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Percy Greene and the Jackson Advocate
- University Press of Mississippi
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PercyGreene and theJackson Advocate Caryl A. Cooper Percy Greene aroused disparate reactions among colleagues during his turbulent career as editor of the Jackson Advocate, Mississippi's leading black newspaper during the state's strife-filled struggle for civil rights. From 1939 until his death in 1977, Greene charted an editorial path that earned him both high praise and passionate loathing. Accused of being a traitor to the black cause and a foil for the white man, he was revered and hated, celebrated and vilified. In Percy Greene and the Jackson Advocate (1994), historian Julius Thompson asked Greene's friends to talk about the editor. RubyE. StuttsLyells described Greene as a "prolific journalist" and a "bold and daring editor." JamesRundle, who worked with Greene off and on, remembered the editor's relentless pursuit for black voting rights. "Time and time again . . . Greene put his life on the line fighting for black people. The battle for the vote, court battles, his friendship with President Trumanall helped Southern blacks" (p. 45). Not everyone who knew Greene, however , had such fond recollections. In Local People (1994), historian John Dittmer's book about the struggle for equality in Mississippi, civil rights worker R L. T. Smith reflected on his relationship with Greene during the 19508. "I worked with the man. He wasa mail carrier when they hired me . . . I wish I knew something good about the man" (p. 74). Caryl A. Cooper How did Greene, one of Mississippi's most influential blacknewspaper editors, become worthy of such praise and condemnation? The answer can be found in his political philosophy, in his choice of political allies, and in his editorials about the people and the events that shaped the civil rights movement. This chapter will demonstrate how Greene's philosophy and work cost him the respect and trust of Mississippi's blackcommunity during the civil rights movement from 1954 to 1965. To Mississippiblacks, Greene was on the wrong side of history. He closely followed the accommodationist philosophy of Booker T. Washington, became involved with some of Mississippi's staunchest segregationists, and used hisJackson Advocate to ridicule civil rights organizations and their leaders, such as the NAACP's Medgar Evers and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). In light of the political and socio-economic advances civil rights protesters initiated in Mississippi and the nation, Greene's conservatism, at best, is perplexing. Greene's editorial perspective can only be understood in the historical context of American race relations and the blackpress. Historian Lauren Kessler explains in The Dissident Press (1984) that the overriding mission of the blackpress remained unchanged throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries—to instill a sense of racial pride, to educate, to vocalize the fight for democratic and economic freedom, and, when necessary, to mobilize and direct African-Americans to action. Due to slavery'srestrictions, most earlyblack newspapersoriginated in the North, where free blacks had the economic and educational resources to start newspapers. Black newspapersin the South did not emerge until after the Civil War. John K Russworm and Samuel Cornish founded the nation 's first black newspaper in New York in 1827. In Henry L. Suggs' TheBlack Press in the South,1865-1979 (1983), historian Julius Thompson wrote that the first black newspapers to emerge in Mississippi were the Colored Citizen of Vicksburg, established in 1867; the Canton Citizen^ founded in 1869, and the Colored Citizen of Jackson, founded in 1870. Seventeen publications emerged in Mississippi during Reconstruction from 1867 to 1899 (p. 178). The background of these early publishers varied; a fewwere ex-slaves,while others were born free or had escaped slavery. Despite their humble beginnings, the publishers worked 56 [3.238.233.189] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 16:37 GMT) Percy Greeneand the Jackson Advocate to change the old order in the state by urging blacks to vote and elect public officials who were mindful of blacks' best interests. In addition to politics, several economic and social issues faced the early black press as well as black leaders—land redistribution, education, economic aid, and social equality. Black editors lobbied for the government to give land to ex-slavesto compensate them for their unpaid labor, yet editors stopped short of recommending the confiscation of Southern land, except that owned by former Confederate leaders. They advocated equality of the races but devoted little space to the issue of interracial marriage. The Southern black press also supported voting rights, which included the voting rights of women...