Blood Done Sign My Name: A True Story

Reverend Tyson survives the Proctor controversy and settles into a happy, comfortable life in Sanford. In 1966, visitors from Oxford’s Methodist pastor-parish relations committee offer him a new pulpit. Reverend Tyson sees it as a sign from God, prays over it, and decides to move his family to Oxford. Driving through the center of town, the Tysons catch their first glimpse of The Confederate Monument, a bronze statue erected like so many others long after the Civil War as a reminder of racial segregation. Reverend Tyson meets Thad Stem, a local author who will become his good friend and kindred spirit in the fight for civil rights. Young Tyson meets his future playmate, Gerald Teel.

Tyson describes Oxford’s history of segregation, focusing in particular on the efforts and experiences of Black veterans both during and after World War II. Beginning in the 1950s, Black veterans and Black churchwomen rally to the call of King’s SCLC. Oxford’s Black youths organize sit-ins at local businesses. Reverend Tyson tries to work with local liberals, but Stem grows frustrated with their useless and self-serving committees. Stem was born and raised in Oxford, son of a prominent Democrat in state politics.