Blues Scholar, Professor Promotes 'Beloved Community' in Memoir

The University of Mississippi professor of English and Southern studies weaves several of those personal stories into his new book "My Family and I: A Mississippi Memoir" (Post Hill Press).

Set for release Tuesday (Feb. 25), the book includes his reflections on the love that sustains his interracial family. Gussow is married to longtime UM staff member, Sherrie, who works in the School of Pharmacy. Their son, Shaun, is an Ole Miss freshman music performance major and part of the Pride of the South marching band.

The book challenges all sides of political and cultural ideology as he offers readers an intimate portrait of love, family, music and hope amid a backdrop of persistent racial challenges.

"We're not the Ole Miss family or the Ole Miss couple that people expect," Gussow said.

"This is about an interracial family in contemporary Mississippi that comes into being. It's about a great love and the son we made and are raising."

A winner of Living Blues magazine's Best Blues Book Award, the scholar of blues and African American literature has authored several thought-provoking texts.

This time, he wants to interrupt narratives about race relations in the Magnolia State through a personal lens of his family's "fundamentally happy" story and historical context, he said.

"We're living a good life here and I hope telling the story of how our family achieved that in Mississippi helps people demystify (race) to the point where we're just living our lives in the pursuit of happiness," Gussow said.

"When the public hears those horrible stories about the six white officers down in Rankin County, the world knows how to deal with that Mississippi story – and those are legitimate stories – but there are other positive things happening in Mississippi."

"My Family and I" chronicles Gussow's decadeslong commitment to the vision of Martin Luther King Jr. for a "beloved community" – a just and colorblind America where mutual respect and brotherly love prevail.

Gussow will conduct a book reading and discussion at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday (Feb. 26) at Off Square Books in Oxford. Another event is scheduled for 2 p.m. March 1 at Lemuria Books in Jackson.

Top: Adam Gussow (left) takes a selfie during a 2016 hike with his son, Shaun, and wife, Sherrie. Gussow's new book, 'My Family and I: A Mississippi Memoir,' shares his hopeful journey for racial reconciliation before and after starting a family. Submitted photo