William Dusinberre
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195326031
- eISBN:
- 9780199868308
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195326031.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century
This book examines both the social and the political history of slavery. James Polk — President of the United States from 1845 to 1849 — owned a Mississippi cotton plantation with about fifty slaves. ...
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This book examines both the social and the political history of slavery. James Polk — President of the United States from 1845 to 1849 — owned a Mississippi cotton plantation with about fifty slaves. Drawing upon previously unexplored records, this book recreates the world of Polk's Mississippi plantation and the personal histories of his slaves, in what is arguably the most careful and vivid account to date of how slavery functioned on a single cotton plantation. Life at the Polk estate was brutal and often short. Fewer than one in two slave children lived to the age of fifteen, a child mortality rate even higher than that on the average plantation. A steady stream of slaves temporarily fled the plantation throughout Polk's tenure as absentee slavemaster. Yet Polk was in some respects an enlightened owner, instituting an unusual incentive plan for his slaves and granting extensive privileges to his most favored slave. By contrast with Senator John C. Calhoun, President Polk has been seen as a moderate Southern Democratic leader. But this book suggests that the president's political stance toward slavery — influenced as it was by his deep personal involvement in the plantation system — may actually have helped to precipitate the Civil War that Polk sought to avoid.Less
This book examines both the social and the political history of slavery. James Polk — President of the United States from 1845 to 1849 — owned a Mississippi cotton plantation with about fifty slaves. Drawing upon previously unexplored records, this book recreates the world of Polk's Mississippi plantation and the personal histories of his slaves, in what is arguably the most careful and vivid account to date of how slavery functioned on a single cotton plantation. Life at the Polk estate was brutal and often short. Fewer than one in two slave children lived to the age of fifteen, a child mortality rate even higher than that on the average plantation. A steady stream of slaves temporarily fled the plantation throughout Polk's tenure as absentee slavemaster. Yet Polk was in some respects an enlightened owner, instituting an unusual incentive plan for his slaves and granting extensive privileges to his most favored slave. By contrast with Senator John C. Calhoun, President Polk has been seen as a moderate Southern Democratic leader. But this book suggests that the president's political stance toward slavery — influenced as it was by his deep personal involvement in the plantation system — may actually have helped to precipitate the Civil War that Polk sought to avoid.
Richard S. Lowry
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195102123
- eISBN:
- 9780199855087
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195102123.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 19th Century Literature
Twain puts in Life on the Mississippi (1883) that writers are “manacled servants of the public.” During the last decade of his life, the intention in making his autobiography was to escape the ...
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Twain puts in Life on the Mississippi (1883) that writers are “manacled servants of the public.” During the last decade of his life, the intention in making his autobiography was to escape the manacles of his reading audience. In other words, this last work was his final attempt to put down his pen and stop writing. The result was to give its maker complete freedom in composition. Mark Twain wanted to preserve this freedom and guarantee that this was true by allowing his autobiography to be published after his death. He then starts his autobiography addressing the reader that they should keep in mind that he is “speaking from the grave.” He ends his final installment with his account of the Whittier Birthday banquet.Less
Twain puts in Life on the Mississippi (1883) that writers are “manacled servants of the public.” During the last decade of his life, the intention in making his autobiography was to escape the manacles of his reading audience. In other words, this last work was his final attempt to put down his pen and stop writing. The result was to give its maker complete freedom in composition. Mark Twain wanted to preserve this freedom and guarantee that this was true by allowing his autobiography to be published after his death. He then starts his autobiography addressing the reader that they should keep in mind that he is “speaking from the grave.” He ends his final installment with his account of the Whittier Birthday banquet.
Joan E. Cashin
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195053449
- eISBN:
- 9780199853861
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195053449.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century
This book deals with the westward migration of the planter families of the seaboard South in the years before the Civil War. The book examines the decision of families to migrate, the effects ...
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This book deals with the westward migration of the planter families of the seaboard South in the years before the Civil War. The book examines the decision of families to migrate, the effects migration had on the family life of the planters, and the way old ties were maintained and new ones formed. The emphasis is on child-rearing and women's lives in the Old Southwest (Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana), and the book draws on rich archival sources to present moving portraits of individual women caught in the flux of change.Less
This book deals with the westward migration of the planter families of the seaboard South in the years before the Civil War. The book examines the decision of families to migrate, the effects migration had on the family life of the planters, and the way old ties were maintained and new ones formed. The emphasis is on child-rearing and women's lives in the Old Southwest (Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana), and the book draws on rich archival sources to present moving portraits of individual women caught in the flux of change.
