Prologue

From the journal of Kevin Savacier, age 17
February 17, 1970

I've always liked living in Cole, Mississippi, the town founded by my ancestor, Samuel Cole.  Even though my dad has told me many times how many generations ago that was, I never can seem to remember.  I just know I have a lot of cousins in this region, near Natchez, on a hilly, winding road that extends for miles into what the city folks call "the country," but for those of us who've been here all our lives, we consider "the town." "The country" is actually Cole County.  Most of the land is owned and farmed by the Cole family, and my branch of Samuel's descendants is the only one without the Cole surname, my grandmother, Elizabeth Anne Cole, having married Anthony Pierre Savacier. 
Elizabeth Anne and Anthony Pierre had three sons, and the youngest of those, Harvey, is my dad.  Harvey married Katherine Watkins, and I, Kevin, am their only son.
With a population of about one thousand, Cole has always managed its own school system.  Like most public schools in Mississippi, ours was segregated by races until about a year ago, when the federal government finally stepped in and made the state of Mississippi get with the times.  They consolidated the previous "colored" and "white" schools.  What had been the "colored" school became the elementary school for both colored and white students, and what had been the "white" school became the grades of 7-12.  Since the black students outnumbered the white students by almost ninety percent, the white parents formed a private school of their own, free from federal interference or support.  I attend the latter, Church Hill Academy, comprised of about one hundred white students.  It was not my decision to attend this school; in fact, most of my friends had no problem with integration--it was our parents who panicked, but we have to accept things as they are.  I don't believe my parents are racists, and time will, hopefully, provide a solution to problems, real or imaginary, created by the mixing of the races. We do have a few racists in our school, but that's a story for later.
We haven't had much racial unrest or economic problems in Cole, but in other parts of Mississippi, things are a bit different.  Due to some of the civil rights problems which have created racial unrest and economic boycotts, several small towns are practically "dead." A few have hopes for the future, and a few don't.  Cole lies somewhere between these two categories.  There have been a few stores closed over the past few years, yet such groups as the Chamber of Commerce and the Cole Historical Society are advertising "an historic past with a bright future."