchdown. The clock had just ticked down to it’s last second. Mississippi State fans were leaving early, and enraged. The roar of delight from Alabama fans, and the roar of depression from Mississippi State fans. Mississippi State standing hopeless on their own side of the field. I told my grandfather, “Well looks like we won another one.”