Aaron Henry of Mississippi: Inside Agitator

by Minion K. C. Morrison

Overview

Winner of the 2016 Lillian Smith Book Award

When Aaron Henry returned home to Mississippi from World War II service in 1946, he was part of wave of black servicemen who challenged the racial status quo. He became a pharmacist through the GI Bill, and as a prominent citizen, he organized a hometown chapter of the NAACP and relatively quickly became leader of the state chapter.

From that launching pad he joined and helped lead an ensemble of activists who fundamentally challenged the system of segregation and the almost total exclusion of African Americans from the political structure. These efforts were most clearly evident in his leadership of the integrated Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party delegation, which, after an unsuccessful effort to unseat the lily-white Democratic delegation at the Democratic National Convention in 1964, won recognition from the national party in 1968.

The man who the New York Times described as being “at the forefront of every significant boycott, sit-in, protest march, rally, voter registration drive and court case” eventually became a rare example of a social-movement leader who successfully moved into political office. Aaron Henry of Mississippi covers the life of this remarkable leader, from his humble beginnings in a sharecropping family to his election to the Mississippi house of representatives in 1979, all the while maintaining the social-change ideology that prompted him to improve his native state, and thereby the nation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781610755641
Publisher:	University of Arkansas Press
Publication date:	07/15/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	363
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

Minion K. C. Morrison is professor of political science and public administration at Mississippi State University. He is the author of five books.

Table of Contents

Contents Preface Introduction Chapter One: Son of Sharecroppers and Entrepreneurs Chapter Two: Military Service, Family, and Profession Chapter Three: Henry, the NAACP, and Indigenous Leadership Chapter Four: Demanding Restoration of the Black Franchise Chapter Five: An Alternative to the Segregated State Democratic Party Chapter Six: Henry the Public Entrepreneur and Network Tactician Chapter Seven: Private and Public Entrepreneurship for Redistributive Justice Chapter Eight: Taking the Reins of the State Democratic Party Chapter Nine: The Summit and Culmination Conclusion and Postscript Notes Bibliography Index

Editorial Reviews

Essential for readers interested in and for collections focusing on the civil rights movement.”
—Library Journal

“A stunningly powerful book that takes an honest and exhaustive look at one of the seminal figures from the state’s civil rights history. … To say that perhaps no American scholar could write seriously about the life of Aaron Henry with more credibility than Minion K.C. Morrison is a great understatement.”

—The Clarion-Ledger

“Long ago, the historiography of the civil rights movement moved beyond the study of some its most iconic leaders, such as Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Rosa Parks. John Dittmer’s Local People: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi (CH, Dec’94, 32-2338), for example, trained the focus of research toward the activism that took place in neighborhoods, local businesses, and churches.  Morrison (political science, Mississippi State Univ.) chronicles the life and accomplishments of one such little known African American activist.  The superlatives Morrison heaps on Aaron Henry prove to be more than well deserved.  He calls Henry “the single most important continuous leader in implementing a civil rights vision that transformed racialized politics and society in Mississippi.”  Henry worked with Medgar Evers to help register blacks to vote, and he ran as a gubernatorial candidate in a statewide mock “freedom election” in 1963.  His networking skills led to working partnerships with Martin Luther King Jr. and the White House. Eventually, Henry’s career reflected the fruits of his labor as an activist. He was elected to the Mississippi state legislature in 1979, serving until 1996.”

Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries.

—Choice, March 2016

“Morrison convincingly argues that Henry’s role as an activist and politician made him more important and influential than many other civil rights activists whose influence waned after the high tide of mass organizing. … Will likely stand as the definitive biography of a major civil rights figure.”

—American Historical Review, June 2016

From the Publisher

05/15/2015
Morrison (political science & public administration, Mississippi State Univ.; African Americans and Political Participation) presents a comprehensive biography of Aaron Henry (1922–97), a civil rights activist, organizer, and elected representative from Dublin, MS, who began agitating for change after his military service in World War II. What sets Henry's life apart from the traditional narrative, however, is the interplay of his personal and pragmatic grassroots leadership, especially when contrasted with the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) strategy of voter registration and focus on court wins along with other federal legal efforts. What this work aims to accomplish, and does so in the best tradition of historical biography, is to detail Henry's trajectory at the intersection points of the various local and national efforts of the civil rights era. The reader is shown the powerful effects of the grassroots efforts in Mississippi and the courage required of individuals to sustain such efforts. VERDICT Essential for readers interested in and for collections focusing on the civil rights movement.—Jim Hahn, Univ. Lib., Univ. of Illinois, Urbana

Library Journal

2015-03-05
Morrison (Political Science and Public Administration/Mississippi State Univ.; African Americans and Political Participation: A Reference Handbook, 2003) brings our belated attention to Aaron Henry (1922-1997), a man of immense talent devoted to establishing an integrated society. The author recounts Henry's remarkable achievements, which could easily fill volumes. Born in the Mississippi Delta, he was raised learning the methods that would enable him to change the world as he knew it. Like so many others, Henry returned from service in the Army expecting certain rights. Upset with the continuing spread of prejudice and discrimination, he opened a pharmacy in Clarksdale, Mississippi, and commenced to work for social change. He set his sights first on enfranchising Negro voters, joined the NAACP, and perfected his networking and speaking skills. Soon, he developed a successful partnership with Medgar Evers, and he and Evers successfully pushed beyond the framework of the slow-moving NAACP parent organization. The author gives only minor insights into the man and his family, sticking to his many and varied accomplishments. Occasionally, the narrative gets bogged down in his professorial style and attempt to include everything. Henry organized multiple social movements in Clarksdale, sit-ins at railway and bus stations, a boycott of Clarksdale shops that lasted for years, and protests against all segregated establishments, including churches. He also participated in the Freedom Vote Campaign. With the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the War on Poverty, and Lyndon Johnson's Great Society, Henry really blossomed. His entrepreneurial abilities, political acumen, and close connections helped secure funding for countless projects in his home state. His ability to compromise turned some against his leadership, but his successes vastly outweighed his failures. Henry not only changed the racial climate in Mississippi; he challenged the entire infrastructure. A sometimes slow-moving but mostly enlightening book about a fearless man that readers should know better.

Kirkus Reviews