Charles Dollar

A special event celebrating the release of “Mississippi Heroes: White Champions of Racial Justice, 1954–1974” will take place on June 20, from 1 to 3 p.m. in the William Faulkner Room at the J.D. Williams Library on the University of Mississippi campus.

Author Charles Dollar will be joined by friends, family, colleagues and relatives of those profiled in the book to mark the occasion. Attendees will learn about Dollar’s motivation for conducting the exhaustive research behind the book and the lasting impact of the individuals it honors. The event is free and open to the public.

“Mississippi Heroes” brings long-overdue recognition to 59 White Mississippians who, during the height of the civil rights movement from 1954 to 1974, chose to stand with Black Mississippians in the fight for justice and equality,often at great personal cost. Their support challenged a deeply entrenched system of white supremacy and, in many cases, alienated them from their churches, families, and communities.

Several figures familiar to the Oxford and University of Mississippi community are featured in the book, including Russell Barrett, Duncan M. Gray, Joshua Morse, Robert Farley, William Murphy, James Silver and Evans Harrington.

“I have written Mississippi Heroes for a diverse audience of students and professors, as well as all readers interested in the struggle for civil rights in Mississippi during the tumultuous 1950s and 1960s,” Dollar said. “These individuals demonstrated what it meant to act on moral conviction, even when it meant standing alone.”

The book is the result of more than two decades of research, drawing on materials from over 25 archival repositories and manuscript collections, 60 interviews, and extensive academic scholarship. It provides a deeply personal and scholarly account of those who dared to oppose injustice in a hostile climate.