The Magnolia Jungle: The Life, Times, and Education of a Southern Editor

P. D. East

Apr 2017 · Pickle Partners Publishing

About this ebook

First published in 1960, this book tells of author P. D. East’s trials and tribulations as a liberal editor during the times of the civil rights movement in the Deep South. It is also the story of his struggle to find his own identity and maturity out of a confused, poverty-ridden childhood in rough country towns, which created the prelude for his growing awareness of the blight of southern hypocrisy and racial discrimination.

A succinctly and well-told story.

“In all, the book tends to explain, not apologize for, East’s eccentric journalism, his militant but sometimes inconsistent editorial thinking, and his refusal to retreat from terrific southern hostility, even at the danger of his and his family’s well-being. East in the end appears something of a hero and, indeed, an anomaly in these conformist times.”—Kirkus Review

Ratings and reviews

I read this after reading about East in Smithsonian Magazine recently. I can’t recommend this book enough. Sadly there is way too much of 1950s Mississippi in 2019 America, but thankfully East shows us how to cut through our “Magnolia jungles”.

About the author

Percy Dale East (November 26, 1921 - December 31, 1971) was the editor and publisher of The Petal Paper in Petal, Mississippi, where he represented the small, and generally cautious, segment of white southern society that recognized, and tried to change, the racial injustice that defined the South in the first half of the 20th century.

Born in Columbia, Mississippi, he was the adopted son of James and Bertie East and grew up in South Mississippi. As a child, East was often confronted with the stigma of being a “sawmill kid," and developed a combative spirit that characterized his personality throughout his life. As a teenager, he worked in a general store where he encountered first-hand the economic exploitation of African American patrons.

In 1947 he began studying journalism and writing at Mississippi Southern College (now The University of Southern Mississippi) and became the editor of two Hattiesburg labor union newspapers, The Union Review and The Local Advocate, in 1951.

He established The Petal Paper in 1953 and used it as a forum to promote his belief that African-Americans should, and must, receive fair treatment and legal equality. By 1959, his caustic editorials and liberal racial views had resulted in the loss of all his local subscribers and advertisers; however, The Petal Paper survived, with sporadic publication, until 1971, through donations and subscriptions from liberal supporters in other areas of the country.

Due to persistent threats and harassment relating to his civil rights activities and opinions, East left Mississippi in 1963, and relocated to Fairhope, Alabama. For the remainder of his life, East continued to monitor civil rights activities in Hattiesburg, as well as the nation, lending his voice and support where possible.

He died in Alabama in 1971 aged 50.