There were so few journalists in Mississippi when they were needed the most.
But Percy Dale East, editor and publisher of a weekly paper really knew how to make his presence known ...
Dale later wrote an autobiography - "The Magnolia Jungle" - that captured national interest and caught the eye of Sovereignty Commission investigators, too.
The Mississippi Sovereignty Commission was a secret state police force operating from 1956 to 1977 to suppress the civil rights movement and maintain segregation. The commission kept files, harassed and branded many as communist infiltrators via agents who were retired FBI, CIA and military intelligence. No one was safe in Mississsippi. A form of the Sovereignty Commission continues today in Mississippi. Ask Haley Barbour.
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