The Critical Text?

http://imprints.simonandschuster.biz/atria

A Mission From God

A Memoir and Challenge for America

James Meredith with William Doyle

I would use this as a teaching tool for teaching about the civil rights movement and more specifically how Brown v Board of Education impacted public education. This personal account of the integration process can help provide a more personal glimpse into how segregation divided the citizens of the South. This text would definitely have an influence on the direction of my research about the desegregation of public schools in the south in that it makes me want to research more first hand accounts from African American students who were key to the process. While I absolutely see the value in historical texts and documents in researching this particular topic, I personally believe that my presentation will be much richer and more captivating with the inclusion of memoirs and biographical texts.

In the prologue Meredith recounts his first walk across the lawn at the University of Mississippi admist the screams of “Fuck you, Nigger!” “You’re gonna die, Nigger piece of shit!” “We’re gonna string you up and set you on fire, you fucking Nigger!” escorted by US Marshalls and US Army Soldiers. He continued in saying that he felt invincible as a result of being more heavily guarded than the US president.

For me this text answers the questions of what it was like to be an African American in this country during the budding civil rights era. As well, I believe it address how segregation impacted the African American student population. However from what I read I wish that it included more background information about the setting of the story.