And One Was a Priest: The Life and Times of Duncan M. Gray Jr.

The story of the civil rights movement is not simply the history of its major players but is also the stories of a host of lesser-known individuals whose actions were essential to the movement’s successes. Duncan M. Gray Jr., an Episcopal priest who served various Mississippi parishes between 1953 and 1974, when he was elected bishop of Mississippi, is one of these individuals. And One Was a Priest is his remarkable story.

From one perspective, Gray (1926–2016) would seem an unlikely spokes...