Spies of Mississippi

Gr 6-10 Bowers draws upon archival material, supplemented with his own extensive research, to document the activities of the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission, a Civil Rights-era state agency that disseminated segregationist propaganda and used Soviet-style methods to spy upon, harass, and harm those who challenged white supremacy. He describes how the Commission, formed in 1956 in reaction to the "Brown v. Board of Education" Supreme Court decision, recruited a wide network of spies and informants, and conspired with elected officials and state and local law enforcement agencies to thwart any progress on civil rights. Bowers details the Commission's tactics, which disregarded constitutional protections for those who supported or aided the cause, and discusses how the scope of its activities quickly escalated from its initial attempts to control or marginalize the NAACP and resist public and school and university integration into outright advocacy of violence and obstruction of justice. He closes with a discussion of how federal civil rights legislation and the threat of financial sanctions resulted in the abolition of the Commission, but warns readers that the bigotry that gave it free rein still exists and could emerge again. Period black-and-white photographs, an appendix with reproductions of selected Commission documents, and an extensive bibliography of books and links to online archives supplement the text. This book's unique perspective will help students understand the previously unknown history of the despicable actions of Mississippi leaders who opposed civil rights and the silent citizens who supported their activities."Mary Mueller, Rolla Junior High School, MO" Copyright 2010 Media Source Inc.