Witness in Philadelphia,<\/em> shared the memoir of a white woman who was part of Neshoba County\u2019s dominant culture. By contrast, George explores the African-American community that brought Schwerner, Goodman and Chaney to the area. The three men made their fateful journey in preparation for establishing a Freedom School at the Mt. Zion United Methodist Church in the Longdale community. The congregation had approved the project as part of a coordinated effort for Freedom Summer that brought volunteers from around the nation to Mississippi to promote voter registration and civic education.<\/p>\nThe story is not only about political developments in 1964. This history is the confluence of a segregated church governance system within a segregated political order. The two were part and parcel of each other. The ecclesiastical descendants of John Wesley at Mt. Zion came face to face with the progeny of Nathan Bedford Forrest in the Ku Klux Klan.<\/p>\n
George examines the events of 1964 through the prism of the Mt. Zion Church. How was it that there came to be a decision to host a Freedom School there? The answer lies within the development of a faith community. Racial segregation was not only part of the political order of Mississippi; it was also in the fabric of the Methodist Church with the Central Jurisdiction. To tell the tale requires examining the history and order of the Longdale community, as well as exploring denominational politics at the state and national level.<\/p>\n
What has happened since 1964 in Neshoba County? George delves into local developments by exploring the Mt. Zion annual anniversary commemoration on June 21 as well as the forming of the Philadelphia Coalition, an interracial group of citizens seeking a way forward for their community.<\/p>\n
At one of the places of intersection for the commemoration and the Coalition, then Secretary of State Dick Moplus spoke at the 1989 observance. His words were direct and went to the heart of the matter: <\/em>\u201cWe deeply regret what happened here 25 years ago. We wish we could undo it. \u2026 Every decent person in Philadelphia and Neshoba County and Mississippi feels that way\u201d (189).<\/p>\nNine years previously, Neshoba County was the first stop for a newly selected Republican presidential nominee, Ronald Reagan. In his speech at the Neshoba County Fair,\u00a0Reagan\u00a0declared: \u201cI believe in states\u2019 rights\u201d (154).<\/p>\n
Both sets of words had deep and political meaning. Reagan\u2019s speech was part of a \u201cSouthern Strategy\u201d to broaden the appeal of the GOP to Southern whites. Molpus\u2019 speech would be replayed later when he ran for Governor of Mississippi\u2013and lost.<\/p>\n
In so many ways the tension between these two comments still demarcates the past and present of American life on matters of race and class. George has contributed to the published conversation about the Neshoba County murders. She has also connected the spiritual past of Methodism with\u00a0the political history of the state and nation. Her work will always be a useful resource. However, in this particular season of American life and politics, her words not only evoke a time gone by but can hint at a future that may be filled with its own sinister developments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Review: One Mississippi, Two Mississippi Joel L. Alvis, Jr. Joel Alvis is Interim Pastor at First Presbyterian Church, Columbus, GA JSR Volume 18 Cite this Article Joel L. Alvis, Jr., “Review: One Mississippi, Two Mississippi,”\u00a0Journal of Southern Religion (18) (2016): jsreligion.org\/vol18\/alvis. Open-access license This work is licensed CC-BY. You are encouraged to make free use…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-284","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jsreligion.org\/vol18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jsreligion.org\/vol18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jsreligion.org\/vol18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jsreligion.org\/vol18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jsreligion.org\/vol18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/jsreligion.org\/vol18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":581,"href":"https:\/\/jsreligion.org\/vol18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/284\/revisions\/581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jsreligion.org\/vol18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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