Claire Whitlinger, "Between Remembrance and Repair: Commemorating Racial Violence in Philadelphia, Mississippi" (UNC Press, 2020)

Oct 10, 2025

Claire Whitlinger, an associate professor and author, explores the transformation of Philadelphia, Mississippi, from a site of civil rights-era violence to a beacon for racial reckoning. She discusses the pivotal events surrounding the 1964 Mississippi Burning murders, the evolution of commemorative practices, and the role of grassroots movements in fostering memory. Whitlinger emphasizes the importance of recognition in facilitating structural changes and offers practical advice for activists on sustaining memory work and addressing racial dynamics.

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ANECDOTE

How The Research Began

Claire Whitlinger recounts driving to Mississippi after learning about a grassroots truth commission project in the state.
That trip sparked her focus on Philadelphia, Mississippi and the 2004 commemorative moment that reshaped local memory work.

ANECDOTE

Local Churches Kept Memory Alive

Whitlinger describes annual Black church commemorations starting in 1965 that kept memory alive locally.
These grassroots rituals contradict portrayals of total silence around the 1964 murders.

INSIGHT

Counter-Memory Became Central Memory

The 2004 event converted counter-memory into collective memory and shifted the town's narrative.
Sustained local remembrance created the preconditions for later public reckoning and institutional change.

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Few places are more notorious for civil rights–era violence than Philadelphia, Mississippi, the site of the 1964 “Mississippi Burning” murders. Yet in a striking turn of events, Philadelphia has become a beacon in Mississippi’s racial reckoning in the decades since. In Between Remembrance and Repair: Commemorating Racial Violence in Philadelphia, Mississippi (UNC Press, 2020) Claire Whitlinger investigates how this community came to acknowledge its past, offering significant insight into the social impacts of commemoration. Examining two commemorations around key anniversaries of the murders held in 1989 and 2004, Whitlinger shows the differences in how those events unfolded. She also charts how the 2004 commemoration offered a springboard for the trial of former Klan leader Edgar Ray Killen for his role in the 1964 murders, the 2006 passage of Mississippi’s Civil Rights/Human Rights education bill, and the initiation of the Mississippi Truth Project. In doing so, Whitlinger provides the first comprehensive account of these high profile events and expands our understanding of how commemorations both emerge out of and catalyze associated memory movements.
Threading a compelling story with theoretical insights, Whitlinger delivers a study that will help scholars, students, and activists alike better understand the dynamics of commemorating difficult pasts, commemorative practices in general, and the links between memory, race, and social change.

Claire Whitlinger is Associate Professor of Sociology at Furman University.

Host: Michael L. Rosino is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Molloy University, studying racial politics, media, and democracy. His most recent book, Democracy Is Awkward: Grappling with Racism Inside Grassroots Political Organizing, is now available with the University of North Carolina Press.

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