Includes bibliographical references (pages 217-235) and index.

"From racial hierarchies to authentic storytelling, the narrative of Mississippi is one of contrasts that parallel and amplify larger national trends in many ways. To study Mississippi, where RWJF held its fifth annual Sharing Knowledge conference in March 2020, is to learn how structural racism was built, venerated, and fiercely defended in the United States to maintain the status quo of non-White disenfranchisement. Yet the story of the state is also one of strength, rooted in a people who have worked collectively and in community to fight a system designed to punch back"-- Provided by publisher.