WILL D. CAMPBELL PAPERS

de Grummond Children's Literature Collection
The University of Southern Mississippi

Biographical Note

Will D. Campbell was born in Amite County, Mississippi, in 1924 to Lee Webb and Hancie Bea (Parker) Campbell. He graduated from East Fork High School in East Fork, Mississippi, at age sixteen and was ordained a Baptist minister.at age seventeen. Campbell attended Louisiana College, a Baptist college in Pineville, Louisiana, until he enlisted in the army in 1943. He served as a surgical assistant in the Pacific during World War II, where his experiences and reading made him more aware of racial problems in the United States.

After the war, Campbell attended Wake Forest and Tulane, and graduated from Yale Divinity School in 1952. He served as the minister of a small Baptist church in Taylor, Louisiana, for 18 months before becoming chaplain at the University of Mississippi. After becoming involved in a number of racial controversies, Campbell left Ole Miss after two and a half years to work for the National Council of Churches. He traveled around the South for the NCC, providing spiritual guidance to help prevent violence in areas facing race-related crises. Noticing increasing differences of opinion between himself and the National Council of Churches, Campbell left the organization in 1963 to become director of the Committee of Southern Churchmen, with which he worked during the 1970s.

From the early 1960s, Campbell became well known for his writing and lecturing. He wrote 17 books and numerous articles and sermons and was a National Book Award finalist for his autobiography, Brother to a Dragonfly. Campbell received an honorary degree from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1999 and the National Humanities Medal in 2000. He lived with his wife, Brenda Fisher Campbell, on a farm in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee until his death in 2013 at the age of 88.

Sources:
This note was adapted from the biographical note to the Will D. Campbell Papers (M 341) in the Historical Manuscripts division of the Special Collections Department, University of Southern Mississippi Libraries.

Scope and Content Note

The Will D. Campbell Papers contain photocopies of layout sheets for Chester & Chun Ling (1989).

Restrictions

Restrictions on Use

Noncirculating; available for research.

Copyright Restrictions

The collection is protected by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S. Code). Reproductions can be made only if they are to be used for "private study, scholarship, or research." It is the user's responsibility to verify copyright ownership and to obtain all necessary permissions prior to the reproduction, publication, or other use of any portion of these materials, other than that noted above.

Related Material

Will D. Campbell's collected papers (M 341) are held by the University of Southern Mississippi's Historical Manuscripts division in the Special Collections Department in McCain Library & Archives. A finding aid is available online at: http://www.lib.usm.edu/legacy/archives/m341.htm.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

(Identify the item), Will D. Campbell Papers, de Grummond Children's Literature Collection, University of Southern Mississippi Libraries, (Cite the item's box/folder numbers).

Provenance

These papers were donated to the de Grummond Children's Literature Collection of the University of Southern Mississippi Libraries by Will D. Campbell in December 1999.

Processing Information

Processed by Hans Rasmussen, June 2003. This finding aid is the product of a grant funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Container Listing

Contact:
The de Grummond Children's Literature Collection
The University of Southern Mississippi
118 College Drive, #5148
Hattiesburg, MS 39406-0001
(601) 266-4349
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