Mississippi Government and Politics

Mississippi Government and Politics PDF Author: Dale Krane
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 9780803277588
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 392

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Book Description
The authors of Mississippi Government and Politics go beyond the stereotyped view of the Magnolia State to consider the dramatic social, economic, and political changes taking place there in recent years. Yet the past is inextricably bound up with the present, as Dale Krane and Stephen D. Shaffer make clear in developing their central theme: the ongoing clash in Mississippi between traditionalists intent on preserving the status quo and progressives who have grown up with the civil rights movement. Based in part on public opinion polls measuring the attitudes of Mississippians over a decade, Mississippi Government and Politics presents a vivid social history and analysis of the state's executive, legislative, and judicial branches. Krane and Shaffer have contributed chapters on the culture of Mississippi, the origins and evolution of its ruling class, and efforts to modernize the economy and to bring more blacks and poor whites into the power structure. Krane writes about the struggle over public policy, or "who gets what, " and the highly ambivalent attitude of Mississippians toward the federal government. Shaffer addresses the shifting allegiances of political parties in the state and the role of interest groups in effecting change. The contributors include leading political scientists and public administrators. Tip H. Allen, Jr., looks at the century-old, much-amended constitution, and Douglas G. Feig considers the dominance of the legislature and the winds of change blowing through it. Thomas H. Handy describes the traditionally weak governorship. Diane E. Wall threads her way through the antiquated judicial system. Edward J. Clynch sizes up tax Policy, and Gerald Gabris delves intothe dynamics of local government. The result is the most comprehensive and authoritative book on Mississippi political culture in many years.

Mississippi Government and Politics

Mississippi Government and Politics PDF Author: Dale Krane
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 9780803277588
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 392

Get Book Here

Book Description
The authors of Mississippi Government and Politics go beyond the stereotyped view of the Magnolia State to consider the dramatic social, economic, and political changes taking place there in recent years. Yet the past is inextricably bound up with the present, as Dale Krane and Stephen D. Shaffer make clear in developing their central theme: the ongoing clash in Mississippi between traditionalists intent on preserving the status quo and progressives who have grown up with the civil rights movement. Based in part on public opinion polls measuring the attitudes of Mississippians over a decade, Mississippi Government and Politics presents a vivid social history and analysis of the state's executive, legislative, and judicial branches. Krane and Shaffer have contributed chapters on the culture of Mississippi, the origins and evolution of its ruling class, and efforts to modernize the economy and to bring more blacks and poor whites into the power structure. Krane writes about the struggle over public policy, or "who gets what, " and the highly ambivalent attitude of Mississippians toward the federal government. Shaffer addresses the shifting allegiances of political parties in the state and the role of interest groups in effecting change. The contributors include leading political scientists and public administrators. Tip H. Allen, Jr., looks at the century-old, much-amended constitution, and Douglas G. Feig considers the dominance of the legislature and the winds of change blowing through it. Thomas H. Handy describes the traditionally weak governorship. Diane E. Wall threads her way through the antiquated judicial system. Edward J. Clynch sizes up tax Policy, and Gerald Gabris delves intothe dynamics of local government. The result is the most comprehensive and authoritative book on Mississippi political culture in many years.

In Search of Another Country

In Search of Another Country PDF Author: Joseph Crespino
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400832713
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 382

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Book Description
In the 1960s, Mississippi was the heart of white southern resistance to the civil-rights movement. To many, it was a backward-looking society of racist authoritarianism and violence that was sorely out of step with modern liberal America. White Mississippians, however, had a different vision of themselves and their country, one so persuasive that by 1980 they had become important players in Ronald Reagan's newly ascendant Republican Party. In this ambitious reassessment of racial politics in the deep South, Joseph Crespino reveals how Mississippi leaders strategically accommodated themselves to the demands of civil-rights activists and the federal government seeking to end Jim Crow, and in so doing contributed to a vibrant conservative countermovement. Crespino explains how white Mississippians linked their fight to preserve Jim Crow with other conservative causes--with evangelical Christians worried about liberalism infecting their churches, with cold warriors concerned about the Communist threat, and with parents worried about where and with whom their children were schooled. Crespino reveals important divisions among Mississippi whites, offering the most nuanced portrayal yet of how conservative southerners bridged the gap between the politics of Jim Crow and that of the modern Republican South. This book lends new insight into how white Mississippians gave rise to a broad, popular reaction against modern liberalism that recast American politics in the closing decades of the twentieth century.

