This biographical profile written by one of the South's most notable authors traces the life of Robert George Clark (b. 1928) from his Jim Crow boyhood in Ebenezer, Mississippi, through his notable career as the first black Mississippian since Reconstruction to be elected to the state house of representatives.<BR>It is a compelling book that fuses Clark's family history with his political career and tells of Clark's struggle with segregationists, his powerful influence in the passing of the state's 1982 Education Reform Bill, and the continued influence of his work on Mississippi politics and culture.<BR>Based on interviews, research, and primary sources, this is a portrait of a man who shaped and continues to shape the culture of contemporary Mississippi.<BR>In details of Clark's days as a student at Jackson State University, Will D. Campbell's narrative depicts him as both a strong individual and as a symbol of African American civil rights activism. As Campbell follows Clark's progress as a politician, educator, and civil rights advocate, he showcases a history of race relations and racial politics in Mississippi during the state's most turbulent era.