Edna Ferber’s 1926 novel “Showboat,” adapted into Kern and Hammerstein’s 1927 musical, references “the one drop rule”:
Steve Baker “looked [Sheriff] Ike Keener in the eye. ‘You wouldn’t call a man a white man that’s got Negro blood in him, would you?’
“‘No, I wouldn’t; not in Mississippi. One drop of ****** blood makes you a ****** in these parts”.
The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture explains:
“In 1911, Arkansas passed Act 320... known as the ‘one-drop rule.’ This law... made interracial ‘cohabitation’ a felony, and it defined as ‘Negro’ anyone ‘who has... any negro blood whatever,’ thus relegating to second-class citizenship anyone accused of having any African ancestry. Although the law had features unique to Arkansas, it largely reflected nationwide trends.”
Notwithstanding “the one-drop rule”, mixed blood descendants of every conceivable combination accompanied European arrival in the Western Hemisphere.
Watching Prince Harry’s nuptial celebration, one wondered, “What took so long?” Mississippi was inflected with Afro-Caribbean culture from the get-go. We have been enriched by African influence. We are able to take advantage of interest therein.
Mississippi has had the largest African-American population: 41.5 percent in 1800, 51.2 percent in 1850, 55.3 percent in 1900, 45.3 percent in 1950, and 36.3 percent in 2000. Our 37 percent 2010 African-American population was followed by Louisiana’s 32 percent, Georgia’s 30.5 percent, Maryland’s 29.4 percent, South Carolina’s 27.9 percent, and Alabama’s 26.2 percent. (Percentages may vary slightly but are consistent).
Blues, Gospel, and Rock-and-Roll are Mississippians’ birthright because of multiculturalism. Icons of American music include Sam Cooke, Bo Diddley, Willie Dixon, John Lee Hooker, Elmore James, Robert Johnson, B.B. King, Charley Patton, Pinetop Perkins, David Ruffin, Pop Staples, William Grant Still, Rufus Thomas, Ike Turner, Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Howlin’ Wolf. Prominent writers include Alice Walker, Margaret Walker, Jessmyn Ward, and Richard Wright. Theatre and the visual arts enjoy equal éclat, owing to cross-fertilization and creative ferment through contrasting cultures.
What must those incapable of accepting the Obama Presidency think of a Princess possessing “a drop of negro blood”? The newest Royal lacks term limits. She will inhabit family photographs when she is the Queen’s age. Harry’s progeny will evidence that white supremacy is “Gone With The Wind”.
Harry is sixth in line to the throne. If William’s family perishes in a plane crash, descendants of African-American slaves will be sovereign.
Barack Obama met his father twice, briefly. Raised in Indonesia and Hawaii, he lived in Honolulu with white grandparents. Although Barack Obama claims to be African-American, he is, more accurately, biracial.
Given the high proportion of African-Americans in Mississippi, and countless African-Americans known from infancy, white Mississippians are arguably as fluent in African-American folkways as Barack Obama; more so than most subjects of the Queen.
Robert Wise shared an article from The Times of London:
“... [The wedding] certainly blew the cobwebs off a thousand years of history, and showed that, at the heart of the establishment, at the very core of our ancient traditions and most hallowed beliefs, there has at last been an acknowledgement that Britain is a changed country and that diversity and inclusion have moved in and are here to stay....
“It was a white wedding, and more importantly, it was a black wedding. From the gospel choir that sang Ben E King’s Stand By Me to the bishop who gave the address, by way of the chaplain who helped to lead the prayers, it all conveyed... that Meghan’s racial heritage was not just being accepted by the royal family..., it was being embraced, celebrated, rejoiced in.
“Nothing... was more full of rejoicing than the sermon by Michael Curry, the first African-American bishop to lead the Episcopal Church in the United States.... He spoke with fire, he spoke with passion and he kept on speaking long beyond the point when people thought he might stop.
“To anyone brought up in the Church of England, where anything over eight minutes long sets the congregation wondering whether their lunch is going to be ruined, his 14 minutes might have seemed an eternity.... Give us something... tepid that we can forget by the time we get out of the church.
“Some of the congregation certainly seemed to think so. Here’s a tip for the royal family: You’ve got to work on your smirking. It really won’t do. Prince William, Princess Beatrice, you know who you are. Prince Charles appeared as if he was going to explode with laughter. Zara Tindall gave a good impression of a stunned mullet.”
Mississippians are acquainted with African-American ministers and music. What is newfangled in England is embedded in the warp and weft of Mississippi. We are well-positioned to profit from interest in African interaction with Caucasian culture. Mississippi will miss a meaningful moment if our opportunity is squandered.
Jay Wiener is a Northsider.
