Customer Reviews

The Senator and the Sharecropper: The Freedom Struggles of James O. Eastland and Fannie Lou Hamer

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This book is a must read for any person interested in Mississippi or the civil rights movement. Chris Myers Asch has weaved the crucial historical facts relating to two juggernaughts from Sunflower County, Mississippi - Fannie Lou Hamer and Sen. James Eastland - into an incredibly compelling narrative. In so doing, Dr. Asch explains the journey of these two characters in a fair, hard-hitting way that does not unnecessarily deride Sen. Eastland or excessively over-promote Ms. Hamer. He just tells it like it is. I went through two highlighters underlining my favorite passages!

I particularly enjoyed Dr. Asch's masterful ability to highlight the historical irony surrounding these two extraordinary figures: despite Ms. Hamer's long fight to bring voting rights to blacks in Mississippi, Sen. Eastland - and not Ms. Hamer - in many ways emerged (at least during their lifetimes) as having adapted better to the social and political changes brought about by the civil rights movement. Talk about food for thought.

Having worked with Dr. Asch in Sunflower County and having followed his career with keen interest, I am thrilled we all have an opportunity to appreciate the important contribution he has made to American historical scholarship.

Shawn Raymond
Houston, Texas

This is one amazingly good book. If you have any interest in American history, the South, race relations, racism, sharecropper, Mississippi, African American history, this is a great book to read.

I have an interest in southern history and in the history of Mississippi (visited there twice, which is a lot for a liberal northerner) and there was so much I learned from Chris Myers Asch. First, I was shocked to learn that the Mississippi Delta, home of the blues, home of huge cotton plantations, did not have much of a slave history. Why? Because the land was too forbidding until much later after the end of enslavement. It's so easy to read about sharecroppers picking cotton on plantations and to think, "Oh, these must be old plantations from the days of slavery." Wrong.

The sections on James Eastland presiding over the Senate Judiciary Committee were highly informative and infuriating (no fault of the author). Anyone who wants to think that racism, direct, blatant, evil racism, was somehow a "blot" on American history--well read about Eastland heading one of the most powerful committees in Congress and you will see that there was nothing "exceptional" about racism in American history. It cut right through the center of American history. To think that my father and other Negro (yes, I'll go old-fashioned here) veterans of World War II came home from serving their country and faced a man like James Eastland as head of the Senate Judiciary Committee--I just find that shameful.

Chris Myers Ash does a great job of linking cotton to the world economy. He also does a great job of outlining the massive crop subsidies Eastland and the cotton planters got from the U.S. Government. These folks were the worst type of citizens. They fought like hell to get major subsidies for themselves. They fought like hell to prevent colored folks from getting anything. And yet there is a paternalistic worldview at work and Myers Ash does a great job of explaining that view. I was perhaps most taken with the fact that he interviewed Eastland's children. One of his daughters tells Myers Asch that her father never had to explicitly speak about the inferiority of black people. It was just so much a part of her world that it was assumed. They didn't have to talk about it. Eastland's son makes a great appearance in the book and he talks about how liberating it was to escape the racism of his father's generation.

As a Democrat I have to point out another aspect of James Eastland's political maneuvers that Myers Asch picks up on so well. At some point in the 50's or so, Eastland cleans up his racist language. He opposes every piece of civil rights legislation, harasses and disrespects every civil rights advocate who comes to speak before the Judiciary Committee and yet he stops explicitly calling blacks inferior. I read this and I thought, well the modern Republican Party sure figured out how insidiously slick this maneuver was. The Republicans from Reagan on (I'll do something strange and give George W. some credit for breaking this pattern) attacked black folks in all kinds of ways without every explicitly calling us names. But every one and every white southern voter knew exactly who the Republicans were speaking of when they let loose their attacks on welfare recipients and "criminals."

The sections on Mrs. Hamer as quite good as well. Mrs. Hamer really became an icon to the movement, but Myers Asch captures the real pain and agony and sense of defeat that she suffered, especially in her last agonizing days of cancer. Though Mississippi did see change as a result of the civil rights movement, the change never quite addressed the depth of the poverty and powerlessness of the descendants of the sharecroppers. Mrs. Hamer wanted to really deeply address these inequities. She was stymied in the political system, in her education fight and in her heart-breaking attempt to create a cooperative called Freedom Farm. It's all here captured brilliantly and poignantly by Myers Asch.

Final word, Asch is bold for a white writer in that he implicates African Americans in their own oppression. He shows how a sharecropper mentality definitely hindered efforts of black people to organize, start businesses and to develop into full citizens in the aftermath of the movement. I am African American and I found Myers Asch thoroughly persuasive (not to mention courageous) here. If we are to really deeply heal the racial divide, it will require courage and imagination of the type Myers Asch displays in this book.

Readers should know: Myers Asch was a member of Teach for America and he lived in Sunflower County for a number of years, and still has friends and former students down there. All told an excellent effort. I found this to be an indispensable book in helping me make sense of an important era of American history.

I have met the author, and he is the real deal. In fact, Myers Asch is currently at work on starting a United States Public Service Academy as a counterpart to the military academies, this one focused on civilian and public sector service. In my estimation, he has the wisdom and understanding of American history that befits such an undertaking.

