Mississippi Conviction
Betrayal, Brotherhood, and the Fall of the Klan
A gripping narrative of conscience, conflict, and moral courage in civil rights-era Mississippi
Description
Mississippi Conviction: Betrayal, Brotherhood, and the Fall of the Klan recounts a remarkable and underreported story of conscience, courage, and moral reckoning at the height of the civil rights era in Mississippi.
On Father’s Day, June 21, 1964, three civil rights workers were murdered by the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan after visiting a burned church in Neshoba County. The brutal killings shocked the nation and launched a major FBI investigation into Mississippi’s “closed society.” Amid the search for justice, federal agents turned to an unlikely ally: Reverend Delmar Dennis, a Methodist minister and chaplain for the WKKKK.
Dennis’s decision to become an FBI informant came after a pivotal conversation with his friend and mentor, Reverend Carl McArn, a civil rights supporter and advocate for church integration. Their friendship—and the ideological divide it represented—mirrored the broader split within Mississippi’s white churches over race and justice.
Coauthored by novelist Stephen J. Gordin and Carl E. McArn II, son of Reverend McArn, this gripping narrative explores the power of moral influence and personal transformation. Drawing on extensive interviews and archival research, Mississippi Conviction reveals how one man’s betrayal of the Klan became a critical turning point in dismantling a violent domestic terrorist network—and how another’s quiet mentorship helped make that decision possible.
Reviews
"I highly recommend this book, which highlights lesser-known players within the civil rights movement. The story is engaging, and the authors add layers of information to familiar stories, such as Freedom Summer and the deaths of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner, where we learn of Delmar Dennis’s role as an FBI informant in greater detail than ever."
- Devery S. Anderson, author of Emmett Till: The Murder That Shocked the World and Propelled the Civil Rights Movement