James Z. George: Mississippi's Great Commoner

When the Mississippi school boy is asked who is called the Great Commoner of public life in his State, wrote Mississippi s premier historian Dunbar Rowland in 1901, he will unhesitatingly answer James Z. George. While George s prominence has decreased through the decades since then, many modern historians still view him as a supremely important Mississippian, with one writing that George (1826 1897) was Mississippi s most important Democratic leader in the late nineteenth century.

Certainly, the Mexican War veteran, prominent lawyer and planter, Civil War officer, Reconstruction leader, state Supreme Court chief justice, and Mississippi s longest serving United States senator in his day deserves a full biography. And, George s importance was greater than just on the state level as other Southerners copied his tactics to secure white supremacy in their own states.

"James Z. George: Mississippi s Great Commoner" seeks to rectify the lack of attention to George s life. In doing so, this volume utilizes numerous sources never before or only slightly used, primarily a large collection of George s letters held by his descendents and never used by historians. Such wonderful sources allow a glimpse not only into his times, but perhaps more importantly an exploration of the man himself, his traits, personality, and ideas. The result is a picture of an extremely commonplace individual on the surface but an exceptionally complicated man underneath. "James Z. George: Mississippi s Great Commoner" will bring this important Mississippi leader of the nineteenth century back into the minds of twenty-first-century Mississippians."