James S. Humphreys
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813032658
- eISBN:
- 9780813039411
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813032658.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
This introductory chapter begins with a brief description of Simkins's eccentric behavior and major scholarly accomplishments. It then considers his concerns over the collapse of white supremacy and ...
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This introductory chapter begins with a brief description of Simkins's eccentric behavior and major scholarly accomplishments. It then considers his concerns over the collapse of white supremacy and the emergence of black equality. The chapter also sets out the purpose of the book, which is to illuminate the inner workings of a scholar considered eccentric and even inscrutable by those who knew him. It tries to make sense of an individual who possessed a powerful intellect coupled with a host of personal demons, and analyzes how his chaotic personal life influenced his writing. Finally, this study strives to determine the impact of Simkins's work on southern historiography and the larger public issues, especially those associated with race, that dominated his world.Less
This introductory chapter begins with a brief description of Simkins's eccentric behavior and major scholarly accomplishments. It then considers his concerns over the collapse of white supremacy and the emergence of black equality. The chapter also sets out the purpose of the book, which is to illuminate the inner workings of a scholar considered eccentric and even inscrutable by those who knew him. It tries to make sense of an individual who possessed a powerful intellect coupled with a host of personal demons, and analyzes how his chaotic personal life influenced his writing. Finally, this study strives to determine the impact of Simkins's work on southern historiography and the larger public issues, especially those associated with race, that dominated his world.
Joel Williamson
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195101294
- eISBN:
- 9780199854233
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195101294.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
William Faulkner more than any other writer is intimately associated with the South about which he wrote. This biography reveals the man and his family and the ways in which southern culture and his ...
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William Faulkner more than any other writer is intimately associated with the South about which he wrote. This biography reveals the man and his family and the ways in which southern culture and his own life were wound around one another in his greatest works.Less
William Faulkner more than any other writer is intimately associated with the South about which he wrote. This biography reveals the man and his family and the ways in which southern culture and his own life were wound around one another in his greatest works.
Peter H. Wood
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195112436
- eISBN:
- 9780199854271
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195112436.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century
This chapter discusses that matters of race had always played a great part in the story of southern history. It explains that the public gains only glimpses of the early southern black history: white ...
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This chapter discusses that matters of race had always played a great part in the story of southern history. It explains that the public gains only glimpses of the early southern black history: white conservatives remained protective of the lingering myth of benevolent planters and incompetent Africans and a considerable number of African Americans, browbeaten by generations of white historical myth-making, were equally unwilling to re-open discussions of slavery times, fearing that their ancestors, rather than their oppressors, might once again be demeaned in the process. The chapter discusses events of black slavery and escape. It also examines the sanction of law put upon rebellious slaves. It explores the unforeseen dilemmas and significant gains brought forth by the maturing of early southern black history.Less
This chapter discusses that matters of race had always played a great part in the story of southern history. It explains that the public gains only glimpses of the early southern black history: white conservatives remained protective of the lingering myth of benevolent planters and incompetent Africans and a considerable number of African Americans, browbeaten by generations of white historical myth-making, were equally unwilling to re-open discussions of slavery times, fearing that their ancestors, rather than their oppressors, might once again be demeaned in the process. The chapter discusses events of black slavery and escape. It also examines the sanction of law put upon rebellious slaves. It explores the unforeseen dilemmas and significant gains brought forth by the maturing of early southern black history.
James S. Humphreys
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813032658
- eISBN:
- 9780813039411
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813032658.003.0012
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
In the fall of 1948, Francis Simkins arrived on the campus of Louisiana State University to begin a one-year appointment as visiting professor of history, a temporary replacement for Bell I. Wiley, ...
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In the fall of 1948, Francis Simkins arrived on the campus of Louisiana State University to begin a one-year appointment as visiting professor of history, a temporary replacement for Bell I. Wiley, the head of the history department, who was going on leave. His new job would allow him to teach again, if only briefly, at a major research university. Simkins had a stable marriage, a son who was growing up, and a challenging teaching job. The positive reviews of his college textbook, The South, Old and New, were also happy developments. In the late 1940s a need existed for a book such as Simkins's one-volume work on southern history. The field Simkins worked in as an academic discipline had grown markedly in the early twentieth century, and, as a result, southern history courses abounded in higher education. Several thousand university and college students enrolled in southern history courses around the country. Simkins thus stood to gain in notoriety as a historian while making a considerable amount of money.Less
In the fall of 1948, Francis Simkins arrived on the campus of Louisiana State University to begin a one-year appointment as visiting professor of history, a temporary replacement for Bell I. Wiley, the head of the history department, who was going on leave. His new job would allow him to teach again, if only briefly, at a major research university. Simkins had a stable marriage, a son who was growing up, and a challenging teaching job. The positive reviews of his college textbook, The South, Old and New, were also happy developments. In the late 1940s a need existed for a book such as Simkins's one-volume work on southern history. The field Simkins worked in as an academic discipline had grown markedly in the early twentieth century, and, as a result, southern history courses abounded in higher education. Several thousand university and college students enrolled in southern history courses around the country. Simkins thus stood to gain in notoriety as a historian while making a considerable amount of money.
