Gray wrote, “First, during that senior year, I heard every argument possible for preserving segregation in all areas of public life, but especially in our schools and our colleges. I was prepared for every argument that I ever heard in the next twenty years back in Mississippi. There was nothing new. “Second, during those two […]

McNair’s theological liberalism was matched by his political liberalism. He was a frequent visitor at Myles Horton’s Highlander Folk School, then just down the road from Sewanee in Summerfield, Tennessee, and Gray was his frequent companion on these trips. Highlander is best known as the place that helped provide Rosa Parks with the spark she […]

“Well, one night we tried something. We went to three ‘strip joints’ – they weren’t anything like what all those New Orleans places are like today, any more than the prices are – and he would order a Coke and I’d order a 7-Up and we’d fool around with that. “They wouldn’t kick you out […]