Mississippi Challenge - Hardcover

Walter ( Justin and the Best Biscuits in the World ; Trouble's Child ) here painstakingly documents the courageous struggle of African Americans in Mississippi to overcome pervasive racism and to win their economic and political rights. The author notes that the influx of white cotton farmers into the state in the early 19th century led to the enslavement of four million African Americans by 1860. After the Civil War, former slaveholders' rise to power in Congress "created a new kind of bondage for African-American citizens." Walter describes the bleak era of Reconstruction and the shocking, widespread mob lynchings that occurred during the first half of this century. She then focuses on a number of groups--chief among them the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party--that worked to end the violence and overturn the state's racist voting practices. Packed with statistics and quotes from historians, politicians and other observers, Walter's heavily footnoted text may prove somewhat slow going for the general reader, but she has uncovered much eye-opening material. Ages 11-up.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Grade 6 Up-- Walter outlines the history of blacks in Mississippi from prior to the Civil War through the formation of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and the Mississippi Challenge in the mid-1960s. And a dire history it is. Treatment of slaves in Mississippi, according to the author, was so cruel that owners in other states controlled their bondmen and women by threatening to send them there. In unbiased language, the author indicates how the struggle for the ballot was adversely affected by such factors as sharecropping, the Understanding Clause, poll taxes, and the fear generated by the rise of the Klan and other hate groups. Well organized and clearly and interestingly written, this book documents the struggle of blacks in just one state. It will make a good companion volume to Ellen Levine's Freedom's Children (Putnam, 1993). Lengthy source notes and a bibliography complete the book. --Sylvia V. Meisner, Allen Middle School, Greensboro, NC
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.