LASTING FIRSTS

Changes taking place in the rural South create opportunities for remem bering that encourage pride and power among the downtrodden and dispos sessed. Comparing the cultural context of the murder of an African Ame rican schoolteacher in 1921 and the suffering that led to the murder o f a Mayan farmworker in 1992, this essay explores the question of how celebrations and struggles of everyday existence fit within local hist ories inspired by martyrdom and death. The author argues that remember ing is most effective when the form and content of memory join in the little that remains behind us.