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The Senator and the Sharecropper: The Freedom Struggles of James O. Eastland and Fannie Lou Hamer
The epic struggle for black equality in the twentieth century, told through the deeply intertwined life histories of the staunch segregationist and his sharecropper nemesis.
Sunflower County, Mississippi, is a land of seeming contradictions. It boasts some of the world's richest soil, yet has produced widespread poverty that lingers to this day. It stood at the epicenter of the civil rights movement, yet still suffers from racial inequality. It has been on the forefront of globalization, yet continues to stagnate economically.
The Senator and the Sharecropper explores these paradoxes, telling the story of two larger-than-life personalities who epitomized the county's the senator, James O. Eastland, a wealthy white cotton planter who was one of the most powerful segregationists in the U.S. Senate, and the sharecropper, Fannie Lou Hamer, who grew up desperately poor just a few miles from the Eastland plantation and rose to become the spiritual leader of the Mississippi freedom struggle. Their intertwined histories-set against a backdrop of Sunflower County's rise and fall as a center of cotton agriculture-show how this isolated county weathered revolutionary changes in seemingly distant realms, from the global economy to the Cold War to national politics.
Although Sunflower County would be transformed during the tumultuous decades of the mid-twentieth century, it remained at century's end resiliently separate and unequal. Asch, who spent nearly a decade here as an educator, combines a scholar's attention to fact with an insider's love of the area to tell a maddening but compelling, discouraging yet inspirational story of change and continuity in a land few Americans understand.
Sunflower County, Mississippi, is a land of seeming contradictions. It boasts some of the world's richest soil, yet has produced widespread poverty that lingers to this day. It stood at the epicenter of the civil rights movement, yet still suffers from racial inequality. It has been on the forefront of globalization, yet continues to stagnate economically.
The Senator and the Sharecropper explores these paradoxes, telling the story of two larger-than-life personalities who epitomized the county's the senator, James O. Eastland, a wealthy white cotton planter who was one of the most powerful segregationists in the U.S. Senate, and the sharecropper, Fannie Lou Hamer, who grew up desperately poor just a few miles from the Eastland plantation and rose to become the spiritual leader of the Mississippi freedom struggle. Their intertwined histories-set against a backdrop of Sunflower County's rise and fall as a center of cotton agriculture-show how this isolated county weathered revolutionary changes in seemingly distant realms, from the global economy to the Cold War to national politics.
Although Sunflower County would be transformed during the tumultuous decades of the mid-twentieth century, it remained at century's end resiliently separate and unequal. Asch, who spent nearly a decade here as an educator, combines a scholar's attention to fact with an insider's love of the area to tell a maddening but compelling, discouraging yet inspirational story of change and continuity in a land few Americans understand.
368 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 2008
About the author
Chris Myers Asch
3 books23 followersI lead many different lives. I’m a dad who left full-time work five years ago to raise three kids; I’m a historian who teaches at Colby College and just finished a book on race in D.C. (Chocolate City); I’m a social entrepreneur who has helped start and run three non-profit organizations, including the Capital Area New Mainers Project; I’m an athlete who loves baseball, martial arts, and hiking. It's a full life!
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
February 2, 2011
I saw so many glowing reviews of this book that I felt compelled to pick it up. I should have read the reviews a little more closely. Many of the reviews on Amazon, etc. are from people who either know the author or who live in the Mississippi Delta and are thus intrigued by this--or maybe any--book about the region. Its hard to argue that Asch's story is a compelling one--he taught in the Mississippi Delta and seems to have a genuine interest in civil/community service, but that should not cloud judgements. This book attempts to do so much that it accomplishes little. For my money, James Cobb's "The Most Southern Place on Earth" is still the best book on the Delta. Asch fails to offer anything new about the region and his dual biographical approach does little to enhance his account. Conceptually joining Hamer and Eastland must have seemed like a wise, even profound, idea to a graduate student (which Asch was when this was originally conceived), but the execution is poor and Asch is quiet on why he believes they should appear together. Just because they lived in the same area and were on opposite sides of MS's racial divide is simply not enough. Asch should have focused his attention on creating a good scholarly biography of Eastland and left things at that. It is his coverage of Eastland, who remains little understood, that earns this book two stars. Instead of focusing on the hate-filled Eastland, he adopts this peculiar approach and accomplishes little beyond what we already know. At times the book is so micro-focused on his work's main protagonists that the big picture on the national level is missed and at other times he neglects the situation in MS. Throughout, he fails to place his study in the context of the southern region at the time. There have been many books on the civil rights struggle and several of them have been quite good. This is not one of them.
October 25, 2018
Fascinating portrait of two larger-than-life people and their combative struggles to preserve (Eastland) or revolutionize (Hamer) Sunflower County, Mississippi, and, in the process, the segregated South. Asch could have easily portrayed Eastland as a one-dimensional bogeyman. Instead, while pulling no punches about Eastland's bigoted, white supremacist vision and his brilliant use of political power to attempt to perpetuate a political, social, and cultural system with rich whites such as himself at the top and poor blacks at the bottom, Asch deftly shows the historical, geographical, cultural, and familial origins of Eastland's warped worldview. One begins to see why and how whites such as Eastland could have been oblivious for so long to the injustice and ultimate futility of the South's system of racial oppression.
Similarly, Asch could have simply declared Hamer a saint on a noble mission. But, in addition he shows us how Hamer's naiveté left her blind to the nearly inevitable failure of her dreams of a socialist economic revolution in the Mississippi Delta.
In a strange way, both Hamer and Eastland were captives to the land of the Mississippi Delta and to the global cotton economy and the technological and market changes that revolutionized that economy. While the civil rights victories of the 1960s changed the political landscape of Mississippi Delta, the mechanization of cotton farming eliminated the need for the African-American laborers who had been essential to large-scale cotton production in the Deep South. Many African-Americans left the Delta, and most poor, undereducated African-Americans who remained became dependent on federal government welfare for survival. Both the exodus and the dependence on welfare were developments that both Hamer and Eastland lamented.
Asch also deserves credit for highlighting the deep divide between the cotton-growing, plantation-dominated Mississippi Delta and the majority of the rest of the state, often referred to as the Mississippi Hills. Historically, the two regions have been very different geographically, economically, politically, religiously, and culturally, and therefore have often clashed in interesting and sometimes unpredictable ways.
In summary, this is essential reading for anyone interested in the civil rights movement, Mississippi, or, even if you are just interested in two complex, interesting human beings.
Similarly, Asch could have simply declared Hamer a saint on a noble mission. But, in addition he shows us how Hamer's naiveté left her blind to the nearly inevitable failure of her dreams of a socialist economic revolution in the Mississippi Delta.
In a strange way, both Hamer and Eastland were captives to the land of the Mississippi Delta and to the global cotton economy and the technological and market changes that revolutionized that economy. While the civil rights victories of the 1960s changed the political landscape of Mississippi Delta, the mechanization of cotton farming eliminated the need for the African-American laborers who had been essential to large-scale cotton production in the Deep South. Many African-Americans left the Delta, and most poor, undereducated African-Americans who remained became dependent on federal government welfare for survival. Both the exodus and the dependence on welfare were developments that both Hamer and Eastland lamented.
Asch also deserves credit for highlighting the deep divide between the cotton-growing, plantation-dominated Mississippi Delta and the majority of the rest of the state, often referred to as the Mississippi Hills. Historically, the two regions have been very different geographically, economically, politically, religiously, and culturally, and therefore have often clashed in interesting and sometimes unpredictable ways.
In summary, this is essential reading for anyone interested in the civil rights movement, Mississippi, or, even if you are just interested in two complex, interesting human beings.
August 7, 2018
This one will leave you wanting to know more about its two subjects from Sunflower County, Mississippi. James O. Eastland and Fannie Lou Hamer were about as far apart as you can get in the
forced socioeconomic order of their region. Eastland was the heir to a vast Mississippi Delta cotton
plantation and Hamer's folks were sharecroppers on a plantation of one of Eastland's neighbors. The
wages they made were barely sustainable for life, Hamer was one of 20 kids born to her family. She
had barely a grade school education.
Eastland was a diehard segregationist to the end of his life. He came by it by tradition, his grandfather on his mother's side rode with Nathan Bedford Forrest. Just before he was born an uncle
also named James Eastland was murdered when he tried to settle a dispute between two of his black
field hands. Eastland's father led a lynch party for those responsible. He named his new son after
his dead brother. The tradition of white supremacy bred into him from earliest childhood.
When Eastland was growing up Sunflower County was a majority black county. But blacks were
forcefully discouraged from voting by a variety of means. Hamer only got her franchise after about
3 attempts at the Mississippi literacy test.
Hamer was inspired by the black church she attended to become involved in the civil rights struggle
as did many others of her generation. She discovered she had a talent for oratory as any who saw
the 1964 Democratic convention and witnessed her speech defending the Mississippi Freedom
Democratic slate. It was inspiring.
Hamer got into some radical politics later on. She took a trip to Africa and got involved in Pan
Africanism. She thought that the struggle would not be won unless economic power was achieved.
Her agricultural coop Freedom Farm went bust. But things got somewhat better with a combination of the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Right Act and the Great Society legislation. Black
counties asserted their majorities and the courthouse pols took on a different pigmentation. Not
on her terms, but it was equality of a sort.
She still suffered personally. Even after the passage of the Civil Rights Act, one of Hamer's two
daughters died in the mid 60s of injuries exacerbated by the fact that a few Mississippi hospitals
still refused to treat black patients.
Eastland rose in the Senate as per the seniority system to be head of the Judiciary Committee from
which position he killed any and all civil rights legislation for generations. He was actually in
deep mourning for the old order that passeth. He took a trip in the early 70s to Africa to visit and
sing the praises of Ian Smith's Rhodesian white government. He hoped it would flourish and show
how segregation was best for all.
Eastland and Hamer in their own ways are responsible for a lot of what Mississippi is today. Eastland is so wrong headed and Hamer is inspiring.
This should be read by anyone interested in the civil rights era.
forced socioeconomic order of their region. Eastland was the heir to a vast Mississippi Delta cotton
plantation and Hamer's folks were sharecroppers on a plantation of one of Eastland's neighbors. The
wages they made were barely sustainable for life, Hamer was one of 20 kids born to her family. She
had barely a grade school education.
Eastland was a diehard segregationist to the end of his life. He came by it by tradition, his grandfather on his mother's side rode with Nathan Bedford Forrest. Just before he was born an uncle
also named James Eastland was murdered when he tried to settle a dispute between two of his black
field hands. Eastland's father led a lynch party for those responsible. He named his new son after
his dead brother. The tradition of white supremacy bred into him from earliest childhood.
When Eastland was growing up Sunflower County was a majority black county. But blacks were
forcefully discouraged from voting by a variety of means. Hamer only got her franchise after about
3 attempts at the Mississippi literacy test.
Hamer was inspired by the black church she attended to become involved in the civil rights struggle
as did many others of her generation. She discovered she had a talent for oratory as any who saw
the 1964 Democratic convention and witnessed her speech defending the Mississippi Freedom
Democratic slate. It was inspiring.
Hamer got into some radical politics later on. She took a trip to Africa and got involved in Pan
Africanism. She thought that the struggle would not be won unless economic power was achieved.
Her agricultural coop Freedom Farm went bust. But things got somewhat better with a combination of the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Right Act and the Great Society legislation. Black
counties asserted their majorities and the courthouse pols took on a different pigmentation. Not
on her terms, but it was equality of a sort.
She still suffered personally. Even after the passage of the Civil Rights Act, one of Hamer's two
daughters died in the mid 60s of injuries exacerbated by the fact that a few Mississippi hospitals
still refused to treat black patients.
Eastland rose in the Senate as per the seniority system to be head of the Judiciary Committee from
which position he killed any and all civil rights legislation for generations. He was actually in
deep mourning for the old order that passeth. He took a trip in the early 70s to Africa to visit and
sing the praises of Ian Smith's Rhodesian white government. He hoped it would flourish and show
how segregation was best for all.
Eastland and Hamer in their own ways are responsible for a lot of what Mississippi is today. Eastland is so wrong headed and Hamer is inspiring.
This should be read by anyone interested in the civil rights era.
September 27, 2013
Although the subject matter is somewhat interesting to me, I really had to struggle to get through this book. Asch is honest, proactive, and is dedicated to historical accuracy - a good product of modern historical scholarship. The problem is that he's also not a terribly engaging or imaginative writer, and his use of language and intellectual organization is often redundant and tends to drag (I lost count of how many times he introduced and re-introduced "1930's social anthropologist Hortense Powdermaker" as though he'd never referred to her before). He also doesn't seem to have a very cohesive idea of what the book is supposed to be. As a result, the contents are mostly dry history vaguely bracketed by the author's experiences as a Teach for America volunteer in Mississippi. The history is well-researched, but not really something that you can't get in better presentation elsewhere, and the whole thing reads like a decent doctoral thesis that's been unwisely extended into a marginal book.
With that said, this book does do a good job of portraying the viciousness of lynch mobs and a passable job of establishing the limitations of "plantation culture" for both blacks and whites. I found the description of the particularly vicious lynching of Luther and Mary Holbert in 1904 to be particularly eye-opening. It also clarifies some facts about the Civil Rights era that have since been lost to history, especially concerning JFK's lack of effectiveness and the ham-handed way that various courts during the Warren era traded the enormous social problems of the old order for other enormous social problems that continue to this day. However, for the most part this is a book that really serves little purpose beyond introducing the reader to Asch's original citation list, the perusal of which makes this book irrelevant.
With that said, this book does do a good job of portraying the viciousness of lynch mobs and a passable job of establishing the limitations of "plantation culture" for both blacks and whites. I found the description of the particularly vicious lynching of Luther and Mary Holbert in 1904 to be particularly eye-opening. It also clarifies some facts about the Civil Rights era that have since been lost to history, especially concerning JFK's lack of effectiveness and the ham-handed way that various courts during the Warren era traded the enormous social problems of the old order for other enormous social problems that continue to this day. However, for the most part this is a book that really serves little purpose beyond introducing the reader to Asch's original citation list, the perusal of which makes this book irrelevant.
July 22, 2015
Meeting Fannie Lou Hamer here in NYC when I was a small child, was profound. This book researched the ties between the Civil Rights Movement and the Cold War, and proved the impact of this no-nonsense,unsung hero. Even the tiniest details in the Senator and the Sharecropper speak volumes about American History. Similar to The Most Southern Place on Earth, this book is the next best thing to actually visiting Mississippi, birthplace of the Blues.
May 20, 2013
It was an informative book about two highly interesting characters in the Mississippi Civil Rights movement. The book, however, seemed to be a bit repetitive and dry, which made for a slow read.
July 7, 2019
I was really hoping for more of a biography, but Asch spent a lot of time discussing the culture and history that shaped these people. He did say that he was deliberately avoiding "great man" history. I learned that I like to have a character centered history.
August 3, 2009
A thesis turned book that includes the characters of "king cotton", a segregationist senator (the grandfather of a colleague, interestingly enough), and a sharecropper turned civil rights advocate. It'll bore you, boil your blood (the senator blocked 30 years of civil rights legislation), and bring a little Mississippi history into your life.
November 28, 2012
Great book, well researched with wonderful insight into the world and thinking of James O. Eastland and Fannie Lou Hamer. And how interesting is it that of the two Fannie Lou Hamer is the one who is most remembered? Asch's work also includes bountiful information for those who have little knowledge about the national and international events that unfolded during Eastland and Hamer's lifetimes.
October 11, 2015
I'm currently developing my own project about Fannie Lou Hamer and this book was good at giving a sense of overall context, especially as it juxtaposed the life of James O. Eastland in sharp contrast to the life and beginnings of Fannie Lou.
Read
September 23, 2008Intresting so far...
May 3, 2010
Excellent from an outsider!
September 7, 2017
Love Ms Hamer.
March 18, 2024
A friend who works at the Carrollton library, Miss., had gotten a copy of Chris Myers Asch's "The Senator and the Sharecropper: The Freedom Struggles of James O. Eastland and Fannie Lou Hamer", and last week she let me borrow her copy. I've just finished this rather cold gob of research, which Asch wrote up with a definite bias all the way through it, around 2008. Lots of dense writing of the era involving Eastland plantation and the Eastlands' dual startup in Forest, Miss., to the swampland Delta that became Sunflower County and lynchings in 1904 that I'd read about in earlier sources. Asch just can't seem to get away from his use of "white supremacy"; neither can he find a way out of that "plantation mentality". I was many times reminded of an early pioneer around Shongalo and Vaiden in Carroll County, Miss., in the aftermath of the ending of the Civil War and his efforts to get educational opportunities for the former slaves. Education, Dr. Vaiden was quoted at the time, was what would dispel the chaos. Individual desire and action toward educating oneself: not stupidly trying to overpower one's neighbors.
November 2, 2020
A solid, well-balanced comparative career biography of two pivotal figures in the civil rights movement of the modern era. The quotes from Senator Eastland and the other ‘Dixiecrats’ are shocking in their similarity to the current political rhetoric of President Trump and his supporters demonstrating that hate and ignorance are stubborn to eliminate from our politics.
December 19, 2020
A historical look at two figures from Sunflower County, Mississippi...a segregationist senator and a civil-right activist. A bit dry, but helpful in understanding the messy and tragic history of the rural South.
March 23, 2018
You can learn to hate Senator Eastland but you will learn to love the will and guts of Fannie Lou Hamer.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews