Descendant of Jim Crow author attends Selma Jubilee in personal racial reconciliation journey

Even with the crowds, it took no more than half an hour for most folks at the Jubilee to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge. 

For Charles Sims of Oxford, Miss., it took four generations.

Sims attended the 59th annual Bridge Crossing Jubilee in Selma last weekend as part of his personal tour of racial reconciliation.

Sims’ great-great-great grandfather is James Z. George, a former U.S. Senator from Mississippi and chief justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court. He owned slaves. He represented Mississippi at the succession convention in 1860. George and Edmund Pettus, Selma native and namesake of the iconic bridge, served together in the Confederate army. In fact, Pettus attended George’s funeral, according to Sims. 

But perhaps most importantly, George helped draft Mississippi’s 1890 constitution, which disenfranchised most of Mississippi’s Black voters and made draconian Jim Crow laws the law of the land in the Magnolia State for generations. 

“John Lewis had to walk across (the Pettus) Bridge because of laws my great-great grandfather created,” Sims told the Selma Sun. “I thought it was important to come here to show support for the legacy of John Lewis and to build on the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.”

Sims said his visit to Jubilee was his first time in Selma, and he enjoyed meeting folks at the Foot Soldiers Breakfast on Saturday. 

“Dr. King talked about the children of slaves and the children of slave owners sitting at the table of brotherhood,” Sims said. “We’re doing hard things and having hard conversations. We have the ability to come together and to mend old divides.” 

It will be up to individuals to have those difficult conversations, Sims said. “This is up to the people to solve,” Sims said. “Government will never bring people together” because “division is power” in politics.  

Sims said he’s as surprised as anyone that he has taken on this quest. His mother, the descendant of George, was an attorney who is active in liberal causes. Sims was raised near the area where Emmett Till was taken and murdered for whistling at a white woman. 

More from this section

What to Know Before Visiting Alaska: 14 Tips to Prepare You in 2026

Powell out, Warsh in as new chair of Federal Reserve

Trump officials, billionaires and the quiet reshaping of America's public lands

While serving in the Army in Baghdad, he was inspired by his roommate, a U.S. citizen from West Africa. He later connected with the King family through a work friend. He also met with the families of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Brianna Taylor in Louisville, Ky., both Black victims of police violence. 

“I learned in the Army, you can’t lead from the back,” Sims said. “I realize that it’s time to finally cast off the divisions of the past, the bitterness of the past.” 

He has started a foundation called Dream 2020, but he has not yet asked for nor accepted donations. For now, he said he is focusing on communication. 

Sims said his position on racial reconciliation has been “widely accepted, but there are haters everywhere.” 

“The hard part is standing in the reality to move the needle forward,” Sims said. “But it’s not like standing in the streets facing water hoses and dogs.” 

He’s come to peace with the memory of his great-great-great grandfather. Sims said he talked with the author of his ancestor’s biography, “and I saw the humanity in him.” 

“I think what he did was during a different time to protect his section, and it was up to others to protect theirs,” Sims said. “He was a product of his time. And he was a soldier, which is the part I connected with.”

Sims said he is hopeful about his journey. 

“There’s a brighter day ahead of us,” Sims said. “We have the ability to come together, to show there is leadership in the South, to come together and mend old divides. Hatred of the past has held on a long time. It’s long past time to move past that.”