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Mississippi Press - Pascagoula, MS - October 22, 2006

Ira Harkey's death energizes documentary

By BRAD CROCKER
The Mississippi Press

PASCAGOULA -- When Hurricane Katrina was headed toward Pascagoula, the first thing Melanie Polk-Ellifritt packed was the film footage of Dr. Ira B. Harkey Jr. she and her husband Scott had shot for a documentary on the legendary American journalist and civil rights advocate.

When Harkey's 88-year-old life ended on Oct. 8, the Ellifritts -- who own Crystal Eye Entertainment -- knew their unfinished work of sharing Harkey's life and courageous civil rights stances had new meaning and re-energized their efforts to finish the film.

While serving as editor and publisher of the Chronicle newspaper in Pascagoula, now The Mississippi Press, from 1948 to 1963, Harkey wrote numerous editorials calling for a desegregated Mississippi and America.

In 1963, he won a Pulitzer Prize for his editorials, but not before death threats, shotgun blasts through his office window and burning crosses in front of his Pascagoula beachfront home were offered up by his opponents.

The Ellifritts were at the Ocean Springs Film Festival in 2004 when they got the idea to document Harkey's life and career. They began their relationship with him two months later when they traveled to Kerrville, Texas, where Harkey lived the last 29 years of his life.

Polk-Ellifritt was a sophomore in Pascagoula when high schools were integrated. She said she recalled all the courageous writings Harkey printed years before that made her and her peers' transitions seem painless, although older residents predicted violence and National Guard intervention.

"The biggest trouble we kids had was learning each other's names," said Polk-Ellifritt, adding that she hopes the documentary will help future generations understand what Harkey sacrificed.

During their interviews, the Ellifritts learned that firestorms erupted when Harkey began printing Mr. and Mrs. before black men and women's names, refused to separate birth announcements of white and black children and similar publishing practices.

In addition to his newspaper work, the Ellifritts are highlighting the books Harkey wrote and the experiences he shared with them.

"That mind and that wit and his belief system never wavered," Polk-Ellifritt said.

One of the many reenactments will be when Harkey, aboard the USS Hancock in January 1945 in the Pacific Theater during World War II, witnessed 52 sailors, black and white, buried at sea after a Japanese torpedo plane dropped and detonated a 500-pound bomb on the ship.

They said Harkey discussed how the experience was later retold in his award-winning book, "The Smell of Burning Crosses," a chapter in his life that he said "taught me something about the equality of men" at that time.

"...the conviction came to me that the Negro who is good enough to be gutted by an unsegregated explosion, to be trussed in an unsegregated sack, to be dumped into an unsegregated ocean and dispatched to an unsegregated heaven or hell, is just exactly good enough to live an unsegregated life in the nation of his birth."

The Ellifritts want their one-hour documentary, tentatively titled, "Southern Gentleman, Southern Journalist, Southern Courage and the Fight For Civil Rights: The Story of Ira B. Harkey Jr.," to illustrate Harkey's roles and visions for today's Mississippi and how he helped shape civil rights.

Approximately 15 on-camera interviews, archival film and video footage, still pictures and other aspects will be included. The couple are still looking for grants and accepting donations so they can finish their documentary.

"It literally broke our hearts that (Harkey) couldn't see this," Scott Ellifritts said.

"Katrina hurt us because so many locations in Pascagoula we wanted to include no longer exist," Polk-Ellifritt said.

Polk-Ellifritt said the film will also show Harkey "was doing civil rights before there was a civil rights movement" and how they learned to follow his example.

"He had such a crystallized viewpoint about race relations," Scott Ellifritt added.

Harkey's oldest son, Ira B. Harkey III, of Ocean Springs, said he's happy the Ellifritts are continuing their work.

"He was all for it. He was very impressed with them and felt good about it," Harkey III said.

His father "didn't want to worry the family" and kept threats and upheavals away from them, Harkey III said. "Dad didn't go around boasting about what he did."

Harkey III assisted his father in revising the recent fourth reprinting of "The Smell of Burning Crosses," including new pictures and additional pages.

"We became even closer because of that," Harkey III said.

The book, which can be found online, is receiving a lot of hits, he said.

Polk-Ellifritt said she saw Harkey's obituary on Internet sites throughout the world. "More people had heard of him than many realize."

After attending Harkey's funeral in New Orleans, the Ellifritts made an emotional plea to the Pascagoula City Council last Tuesday to have an Ira B. Harkey Jr. memorial or day created, a request that received applause from a full council chamber audience.

"He's a true hero. He won the Pulitzer for Pascagoula," Polk-Ellifritt said.

Harkey's other honors included the Society of Professional Journalists' medal for outstanding national newspaper public service, a media award from the National Conference of Christians and Jews, and the Silver Em Award from the University of Mississippi, which honors journalists whose careers illustrate the highest ideals of American journalism.

Scott Ellifritt referred to the monument dedicated this month for James Meredith at Ole Miss, one of Harkey's main editorial themes to go along with the sociopolitical arguments he presented.

"His efforts came full-circle," Scott Ellifritt said.

Mayor Matthew Avara, whose father's desegregation efforts were revisited following his death last month, asked the Ellifritts to present the council with a plan or more details before any formal actions can be taken.

"Thank y'all for reminding us of Harkey's dedication to humanity ... and doing the right thing," Avara said. "We're very honored. We're very proud for what he stood for."

Reporter Brad Crocker can be reached at bcrocker@themississippipress.com or (228) 934-1431.