Michael J. Goleman
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781496812049
- eISBN:
- 9781496812087
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781496812049.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: Civil War
Your Heritage Will Still Remain details how Mississippians constructed their social identity in the aftermath of the crises that transformed the state beginning with the sectional conflict, Civil ...
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Your Heritage Will Still Remain details how Mississippians constructed their social identity in the aftermath of the crises that transformed the state beginning with the sectional conflict, Civil War, and Reconstruction, and finally ending in the late nineteenth century. The social identity studied in this book focuses primarily on how Mississippians thought of their place within a national context, whether as Americans, Confederates, or both. During the period in question, radical transformations within the state forced Mississippians to embrace, deny, or rethink their standing within the Union. Tracing the evolution of Mississippians’ social identity from 1850 through the end of the decade uncovers why white Mississippians felt the need to create the Lost Cause legend and shaped the way they constructed it. At the same time, black Mississippians tried to etch their place within the Union and as part of American society, yet continually faced white supremacist backlash. Your Heritage Will Still Remain offers insights into the creation of Mississippi’s Lost Cause and black social identity and how those cultural hallmarks continue to impact the state into the twenty-first century.Less
Your Heritage Will Still Remain details how Mississippians constructed their social identity in the aftermath of the crises that transformed the state beginning with the sectional conflict, Civil War, and Reconstruction, and finally ending in the late nineteenth century. The social identity studied in this book focuses primarily on how Mississippians thought of their place within a national context, whether as Americans, Confederates, or both. During the period in question, radical transformations within the state forced Mississippians to embrace, deny, or rethink their standing within the Union. Tracing the evolution of Mississippians’ social identity from 1850 through the end of the decade uncovers why white Mississippians felt the need to create the Lost Cause legend and shaped the way they constructed it. At the same time, black Mississippians tried to etch their place within the Union and as part of American society, yet continually faced white supremacist backlash. Your Heritage Will Still Remain offers insights into the creation of Mississippi’s Lost Cause and black social identity and how those cultural hallmarks continue to impact the state into the twenty-first century.
Peter Slade
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195372625
- eISBN:
- 9780199871728
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195372625.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Mission Mississippi—the largest sustained ecumenical racial reconciliation initiative in the United States today—claims that it is “Changing Mississippi one relationship at a time.” In Open ...
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Mission Mississippi—the largest sustained ecumenical racial reconciliation initiative in the United States today—claims that it is “Changing Mississippi one relationship at a time.” In Open Friendship in a Closed Society, Peter Slade offers a theological examination of Mission Mississippi's claim that a theology of reconciliation located in individual friendships can change a racialized and inequitable society. Drawing on his own fieldwork, interviews with participants, and historical research, Slade explores what academic theology can learn from Mission Mississippi's experiences and practices of racial reconciliation. Engaging with recent works in sociology, history, and theology, Open Friendship in a Closed Society is both a significant cultural and historical study of religion in Mississippi and an accessible interdisciplinary work of interest to both academics and lay people concerned with race, religion, and reconciliation. Slade finds, through the interpretive lens of Jürgen Moltmann's theology of open friendship, a way to view and engage with the lived theology of Mission Mississippi. The open friendship of Jesus challenges Mission Mississippi and those in faith-based reconciliation initiatives to cultivate practices that subvert and oppose the injustices perpetuated in closed societies.Less
Mission Mississippi—the largest sustained ecumenical racial reconciliation initiative in the United States today—claims that it is “Changing Mississippi one relationship at a time.” In Open Friendship in a Closed Society, Peter Slade offers a theological examination of Mission Mississippi's claim that a theology of reconciliation located in individual friendships can change a racialized and inequitable society. Drawing on his own fieldwork, interviews with participants, and historical research, Slade explores what academic theology can learn from Mission Mississippi's experiences and practices of racial reconciliation. Engaging with recent works in sociology, history, and theology, Open Friendship in a Closed Society is both a significant cultural and historical study of religion in Mississippi and an accessible interdisciplinary work of interest to both academics and lay people concerned with race, religion, and reconciliation. Slade finds, through the interpretive lens of Jürgen Moltmann's theology of open friendship, a way to view and engage with the lived theology of Mission Mississippi. The open friendship of Jesus challenges Mission Mississippi and those in faith-based reconciliation initiatives to cultivate practices that subvert and oppose the injustices perpetuated in closed societies.
