A New Day in the Delta

Inventing School Desegregation As You Go

Biography & Memoir, Reference, Nonfiction, History, Americas, United States
Cover of the book A New Day in the Delta by David W. Beckwith, University of Alabama Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: David W. Beckwith ISBN: 9780817381103
Publisher: University of Alabama Press Publication: November 28, 2012
Imprint: University Alabama Press Language: English
Author: David W. Beckwith
ISBN: 9780817381103
Publisher: University of Alabama Press
Publication: November 28, 2012
Imprint: University Alabama Press
Language: English

A New Day in the Delta is a fresh and appealing memoir of the experience of a young white college graduate in need of a job as the Vietnam War reached its zenith. David Beckwith applied and was accepted for a teaching position in the Mississippi Delta in the summer of 1969. Although it seemed to him a bit strange that he was accepted so quickly for this job while his other applications went nowhere, he was grateful for the opportunity. Beckwith reported for work to learn that he was to be assigned to an all-black school as the first step in Mississippi’s long-deferred school desegregation.

 

The nation and Mississippi alike were being transformed by war and evolving racial relations, and Beckwith found himself on the cutting edge of the transformation of American education and society in one of the most resistant (and poor) corners of the country. Beckwith’s revealing and often amusing story of the year of mutual incomprehension between an inexperienced white teacher and a classroom full of black children who had had minimal contact with any whites. This is history as it was experienced by those who were thrust into another sort of "front line."

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

A New Day in the Delta is a fresh and appealing memoir of the experience of a young white college graduate in need of a job as the Vietnam War reached its zenith. David Beckwith applied and was accepted for a teaching position in the Mississippi Delta in the summer of 1969. Although it seemed to him a bit strange that he was accepted so quickly for this job while his other applications went nowhere, he was grateful for the opportunity. Beckwith reported for work to learn that he was to be assigned to an all-black school as the first step in Mississippi’s long-deferred school desegregation.

 

The nation and Mississippi alike were being transformed by war and evolving racial relations, and Beckwith found himself on the cutting edge of the transformation of American education and society in one of the most resistant (and poor) corners of the country. Beckwith’s revealing and often amusing story of the year of mutual incomprehension between an inexperienced white teacher and a classroom full of black children who had had minimal contact with any whites. This is history as it was experienced by those who were thrust into another sort of "front line."

More books from University of Alabama Press

Cover of the book Darkroom by David W. Beckwith
Cover of the book Expanding American Anthropology, 1945-1980 by David W. Beckwith
Cover of the book Wings of Gold by David W. Beckwith
Cover of the book Nancy Batson Crews by David W. Beckwith
Cover of the book Mythical Trickster Figures by David W. Beckwith
Cover of the book Holocene Hunter-Gatherers of the Lower Ohio River Valley by David W. Beckwith
Cover of the book From Cape Charles to Cape Fear by David W. Beckwith
Cover of the book Butterflies of Alabama by David W. Beckwith
Cover of the book Black, White, and Huckleberry Finn by David W. Beckwith
Cover of the book Southeastern Ceremonial Complex by David W. Beckwith
Cover of the book The Point Is To Change It by David W. Beckwith
Cover of the book Contemporaries and Snobs by David W. Beckwith
Cover of the book After Strange Texts by David W. Beckwith
Cover of the book Sugar Cane Capitalism and Environmental Transformation by David W. Beckwith
Cover of the book The Rise of Constitutional Government in the Iberian Atlantic World by David W. Beckwith
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy