The Press and Race

the long version

"Instead of turning toward hatred after his father was murdered by a black man in 1926, Frank E. Smith committed himself to helping his racist state move toward integration and racial harmony. He was an anomaly in his heyday, a white politician who staunchly supported the civil rights movement at home. As a young man growing up in the Mississippi Delta, arguably one of the most segregated and violent regions in America during the Jim Crow era, Smith (1918-1997) made the decision to work for political and social change in Mississippi.". "For openly supporting John F. Kennedy's bid for the presidency, Smith lost the congressional seat he had held for thirteen tumultuous but productive years. After the election in 1960, Kennedy appointed him to the governing board of the Tennessee Valley Authority, on which Smith served until 1972. In this position he clashed with the growing environmental movement outside the TVA. At the same time, he worked with the Southern Regional Council and the Voter Education Project to register black voters throughout the South." "As this biography details the conflicting political terrains in Smith's life, it reveals the complexities of his political and social views and shows Smith as a man at odds both with the conservative establishment of the 1960s and the left wing of his own party."--BOOK JACKET.