Richard S. Kirkendall (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199790562
- eISBN:
- 9780199896820
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199790562.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
The field of American history has undergone remarkable expansion in the past century, all of it reflecting a broadening of the historical enterprise and democratization of its coverage. Today, the ...
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The field of American history has undergone remarkable expansion in the past century, all of it reflecting a broadening of the historical enterprise and democratization of its coverage. Today, the shape of the field takes into account the interests, identities, and narratives of more Americans than at any time in its past. Much of this change can be seen through the history of the Organization of American Historians, which, as its mission states, “promotes excellence in the scholarship, teaching, and presentation of American history, and encourages wide discussion of historical questions and equitable treatment of all practitioners of history.” This century-long history of the Organization of American Historians—and its predecessor, the Mississippi Valley Historical Association—explores the thinking and writing by professional historians on the history of the United States. It looks at the organization itself, its founding and dynamic growth, the changing composition of its membership and leadership, the emphasis over the years on teaching and public history, and pedagogical approaches and critical interpretations as played out in association publications, annual conferences, and advocacy efforts. The majority of the book emphasizes the writing of the American story by offering a panorama of the fields of history and their development, moving from long-established ones such as political history and diplomatic history to more recent ones, including environmental history and the history of sexuality.Less
The field of American history has undergone remarkable expansion in the past century, all of it reflecting a broadening of the historical enterprise and democratization of its coverage. Today, the shape of the field takes into account the interests, identities, and narratives of more Americans than at any time in its past. Much of this change can be seen through the history of the Organization of American Historians, which, as its mission states, “promotes excellence in the scholarship, teaching, and presentation of American history, and encourages wide discussion of historical questions and equitable treatment of all practitioners of history.” This century-long history of the Organization of American Historians—and its predecessor, the Mississippi Valley Historical Association—explores the thinking and writing by professional historians on the history of the United States. It looks at the organization itself, its founding and dynamic growth, the changing composition of its membership and leadership, the emphasis over the years on teaching and public history, and pedagogical approaches and critical interpretations as played out in association publications, annual conferences, and advocacy efforts. The majority of the book emphasizes the writing of the American story by offering a panorama of the fields of history and their development, moving from long-established ones such as political history and diplomatic history to more recent ones, including environmental history and the history of sexuality.
Robert Mickey
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691133386
- eISBN:
- 9781400838783
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691133386.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
The transformation of the American South—from authoritarian to democratic rule—is the most important political development since World War II. It has re-sorted voters into parties, remapped ...
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The transformation of the American South—from authoritarian to democratic rule—is the most important political development since World War II. It has re-sorted voters into parties, remapped presidential elections, and helped polarize Congress. Most important, it is the final step in America's democratization. This book illuminates this sea change by analyzing the democratization experiences of Georgia, Mississippi, and South Carolina. It argues that Southern states, from the 1890s until the early 1970s, constituted pockets of authoritarian rule trapped within and sustained by a federal democracy. These enclaves—devoted to cheap agricultural labor and white supremacy—were established by conservative Democrats to protect their careers and clients. From the abolition of the whites-only Democratic primary in 1944 until the national party reforms of the early 1970s, enclaves were battered and destroyed by a series of democratization pressures from inside and outside their borders. Drawing on archival research, the book traces how Deep South rulers—dissimilar in their internal conflict and political institutions—varied in their responses to these challenges. Ultimately, enclaves differed in their degree of violence, incorporation of African Americans, and reconciliation of Democrats with the national party. These diverse paths generated political and economic legacies that continue to reverberate today. Focusing on enclave rulers, their governance challenges, and the monumental achievements of their adversaries, the book shows how the struggles of the recent past have reshaped the South and, in so doing, America's political development.Less
The transformation of the American South—from authoritarian to democratic rule—is the most important political development since World War II. It has re-sorted voters into parties, remapped presidential elections, and helped polarize Congress. Most important, it is the final step in America's democratization. This book illuminates this sea change by analyzing the democratization experiences of Georgia, Mississippi, and South Carolina. It argues that Southern states, from the 1890s until the early 1970s, constituted pockets of authoritarian rule trapped within and sustained by a federal democracy. These enclaves—devoted to cheap agricultural labor and white supremacy—were established by conservative Democrats to protect their careers and clients. From the abolition of the whites-only Democratic primary in 1944 until the national party reforms of the early 1970s, enclaves were battered and destroyed by a series of democratization pressures from inside and outside their borders. Drawing on archival research, the book traces how Deep South rulers—dissimilar in their internal conflict and political institutions—varied in their responses to these challenges. Ultimately, enclaves differed in their degree of violence, incorporation of African Americans, and reconciliation of Democrats with the national party. These diverse paths generated political and economic legacies that continue to reverberate today. Focusing on enclave rulers, their governance challenges, and the monumental achievements of their adversaries, the book shows how the struggles of the recent past have reshaped the South and, in so doing, America's political development.
