Officials with the Ozarks Heritage Research Center (OHRC), in collaboration with the West Plains Council on the Arts (WPCA) and the West Plains Public Library, will host a reading of the award-winning book “James” Feb. 26 for the 2025 African American Read In event.
The event will get underway at 6 p.m. at the OHRC inside the Garnett Library, 304 W. Trish Knight St., on the Missouri State University-West Plains (MSU-WP) campus.
Ozarks historian and teacher Vincent Anderson from Mtn. Home, Arkansas, will read excerpts from the book then will lead discussion about how it relates to slavery in the Ozarks, organizers said.
About the book
Written by Percival Everett, “James” is a novel that re-imagines Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” from the perspective of Huck’s friend, Jim, who is an escaped slave and travels the Mississippi River with Huck.
“James” was published in 2024 and received numerous awards, including the 2024 Kirkus Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for Fiction. It also was a finalist for the Booker Prize.
More about Anderson
Born in Mountain Home, Arkansas, Anderson grew up along the Arkansas/Missouri state line and later served in the U.S. Air Force at Little Rock AFB as an altitude chamber instructor.
He obtained a Bachelor of Biblical Arts and a Bachelor of Science in Education from Arkansas State University in Jonesboro. In 2018, he completed his graduate degree in American history from American Military University. His thesis focused on the history of the White River in 1888.
Anderson published his first book, “Bald Knobbers: Chronicles of Vigilante Justice,” in 2013. He was appointed by former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson to serve on the Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park advisory committee for five years. He also has served on the board of directors for the Arkansas Genealogical Society and as president of the Baxter County Genealogical and Historical Society.
Anderson has worked as a consultant for the Travel Channel, the Discovery Channel, SYFY network, The New York Times and Animal Planet. He also is a guest columnist for The Baxter Bulletin, writing various articles on historical events in the Ozarks and county politics. He began a new radio show, “Retracing Our Roots” in September on KTLO in Mountain Home.
Currently, Anderson works as a historian and teacher at the Baxter County Library in Mountain Home and guides historical Ozarks tours. He lives in Baxter County, Arkansas, where he maintains the blog and YouTube channel Ozarks History.
For more information about the Feb. 26 event, contact Rebekah McKinney at 417-255-7949 or RebekahMcKinney@MissouriState.edu.
