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Nikki Pilmer
1 May 2015
Dixie and Ever is a Long Time

Ralph Eubanks and Curtis Wilkie both decided to leave Mississippi and yet years
later they both ended up returning to their home state. Eubanks and Wilkie while they
both grew up in Mississippi in the 20th century, they were had vastly different lives.
Ralph Eubanks was a black male born in 1957, both of his parents were professionals
and of the middle class, so they did not have any economic problems, however they had
social problems due to not quite fitting in with society. Curtis Wilkie, was a white male
born in the 1940s and his mother was the provider of the household which led to his
family constantly moving around due to their economic difficulties. Both men attended
Ole Miss for higher education and shared a normal college experience while attending,
but it was after college where their experiences differed.
Curtis Wilkie was a journalist in Clarksdale from 1963 to 1968 and wrote
specifically about the Civil Rights Movement. During his time in there, he saw the worst
of segregation. Afterwards, he moved to Boston to work for the Boston Globe. While in
Boston, he continued to work with the Civil Rights Movement and helped with the
desegregation of busses, he also covered many presidential campaigns and went to the
Middle East to cover several events there. Wilkie vowed to never go back (Wilkie, 196)
because of all of the hardships that he had seen take place throughout his home state
over the years. During his years at Ole Miss he witnessed the riots first hand and
experienced the tear gas that was present when James Meredith was admitted to the
University. Wilkie knew of the segregation present in small towns since he worked in

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Clarksdale for five years and experienced firsthand that, Local governments were in the
hands of bitter-end segregationists (Wilkie, 161). The South refused to comply by the
federal governments laws about integration, and preferred to keep segregation as long
as they possibly could. While living in Clarksdale, Wilkie saw firsthand just how
segregated small towns were. Especially when the Civil Rights Movement came to this
small town and started helping people register to vote.
After living away from Mississippi for so long, Wilkie finally decided to move
back to Mississippi after the death of mother but to also be closer to his family.
However, there is more to it than just his familial ties; the climate in Boston was not
what he was used to, nor was the darkness that came along with the winter climate.
Since the shift in the political atmosphere in Mississippi had finally changed it made it
safer to live in Mississippi. Wilkie felt it was finally time to return home. When Wilkie
first returned home for his reunion at Ole Miss and went exploring around his old cities
he, Found a characteristic that had been missing in my days at the Clarksdale Press
Register: a desire for reconciliation (Wilkie, 299). The people is Mississippi were no
longer racist and violence was not all around him. The Mississippi that he returned to
had people trying to not only do better, but to be better. Wilkies experiences in
Mississippi had played a huge role in him leaving the state, especially all of the violence
that he had witnessed due to the integration of the state that stemmed from the Civil
Rights Movement. In the end, Wilkie knew that no place would feel like home, as
Mississippi did.
Ralph Eubanks, had a much different life than Wilkie. His parents were black
professionals, and while they made a life for themselves with their careers, they chose to
live on the farm to further support themselves. However, living on a farm meant that

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Ralphs interactions in the community were few, We spent our time on our farm to
guard us from the unwanted influences that would tell us we were inferior because we
were black (Eubanks, 37). His parents knew of the realities of the state, and chose to
keep those negative views away and instead he was raised with respect with manners for
everybody. In 1970, after integration became mandatory, Ralph was one of the first
black students to be integrated with the white students. During his schooling, he felt
isolated and disconnected, not only to the school and his classmates but also, To the
little town that I thought would nurture me forever (Eubanks, 118). At Ole Miss,
Eubanks participated in integrated organizations, and while for the most part he had a
normal college experience he was never accepted. He would always be defined by his
race, even though the University had been integrated twelve years prior, the black
students still had to deal with the social barriers that were in place. Eubanks, felt as
though he never fit in. For this reason after graduation, he left Mississippi and headed to
Ann Arbor to attend the University of Michigan and hopefully figure out his life there.
Eubanks chose to leave Mississippi not because the state was horrible as Wilkie thought,
but because he was tired of being stifled and defined by his race, he wanted to gain
complete independence and a fresh start.
After living in Washington DC, Eubanks goes on with life and starts a family. It is
not until his sons ask him about Mississippi, does he really begin to question his home
state. He has two views of the state, The terror and the magnificence (Eubanks, 89).
After learning that his parents names were on the Sovereignty Commission files in 1998,
he decided to do some research and figure out why exactly their names were listed
because, The cold, hard truth that the state of Mississippi spied on my parents
propelled the past into a different light, sharper, less romanticized, and more realistic

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(Eubanks, 78). It was time for Eubanks to stop ignoring the horrors of Mississippi and
his past, and time to finally start getting some answers. Growing up on a farm meant
that as a child Ralph Eubanks was not that involved with the community, so he did not
have to deal with the segregation laws or see the horrors that the Civil Rights Movement
brought up with the violence that was evident during this time period.
Upon arriving in Mississippi, Eubanks witnessed a change within the state
particularly, Forces of redemption (Eubanks, 225). The Mississippi that he returned to
was not the same racist state that he had once lived in. The times had changed along
with the people. To learn more about his parents past and his childhood, Eubanks
decided to sit down and talk with Denson Lott, the Klansman who put his parents
names in the Sovereignty Commissions files. When they met for lunch, Denson Lott
admitted that he was in the Klan and that he was not proud of his past. With this
admission, Eubanks completely changed his attitude towards the man across from him,
and Mr. Lott became, A real person (Eubanks, 175). It was obvious that Denson Lott
was not proud of his past, but that he had accepted it and learned to move on, just as the
rest of Mississippi had learned to do.
Eubanks and Wilkie both were determined to leave the state of Mississippi for
good, however they both eventually returned. Eubanks chose to leave with the hopes of
starting over, and figuring out his life because he felt that he would not be able to do so
in Mississippi. Wilkie left Mississippi because he had witnessed all of the violence that
the Civil Rights Movement brought and therefore wanted to escape from the racism and
segregation that defined the state. After going their separate ways, they both returned to
Mississippi, but for different reasons. Wilkie returned because Mississippi was and
would always be his home. His family was located there, and the people in Mississippi

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had a kindness to them that no other state had. Eubanks, on the other hand, returned to
find out more about his past, specially about why his parents were on listed on the
Sovereignty Commission.

Works Cited
Eubanks, W. Ralph. Ever Is a Long Time: A Journey into Mississippi's Dark Past, a
Memoir. New York: Basic, 2005. Print.
Wilkie, Curtis. Dixie: A Personal Odyssey through Events That Shaped the Modern
South. New York: Touchstone, 2002. Print.