East, Percy Dale
- Biography:
- "Percy Dale East, more commonly known as P. D., was among the most zealous and outspoken of white racial liberals from the Deep South during the Jim Crow era and into the Civil Rights Movement. East was a native of Mississippi who grew up in various saw mill camps in the southern part of the state, and even as a youth East was acutely sensitive to the racial discrimination he encountered on a routine basis. As the publisher of The Petal Paper in Petal, Mississippi, East became more candid on his views of racial equality in the immediate wake of the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954 when he advocated for full observance of the new law. East's paper soon took on a satirical, darkly sardonic, and even jocular tone. As a newly-dedicated supporter of legal equality for people of all races, East worked with such people as William Faulkner, John Howard Griffin, Lillian Smith, Hodding Carter, and Medgar Evers. The local White Citizens' Council responded to East's public and editorial stances on race relations by leading an economic boycott against The Petal Paper. By 1959, the paper had lost all 2300 local subscribers and most local advertisers, though it survived with the support of liberals throughout the country. East figured prominently in John Howard Griffin's book Black Like Me, where Griffin was particularly struck by the social isolation of East and his wife."--Inventory of the Percy Dale East collection, 1961-1969, Amistad Research Center.
- Associated Subjects:
- East, Percy Dale
- Archival Collections And Reference Resources:
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