Review for the Senator and the Sharecropper

Chris Myers Asch's book "The Senator and the Sharecropper" came to me as a gift from my sister. I had no idea what a gift it would be.
Asch took me, as the reader, on an unflinchingly honest journey into the depths of Mississippi, the Civil Rights era, and the United States. What is remarkable about this book is that Asch uses two key historical figures, who are living two very disparate lives, and illustrates how their presence impacted each other and those around them.
The story of Senator James Eastland and Civil Rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer is told not through the dry prism of historical facts and numbers. Make no mistake, Asch provides thorough and well-researched data explaining the state of the country at the time. Rather, the stories of both protagonists are told through the personal traits that make Eastland and Hamer who they were. The author is able to do this by talking to those who knew either Eastland, or Hamer, or both. The history is a mere backdrop. The revelation of each individual brings the story to life.
Asch's immersion in the historical fabric of the state is evident in this story, after he spent many years in Mississippi as a volunteer (first with Teach for America, and later as co-founder of The Freedom Project). His experience offers an authenticity not usually found in historical books.
This is a well-written, comprehensive look at a Senator and a Sharecropper who made an indelible mark on United States history. For anyone looking to learn about a part of history in a part of the country that they think they know, this book will bring you the gift of a new perspective.

This book tells the story of two very different people, both residents of Sunflower County, Mississippi from the early 1900s to the turbulent decades of the 1940s, 50s and 60. If you like history, you'll love the book; it is factual, well researched and full of meaningful anecdotes. If you don't like history, you'll love this book, too. It is great fun to read because Myers includes reflections about his personal experiences as a teacher in Sunflower County.

At first, the two protagonists seem to be a study in contrasts. James Eastland was a wealthy planter and segregationist U.S. Senator with an enormous influence in Washington. Fanny Lou Hamer, the daughter of a poor black sharecropper, became a leading figure in the civil rights movement. Surprisingly, Myers finds common ground. He treats both subjects with sensitivity.

It's nice to read a history from someone who unabashedly says in the first sentence of the preface: "I love Sunflower County, Mississippi." As you read this book, you'll see why and you'll gain an understanding of the problems, prospects and beauty of this corner of the world.

I am not a reader of History. Correction... I WAS not a reader of History. I dare say that Chris Myers Asch has made me one. His exceptional book, "The Senator and the Sharecropper," leaves me wanting to learn so much more about this rich and tragic land called the Mississippi Delta -- indeed, about America.

I admit with some reticence that the mere mention of History has always left me bleary-eyed, conjuring recollections of random date memorization and arcane facts. But Asch breathes life into it. As I read "The Senator and the Sharecropper," I felt as though I were seated at the knee of a grandfatherly raconteur telling me tales of yesteryear.

His writing has the easy gait of a natural storyteller. His economy of words belies a depth and complexity to his thoughts. How joyous to witness a gifted writer tackle such fascinating subjects with such passion.

Asch resists the easy moralizing that has always frustrated me about grade-school History. As we immerse ourselves in the worlds of Senator Eastland and Ms. Hamer, we realize how much they were each products of their time and circumstances, and how inextricably linked they were to the land. "The Senator and the Sharecropper" challenges our preconceptions and invites us to explore the remarkably disparate lives of two contemporaries. We emerge with a much richer understanding of a complex land and people.

And I emerged with a newfound desire to explore History!

This is an extraordinary books which charts the contrasting life experiences of Senator James Eastland and Fanny Lou Hamer. Eastland was definitely a product of privilege who managed throughout his life to make the most of a comfortable existence. As a leading recipient of federal agricultural largess he was certainly a proponent of socialism for the rich and free enterprise for the poor. This arrangement was part of the natural order of things in his mind and a way of life which supported a deeply ingrained racist view of the world, down to supporting the Ian Smith regime of Rhodesia, all in the name of Eastland's view of "freedom."

Fanny Lou Hamer had a different background all together. The one advantage she acquired, the job of time keeper at a local plantation in Sunflower country, was due to the fact that she was literate. She lost this job when she attempted to register to vote. For attending a Civil Rights conference, Mrs. Hamer was beaten, along with other women, nearly to death. Despite these horrors, she clung to a vision of racial equality and racial harmony which though difficult to realize in her own and possibly even our own time are inspiring just the same.

Chris Asch has written a history of an aspect of the Civil Rights era which probably is unique in its scope. To take two polar opposites and contrast their response to the social changes is probably one of the most original approaches to the writing of history. However Asch's book also recalls the author Plutarch in his parallel lives (however these figures are not as closely connected as Eastland and Hamer). In this work, I believe that Asch comes close to revealing great truths about the human spirit. Eastland gradually became more and more fanatical, Hamer sought to help the widest scope of poor and disadvantaged members of society. Eastland sought to undermine the advances of the civil rights movement, preferring a more sharply hierarchical society, Hamer sought to expand them for all.

This book does contain a number of horrific passages. Early on there is a description of a lynching carried out by Eastland's father. It is murderous and sadistic. Had any person carried out a similar act today, he would have been locked up in a home for the criminally insane. While this section of the book is disturbing, it is history and it explains a great deal, both about Eastland and his background. It also underscores the greatness of a woman such as Hamer. For someone to come from such a cruel, meanspirited and wicked environment and to emerge with her generosity of spirit speaks volumes of her fundamental greatness of spirit and kindness. It is clear when one concludes reading "The Senator and the Sharecropper" who is the greater person.

I've always been fascinated by James O. Eastland. He appears in Curtis Wilkie's "The Fall of the House of Zeus," in John Paul Stevens' "Five Chiefs," and Robert Caro's "Master of the Senate." Despite these appearances, I could never fully understand him or the world he came from ... until I read this. I was blown away by Arch's storytelling (his rendering of Eastland) and his ability to create a great dual biography. (Admittedly, I learned a great deal about Hamer as a younger man so I was less focused here on her story).

This work is complete, but isn't overwritten so it makes for a great reading experience. Moreover, the author puts in enough current observations based in part on his own observations to capture the attention of even non-history fans. This is a well-rounded story and helps one better understand one of the South's most controversial figures.