I've been reading the book too, I ran across it in the Margaret Walker Alexander Library a day after seeing this thread. I read it on lunch breaks in a restaurant 100 miles from the Delta, surrounded by blacks and whites, in a city with a black mayor, black-majority city council, and majority black boards of supervisors. I like the book because it is a poetic blend of homemade history, sociology, music and lyrics. It tells me why a lot of things have come to be, their antecedents and traditions going back centuries. I wish it had been published sooner so it would have had more impact.

The saddest thing, though, is to read the unspoken words on this thread about 'the more things change, the more they stay the same'. The horrors encountered were in the 40s and 50s and people keep speaking about them like they are still going on. If it makes you feel superior to talk about how horrible the South was and you assume it still is, go ahead. But know this. When you keep this black-and-white newsreel footage of the 50s foremost in people's minds when they think Mississippi, you're not helping the black folks you are so deeply concerned about. You are helping perpetuate old images that prevent companies from building factories and offices and branches in our state, and our biggest problem, black and white alike (lack of employment and entrepreneur base) continues.

Morgan Freeman puts his bucks where his mouth is, he lives in his beloved Delta and builds restaurants and invests there. I would request that if you want to help and you can't invest here, at least make some effort to separate history from current events.