The Education of Mr. Mayfield: An Unusual Story of Social Change at Ole Miss (Hardcover)

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Product Description

More than a decade before the media reported on the disturbing events surrounding James Meredith's enrollment at the University of Mississippi in 1962, a different story of interaction between the races quietly took place on that same campus. This story is now told in The Education of Mr. Mayfield.

In 1949, soon after arriving in Oxford, Mississippi, as the school's first Art Department chairman, Stuart Purser was driving through the nearby countryside when he spied some interesting sculptures on the front porch of a small farmhouse near Ecru. When Purser stopped to speak with the African-American artist, his longtime friendship with M.B. Mayfield began.

That fall, Purser offered Mayfield a job as custodian for the Art Department and caretaker for the newly opened student art gallery. This was a time when the University of Mississippi was completely segregated. What few outside the Art Department knew was that Purser also gave Mayfield one-on-one instruction and arranged for classroom doors to be left open so Mayfield could listen to lectures while sitting in the nearby broom closet. Later, Purser took Mayfield on his lecture trips, passing Mayfield off as an assistant who carted equipment and set up the projector.

The Education of Mr. Mayfield tells the story of how M.B. Mayfield overcame many of the obstacles placed in his way due to racism, but it also tells of the quiet acts of courage displayed by some white Southerners who found ways to defy the injustices of the time and place.

About the Author

David Magee is the author of twelve books. His book Turnaround, about Carlos Ghosn, the CEO of Nissan was published in seven languages and has sold almost 100,000 copies worldwide. In 1996, Magee became the youngest-ever elected member of the Oxford, Mississippi, city council. He is also a co-owner of the independent bookstore Rock Point Books and the founder of Jefferson Press. He lives in Lookout Mountain, Tennessee.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: John F. Blair, Publisher (September 30, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0895873664
• ISBN-13: 978-0895873668
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #288,240 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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5.0 out of 5 stars An Education in a Strange and Distant Time, October 17, 2009

By	R. Hardy "Rob Hardy" (Columbus, Mississippi USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

At the University of Mississippi in Oxford, always known as Ole Miss, everyone takes for granted that there is not going to be racial discrimination keeping black students out. Fifty years ago, everyone took for granted that racial discrimination would prevail and that no black students could enroll no matter how qualified they were. The story of how James Meredith enrolled in the school in 1962 and started the change has been told many times, and has to include the rioting and even the two deaths in the riots. Perhaps it was impossible to make the change any other way. Meredith's dramatic story is famous, but before he entered the school, there was a quieter, less well known story of integration at Ole Miss. It wasn't official, but it was real, and it was the product of good manners, courage, and simple willingness to do the right thing. We are lucky to have the story now in a fine book, _The Education of Mr. Mayfield: An Unusual Story of Social Change at Ole Miss_ (John F. Blair, Publisher) by David Magee. M. B. Mayfield was a primitive artist whose paintings are now well-regarded and collectable. He was isolated in a little town in Mississippi, painting without any formal instruction just because he felt the urge, until he got the opportunity to get instruction at Ole Miss starting in 1949.

Mayfield was born in 1923 and grew up in Ecru, a town of less than a thousand in northeast Mississippi. He was delicate and shy, and could not stick to the sharecropping of his family. As a child, he saved up his money for watercolors, and he re-drew the comics from old newspapers that served as insulation and wallpaper inside his home. He never met anyone else who made art until Stuart Purser drove by in 1949. Purser was the chairman of the new Art Department at Ole Miss, an artist himself who liked rural scenes and was on a sightseeing trip. Purser was impressed, and not only gave Mayfield the canvas, brushes, and paints from his car, but also a life-changing offer. The Art Department needed a janitor. Mayfield could not enroll as a student, but he could work and in between cleaning duties, he could get instruction from Purser and could participate in some classes by just being nearby. Mayfield took him up on the proposal. His work space included a broom closet which stored not only cleaning supplies but the art supplies Purser had given him; it was his studio. The door of the broom closet led to the classroom where Purser taught, and during classes, the door stayed open, and Mayfield listened as intently as any of the officially enrolled students. He also got individual instruction, learning about shading, cross-hatching, and other techniques, as well as discussing a philosophy of art. His philosophy was simple: he painted to communicate, and explained, "Words don't always come easy. Pictures do."

Throughout the book are reflections of how astonishingly peculiar segregation was, and the tricks that Purser had to play to get around the rules. When Purser traveled around the state to lecture, Mayfield would not have been welcome to attend with the white audiences, but Purser had him pose as the art professor's assistant. As such, he toted the bags and paintings and operated the slide projector. There was no subterfuge, however, that could get them into the same hotel; Purser would drop Mayfield off at one hotel, and then go spend the night in his own. One time he took Mayfield to Memphis, ostensibly to pick up art supplies but actually to let Mayfield see the Brooks Gallery and its holdings including paintings by Renoir, Pissarro, Gainsborough, and others. When they got there, Purser was embarrassed; they had come on a day when "coloreds" were not allowed. Mayfield must have been embarrassed, too, and tried to assure the professor it was all right, but Purser determined he would see if he could do anything. He introduced himself to the director of the gallery, explaining that he was the chairman of his school's Art Department, and he had brought a budding artist to see the gallery but they had come on a whites-only day. It worked. "I don't make the rules, Mr. Purser," the director said, but then she added, "But I am in charge of the gallery. Anyone can visit as my guest. Perhaps you and your student would like to tour the museum today as my special guests." They got a personal tour.

There are quite a few such shows of generosity in this book, from people who were thoughtful enough not to be bound by the past. There are also some appearances by members of the Ku Klux Klan. Mayfield was to return to Ecru and become a working artist, making small amounts on his paintings, but cheerfully putting them out and gaining recognition. The recognition climaxed when he returned to Ole Miss nearly forty years after his instruction there, for a 1986 exhibit devoted to his works. Magee's charming and inspiring book, full of anecdotes from a strange and distant time, has all the simplicity and directness of Mayfield's paintings.