Jim Abbott signs PAPERMAN

Name: Jim Abbott signs PAPERMAN
Start: 2026-09-15T17:00:00-05:00
End: 2026-09-15T18:00:00-05:00
Location: Jim Abbott signs PAPERMAN

September 15, 2026 @ 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM

Overview

Jim Abbott was destined to reckon with racial awakenings the 1960s Mississippi Delta. He graduated from all-white Greenwood High School in 1962, naïve of and unprepared for what he would soon experience at Ole Miss his freshman year during the James Meredith riots. He resented the criticisms his state received for its racist policies. And he held racist feelings himself.

But fate intervened. Jim witnessed cruelties carried out against those getting Blacks to register to vote, he had encounters with Duke Ellington and Senator Robert Kennedy, and he served in Vietnam with fellow Black countrymen. Gradually, his views changed. And, at age 26, he became editor of a local newspaper in Indianola, Mississippi, the birthplace of the White Citizen’s Council.

Jim’s recollections over nearly four decades of searching for the truth in the Mississippi Delta is a testament to true transformation — and a stark reminder of the importance of independent presses in small-town America.