Mississippi Politics

Mississippi Politics PDF Author: Jere Nash
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi
ISBN: 1604733578
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 449

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Book Description
Biloxi. Tunica. Pascagoula. Yazoo. Tishomingo. Yalobusha. Tallahatchie. Itta Bena. Yockanookany. Bogue Chitto. These and hundreds of other place names of Native American origin are scattered across the map of Mississippi. Described by writer Willie Morris as "the mysterious, lost euphonious litany," such colorful names, which were given by the Choctaw, Chickasaw, and other tribes, contribute significantly to the state's sense of place. Yet the general public is largely unaware of exact meanings and tribal roots. Native American Place Names in Mississippi is the first reference book devoted to a subject of interest to residents and visitors alike. From large rivers and towns to tiny creeks and rural communities, Keith A. Baca identifies the most likely meanings of many names with more than one recorded interpretation. He corrects misconceptions that have arisen over the years and translates numerous names for the first time. For the benefit of travelers, he provides the location of each named place. To bring attention to often inconspicuous and unmarked streams he also indicates points where highways cross rivers and creeks with Native American appellations. Sidebars present Native American history, legends, and myths that surround these enigmatic and alluring designations. Formerly an archaeologist with the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Keith A. Baca is an independent researcher and writer living in Starkville, Mississippi. He is the author of the award-winning Indian Mounds of Mississippi: A Visitor's Guide.

Political Culture and Secession in Mississippi

Political Culture and Secession in Mississippi PDF Author: Christopher J. Olsen
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190284994
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
This groundbreaking study of the politics of secession combines traditional political history with current work in anthropology and gender and ritual studies. Christopher J. Olsen has drawn on local election returns, rural newspapers, manuscripts, and numerous county records to sketch a new picture of the intricate and colorful world of local politics. In particular, he demonstrates how the move toward secession in Mississippi was deeply influenced by the demands of masculinity within the state's antiparty political culture. Face-to-face relationships and personal reputations, organized around neighborhood networks of friends and extended kin, were at the heart of antebellum Mississippi politics. The intimate, public nature of this tradition allowed voters to assess each candidate's individual status and fitness for public leadership. Key virtues were independence and physical courage, as well as reliability and loyalty to the community, and the political culture offered numerous chances to demonstrate all of these (sometimes contradictory) qualities. Like dueling and other male rituals, voting and running for office helped set the boundaries of class and power. They also helped mediate the conflicts between nineteenth-century American egalitarianism, democracy, and geographic mobility, and the South's exaggerated patriarchal hierarchy, sustained by honor and slavery. The political system, however, functioned effectively only as long as it remained a personal exercise between individuals, divorced from the anonymity of institutional parties. This antiparty tradition eliminated the distinction between men as individuals and as public representatives, which caused them to assess and interpret all political events and rhetoric in a personal manner. The election of 1860 and success of the Republicans' antisouthern, free soil program, therefore, presented an "insulting" challenge to personal, family, and community honor. As Olsen shows in detail, the sectional controversy engaged men where they measured themselves, in public, with and against their peers, and linked their understanding of masculinity with formal politics, through which the voters actually brought about secession. Political Culture and Secession in Mississippi provides a rich new perspective on the events leading up to the Civil War and will prove an invaluable tool for understanding the central crisis in American politics.

Government and Politics in Mississippi

Government and Politics in Mississippi PDF Author: Robert Bartlett Harmon
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Local government
Languages : en
Pages : 24

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Book Description


Politics of Southern Equality

Politics of Southern Equality PDF Author: Frederick M. Wirt
Publisher: Transaction Publishers
ISBN: 0202367991
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 353

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Book Description
This path-breaking text deals with the effects of federal civil rights legislation on the behavior and attitudes of the inhabitants of a single county in Mississippi--Panola County. These effects are examined in the three civil rights areas of voting, education, and economic opportunities. By using this smaller example, Frederick M. Wirt's broader interest is to show how legislation can be used to effect social change on a large scale. The need to substitute empirical knowledge for abstract speculation motivates Wirt's study. Wirt restricts his study to one county but with conclusions on comparative studies that illumine the emerging political sociology of the South. The author sketches the historical setting of Panola County, emphasizing on the demographic, economic, and political developments in recent decades. He then examines what has actually happened in race relations as an effect of civil rights laws affecting votes, schools, and jobs. Wirt utilizes documentary material from federal, state, and county sources; local newspapers; and records from business and other groups. But his closer understanding comes from personal interviews. Because federal law is the dynamic factor setting the social system in movement, the author explains the interactions between public opinion, the President, and the Congress, which in the end resulted in the laws on votes, schools, and jobs. He also deals with the differing machinery of sanctions and enforcement. Law has a huge effect on social change; and Wirt draws from his empirical study a systematic, inclusive statement of the factors affecting compliance with law, in conditions of conventional biases. Frederick M. Wirt is professor emeritus of political science at the University of Illinois, Urbana and is best known for his work in the fields of urban politics and the politics of education. He is the author of many books including Power in the City: Decision Making in San Francisco, The Political Web of American Schools, Schools in Conflict: The Politics of Education, and Power in the City.

