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347 Acknowledgments I have truly been blessed. Just as characters and organizations enter and leave Clarksdale’s story at various points, many colleagues and friends have played a part in this project’s long voyage from Clarksdale to this book. Here I thank only a few. Hugh Brogan, Larry Barth, and particularly Gary McDowell showed me the possibilities. This book would not exist if I had not had their encouragement and confidence during my formative years at the University of Essex and the University of London. Early versions of this project benefited from the intellectual generosity extended by peers and mentors.These include Glenda Gilmore and Hazel Carby, and with them Matthew Jacobson, Jonathan Holloway, Alicia Schmidt Camacho , and the late Susan Porter Benson, who all read and commented on the text. Also, I especially thank Leigh Raiford, Andrea Becksvoort, Christopher Geissler, Kat Charron, Claire Nelson, Qiana Robinson Whitted, and Heather Williams, who took the time to read or discuss early portions of the work. Out of those interactions came early articles, one on Vera Pigee and another on the process of conducting oral histories. The evolution of the book happened in many places. As a DuBois-MandelaRodney Fellow at the Center for African and African American Studies at the University of Michigan, there was a lot of conversation and reconceptualizing . Thanks to Kevin Gaines and Penny Von Eschen for those opportunities. Also thanks to Lori Brooks, Kris Peterson, Monamie Bhadra, and Eric Battjes for making that Michigan winter pleasant, memorable, and productive. At the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, colleagues became friends, particularly Laura Lovett, Joye Bowman, and John Higginson. All new junior faculty should be so lucky as to experience mentorship as I did (and do) from these three amazing senior colleagues. In a manuscript workshop, Laura, Dayo Gore, and Rick Lopez gave invaluable feedback on what became the epilogue, [348] ACKNOWLEDGMENTS and Eve Darian-Smith initiated many a conversation that she will recognize in these pages. At Harvard University, with the Charles Warren Center Fellowship around themes of politics and social movements, I received careful manuscript readings from two fellows, Daniel Kryder and Susan Ware. I also presented the first chapter to a graduate seminar and my colleagues two weeks before the birth of my son. The Warren Center, and the wonderful home of Judy Silvan in Cambridge , provided quiet and stress-free environments in which to write. Most of the heavy editing work took place during that year. At Brown University, I have continued the winning streak of finding supportive colleagues who have taken the time to read and comment on this work. Corey D. B. Walker, Charlie Cobb, Naoko Shibusawa, Paget Henry, Karen Baxter, and Robert Self all read the entire manuscript in earlier drafts, providing specific and vital feedback. I have had lively conversations about Clarksdale and the memory of the mass movement with Caroline Castiglione, Nancy Jacobs, Tricia Rose, Tony Bogues, Lundy Braun, Catherine Bliss, Catherine Lutz, and Karl Jacoby. The Department of Africana Studies ran a manuscript workshop that invited outside scholars (Emilye Crosby, Jonathan Holloway, and Annelise Orleck) and Brown colleagues to sit around a conference table for a day and shred the book. They were merciful and gentle, yet brutally honest and totally intimidating. I wholeheartedly recommend the exercise to all authors. Annelise looked me in the eye and instructed me to “write the hell out of these stories.” I hope I did. I had the privilege of meeting John Dittmer when he agreed to participate in a panel I organized for an American Historical Association conference over a decade ago. I now know him as a generous scholar and superb mentor who has supported this project from that first conference paper to the final manuscript . I have had opportunities to share my stories and receive critical feedback at numerous other conferences and invited lectures.These include annual meetings at the Organization of American Historians, the American Historical Association, the Southern Association for Women Historians, the Oral History Association, the American Studies Association, the British Association of American Studies, and the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, as well as at universities across the country. I roped in friends and honest critics to reread sections in the final stretch. Heartfelt thanks to Leigh Raiford, Naoko Shibusawa, Daryl Black, Andrea Becksvoort, Robin Bernstein, and Christopher Geissler for their generosity and candor. I must also thank [18.218.129.100] Project MUSE (2024-04-16 20:55 GMT...

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