Dorothy Overstreet Pratt
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781496815460
- eISBN:
- 9781496815507
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781496815460.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century
This book examines the Mississippi Constitutional Convention of 1890 and argues that it became the crucible of change in the state, creating a cultural shift from a society based on class to one ...
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This book examines the Mississippi Constitutional Convention of 1890 and argues that it became the crucible of change in the state, creating a cultural shift from a society based on class to one based on race, though both remained important in the culture. State leaders called the convention to address the threat from outside the state – the Lodge Elections Bill – as well as the rising violence within the state. The convention delegates created layers of qualifiers for voting: payment of the poll tax, literacy, the Understanding Clause, no felony convictions, and lengthy residency requirements. In addition, the delegates utilized reapportionment to further strengthen provisions to disfranchise not only African Americans, but also a number of poor white voters. The newly promulgated constitution then withstood attacks by Congress during the debates over the Lodge Elections Bill and appeals to the federal courts, especially with Williams v Mississippi. The delegates succeeded in their charge to disfranchise, but in doing so unleashed new violence and a struggle to control the state that held it back economically and politically for seven decades.Less
This book examines the Mississippi Constitutional Convention of 1890 and argues that it became the crucible of change in the state, creating a cultural shift from a society based on class to one based on race, though both remained important in the culture. State leaders called the convention to address the threat from outside the state – the Lodge Elections Bill – as well as the rising violence within the state. The convention delegates created layers of qualifiers for voting: payment of the poll tax, literacy, the Understanding Clause, no felony convictions, and lengthy residency requirements. In addition, the delegates utilized reapportionment to further strengthen provisions to disfranchise not only African Americans, but also a number of poor white voters. The newly promulgated constitution then withstood attacks by Congress during the debates over the Lodge Elections Bill and appeals to the federal courts, especially with Williams v Mississippi. The delegates succeeded in their charge to disfranchise, but in doing so unleashed new violence and a struggle to control the state that held it back economically and politically for seven decades.
Stanley N. Katz
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199790562
- eISBN:
- 9780199896820
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199790562.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
This chapter focuses on the early history of the Mississippi Valley Historical Association (MVHA). It details the decision to change the name of MVHA to the Organization of American Historians (OAH) ...
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This chapter focuses on the early history of the Mississippi Valley Historical Association (MVHA). It details the decision to change the name of MVHA to the Organization of American Historians (OAH) in 1964 and the OAH's efforts to become a modern and democratic learned society during the 1960s and 1970s.Less
This chapter focuses on the early history of the Mississippi Valley Historical Association (MVHA). It details the decision to change the name of MVHA to the Organization of American Historians (OAH) in 1964 and the OAH's efforts to become a modern and democratic learned society during the 1960s and 1970s.
Williams Martin
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195083491
- eISBN:
- 9780199853205
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195083491.003.0045
- Subject:
- Music, Popular
The sixteen tracks on “Robert Johnson: King of the Delta Blues Singers”—some of them previously unreleased and some of them alternate takes—were conducted at several sessions between 1936–7, the only ...
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The sixteen tracks on “Robert Johnson: King of the Delta Blues Singers”—some of them previously unreleased and some of them alternate takes—were conducted at several sessions between 1936–7, the only recording dates of self-accompanying Robert Johnson, Mississippi Delta blues singer. Johnson's performance apparently was the direct product of the Mississippi Delta blues tradition, and it was also a surprise to those who believed that the original “country” blues is restrained in tempo and emotion to the slow moodiness of, for example, Bill Broonzy's later days. His kind of emotional sincerity takes courage bravery. And if jazz did not have such courage and bravery in its background, it would definitely not have survived.Less
The sixteen tracks on “Robert Johnson: King of the Delta Blues Singers”—some of them previously unreleased and some of them alternate takes—were conducted at several sessions between 1936–7, the only recording dates of self-accompanying Robert Johnson, Mississippi Delta blues singer. Johnson's performance apparently was the direct product of the Mississippi Delta blues tradition, and it was also a surprise to those who believed that the original “country” blues is restrained in tempo and emotion to the slow moodiness of, for example, Bill Broonzy's later days. His kind of emotional sincerity takes courage bravery. And if jazz did not have such courage and bravery in its background, it would definitely not have survived.
