NATCHEZ &045; Lessons in history provided a backdrop for considering the future as students, teachers and others gathered at Trinity Episcopal Church Monday for a symposium on racial reconciliation in Mississippi.

Laura Mortimer, a senior at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Jackson, may have summed up the students’ perspective of the day best.

&uot;We were not sure exactly what we were doing here,&uot; Mortimer said. &uot;But, for me, what made it come alive was Bishop Gray’s speech and his saying that for this to become a three-dimensional thing, there has to be a change within us, not just a public policy change.&uot;

The Right Rev. Duncan M. Gray Jr., retired seventh bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi, presented a powerful first-hand account of events of the explosive 1960s Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi.

Gray, a Mississippi native, began his ministry in Cleveland in 1953, moved to Oxford in 1957 and then to Meridian in 1965, where he remained until 1974. His years in each place coincided with pivotal events in the Civil Rights era.

The Rev. Zabron A. Davis III, rector at Trinity Church, said the purpose of the symposium was to provide a broad look at the history of the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi and to further an understanding of the need for continued racial reconciliation.

To open the program, the Rev. Dr. Bryan Owen, rector of Incarnation Episcopal Church in West Point, directed remarks especially to students as he asked them to consider the meaning of reconciliation.

&uot;Basically, reconciliation means to change, and there are two sorts of change,&uot; Owen said. &uot;First, there is change in attitude from hostility to friendship; also, reconciliation brings a change of heart hat leads to different behavior.

&uot;Reconciliation is always about relationships, recognizing that every single one of us lives in a vast interconnected web.&uot;

Students received the message, made more meaningful once they viewed a video about the onset of desegregation at the University of Mississippi.

Laura Jo Hurt, a sophomore at Trinity Episcopal School, said the video was an eye-opener. She knew about the James Meredith event but was shocked at the violence and at the stand against desegregation taken by then Mississippi Gov. Ross Barnett.

&uot;I felt embarrassed for the people of Mississippi when I watched that,&uot; she said.

During his early years in the ministry, Gray met and came to know some of the black leaders of the movement in Mississippi. And he attended events such as the 1954 appearance near Cleveland of Thurgood Marshall, an activist and an attorney who later went on to the U.S. Supreme Court.

&uot;I learned of the deep feelings of the black people of Mississippi,&uot; he said. &uot;There were three white faces in a crowd of 10,000 at that Thurgood Marshall speech &045; mine and two reporters from the Delta Democrat Times.&uot;

Gray also learned of relationships existing between blacks and whites that were not general knowledge but were useful for making progress in civil rights efforts.

With that encouragement, he and others tried in 1957 and ’58 to establish the Mississippi Council on Human Relations. &uot;We couldn’t get enough response,&uot; he aid. &uot;But in 1962 we did get it started, and whites and blacks really sat down together and talked. This was one place where we could come together, perhaps the one and only channel for talking with the Civil Rights leaders coming into Mississippi that summer.&uot;

For his involvement, Gray received threats. Policemen followed him when he went into black neighborhoods. He was canceled from a seminar after speaking out to say segregation is not compatible with the Christian message. He knew the white Citizens Council did not like his work.

Valerie Harmon, a senior at Trinity, said Gray’s actions during the Civil Rights Era set an example for others. &uot;It’s inspirational, the things he went out and did,&uot; she said. &uot;I’m definitely glad I took part in this. This is another lesson we have to learn.&uot;

For Mortimer of St. Andrews, the lesson was that everyone must continuously re-examine themselves. She wondered aloud what the challenges would be for her generation.

&uot;Could gay rights, abortion and a ton of other social issues be the challenges,&uot; she said. &uot;And are there definite answers?&uot;

Gray spoke after the documentary on the Meredith enrollment aired at the symposium. He had been there, on campus, trying to calm students.

&uot;That brought back lots of memories of tumultuous times Š long before many of you were born,&uot; he said. &uot;Those videos go a long way toward helping you understand those times.&uot;

Mississippi has made progress but still has a long way to go in racial reconciliation, Gray said. &uot;Politics and law have done all they can do. Now it is a matter of the human heart. ŠThat’s where the efforts have to be focused. We have to look at our own hearts and our inner lives.&uot;