Mississippi Morning

Mississippi Morning
by Ruth Vander Zee (2004)

          This book was an amazing exploration of racial issues in the south during the 1930s. The illustrations by Floyd Cooper accentuate the time period through a stippled, aged effect that although in color gives the impression of sepia-toned photographs on some occasions. The reader follows James William's personal journey to understand adults in his Mississippi town, who seem perfect until he starts to see the underlying racism that is being kept from him. The feeling of things being hidden really comes to the forefront when James finds his father eyes behind a Klan hood. This book is controversial because it covers a terrible time in US history, but it's one that readers should learn about -- and this book is a powerful tool for teaching it.
          At first I was unsure that I would want to use this text in an elementary classroom because of the difficulty of the content (burning down black churches, lynching, the Ku Klux Klan).I did not learn about these issues in school until middle school -- but the more I think about it the more I think that keeping material like this from upper elementary students is doing them a disservice. By keeping this information from older elementary students we are hiding the truth in the same way that James' father hid his true identity from his son. Students usually learn about the civil war, Jim Crow Laws, and the Civil Rights Movement during 5th grade history -- but the reality for African Americans in the south during the Jim Crow Laws cannot come alive through text books. Students should learn that it was more than an inability to use certain drinking fountains or restaurants that overwhelmed the rights of black Americans during a lot of the 20th century. This book confronts the issues of violence that were another aspect of life, and because James is uncovering these secrets and feeling betrayed by them, I believe that students will relate to his journey. They may feel terrified and betrayed by these discoveries, but that is a perfectly understandable reaction -- and just because they have negative feelings does not mean that it should not be discussed. In fact, it is in the discussion that students will be able to work through these complex emotions about American history.