Ever Is a Long Time Historical Memory “If there is anything that makes Southerners distinctive from the main body of Americans, it is a certain burden of memory and a burden of history. . . . I think sensitive Southerners have this in their bones, this profound awareness of the past.” – Willie Morris (quoted by Eubanks, p. 75) “Memory must be informed by history, lest history can become distorted when viewed purely through the lens of memory.” – Eubanks, p. 65 Is there a difference between memory & history? Why does Eubanks need to address the issue of memory? Examples of the importance of memory in his narrative?

Mount Olive & Lucedale, MS

“Terror & Magnificence” Importance of Place Delta to Mount Olive…differences for Eubanks family? Mount Olive as a place of “terror & magnificence” Social and legal constraints for African Americans in MS? Why did his father reject duality in relating to whites and blacks? Result? Why does place remain so important for Eubanks? For Mississippians in general? Why go back to the “homeplace”? How does Eubanks make peace with his “place”?

The African American Roots of Modernism Importance of Place (Chapter 3) “What happened when black became a place” – Smethurst, 96 Black literature wasn’t only about the journey North, but “significantly the result of a reconfiguration of the territory of race in the modern city of the Jim Crow era in the North and in the New South.” – Smethurst, p. 99 Journey North is also about “self-development and self-realization, with a least the potential of genuine citizenship in an ideal America.” – Smethurst, p. 104 The journey wasn’t always literally North or exclusively North – symbolically, challenges of the North, back & forth, etc.

MDAH Sovereignty Commission Files http://www.mdah.ms.gov/arrec/digital_archives/sovcom/

Sovereignty Commission (1956-1973) Coded Language What type of coded language does Eubanks find within the Sovereignty Commission files? Meaning of “sovereignty” Message of propaganda (both sides wanted segregation) How were his parents categorized/listed? Connection to state government (supported by newspapers) Hierarchy & functionality of Sovereignty Commission Paid African American informants Why try to connect to Communism? Open records versus privacy rights?

Mississippi as Closed Society James Silver’s Mississippi: The Closed Society How was Mississippi a closed society in the 1950s & 1960s? Does Mississippi still represent a closed society to Eubanks? Are there ways that it is a closed society today? Does it differ based on one’s place within the state? Does it differ based on one’s family or “heritage”? Do myths or facts still persist which lend to the impression of the state as a closed society? How can we change these?

Mississippi Your connections to this story…..