Gary B. Nash
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199790562
- eISBN:
- 9780199896820
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199790562.003.0026
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
This chapter presents an introduction to Part IV of the book. In this part, the book moves away from research and editing to teaching. It calls attention to what has been seen as a serious ...
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This chapter presents an introduction to Part IV of the book. In this part, the book moves away from research and editing to teaching. It calls attention to what has been seen as a serious shortcoming over much of the first century of the Mississippi Valley Historical Association and the Organization of American Historians: their neglect of the quality of history teaching in schools. It notes recent efforts to strengthen contact and cooperation among history educators of different levels.Less
This chapter presents an introduction to Part IV of the book. In this part, the book moves away from research and editing to teaching. It calls attention to what has been seen as a serious shortcoming over much of the first century of the Mississippi Valley Historical Association and the Organization of American Historians: their neglect of the quality of history teaching in schools. It notes recent efforts to strengthen contact and cooperation among history educators of different levels.
Carl Degler
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199790562
- eISBN:
- 9780199896820
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199790562.003.0038
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
In this chapter, Carl Degler, former president of the Organization of American Historians (OAH), recalls the differences between the Mississippi Valley Historical Association and the OAH, including ...
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In this chapter, Carl Degler, former president of the Organization of American Historians (OAH), recalls the differences between the Mississippi Valley Historical Association and the OAH, including the great difference in the size of the annual meetings, and plots some of the organizational and intellectual changes, such as the establishment of the program of Distinguished Lecturers.Less
In this chapter, Carl Degler, former president of the Organization of American Historians (OAH), recalls the differences between the Mississippi Valley Historical Association and the OAH, including the great difference in the size of the annual meetings, and plots some of the organizational and intellectual changes, such as the establishment of the program of Distinguished Lecturers.
Robert Mickey
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691133386
- eISBN:
- 9781400838783
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691133386.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
This chapter examines the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, which struck down state-mandated segregation in public education, and its implications for southern authoritarian ...
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This chapter examines the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, which struck down state-mandated segregation in public education, and its implications for southern authoritarian enclaves. With the Brown shock, Mississippi's rulers faced their first major black insurgency in decades. A standoff between the state's governors and the White Citizens' Council (WCC) forces led to a stalemate over the development of an effective coercive apparatus, with negative consequences for managing the desegregation crisis at the University of Mississippi. The chapter first considers the state of black education prior to Brown before discussing the crisis, triggered by the university's refusal to admit James Meredith—who was black— and Mississippi's resistance to the decision. It shows how a combination of intraelite dissensus and weak party–state capacities help explain the enclave's navigation of the desegregation crisis at the University of Mississippi.Less
This chapter examines the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, which struck down state-mandated segregation in public education, and its implications for southern authoritarian enclaves. With the Brown shock, Mississippi's rulers faced their first major black insurgency in decades. A standoff between the state's governors and the White Citizens' Council (WCC) forces led to a stalemate over the development of an effective coercive apparatus, with negative consequences for managing the desegregation crisis at the University of Mississippi. The chapter first considers the state of black education prior to Brown before discussing the crisis, triggered by the university's refusal to admit James Meredith—who was black— and Mississippi's resistance to the decision. It shows how a combination of intraelite dissensus and weak party–state capacities help explain the enclave's navigation of the desegregation crisis at the University of Mississippi.
Susan T. Falck
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781496824400
- eISBN:
- 9781496824448
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781496824400.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
Nearly seventy years after the Civil War, Natchez, Mississippi, sold itself to Depression-era tourists as a place “Where the Old South Still Lives.” Tourists flocked to view the town’s decaying ...
