William Alexander Percy as a Lawyer, Poet and Planter - Report Example

William Alexander Percy was a lawyer, poet and planter who hailed from Greenville Mississippi. His father was the last senator from in Mississippi to be elected by the legislature. In a way, Percy’s life was full and controversial. He championed for the rights of Catholics despite the fact that he was gay. He did this in a state that was largely protestant and was always motivated by his French mother who was Roman Catholic. He published an autobiography Lanterns of the Levee which became a bestseller in the country. In this autobiography, he addressed many issues pertaining to his life, his home state and the general situation around him at during the time he lived in Mississippi. Indeed, Percy’s exposure to African American suffering and his family background greatly influenced his way of thinking. Percy was educated at the Episcopal University located at the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. He went to Paris where he spent close to one year before coming back to America. Thereafter, he enrolled at Harvard Law and qualified as a lawyer a few years later. He went back to his father’s farm in Greenville and settled on a law career. In November 1916, Percy joined the Commission for Relief in Belgium serving as a delegate. He stayed in Belgium until 1917 when America withdrew its personnel from the country following the declaration of War1. Percy went on and joined the American Army where he served during the WWI and attained the rank of Captain. Following the end of the war and the much experience he had gathered throughout Europe, Percy began writing poems and became an editor with The Young Poets series. Between 1925 and 1932, Percy published four volumes of poetry with the Yale University Press. In a way, Percy’s worldview and ideas were influenced by the many friendships he established across the United States and in Europe. For instance, he thereafter became much interested in the Harlem Renaissance and befriended many people like Langston Hughes who were involved in the renaissance. Lanterns on the Levee was a result of the many experiences and situations which Percy evidenced in his home state and beyond. Percy was a friend of Hebert Hoover and was therefore put in charge of the relief process during the great floods in 1927. He had met Hoover during his service at the Belgium Relief Effort before WWI. In the course of the floods, thousands of black people who were fleeing from the ravaging waters sought refuge in the levee in Greenville. The flood had affected a large area equivalent to the size of New England hence there were very many people who sought assistance. Percy actually felt that those blacks should be evacuated to Vicksburg. However, this decision faced a lot of opposition from the local planters including his father. These people felt that once the blacks were taken away, they would never return. As a result, Percy was compelled to capitulate and the ships which had been sent to collect the people went back empty. The conditions of the blacks worsened much after this decision and Percy received negative press coverage as a result. Consequently, he resigned from his position and went to Japan. This particular event was an indication of Percy’s way of thinking and perception of the African Americans. His idea to transfer these people to Vicksburg was essentially to reduce their suffering. However, the thought was not popular among the white people in Greenville. Percy greatly felt that the suffering of the blacks during the floods had to be addressed. His ideas were a clear demonstration of how the floods in 1927 affected many blacks in the south. While there was a general feeling that these people had to be evacuated, the locals were much concerned about their presence and totally opposed the idea. Percy had a very strong attachment to his home and family. This explains why after his travels across Europe he went back to his place of birth Greenville instead of settling elsewhere. His family loved his but was always dismayed by some of his ideas regarding many issues. During this time, the political situation in the United States was very charged and Percy loved to talk and share much about politics. In a way, this was in the lifeblood of his family considering that his father had been a senator. Some of his poems reflect his political thoughts and opinions. Like all people during his time, it is important to emphasize that Percy was greatly influenced by these many happenings during the course of his life. He confessed that he was too preoccupied with daily living and poetry granted him the best opportunity to view the world. While he greatly loved Greenville, his hometown, he always felt he was in a wrong place. The issues of homosexuality and the cultural identity associated with being southern were core concerns during this time. Percy strongly felt that people should have the freedom to choose their sexual orientation. In his autobiography his sexual liberalist views are expressed in a many ways. Like most people living in the south during this time, Percy had a strong engagement with these two aspects. In a way, Mississippi was always considered the most southern place and had been greatly