Matthew Hild and Keri Leigh Merritt (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780813056975
- eISBN:
- 9780813053752
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813056975.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
Reconsidering Southern Labor History: Race, Class, and Power presents fresh and original scholarship that reexamines and reinterprets the field. The first collection of essays on southern labor ...
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Reconsidering Southern Labor History: Race, Class, and Power presents fresh and original scholarship that reexamines and reinterprets the field. The first collection of essays on southern labor history in six years, its broad chronological sweep distinguishes it from all of the collections that have appeared during the last forty years. Collectively, these essays cover virtually the entire span of United States history, from the early national period following the American Revolution through the twenty-first century. The essays that examine the antebellum South demonstrate that the problems of southern labor in that era still carry relevance in the twenty-first century and merit scholars’ attention. Furthermore, whereas the “new labor history” that was prevalent from the 1970s to the 1990s generally discouraged a focus upon institutional history (i.e., labor unions), the recent trend, as labor unions have gone into sharp decline in the United States in the last thirty-five years, has been to give unions and their importance more careful consideration while still maintaining focus on issues of class, race, gender, and the agency of individual workers. Many of these essays reflect this trend, as they bring unions or antebellum workingmen’s associations back into labor history without abandoning the methodologies and perspectives that were developed by new labor historians of previous generations.Less
Reconsidering Southern Labor History: Race, Class, and Power presents fresh and original scholarship that reexamines and reinterprets the field. The first collection of essays on southern labor history in six years, its broad chronological sweep distinguishes it from all of the collections that have appeared during the last forty years. Collectively, these essays cover virtually the entire span of United States history, from the early national period following the American Revolution through the twenty-first century. The essays that examine the antebellum South demonstrate that the problems of southern labor in that era still carry relevance in the twenty-first century and merit scholars’ attention. Furthermore, whereas the “new labor history” that was prevalent from the 1970s to the 1990s generally discouraged a focus upon institutional history (i.e., labor unions), the recent trend, as labor unions have gone into sharp decline in the United States in the last thirty-five years, has been to give unions and their importance more careful consideration while still maintaining focus on issues of class, race, gender, and the agency of individual workers. Many of these essays reflect this trend, as they bring unions or antebellum workingmen’s associations back into labor history without abandoning the methodologies and perspectives that were developed by new labor historians of previous generations.
James C. Cobb
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781496809971
- eISBN:
- 9781496810014
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781496809971.003.0015
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 20th Century Literature
This chapter explores how “two of the South's ablest interpreters, William Faulker and C. Vann Woodward, may have complemented, supplemented, or contradicted each other as they examined a common time ...
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This chapter explores how “two of the South's ablest interpreters, William Faulker and C. Vann Woodward, may have complemented, supplemented, or contradicted each other as they examined a common time and place ” Both struggled, for instance, to give African American figures the same historical weight and agency attributed to whites, and both at times cast a sympathetic eye on the antebellum planter class. Moreover, Woodward drew directly on Faulkner in developing his account of what he called the “burden of southern history”: a historical experience and consciousness among southerners that he nominated as an alternative to white supremacy as the basis of a distinctive regional identity and the central theme of a distinctive regional history.Less
This chapter explores how “two of the South's ablest interpreters, William Faulker and C. Vann Woodward, may have complemented, supplemented, or contradicted each other as they examined a common time and place ” Both struggled, for instance, to give African American figures the same historical weight and agency attributed to whites, and both at times cast a sympathetic eye on the antebellum planter class. Moreover, Woodward drew directly on Faulkner in developing his account of what he called the “burden of southern history”: a historical experience and consciousness among southerners that he nominated as an alternative to white supremacy as the basis of a distinctive regional identity and the central theme of a distinctive regional history.
