New Books Network Diane T. Feldman, "Borrowed Land, Stolen Labor, and the Holy Spirit: The Struggle for Power and Equality in Holmes County, Mississippi" (UP of Mississippi, 2025)
Nov 6, 2025
Diane T. Feldman, a historian focusing on the Mississippi civil rights movement, shares her insights on the transformative history of Holmes County. She discusses the grassroots leadership of African American farmers and their cooperative landownership efforts. Feldman highlights the cultural impact of the Church of God in Christ, connecting its theology to social egalitarianism. The conversation also dives into crucial moments like school desegregation and contemporary challenges in food production, revealing the enduring resilience of the community.
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Roots Of Delta Organizing
- Holmes County's civil rights activism grew from long-term local conditions, not just 1960s outsiders.
- Land ownership and cooperative traditions gave Black farmers economic independence that sustained organizing.
Community Resilience Under Jim Crow
- Sharecropping stripped economic control but communities built mutual support networks anyway.
- Black institutions strengthened cooperation in church, schools, and economic organizations decades before the 1960s.
Pentecostalism As Social Power
- The holiness-Pentecostal movement centered egalitarian sanctification that empowered ordinary people.
- Church of God in Christ linked spiritual renewal to service, social justice, and cultural life in the Delta.