associated with the “gay male world.” Cotton production was the core preoccupation during this period in the Mississippi valley. There were thousands of blacks living in the valley and their labour was very crucial for the cotton industry. In fact, the ratio of the blacks to the whites was almost eight to one. A family like Percy’s largely depended on the labour of these black people who worked on their farms. So as the blacks faced a lot of discrimination from the whites, their labour in the cotton farms was greatly needed. It was basically the need for the black’s labour which made many people to oppose Percy’s decision to relocate the African Americans elsewhere. It is further seen that Percy was somewhat always frustrated with himself to be staying in Greensville. He felt that lie in the small town was a bit much simple to him. He needed a vigorous environment which could offer him many opportunities. He felt he was a more practical man who should really go out and address the problems affecting humanity. In this regard, he was always lonely and frustrated since many people were not aligned to his ideas and could not therefore offer support. However, he remained resilient and confident in his undertakings. In the memoirs, it is seen that African Americans in the south faced a lot of racism and there was always a lot of paternalism towards them. The outright racism was a core subject at the time and in a way, the views of Percy seem to be much pervasive of the south. To Percy, blacks essentially needed a good life even if not equal to that lived by whites. The suffering of black people in Greenville did not always impress him. He expressed his dissatisfaction through his poems and book Percy is very consistent and rationalized in his account of the era in which he grew up. Percy’s life and works present a very interesting relationship between whites and blacks in Mississippi during his time. His family was always very courageous in its fight against the KKK and the role of Percy in the floods further shows his relationship with the blacks. For instance his father as a senator had subscribed to the family idea of black suffering. While most whites demonstrated a lot of racist tendencies towards the blacks, Percy’s’ family seems to have been much moderate and considerate in their undertakings. Percy’s father had a lot of support from the many African Americans who lived in Mississippi at the time. In fact he always championed for their rights in relation to land ownership and education. So Percy grew up in a family environment that was much tolerant to the blacks. At a time when racial attitudes were the order of the day, Percy was concerned about the situations and lives of the blacks. Racism was indeed a core issues in the 1910-20s and many leaders were always caught in this intricate network of ideas. While Percy greatly championed for the rights of African Americans, he did not usually regard them as his equals. For instance, he writes that blacks needed to live in an environment free of suffering but not integrated with the whites. Similarly he shared the aristocratic views on land ownership and did not support the idea of blacks seeking the opportunity to own land in the area. In the same way, Percy was not really opposed to the black labour used in the white farms despite the suffering endured by the blacks. Since his family largely depended on such labour he perhaps found it important to have such cheap labour. The death of his father LeRoy in 1929 greatly changed the course of his life in relation to passion and activities. He had to take charge of many responsibilities as the head of his family in addition to developing his passion for the arts. His focus was always to improve the conditions of the blacks which were indeed very bad at the time. African Americans in Mississippi worked in the cotton plantations and their living conditions were always very poor. In addition, they were denied many rights in the society. As a result, Percy assisted many African Americans to achieve education and buy land2. He paid school fees for a number of black children and also assisted some of them to acquire land as long as they could manage them Prior to his time, the African American community in the Washington County had much trust in the Percy family. His father as a senator had attempted to win their trust and managed. As a result, Percy was charged with a very daunting responsibility to win back the trust of this community by campaigning for their rights which were always at stake. This was basically a major challenge on his part since the people in the society ware totally unconcerned about such issues. Many people did not share the same idea about the need to limit the suffering of the blacks. Therefore to the outside observers Percy was essentially an apologist of the racial order which existed in the south during his lifetime. He was a sexual liberationist which perhaps explains why he never married. His views on sexual orientation are expressed in his book where he strongly feels that people should be free on issues of sex. His ideas in this regard made many people to believe that he was gay. In addition, he was a cultural relativist and a white supremacist who strongly believed that African