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Nearly seventy years after the Civil War, Natchez, Mississippi, sold itself to Depression-era tourists as a place “Where the Old South Still Lives.” Tourists flocked to view the town’s decaying antebellum mansions, hoop-skirted hostesses, and a pageant saturated in sentimental Lost Cause imagery. Organized by the town’s female garden club, the Pilgrimage created a popular culture experience that appealed to 1930s tourists. This book traces how the selective white historical memories of a small southern community originated from the hardships of the Civil War, changed over time, and culminated in a successful heritage tourism enterprise still in business today. Simultaneously, this study examines the ways in which Natchez African Americans contested this selective narrative to create a short lived but distinctive post-emancipation identity. This book demonstrates that southern memory making was never monolithic or static but was continuously shaped and reshaped by the unique dynamics of a community’s class, gender, racial, and social complexities. In the course of revealing how historical memory evolved in Natchez, this book contributes new insights on the periodization of Lost Cause ideology and the gendering of historical memory. Covering the period from the tumultuous early post-Civil War years through the economic hardships of the Great Depression, Remembering Dixie reveals that historical memory is often a contested process. Perhaps most importantly, this study helps to reclaim some of the earliest post-emancipation black memories that were nearly erased when white males reclaimed political power in the late 1870s.Less
Nearly seventy years after the Civil War, Natchez, Mississippi, sold itself to Depression-era tourists as a place “Where the Old South Still Lives.” Tourists flocked to view the town’s decaying antebellum mansions, hoop-skirted hostesses, and a pageant saturated in sentimental Lost Cause imagery. Organized by the town’s female garden club, the Pilgrimage created a popular culture experience that appealed to 1930s tourists. This book traces how the selective white historical memories of a small southern community originated from the hardships of the Civil War, changed over time, and culminated in a successful heritage tourism enterprise still in business today. Simultaneously, this study examines the ways in which Natchez African Americans contested this selective narrative to create a short lived but distinctive post-emancipation identity. This book demonstrates that southern memory making was never monolithic or static but was continuously shaped and reshaped by the unique dynamics of a community’s class, gender, racial, and social complexities. In the course of revealing how historical memory evolved in Natchez, this book contributes new insights on the periodization of Lost Cause ideology and the gendering of historical memory. Covering the period from the tumultuous early post-Civil War years through the economic hardships of the Great Depression, Remembering Dixie reveals that historical memory is often a contested process. Perhaps most importantly, this study helps to reclaim some of the earliest post-emancipation black memories that were nearly erased when white males reclaimed political power in the late 1870s.
John M. Giggie
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195304039
- eISBN:
- 9780199866885
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195304039.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century, History of Religion
This book explores religious transformation in the lives of ex-slaves and their descendants living in the Arkansas and Mississippi Delta between the end of Reconstruction and the start of the Great ...
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This book explores religious transformation in the lives of ex-slaves and their descendants living in the Arkansas and Mississippi Delta between the end of Reconstruction and the start of the Great Migration. It argues that Delta blacks, who were overwhelmingly rural sharecroppers and tenant farmers, developed a rich and complex sacred culture during this era. They forged a new religious culture by integrating their spiritual life with many of the defining features of the post‐Reconstruction South, including the rise of segregation and racial violence, the emergence of new forms of technology like train travel, the growth of black fraternal orders, and the rapid expansion of the consumer market. Experimenting with new symbols of freedom and racial respectability, forms of organizational culture, regional networks of communication, and popular notions of commodification and consumption enabled them to survive, make progress, and at times resist white supremacy. The book then evaluates the social consequences of these changes and shows in particular how the Holiness‐Pentecostal developed in large part as a rejection of them. It ends by probing how this new religious world influenced the Great Migration and black spiritual life in the 1920s and 1930s.Less
This book explores religious transformation in the lives of ex-slaves and their descendants living in the Arkansas and Mississippi Delta between the end of Reconstruction and the start of the Great Migration. It argues that Delta blacks, who were overwhelmingly rural sharecroppers and tenant farmers, developed a rich and complex sacred culture during this era. They forged a new religious culture by integrating their spiritual life with many of the defining features of the post‐Reconstruction South, including the rise of segregation and racial violence, the emergence of new forms of technology like train travel, the growth of black fraternal orders, and the rapid expansion of the consumer market. Experimenting with new symbols of freedom and racial respectability, forms of organizational culture, regional networks of communication, and popular notions of commodification and consumption enabled them to survive, make progress, and at times resist white supremacy. The book then evaluates the social consequences of these changes and shows in particular how the Holiness‐Pentecostal developed in large part as a rejection of them. It ends by probing how this new religious world influenced the Great Migration and black spiritual life in the 1920s and 1930s.
Crystal R. Sanders
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781469627809
- eISBN:
- 9781469627823
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469627809.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
Black Mississippians’ fight for freedom did not end with passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act. This book considers how the statewide Child Development Group of ...
