Day Three: A Sort of Homecoming - Mississippi

One of the most stirring images of the Civil Rights Movement, for me, has always been the Missing Persons bulletin of James Chaney, Mickey Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman. I don't know exactly why, but I've always been drawn to the story of their heroism in the face of danger and untimely death in the early days of the Mississippi Freedom Summer, 1964. I guess I've always admired the optimism and fierce integration of SNCC's early years and wondered if put in their position I would have had the nerve to face people who wished to see me dead (and face them with a spirit of brotherly love). I only learned about these three men and their volunteer, activist peers in my last undergraduate course at Wake Forest (Tony Parent and Alton Pollard's "Civil Rights and Black Consciousness Movements"). It was at that time that I was accepted into the University of Mississippi's graduate program in history. Until then, I had never imagined I'd live in Mississippi--had never thought much about the state at all. Now it would be home--if only for a couple of years. I came to embrace the state and its people, and still warmly consider it close to my heart..

Today, travelling back into Mississippi for the first time in 10 years, my nerves remained on edge. It was almost like meeting an old friend after years apart--will Mississippi recognize me? has Mississippi changed to the point that I'll recognize it? do we still have anything in common? The few hours our group spent in Clarksdale and Oxford quickly put me at ease.

Clarksdale's "Delta Blues Museum" provided the easily recognizible face of the Mississippi I had come to know and love in those two short years. It represents a place steeped in culture...a place that developed and influenced a nation in spite of the long odds stacked against it (poverty & racism to name the most glaring). Museum curator Maie Smith guided our students through the exhibits providing a great context for the blues as a means of expression for African Americans who felt that their lives only possessed a grim future. The combination of guitar and soul, however, delivered gifts beyond the dreams of the artists.

The campus of the University of Mississippi in Oxford offered the side of Mississippi that was almost unrecognizable to me. The campus and sleepy college town has transformed over the last 10 years. Development and activity seems to be at a feverish pace. But it was another new addition on campus in recent years that touched me--and I can only hope made a statement to my students. Since 2003, the university has had a prominent statue of James Meredith (who famously, after a variety of stalling tactics by then Governor Ross Barnett and violent reactions from area whites, integrated the campus in 1962). During my years on campus, few spoke of Meredith--even while debates over the playing of "Dixie" by the university band and the use of the Confederate battle flag at football games still raged. Today, I was impressed by my university's willingness to face even the darker side of its history--all while so boldly moving toward the future. Thank you, University of Mississippi, from one proud alum. I can only hope it will not be another 10 years before I grace your presence.