Sons of Mississippi: A Story of Race and Its Legacy

"This book takes a photograph that was published in Life magazine of a group of white men gathered outside of a building at the University of Mississippi, where I teach today, during the tumult over the integration of the institution by James Meredith. One of the men holds a night stick or a baseball bat, suggesting they’re ready to do violence to resist desegregation. Hendrickson tracks down each man in the photograph and traces their stories since the photograph was taken. I love how the book tells the story of what happened outside of the frame of this photo. Get the weekly Five Books newsletter He also looks at how resistance to desegregation impacted the descendants of the men in the photo. He traces how the story got handed down to the next generation. It’s almost biblical, which is appropriate for the author who is a former seminarian. He asks if the sins of the father are visited on their sons and daughters."