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Page 38 Vol. 75, No. 1, Spring 2012 Mississippi Libraries
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NONFICTION
Bowers, Rick. Spies of Mississippi: The
True Story of the Spy Network That Tried
to Destroy the Civil Rights Movement.
Washington, D. C.: National Geographic
Society, 2010. 128 pp. $16.95 (hardcover)
One of the least-known aspects of an
embarrassing time in Mississippi history is
the inception of the Sovereignty Commission,
a government agency created to keep
the state’s “sovereignty.” In other words,
the agency would serve as a watchdog
over the various Civil Rights groups that
had infiltrated the state in 1956, following
Brown v. Board of Education. Signed into
being by Governor J. P. Coleman, the
group’s purpose was to maintain segregation
in a “peaceful” manner. Funded by
the state, the Commission continued until
1977, four years after Governor Bill
Waller vetoed the funding.
The Commission itself funded the infiltration
of Civil Rights groups all across the
state and other areas of the South. Private
citizens were spied upon by friends, neighbors,
teachers, ministers, students, etc.,
and the spies received remuneration for
their efforts. The goal: to stop integration at
all costs!
Rick Bowers has written an interesting
overview of the Sovereignty Commission
documents, which were closed to the public
until 1998. The documents number
134,000 pages and contain 87,000
names of people who were under the eye
of the Sovereignty Commission – far too
much for the average interested reader.
However, Bowers has managed to give the
information depth and texture by integrating
oral histories, personal memoirs, newspaper
and magazine articles of the time, as
well as some compelling photographs. His
research took him all over the state of Mississippi,
and he found immeasurable help
at the Mississippi Department of Archives
and History. This book gives a different
examination of what happened in Mississippi
during the Civil Rights Movement.
School and public libraries will find it
exceedingly helpful for middle school and
high school researchers.
Ellen Ruffin, Curator, de Grummond Children’s
Literature Collection, University of
Southern Mississippi
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Cawthon, Richard J. Lost Churches of
Mississippi. Jackson, MS: University
Press of Mississippi, 2010. 240 pp.
$35.00 (hardcover)
Through images and historical details of
bygone houses of worship, Lost Churches
of Mississippi excels in its illustration of
important cultural buildings lost to natural
disaster and human intervention. Although
primarily church buildings, the book
moves beyond more traditional Bible-belt
structures to include synagogues as well.
Lost Churches is primarily illustrative and
lacks a rich overarching narrative. Instead,
the cultural history of these buildings is
generally implied for each community;
drafting a cultural narrative is not
Cawthon’s intention.
A particular strength of the text develops
through the links among various
buildings and styles, particularly evident in
the tracing of architects, such as James E.
Green. Beyond the links of buildings
directly in this study, Cawthon also places
select houses of worship in context with
other notable Mississippi buildings, such
as the University of Mississippi’s Lyceum.
Cawthon is forthright concerning the text’s
lack of architectural history and details;
described in the introduction, Lost
Churches “is not intended to be a history
of religious architecture in Mississippi” (p.
XI). The descriptions provided are sufficient
for non-architectural scholars with a
glossary provided to elucidate Cawthon’s
used terminology.
The major criticism is that many of the
images are fairly mundane and originate
from postcards; thus, the majority of the
book’s visuals consist of repetitive streetviews.
That being said, Cawthon discusses
the lack of available visual representations
for many of these buildings in his introduction.
Lost Churches of Mississippi makes a
fine addition to a Mississippi history collection.
Since the work is primarily illustrative
and non-technical, non-architectural
patrons will appreciate the textual details
and the afforded glimpse upon non-extant,
culturally important buildings.
Jason Kovari, Metadata Librarian for
Humanities and Special Collections, Cornell
University
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Ferris, William. Give My Poor Heart
Ease: Voices of the Mississippi Blues.
Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina
Press, 2009. 302 pp. $35.00 (hardcover)
Folklorist William Ferris, a native of
Vicksburg, Mississippi, is eminent professor
of history and associate director of the
Center for the Study of the American
South at the University of North Carolina.
He was a graduate student conducting
fieldwork during the 1960s and 1970s
when he began recording, photographing,
and filming in the Mississippi Delta. He
actually collected images and recordings
for this book as early as age twelve, when
he was given a camera for Christmas.
Ferris’ book profiles more than twenty
gospel and blues performers and includes
black and white photographs of the musicians,
churches, and communities where
they grew up. The blues makers are
allowed to tell their stories in their own
words, describing the instruments they
used, and the circumstances that shaped
their stories. The result is a powerful collection
of African American voices documenting
the origins of this distinct musical
expression. Documented voices include
both celebrities and those known only in
their neighborhoods – James “Son Ford”
Thomas, Willie Dixon, B. B. King, Mary
Gordon, and Fannie Bell Chapman.
Blues historians and anyone who loves