Event Details

• Where: Square Books – 129 Courthouse Square, Oxford, MS, 38655
• When: July 12, 5 p.m.
• What: Book launch for Catfish Dream by Julian Rankin
  

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“In Mississippi Delta history, farmer Edward Logan Scott Jr. is legend. During his lifetime, many thought of him as mythic; others, pure myth.” 

These are the first words author Julian Rankin uses to introduce readers to Mr. Scott — the first ever nonwhite owner and operator of any catfish plant in the U.S.

In his new book, Catfish Dream: Ed Scott’s Fight for His Family Farm and Racial Justice in the Mississippi Delta, Rankin follows Mr. Scott in an intimate biography of his journey as a black farmer in a time and area in which everything was stacked against him.

Today, this book is officially released for purchase in hardcover, paperback and e-book formats. And for those in the Mississippi area, Rankin and the Scott family will be at Square Books in Oxford for the book launch on July 12.

The event starts at 5 p.m. and will also include representatives from the Southern Foodways Alliance, an organization that documents diverse food cultures in the South.

The book explores how the economics and politics of food production affect the daily lives of Delta farmers. Mr. Scott overcame decades of discrimination to build up his business and support his family, inspiring his community at every step of the way.

So no, Mr. Scott is definitely not a myth. To learn more about him, come out to the book launch on July 12 to celebrate his story and talk to the author and the Scott family or pick up a copy today.

“In his debut work, Catfish Dream, Julian Rankin tells an important story. Anyone interested in agriculture, the American South, foodways, and African American enterprise will be fascinated by this book. Mr. Ed Scott is a hero our country needs to learn about, and this portrait of him is strong and beautifully written. His situation and his fate are central to the American experiment. I cannot recommend Mr. Rankin’s storytelling too highly. It is a powerful thing. We owe him a debt.”
—Randall Kenan, author of The Fire This Time