Author Dr. Brandon Sparkman with a copy of his new book, which tells of his experience of dealing with the transition from segregation to integration of schools in Mississippi in the early 1970s. | Clif Knight

Hartselle native Dr. Brandon Sparkman uses the pages of a new book titled “Call To Jackson, Mississippi: The Last Bastion Of Segregation” to detail the excruciating birth of desegregation in Jackson while he served there as assistant superintendent, then superintendent of schools during the early 1970s.

The 173-page historical memoir was recently released by publisher iUniverse and is available online at Amazon, Books-A-Million and Barnes & Noble.

In the book’s foreword, James E. McLean, dean of the college of education at the University of Alabama writes, “The book brought home to me the bravery and strength of character school leaders had to have during that period if they were to be effective. The threats and problems they faced were very real! It is clear that the people like Brandon Sparkman hastened the process of integration and probably saved schools millions of dollars and possibly lives in doing so.”

Two weeks after Sparkman’s job interview in Jackson, police shot and killed two college students and wounded several others during a riot at Jackson State College. After that the public school system in Jackson was the last place he would have chosen to work. But, six weeks later, an anonymous, threatening letter lured him there. His calling was to ensure a quality education for all of the students there and to save the schools from complete chaos and destruction during the height of desegregation.

Sparkman book details how he regularly faced rebellious communities, hostile parents, disruptive students, defiant elected officials, unreasonable judges, foot-dragging colleagues and the Ku Klux Klan. It describes his confrontation with the most hated man in Mississippi, and how he took the governor of the state to court while dismantling the last stronghold of segregated schools.

His firsthand account of an important moment in history takes his readers behind the scenes of political maneuvering, clandestine meetings with adversaries, a face-to-face encounter with the Klan, and other personal and intriguing recollections.

Dr. Sparkman has close ties to the development of the Hartselle City School District, beginning in 1975, while serving as its assistant superintendent for four and one-half years. Subsequently, he was superintendent of Guntersville City Schools for eight and one-half years before retiring after 35 years in education.

His first wife, Wanda, who is referred to often in the book passed away in 2009.  He and his current wife, Anne, live in Muscle Shoals, where he’s semi-retired.