Peter Lurie
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780199797318
- eISBN:
- 9780190225735
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780199797318.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature, American, 20th Century Literature
This chapter uses historicist criticism of William Faulkner to suggest a limit to even the best approaches to this deeply historical writer. Attending to what his novels cannot say—or—see about ...
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This chapter uses historicist criticism of William Faulkner to suggest a limit to even the best approaches to this deeply historical writer. Attending to what his novels cannot say—or—see about history and racial understanding, I draw on Maurice Blanchot’s philosophy of language to show the category error that scholars make when assuming that Faulkner’s texts yield the historical secret lodged in the imagined structures and complicated texts Absalom, Absalom! and Light and August, each of which bore the title “Dark House” in manuscript form. The chapter shows the more meaningful aporias and lacunae surrounding race and racial meaning in each novel and the U.S. south—problems attendant on language and the effort to name. It offers a model for historical knowledge drawn from Blanchot and from film theory of fascination, a spellbound, rapt sense of wonder before traumatic events, one that elements of Absalom evoke in readers and posits in Quentin Compson.Less
This chapter uses historicist criticism of William Faulkner to suggest a limit to even the best approaches to this deeply historical writer. Attending to what his novels cannot say—or—see about history and racial understanding, I draw on Maurice Blanchot’s philosophy of language to show the category error that scholars make when assuming that Faulkner’s texts yield the historical secret lodged in the imagined structures and complicated texts Absalom, Absalom! and Light and August, each of which bore the title “Dark House” in manuscript form. The chapter shows the more meaningful aporias and lacunae surrounding race and racial meaning in each novel and the U.S. south—problems attendant on language and the effort to name. It offers a model for historical knowledge drawn from Blanchot and from film theory of fascination, a spellbound, rapt sense of wonder before traumatic events, one that elements of Absalom evoke in readers and posits in Quentin Compson.
Ian Finseth
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780190848347
- eISBN:
- 9780190848378
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190848347.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 19th Century Literature
This chapter investigates the ways in which the Civil War dead appeared in nineteenth-century histories of the war. As the practice and philosophy of history both evolved, the dead provided a means ...
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This chapter investigates the ways in which the Civil War dead appeared in nineteenth-century histories of the war. As the practice and philosophy of history both evolved, the dead provided a means of navigating the crisis of historical representation precipitated by the conflict. On one hand, they are routinely depersonalized, reduced to “objective” data, so as to contain the unexampled carnage of the war and to demarcate, by contrast, a more enlightened postwar modernity. On the other, the dead are revered as sacred relics that provide a sense of stabilizing connection to a common history. Ultimately, the tension between these modes of historical consciousneᶊ is resolved by a teleological narrative of national self-creation. This narrative, linked to the rise of American imperialism, tended to subsume, without fully negating, the social alienation that wayward attachments to the dead, in both Southern history and African American counter-history, could nourish.Less
This chapter investigates the ways in which the Civil War dead appeared in nineteenth-century histories of the war. As the practice and philosophy of history both evolved, the dead provided a means of navigating the crisis of historical representation precipitated by the conflict. On one hand, they are routinely depersonalized, reduced to “objective” data, so as to contain the unexampled carnage of the war and to demarcate, by contrast, a more enlightened postwar modernity. On the other, the dead are revered as sacred relics that provide a sense of stabilizing connection to a common history. Ultimately, the tension between these modes of historical consciousneᶊ is resolved by a teleological narrative of national self-creation. This narrative, linked to the rise of American imperialism, tended to subsume, without fully negating, the social alienation that wayward attachments to the dead, in both Southern history and African American counter-history, could nourish.
Richard D. Starnes
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780813042374
- eISBN:
- 9780813043494
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813042374.003.0013
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most visited in the National Park system and showcases how the landscape and even southern history were manipulated to develop a particular experience ...
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The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most visited in the National Park system and showcases how the landscape and even southern history were manipulated to develop a particular experience for tourists. Richard D. Starnes’s essay offers an instructive overview of how decisions by park leaders led to an interpretive program focused on the primitive white settlers of the region in the nineteenth century. They did so, he argues, to the exclusion of Native American history, in effect creating an image of the Smokies as a “place in the tourist imagination.”Less
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most visited in the National Park system and showcases how the landscape and even southern history were manipulated to develop a particular experience for tourists. Richard D. Starnes’s essay offers an instructive overview of how decisions by park leaders led to an interpretive program focused on the primitive white settlers of the region in the nineteenth century. They did so, he argues, to the exclusion of Native American history, in effect creating an image of the Smokies as a “place in the tourist imagination.”
Jessica M. Parr
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781628461985
- eISBN:
- 9781626744998
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781628461985.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century
In 1770, English missionary George Whitefield died in Newburyport, Massachusetts. His death marked the start of a complex legacy that in many ways rendered Whitefield more powerful and influential in ...
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In 1770, English missionary George Whitefield died in Newburyport, Massachusetts. His death marked the start of a complex legacy that in many ways rendered Whitefield more powerful and influential in the afterlife than during his considerable career. Whitefield was a religious icon shaped in the complexities of revivalism, the contest over religious toleration, and the conflicting role of Christianity for enslaved people. Pro-slavery Christians saw Christianity as a form of social control for slaves. Evangelical Christianity’s emphasis on “freedom in the eyes of God” also suggested a path to political freedom. The book’s analysis of Whitefield’s fluctuating views on slavery is among the book’s central contributions, as a topic that has not been addressed since the early 1970s, and then only briefly.Less
In 1770, English missionary George Whitefield died in Newburyport, Massachusetts. His death marked the start of a complex legacy that in many ways rendered Whitefield more powerful and influential in the afterlife than during his considerable career. Whitefield was a religious icon shaped in the complexities of revivalism, the contest over religious toleration, and the conflicting role of Christianity for enslaved people. Pro-slavery Christians saw Christianity as a form of social control for slaves. Evangelical Christianity’s emphasis on “freedom in the eyes of God” also suggested a path to political freedom. The book’s analysis of Whitefield’s fluctuating views on slavery is among the book’s central contributions, as a topic that has not been addressed since the early 1970s, and then only briefly.
Caroline E. Light
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781479854530
- eISBN:
- 9781479859542
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9781479854530.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This introductory chapter provides an overview of the book's main themes. This book challenges northern-centric perspectives on American Jewish history by looking south to uncover the roots of Jewish ...
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This introductory chapter provides an overview of the book's main themes. This book challenges northern-centric perspectives on American Jewish history by looking south to uncover the roots of Jewish benevolent traditions and to explore the ways in which region shaped a minoritized people's pursuit of belonging. It shows how Jewish southerners instituted a sophisticated network of social uplift organizations to ensure that their poorest coreligionists did not endanger collective Jewish prosperity and belonging. It also contributes to contemporary ethnic studies scholarship by exploring a minoritized people's efforts to gain access to the benefits of full citizenship. Drawing from recent work on “cultural citizenship,” this book explores how collectively shared values, ideals, and practices shape historical actors' authenticity as members of a community.Less
This introductory chapter provides an overview of the book's main themes. This book challenges northern-centric perspectives on American Jewish history by looking south to uncover the roots of Jewish benevolent traditions and to explore the ways in which region shaped a minoritized people's pursuit of belonging. It shows how Jewish southerners instituted a sophisticated network of social uplift organizations to ensure that their poorest coreligionists did not endanger collective Jewish prosperity and belonging. It also contributes to contemporary ethnic studies scholarship by exploring a minoritized people's efforts to gain access to the benefits of full citizenship. Drawing from recent work on “cultural citizenship,” this book explores how collectively shared values, ideals, and practices shape historical actors' authenticity as members of a community.
Christopher A. Cooper and H. Gibbs Knotts
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781469631059
- eISBN:
- 9781469631073
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469631059.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
The American South has experienced remarkable change over the past half century. Black voter registration has increased, the region’s politics have shifted from one-party Democratic to the ...
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The American South has experienced remarkable change over the past half century. Black voter registration has increased, the region’s politics have shifted from one-party Democratic to the near-domination of the Republican Party, and in-migration has increased its population. At the same time, many outward signs of regional distinctiveness have faded--chain restaurants have replaced mom-and-pop diners, and the interstate highway system connects the region to the rest of the country. Given all of these changes, many have argued that southern identity is fading. But here, Christopher A. Cooper and H. Gibbs Knotts show how these changes have allowed for new types of southern identity to emerge. For some, identification with the South has become more about a connection to the region’s folkways or to place than about policy or ideology. For others, the contemporary South is all of those things at once--a place where many modern-day southerners navigate the region’s confusing and omnipresent history.
