Marjorie Baroni, Adult Education, and the Mississippi Catholic Church

Chapter two explores the range of white responses to the war on poverty, focusing on the role of the Mississippi Catholic Church in supporting a state-wide job training program. It also tells the story of Marjorie Baroni, a white Catholic from Natchez, Mississippi who played a role in forging a biracial war on poverty in her local community. Baroni’s role illustrates not only the way in which the war on poverty provided opportunities for integration but also for women. Not simply through the “professionalization” of maternalism but also in roles as co-ordinators, administrators, and program directors. Following the creation of STAR—Strategic Training and Redevelopment—this chapter exposes the ways in which religious activism interacted with federally funded antipoverty efforts, from the Diocese of Natchez-Jackson to the Delta Ministry.