Race has shaped public education in the Magnolia State from Reconstruction through the Carter Administration. For The Hardest Deal of All: The Battle Over School Integration in Mississippi 1870-1980 Charles C. Bolton mines newspaper accounts interviews journals archival records legal and financial documents and other sources to uncover the complex story of one of Mississippi s most significant and vexing issues. This history closely examines specific events--the after-math of the Brown v. Board of Education decision the 1966 protests and counter-demonstrations in Grenada and the efforts of particular organizations--and carefully considers the broader picture. Despite a separate but equal doctrine established in the late nineteenth century the state s racially divided school systems quickly developed vast differences in terms of financing academic resources teacher salaries and quality of education. As one of the nation s poorest states Mississippi coul