Regardless of how individuals see the South, this study argues that the region’s drastic political, racial, and cultural changes have not lessened the importance of southern identity but have played a key role in keeping regional identification relevant in the twenty-first century.Less
The American South has experienced remarkable change over the past half century. Black voter registration has increased, the region’s politics have shifted from one-party Democratic to the near-domination of the Republican Party, and in-migration has increased its population. At the same time, many outward signs of regional distinctiveness have faded--chain restaurants have replaced mom-and-pop diners, and the interstate highway system connects the region to the rest of the country. Given all of these changes, many have argued that southern identity is fading. But here, Christopher A. Cooper and H. Gibbs Knotts show how these changes have allowed for new types of southern identity to emerge. For some, identification with the South has become more about a connection to the region’s folkways or to place than about policy or ideology. For others, the contemporary South is all of those things at once--a place where many modern-day southerners navigate the region’s confusing and omnipresent history.
Regardless of how individuals see the South, this study argues that the region’s drastic political, racial, and cultural changes have not lessened the importance of southern identity but have played a key role in keeping regional identification relevant in the twenty-first century.
James S. Humphreys
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813032658
- eISBN:
- 9780813039411
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813032658.003.0015
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
During the four decades since Francis Simkins's death in the 1960s, the writing of southern history has undergone immense changes. Gender theory and a greater focus on minorities have blossomed in ...
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During the four decades since Francis Simkins's death in the 1960s, the writing of southern history has undergone immense changes. Gender theory and a greater focus on minorities have blossomed in the late twentieth century as the most important approaches to the study of this region. Compared to these perspectives, Simkins's writing seems dated and even naïve. In fact, though, his work provided inspiration and insight for modern scholars, who built upon many of Simkins's historical ideas outlined in his work. Simkins was a pioneer in the field of southern history. His writing often focused on minorities, blacks during Reconstruction, and women who lived during the Civil War era. He belonged to a small group of liberal thinkers in the early twentieth century who promoted the interests of blacks through recognition of their humanity and an illumination of the abuses they suffered in a racial system designed specifically to subjugate them. Simkins deserves to be ranked high among scholars of his generation. The reactionary stance he adopted in the last two decades of his life dims, but does not eclipse, his earlier contributions to these fields.Less
During the four decades since Francis Simkins's death in the 1960s, the writing of southern history has undergone immense changes. Gender theory and a greater focus on minorities have blossomed in the late twentieth century as the most important approaches to the study of this region. Compared to these perspectives, Simkins's writing seems dated and even naïve. In fact, though, his work provided inspiration and insight for modern scholars, who built upon many of Simkins's historical ideas outlined in his work. Simkins was a pioneer in the field of southern history. His writing often focused on minorities, blacks during Reconstruction, and women who lived during the Civil War era. He belonged to a small group of liberal thinkers in the early twentieth century who promoted the interests of blacks through recognition of their humanity and an illumination of the abuses they suffered in a racial system designed specifically to subjugate them. Simkins deserves to be ranked high among scholars of his generation. The reactionary stance he adopted in the last two decades of his life dims, but does not eclipse, his earlier contributions to these fields.
Elizabeth Anne Payne (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781617031731
- eISBN:
- 9781617031748
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781617031731.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century
Anne Firor Scott’s The Southern Lady: From Pedestal to Politics, 1830–1930 stirred a keen interest among historians in both the approach and message of her book. Using women’s diaries, letters, and ...
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Anne Firor Scott’s The Southern Lady: From Pedestal to Politics, 1830–1930 stirred a keen interest among historians in both the approach and message of her book. Using women’s diaries, letters, and other personal documents, Scott brought to life southern women as wives and mothers, as members of their communities and churches, and as sometimes sassy but rarely passive agents. She brilliantly demonstrated that the familiar dichotomies of the personal versus the public, the private versus the civic, which had dominated traditional scholarship about men, could not be made to fit women’s lives. In doing so, Scott helped to open up vast terrains of women’s experiences for historical scholarship. This book, based on papers presented at the University of Mississippi’s annual Chancellor Porter L. Fortune Symposium in Southern History, brings together chapters by scholars at the forefront of contemporary scholarship on American women’s history. Each regards The Southern Lady as having shaped her historical perspective and inspired her choice of topics in important ways. These chapters demonstrate that the power of imagination and scholarly courage manifested in Scott’s and other early American women historians’ work has blossomed into a gracious plentitude.Less
Anne Firor Scott’s The Southern Lady: From Pedestal to Politics, 1830–1930 stirred a keen interest among historians in both the approach and message of her book. Using women’s diaries, letters, and other personal documents, Scott brought to life southern women as wives and mothers, as members of their communities and churches, and as sometimes sassy but rarely passive agents. She brilliantly demonstrated that the familiar dichotomies of the personal versus the public, the private versus the civic, which had dominated traditional scholarship about men, could not be made to fit women’s lives. In doing so, Scott helped to open up vast terrains of women’s experiences for historical scholarship. This book, based on papers presented at the University of Mississippi’s annual Chancellor Porter L. Fortune Symposium in Southern History, brings together chapters by scholars at the forefront of contemporary scholarship on American women’s history. Each regards The Southern Lady as having shaped her historical perspective and inspired her choice of topics in important ways. These chapters demonstrate that the power of imagination and scholarly courage manifested in Scott’s and other early American women historians’ work has blossomed into a gracious plentitude.
