A New History of Mississippi
By Dennis J. Mitchell
University Press of Mississippi
John Malveaux of
writes:
Saturday Feb. 14, 2015
One of my former history professors, Dennis Mitchell, recently released a history book entitled, A New History of Mississippi. “Mississippi,” he says, “is
a place and a state of mind. The name evokes strong reactions from
those who live here and from those who do not, but who think they know
something about its people and their past.” Because of its past, as described by Anthony Walton in his book, Mississippi: An American Journey, Mississippi “can be considered one of the most prominent scars on the map” of these United States. Walton goes on to explain that “there
is something different about Mississippi; something almost unspeakably
primal and vicious; something savage unleashed there that has yet to
come to rest.” To prove his point, he notes that, “[o]f the 40
martyrs whose names are inscribed in the national Civil Rights Memorial
in Montgomery, AL, 19 were killed in Mississippi.” “How was it,” Walton asks, “that half who died did so in one state?” — My Mississippi, Your Mississippi and Our Mississippi.
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