Epilogue

The final section of this book reflects on the social, economic, and political changes that transformed Mississippi over the years of the war on poverty. It exposes the changes in the war against the war on poverty over time. The mechanisms utilized by Senator Stennis in his opposition to the Child Development Group in 1965 were far removed from the Klan violence unleashed in 1967. Different again were the methods of white Jacksonians as they participated in biracial antipoverty programs in order to shore up white supremacy. Perhaps the most significant facet of the fight against the war on poverty was the color-blind language used by white segregationists that encouraged “local responsible people” to join the boards of antipoverty programs. The chapter also looks forward to the visit of Ronald Reagan to the Neshoba County Fair to announce his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination.