A01=Amy Lemco
archival records
Author_Amy Lemco
Back-of-Town business
beach
Biloxi
Black activists
Category=JBFA
Category=NHB
Category=NHK
Civil Rights Movement
desegregation
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
Gilbert
Gilbert Mason
Grassroots
Gulf Coast Islands
Harrison County schools
humanitarian
interviews with survivors
lynching
Mason
Mississippi
race
school desegregation
slave ships
state legislation
State Sovereignty Commission
white supremacy
Product details
- ISBN 9781496850348
- Weight: 272g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 30 Sep 2023
- Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
Wading In: Desegregation on the Mississippi Gulf Coast frames the fight for beach and school desegregation within the history of Black life in Biloxi, beginning with the arrival of slave ships on the Gulf Coast islands in 1721. Detailing the buildup of Back-of-Town businesses, lynchings in the early 1900s, and national and state legislation repressing Black progress, author Amy Lemco contextualizes the regional atmosphere Dr. Gilbert Mason—a resilient civic leader, humanitarian, and lover of the water—and his family encountered in 1955. Using extensive archival records and interviews with survivors, the book chronicles how Dr. Mason inspired and helped organize local Black activists to peacefully protest the apartheid of Biloxi's beaches.
Dr. Mason operated under the surveillance of the State Sovereignty Commission, assaults by private citizens, and the terrors of a decade riddled with the assassinations of civil rights workers. Grassroots efforts he led and inspired in Biloxi joined with the national movement to weaken the hold of white supremacy in the state. With unwavering perseverance and bravery, Dr. Mason and fellow activists achieved the desegregation of Mississippi's beaches and made Harrison County schools the first primary school district in the state to integrate. Wading In firmly establishes Dr. Mason as a national civil rights role model and presents the story of Mississippi’s struggle to a new generation of readers.
Dr. Mason operated under the surveillance of the State Sovereignty Commission, assaults by private citizens, and the terrors of a decade riddled with the assassinations of civil rights workers. Grassroots efforts he led and inspired in Biloxi joined with the national movement to weaken the hold of white supremacy in the state. With unwavering perseverance and bravery, Dr. Mason and fellow activists achieved the desegregation of Mississippi's beaches and made Harrison County schools the first primary school district in the state to integrate. Wading In firmly establishes Dr. Mason as a national civil rights role model and presents the story of Mississippi’s struggle to a new generation of readers.
Amy Lemco was raised in Biloxi, Mississippi, and Bonney Lake, Washington. Lemco earned her degree in history and creative writing at Emory & Henry College.
