Yazoo:Integration In A Deep-Southern Town

by Willie Morris

In 1970 Brown v. Board of Education was sixteen years old, and fifteen years had passed since the Brown II mandate that schools integrate "with all deliberate speed." Still, after all this time, it was necessary for the U.S. Supreme Court to order thirty Mississippi school districts--whose speed had been anything but deliberate--to integrate immediately. One of these districts included Yazoo City, the hometown of writer Willie Morris.

Genres: Nonfiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

William Weaks "Willie" Morris (November 29, 1934 — August 2, 1999), was an American writer and editor born in Jackson, Mississippi, though his family later moved to Yazoo City, Mississippi, which he immortalized in his works of prose. Morris' trademark was his lyrical prose style and reflections on the American South, particularly the Mississippi Delta. In 1967 he became the youngest editor of Harper's Magazine. He wrote several works of fiction and non-fiction, including his seminal book North Toward Home, as well as My Dog Skip.

Reviews

[Jim Gulley · Rating 3 out of 5]

The same year McMillen published The Citizens’ Council, Mississippi native and celebrated author Willie Morris published a memoir of his reflections upon visiting his Delta hometown of Yazoo City during its throes with desegregation. By this time, Morris was an acclaimed member of the New York City literati, an avowed liberal, and loathful of white supremacist politics. He returned to Mississippi to be present during its time of duress. The book has a poignancy endemic to small-town Mississippi; Morris knows everyone around town, Black and white. Yazoo City's youthful mayor was a young child when Morris was in high school. The school superintendent was his high school basketball coach, and he rubbed shoulders easily with the local head of the NAACP.

The book chronicles Morris's observations during six trips to the state between November 1969 and November 1970. He laces the narrative with family nostalgia, encounters with friends and acquaintances, and a sprinkling of historical renditions. He focuses on the process of integrating schools in Yazoo City due to the Alexander decision.

Morris's account brings to life many of the issues and constituencies dealt with in this historiography. We meet Owen Cooper, the local industrialist who pushed support for public schools. Morris expressed disdain for Manchester Academy, the local private school under construction in Yazoo City. He describes the cynical nature of the Freedom of Choice program, a contrivance of the state government to mask de facto segregation.

[Monte Lamb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this book 40 years after it was written gives a very different view on the book. The book is about the integration of the schools in Yazoo City, Mississippi in 1971. The writer is what would now be called a liberal and is hopeful that his home town will set an example for the rest of the country and integrate peacefully and keep the public schools an integral part of community life. It is also a story of growing up and living in the South and how it is different from other parts of the country. It is extremely well written and as a native southerner, I understand the complexities of life there and how the Civil Rights movement affected everyone. This book does a very good job of trying to explain the changes made and how and why they affected society.

[Cindy Grossi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Topic and location of great interest to me. Narrative seemed disjointed. The best parts were the personal ruminations.