Mississippi Government & Politics

Mississippi Government & Politics PDF Author: Dale Krane
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 396

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Book Description
The authors of Mississippi Government and Politics go beyond the stereotyped view of the Magnolia State to consider the dramatic social, economic, and politi-cal changes taking place there in recent years. Yet the past is inextricably bound up with the present, as Dale Krane and Stephen D. Shaffer make clear in devel-oping their central theme: the ongoing clash in Mississippi between traditional-ists intent on preserving the status quo and progressives who have grown up with the civil rights movement.Mississippi Government and Politics presents a vivid social history and analysis of the state's executive, legislative, and judicial branches. Krane and Shaffer have contributed chapters on the culture of Mississippi and on efforts to modernize the economy and to bring more blacks and poor whites into the power structure. Krane writes about the struggle over public policy, or "who gets what," and the highly ambivalent attitude of Mississippians toward the federal government. Shaffer addresses the role of interest groups in effecting change and the shifting allegiances of political panics in the state.The contributors include leading political scientists and public administrators. Tip H. Allen, Jr., looks at the century-old constitution, and Douglas G. Feig considers the dominance of the legislature and the winds of change blowing through it. Thomas H. Handy describes the traditionally weak governorship. Diane E. Wall threads her way through the antiquated judicial system. Edward J. Clynch sizes up tax policy, and Gerald Gabris delves into the dynamics of local government. The result is the most comprehensive and authoritative book on Mississippi political culture in many years.Dale Krane, an associate professor of public administration at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, is a coauthor of Compromised Compliance: Implementation of the 1965 Voting Rights Act (1982). Stephen D. Shaffer, a professor of political science at Mississippi State University, has contributed to such collections as Political Parties and Elections in the United States (1991) and The 1988 Presidential Election in the South (1991).

The Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission

The Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission PDF Author: Yasuhiro Katagiri
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi
ISBN: 1578063884
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 386

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Book Description
A history of the Magnolia State's notorious watchdog agency established for maintaining racial segregation

Administrative Reorganization of Mississippi Government

Administrative Reorganization of Mississippi Government PDF Author: Thomas E. Kynerd
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 234

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Book Description


The Percys of Mississippi

The Percys of Mississippi PDF Author: Lewis Baker
Publisher: LSU Press
ISBN: 9780807125137
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
Set in the twilight years of southern aristocracy, The Percys of Mississippi is a biography of a family in whose bloodline ran both a strong commitment to public service and an equally strong but more private dedication to literature. Following four generations of Percy family history, Lewis Baker chronicles the lives and public careers of Colonel William Alexander Percy, a planter and lawyer; his son LeRoy, a lawyer and United States Senator; LeRoy’s son Will, a poet and lawyer; and Will’s nephew and adopted son, the novelist Walker Percy. Known as the “gray eagle of the delta” for his piercing eyes and silver hair, Colonel Percy served as a Confederate officer in both the eastern and western campaigns of the Civil War. He returned home to practice law and manage the family’s property, but he was soon drawn into the arena of state politics, where he fought vigorously to strengthen the Mississippi River levee system and to protect his district from the perils of Reconstruction. With Colonel Percy’s death in 1888, LeRoy Percy inherited his father’s law practice and his mantle of leadership in the community. LeRoy used his power as a United States Senator to continue his father’s long quest for an adequate levee system; struggled to loosen the Ku Klux Klan’s grip of fear on the delta; and campaigned tirelessly to discredit the divisive creed of the state’s rising demagogue politicians. In the election of 1911, LeRoy Percy was defeated in his bid to be returned to the Senate, losing to the flamboyant demagogue James Kimble Vardaman, the “White Chief.” It was a defeat echoed across the South throughout the dawning years of the twentieth century, as poorer whites rejected the moderate counsel of the planter class, their traditional leaders, and embraced the demagogues’ fiery gospel of resentment. It was this troubling, altered South that LeRoy Percy bequeathed to his son William Alexander. Will Percy fought in World War I, taught for a time, and stood at his father’s side throughout many of the battles to safeguard the delta from extremism. But Will’s true calling was as a poet, and his lasting contribution to the delta would be in the form of a memorial to its past—his memoir Lanterns on the Levee. “During my day,” he wrote Will Percy not long before his death, “ I have witnessed the disintegration of that moral cohesion of the South which had given it its strength and its sons their singleness of purpose and simplicity.” It would be left to Walker Percy to fully confont htis modern, disintegrated South; to seek in such works as The Moviegoer, The Last Gentleman, and The Second Coming the place of the Percy family’s values in a world that has little use for aristocrats.