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Acknowledgments This book has been long in the making. I only trust that the final delivered volume justifies the long gestation period. Numerous individuals have contributed one way or another to whatever success I have achieved here. I offer thanks first of all to members of the Delta community with whom I have shared joys and sorrows , successes and bitter disappointments. My family, friends, and schoolmates from Greenwood know very well that the voice I assume here is at once individual and communal. I have them to thank for much of the substance of the stories I tell as well as for the motivation and encouragement to finally get the work done. My great regret is that many of those who contributed most to this book did not live to see its publication. These include my sister, Edna; my stepfather, Lee Daniel “Bully” Thompson and his brother, Willie B. “Cadillac” Thompson; my first cousin Luevina; my aunts Ellen and Ella Mae; and my cousins Osby and Gladys on my father’s side. Those of my family who are still living know just how much they have contributed to this book, especially my wife, Carolyn; my son, Daniel; my nephews and nieces; and my cousins Nathaniel Johnson, Lula De La Cruz, Myrtle Turner, and Carlos Lipsey. Thanks to my former colleagues in the University of Tennessee Department of Religious Studies, whose kind words of encouragement throughout the years of this project were instrumental in helping me get through. They also read severalofthefragmentsandofferedconstructivecommentsinpersonorinvarious Acknowledgments xii substantive sessions. I especially wish to acknowledge the support and encouragement of my former department heads: Charlie Reynolds, Gilya Schmidt, and Rosalind Hackett. My friend Jeffie McNeal has provided encouragement along the way as well as important historical information regarding people and incidents that only he, with his excellent memory, could recall. John W. Pleasant, Robert Hampton, Ollie Carter, Sarah Parker Stanley, Minnie Elliott Whittaker, Alma Greene Henderson, Terry Butler, Rev. and Mrs. Aaron Johnson, Myrene Washington Jones, Carolyn Henderson McNeal, and Perry Lymon, together with their families , have contributed important ideas and insights reflected in this work. Cora Markham Garner and her late husband, Albert, have been dear friends from early childhood on. Albert “Judge” Garner and his entire family have been close friends to me and my family. I have benefitted from their association in church, school, and in the struggle in general. Space does not allow me to mention individually all those who have been a part of this work. Others, black and white, might be embarrassed to have their names presented here. To all of you and to so many others I say, “Thanks!” Joan Riedl, Anne Galloway, Teresa Bowman, and Teresa Braden Walker have provided either editorial or research assistance. The staffs of the Greenwood Public Library and the Museum of the Mississippi Delta have also assisted me in important ways. Scot Danforth, Kerry Webb, Gene Adair, and others of the University of Tennessee Press have lent their professional talents to improving this volume. Whatever is good here represents in large part the contributions of others. I alone am responsible for any deficiencies. ...

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