The Lebanese In Mississippi: An Oral History

Recorded September 23, 2020

James G. Thomas, Jr.’s recent work “The Lebanese in Mississippi: An Oral History” documents and interprets the lives of first- and subsequent-generation Lebanese Mississippians whose families immigrated to the state looking for a better life. It is an oral record of their forbears’ experiences of settling in a foreign land where they knew few people, did not speak the language, and had to create their own occupations. Ultimately, however, it is the collective story of maintaining an ethnic identity while assimilating into a new culture. Thomas’s work provides a picture of a people remembering, envisioning, and interpreting where they came from and the struggles of those who came before them.

In this live Q&A, Thomas and Wilkerson discuss the origins and findings of Thomas’s study. Originally from the Mississippi Delta, James G. Thomas, Jr. is the associate director for publications at the Center for the Study of Southern Culture. He holds a B. A. in English and philosophy, an M. A. in Southern Studies, and an MFA in documentary expression, each from the University of Mississippi. Jessica Wilkerson is associate professor of history at West Virginia University, where she holds the Stuart and Joyce Robbins Chair, a position she began in fall of 2020 after spending six years at the University of Mississippi. She is the author of To Live Here, You Have to Fight: How Women Led Appalachian Movements for Social Justice (Illinois, 2019).