Mississippi: The Closed Society

James Wesley Silver (1907–1988) was an American historian and professor who taught at the University of Mississippi from 1936 to 1964, where he chaired the history department and became a vocal advocate for civil rights, notably supporting James Meredith's integration amid riots. His most notable work, Mississippi: The Closed Society (1964), a New York Times bestseller, critiqued the state's resistance to desegregation, while other key books include Confederate Morale and Church Propaganda (1967), A Life for the Confederacy (1974), and Running Scared: Silver in Mississippi (1984); he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. [NYT Obituary 1988], [Ole Miss eGrove]