The C.O.W.S. Jim Grimsley: How I Shed My Skin

The Context of White Supremacy welcomes professor Jim Grimsley. Grimsley is a White man and an Admitted Racist. He’s a Professor of Practice in the English Department at Emory University in Georgia. He’s a prolific and award-winning author. We’ll discuss his 2015 publication How I Shed My Skin: Understanding the Racist Lessons of a Southern Childhood. He documents his childhood in rural North Carolina during the 1960’s. His White family and friends exchanged nigger jokes, verbally spoke ill of black people while attending church, and constantly emphasized the ignorance and evil of niggras. Grimsley suspects that his father could have participated in direct acts of violence against black citizens. Ostensibly, his book describes his journey away from the White Supremacist identity that was expected of him. Mr. Grimsley insists that his sexual orientation helped him reject the White Supremacy culture that reared him.