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Joseph Wroten of Greenville was elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives in 1951. During his three terms in office, his progressive views on issues like civil rights often put him in opposition to the rest of the legislature, so much so that he was dubbed \u201cThe Great Dissenter\u201d by the Memphis Commercial Appeal.

In this episode, Wroten reflects on Washington County\u2019s history of Progressivism. He discusses the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission\u2014created by the legislature in 1956 to promote continued racial segregation\u2014and why he first supported and then opposed the agency\u2019s formation.

Wroten details how his liberal views often made him the target of threats and hate speech and how his support for the admission of James Meredith to Ole\u2019 Miss cost him a fourth term in office.

PODCAST EXTRA: As a minister\u2019s son, Wroten grew up Methodist in segregated Mississippi. He remembers how the United Methodist Church sought to lead by example during the Civil Rights Movement.