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Black Mississippians’ fight for freedom did not end with passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act. This book considers how the statewide Child Development Group of Mississippi (CDGM) Head Start program became a vehicle through which African Americans mobilized for quality education, well-paying jobs, healthcare, and black self-determination after 1965. Head Start was a War on Poverty program created to improve the lives of poor children and their families. The federal early childhood education program provided black children from low-income families with nutritious meals, medical screenings, educational opportunities that prioritized racial pride and civic engagement. Head Start also offered Mississippi’s black working-class women jobs as preschool teachers. These jobs, independent of the local white power structure, gave black women the financial freedom to vote and send their children to previously all-white schools. CDGM’s Head Start program antagonized white supremacists at both the local and state levels who were unaccustomed to financially independent and assertive blacks. It provoked opposition that significantly diminished the transformative possibilities of Head Start and the War on Poverty program.Less
Black Mississippians’ fight for freedom did not end with passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act. This book considers how the statewide Child Development Group of Mississippi (CDGM) Head Start program became a vehicle through which African Americans mobilized for quality education, well-paying jobs, healthcare, and black self-determination after 1965. Head Start was a War on Poverty program created to improve the lives of poor children and their families. The federal early childhood education program provided black children from low-income families with nutritious meals, medical screenings, educational opportunities that prioritized racial pride and civic engagement. Head Start also offered Mississippi’s black working-class women jobs as preschool teachers. These jobs, independent of the local white power structure, gave black women the financial freedom to vote and send their children to previously all-white schools. CDGM’s Head Start program antagonized white supremacists at both the local and state levels who were unaccustomed to financially independent and assertive blacks. It provoked opposition that significantly diminished the transformative possibilities of Head Start and the War on Poverty program.
Joel Williamson
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195101294
- eISBN:
- 9780199854233
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195101294.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
Before the Civil War, William C. Falkner was one the young men vying for leadership in the town of Ripley and the surrounding countryside. It was flawlessly symbolic of his rise in the social ...
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Before the Civil War, William C. Falkner was one the young men vying for leadership in the town of Ripley and the surrounding countryside. It was flawlessly symbolic of his rise in the social hierarchy that he began the war as a captain, ended it as a colonel, and aspired to be a general. During the Civil War, William C. Falkner helped organize the Magnolia Rifles, which joined the other Mississippi companies to form the Second Mississippi Volunteer Regiment. Falkner subsequently won election as its colonel. Falkner continued his operations until the fall of 1862 with steady losses and no success. In late November, the Union cavalry seized Ripley, and they almost caught the colonel of the First Mississippi Partisan Rangers. Colonel Falkner came out of the war neither conquered nor impoverished.Less
Before the Civil War, William C. Falkner was one the young men vying for leadership in the town of Ripley and the surrounding countryside. It was flawlessly symbolic of his rise in the social hierarchy that he began the war as a captain, ended it as a colonel, and aspired to be a general. During the Civil War, William C. Falkner helped organize the Magnolia Rifles, which joined the other Mississippi companies to form the Second Mississippi Volunteer Regiment. Falkner subsequently won election as its colonel. Falkner continued his operations until the fall of 1862 with steady losses and no success. In late November, the Union cavalry seized Ripley, and they almost caught the colonel of the First Mississippi Partisan Rangers. Colonel Falkner came out of the war neither conquered nor impoverished.
WILLIAM DUSINBERRE
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195326031
- eISBN:
- 9780199868308
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195326031.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century
During a nineteen-year period after Beanland had finally been dismissed, more than half of the adult men at the plantation (at least thirteen out of 25 adult males) fled at least once. These ...
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During a nineteen-year period after Beanland had finally been dismissed, more than half of the adult men at the plantation (at least thirteen out of 25 adult males) fled at least once. These fugitives fled, on average, on more than three separate occasions. Thus, the total number of flights was at least forty during the same period. Occasionally a fugitive voluntarily turned himself in to a well-disposed white man who he hoped would protect him from a brutal overseer. Flight was dangerous — one fugitive received buck shot in his thigh when he returned at night to fetch clothes for a comrade; sleeping out in the woods led more than once to serious illness. Recapture was normally punished by a severe whipping. Flight never, apparently, led to permanent escape. Yet it was the principal safety valve that gave Polk's slaves a vent for their discontent.Less
During a nineteen-year period after Beanland had finally been dismissed, more than half of the adult men at the plantation (at least thirteen out of 25 adult males) fled at least once. These fugitives fled, on average, on more than three separate occasions. Thus, the total number of flights was at least forty during the same period. Occasionally a fugitive voluntarily turned himself in to a well-disposed white man who he hoped would protect him from a brutal overseer. Flight was dangerous — one fugitive received buck shot in his thigh when he returned at night to fetch clothes for a comrade; sleeping out in the woods led more than once to serious illness. Recapture was normally punished by a severe whipping. Flight never, apparently, led to permanent escape. Yet it was the principal safety valve that gave Polk's slaves a vent for their discontent.