American where not equals to the white. This was despite his many efforts to uplift the conditions of the blacks around him3. The 1920s marked a period of many events and issues in America and across the world. In this regard, Percy travelled across the globe, settled in Europe, took part in the war and eventually came back to the Delta. His travels in Europe enabled him to meet many people and contrast them to the practices in his home town and country. His nature of work in Europe also exposed him to human suffering and he therefore developed the need to limit such conditions. In addition, his education at Harvard was instrumental in enabling him to easily interact and associate with many people. The quality education at Harvard opened his mind to different perspectives on issues of culture, law, and society. In the Lanterns on the Levee, Percy seems to be in a complex state of affairs. His search for a meaning in the context of life at his time and the experience he had in the gay male world present a very intricate situation which merges into one. It is important to emphasize that the ideas of sex and sexuality were not fully understood in Mississippi during this time. In any case, Percy seems to break into this case and illuminates the difference. More importantly, gender and sexuality emerge as core issues in this period4. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, homosexual identity was still a very grave subject not only in the south but across the country. The intellectual pursuits and the love for adopted families greatly defined the character of Percy. In any case, he adopted a number of children and helped many more in achieving their educational goals. In the period running between 1910 and 1920s, Greentown was a very lively town characterized by many events. There were many Greek, Russian and Chinese immigrants in the town and most of them were the owners of the thriving businesses in the downtown. In a way, their town epitomized how life in the United States was lived in this period. Railroad trains came and went many times a day while steamships continuously docked and were unloaded with goods. Many white families in the area were very wealthy thanks to the free labour provided by the many African Americans who worked on their cotton farms5. While Percy was always much independent and controversial in most of his thoughts and ideas, he still shared much with people in his aristocratic class. His family was rich like most white families and they still depended on the African Americans for labour on their farms. Class superiority, conceit and prejudice were some of the many issues which characterized his town Greenville and most of the Mississippi Delta. More importantly, it is realized that the Mississippi Delta was one of the most integral parts of the United States given its huge cotton production and the race situation which transpired around this time6. It is further important to note that the lineage and pedigree of Percy further played an important role in his identity. This was common in many white people and families at this time. Land and wealth were highly regarded and many children inherited much. In addition, class and cultural identity played an important role. In the case of Percy, his family had long been associated with sympathy towards the African Americans and Percy had to work hard to regain and maintain that trust. He nevertheless tried in number of ways but also failed to realize the full support of the blacks due to his perception of them7. In conclusion, Percy life story and works open an illuminative account into life in the Mississippi valley in the early twentieth century. The issues of culture and race are seen to have taken a major part of life at this time. Similarly, the different perceptions of the whites towards the African Americans also emerge. The Mississippi Delta is presented as a real melting pot of America where several issues and events occurred8. The life of Percy through his hometown of Greenville to Europe and back to the town enables one to create a comparison and delve into other affairs of history which transpired during this time. Percy is seen to have greatly benefited from his class and hierarchical position in the society but nevertheless did little to perpetuate them. Such was the life and situation in the south during this important time in American history. Works Cited Brown, Bertram. The house of Percy: honor, melancholy, and imagination in a Southern family. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. Cobb, James C.. The most southern place on earth: the Mississippi Delta and the roots of regional identity. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. Helferich, Gerard. High cotton: four seasons in the Mississippi Delta. New York: Counterpoint, 2007. Mauskopf, Norman, and Randall Kenan. A time not here: the Mississippi delta. Santa Fe, NM: Twin Palms, 2003. Morgan, Nina, and Laurence Fordyce. The Mississippi. Austin, Tex.: Raintree Steck-Vaughn, 2007. Percy, William Alexander, and Carl H. Pforzheimer. Lanterns on the levee: recollections of a planters son. New York: Knopf, 2000. Richardson, Thomas J.. William Alexander Percy: Lanterns on the levee. Jackson: Mississippi Library Commission, 19771976. Read More