Retired Mississippi journalist Jim Abbott – a Greenwood native who served his country honorably in Vietnam – spent most of his adult life as the publisher and editor of a remarkable community newspaper in Indianola.
In retirement, Abbott has written an honest and revealing memoir about his life and work publishing a community newspaper as a white man in a majority-Black city and county in a storied region of Mississippi during the height of the state’s struggle over civil rights and voting rights.
“Paper Man: Chasing the Truth in the Mississippi Delta” (302 pages, Nautilus Publishing) is an honest, often poignant, yet rather rollicking ride through newspapering in a small town. The chances of a New York Times writer encountering the subject of a news story are rather slim. In towns the size of Indianola, it’s almost certain that they run into each other in the grocery store.
There were economic boycotts. There was violence. There was mistrust on both sides, and in many cases, there was no decision the young editor could make that pleased either group. Jim Abbott was, for better or worse, the man in the middle. Often, the “middle” held both zealous civil rights advocates and equally zealous members of the White Citizens Council.
The venerable Enterprise-Tocsin was the successor newspaper that merged The Sunflower Tocsin and The Indianola Enterprise, both of which had operated since the late 1800s. The rather archaic word “tocsin” refers to an alarm bell or, more generally, a warning signal. In those days, communities often relied on the tolling of bells to inform people of danger or calamity and to celebrate.
Eventually, the newspaper was acquired by Emmerich Newspapers, the state’s largest newspaper group. The late John Emmerich chose Abbott to lead the paper. History would prove that to have been a wise and prescient decision. Under the leadership of Abbott, the newspaper grew to its name.
Abbott was a student at the University of Mississippi during the tumultuous 1962 riots over the admission of James Meredith, the university’s first Black student. Meredith, a U.S. Air Force veteran, had seen his admission applications repeatedly rejected.
Meredith took his cause to the U.S. Supreme Court and prevailed, but chaos erupted when Mississippi officials physically blocked his admission to the school. Campus riots followed, prompting then-President John F. Kennedy to federalize the Mississippi National Guard to support federal marshals sent to protect Meredith.
Abbott watched the scene unfold. His memoir reveals that his racial views at the time reflected those of the majority of Mississippians, neither better nor worse. After college, Abbott served his country in Vietnam during 1968-69 as a U.S. Army correspondent and photographer.
Serving alongside Black military personnel from across the nation, Abbott’s personal views on race and social issues in the South slowly began to evolve. The idea took root that, to be effective, news coverage had to be color-blind or as close to it as possible. Over time, that’s what Jim Abbott and his small staff did.
Taking the editorial pen in Indianola at age 26, Abbott drew on his education and military service to develop journalism skills and a broader worldview. But some of the scenes and situations he encountered were beyond the imagination of the most creative screenwriter.
Abbott, a member of the Mississippi Press Association’s Hall of Fame and a winner of the prestigious Silver Em at his alma mater, has been a tremendous ambassador for journalism and journalists. What set Jim apart was the pride he took in producing a newspaper that truly reflected the community it served.
In doing so for 38 years, Abbott proved that while the market he served might have been small, there was nothing small about the depth and breadth of the coverage he generated. Like the “tocsin” of old, Jim Abbott sounded warnings of dangers in his community and signaled celebrations of their accomplishments with equal fervor. His story is one worth sharing.
“Paper Man” will be in state and regional bookstores this month.
Sid Salter is a syndicated columnist. Contact him at sidsalter@sidsalter.com.r.com.
4 comments:
VN 68-69. Interesting time to be there. Grew up real quick in Hue. "You think you're Mikey Sillane"?
Jim Abbott is and was a fine journalist, and an even better man.
The demise of the local paper is a domestic tragedy.
I don't know which is a better cure for insomnia.
Reading Sid's articles or listening to his interviews.
At least the late Bill Minor could keep everyone interested in what he had to say ... no matter if one agreed with Bill or not.
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