Commour Ellis and her four sons

In the early decades of the twentieth century, whites and the Lebanese people in Mississippi rarely mixed socially, and although the Lebanese were eventually welcome at public schools, churches, and in public spaces, many exclusive organizations that had always been strictly “for whites only” remained so. For example, in colleges and universities across the state in the early 1960s, young Lebanese students found themselves barred from joining fraternities and sororities because of their Lebanese heritage. Fraternal organizations like the Rotary, Kiwanis, and Lions’ clubs were no different, and until around 1960, most country clubs in Mississippi still explicitly stipulated that Syrians and Lebanese be excluded from joining. Narrators in this segment describe life for the Lebanese in Mississippi during the state’s most segregated post-slavery era.