Jarret Ruminski
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781496813961
- eISBN:
- 9781496814005
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781496813961.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: Civil War
In The Limits of Loyalty, Jarret Ruminski examines the lives of ordinary people in Confederate Mississippi to show how military occupation and the ravages of war tested the meaning of loyalty during ...
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In The Limits of Loyalty, Jarret Ruminski examines the lives of ordinary people in Confederate Mississippi to show how military occupation and the ravages of war tested the meaning of loyalty during the American Civil War.
The extent of southern loyalty to the Confederate States of America has long been a subject of historical contention that has resulted in two conflicting conclusions: southern patriotism was either strong enough to carry the Confederacy to the brink of victory or so weak that the Confederacy was doomed to crumble from internal discord. Mississippi, the home state of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, should have been a hotbed of Confederate nationalism, but the reality was more complicated.
This study breaks the “weak/strong” Confederate loyalty impasse by examining how people from different backgrounds–women and men, white and black, enslaved and free, rich and poor–negotiated the shifting contours of loyalty in a state where Union occupation turned everyday activities into a potential test of patriotism. While the Confederate government demanded total national loyalty from it citizenry, this book focuses on wartime activities like swearing the Union oath, illegally trading with the Union army, and deserting from the Confederate army to show how Mississippians acted on multiple loyalties to self, family, and nation, thereby thwarting the government’s attempt to enforce nationalism at any cost. Ruminski also explores the relationship between loyalty and slavery to demonstrate how an internal war between slaves and slaveholders defined Mississippi’s social development into the twentieth century.Less
In The Limits of Loyalty, Jarret Ruminski examines the lives of ordinary people in Confederate Mississippi to show how military occupation and the ravages of war tested the meaning of loyalty during the American Civil War.
The extent of southern loyalty to the Confederate States of America has long been a subject of historical contention that has resulted in two conflicting conclusions: southern patriotism was either strong enough to carry the Confederacy to the brink of victory or so weak that the Confederacy was doomed to crumble from internal discord. Mississippi, the home state of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, should have been a hotbed of Confederate nationalism, but the reality was more complicated.
This study breaks the “weak/strong” Confederate loyalty impasse by examining how people from different backgrounds–women and men, white and black, enslaved and free, rich and poor–negotiated the shifting contours of loyalty in a state where Union occupation turned everyday activities into a potential test of patriotism. While the Confederate government demanded total national loyalty from it citizenry, this book focuses on wartime activities like swearing the Union oath, illegally trading with the Union army, and deserting from the Confederate army to show how Mississippians acted on multiple loyalties to self, family, and nation, thereby thwarting the government’s attempt to enforce nationalism at any cost. Ruminski also explores the relationship between loyalty and slavery to demonstrate how an internal war between slaves and slaveholders defined Mississippi’s social development into the twentieth century.
Peter Slade
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195372625
- eISBN:
- 9780199871728
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195372625.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter introduces the reader to the key themes of the book and outlines the content and argument of the succeeding chapters. The claim of Mission Mississippi to be changing Mississippi one ...
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This chapter introduces the reader to the key themes of the book and outlines the content and argument of the succeeding chapters. The claim of Mission Mississippi to be changing Mississippi one relationship at a time is juxtaposed with the sociologists Michael O Emerson and Christian Smith's claim that evangelicals' emphasis on individual relationships rather than systemic injustice makes them part of the problem of race in America. If the sociologist's concerns prove founded, should churches abandon a theology of friendship in their search for racial reconciliation, or does Mission Mississippi's experience help in the development of a particular Christian understanding of friendship robust enough to address issues of systemic injustice and inequity in a racialized society?Less
This chapter introduces the reader to the key themes of the book and outlines the content and argument of the succeeding chapters. The claim of Mission Mississippi to be changing Mississippi one relationship at a time is juxtaposed with the sociologists Michael O Emerson and Christian Smith's claim that evangelicals' emphasis on individual relationships rather than systemic injustice makes them part of the problem of race in America. If the sociologist's concerns prove founded, should churches abandon a theology of friendship in their search for racial reconciliation, or does Mission Mississippi's experience help in the development of a particular Christian understanding of friendship robust enough to address issues of systemic injustice and inequity in a racialized society?