Karen L. Cox (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780813042374
- eISBN:
- 9780813043494
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813042374.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
From battlegrounds to birthplaces and sites in between, heritage tourism has always been part of how the South attracts visitors—and defines itself—yet such sites are often understudied in the ...
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From battlegrounds to birthplaces and sites in between, heritage tourism has always been part of how the South attracts visitors—and defines itself—yet such sites are often understudied in the scholarly literature. The contributors to this volume explore the narrative of southern history and how it is often complicated by race, influenced by local politics, and shaped by competing memories. Destination Dixie reveals that heritage tourism in the South is about more than just marketing destinations and filling hotel rooms; it cuts to the heart of how southerners seek to shape their identity and image for a broader touring public—now often made up of northerners and southerners alike.Less
From battlegrounds to birthplaces and sites in between, heritage tourism has always been part of how the South attracts visitors—and defines itself—yet such sites are often understudied in the scholarly literature. The contributors to this volume explore the narrative of southern history and how it is often complicated by race, influenced by local politics, and shaped by competing memories. Destination Dixie reveals that heritage tourism in the South is about more than just marketing destinations and filling hotel rooms; it cuts to the heart of how southerners seek to shape their identity and image for a broader touring public—now often made up of northerners and southerners alike.
Paul Harvey
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781496820471
- eISBN:
- 9781496820518
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781496820471.003.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Sociology of Religion
This chapter discusses the past, present, and future of southern religious history and suggests how much of Charles Reagan Wilson's academic lifetime of work has foreshadowed, shaped, and developed ...
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This chapter discusses the past, present, and future of southern religious history and suggests how much of Charles Reagan Wilson's academic lifetime of work has foreshadowed, shaped, and developed work in the field over the last generation. Scholars of Wilson's generation tried to understand the origins and dominance of evangelicalism. The present and future of historical writing in this field is about incorporating a diversity of southern religious stories, ranging from the Powhatan Confederacy in early Virginia, to Moravians in North Carolina, Spiritualists in New Orleans and elsewhere, and Catholics throughout the region. Another major theme of southern religious history is the centrality and constant interplay of the revolutionary and the revivalist traditions in southern history, and a parallel interplay between racialized particularity and Christian universalism in southern religious thought and practice.Less
This chapter discusses the past, present, and future of southern religious history and suggests how much of Charles Reagan Wilson's academic lifetime of work has foreshadowed, shaped, and developed work in the field over the last generation. Scholars of Wilson's generation tried to understand the origins and dominance of evangelicalism. The present and future of historical writing in this field is about incorporating a diversity of southern religious stories, ranging from the Powhatan Confederacy in early Virginia, to Moravians in North Carolina, Spiritualists in New Orleans and elsewhere, and Catholics throughout the region. Another major theme of southern religious history is the centrality and constant interplay of the revolutionary and the revivalist traditions in southern history, and a parallel interplay between racialized particularity and Christian universalism in southern religious thought and practice.
Ted Ownby
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781496820471
- eISBN:
- 9781496820518
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781496820471.003.0008
- Subject:
- Sociology, Sociology of Religion
This afterword looks at a few of the features of Charles Reagan Wilson's scholarship that led so many people to gather to talk about southern religion and southern culture. Of the several ways ...
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This afterword looks at a few of the features of Charles Reagan Wilson's scholarship that led so many people to gather to talk about southern religion and southern culture. Of the several ways Wilson's scholarship was doing work that later gained a name of a scholarly movement, one stands out. Wilson was studying historical memory before the field of memory studies existed. To be more specific, Wilson linked the study of memory to the study of religion. A great deal of Wilson's work analyzed roles religion played throughout southern history, especially beyond the churches and religious organizations. That willingness to learn and think well beyond one's specialties has characterized much of Wilson's work.Less
This afterword looks at a few of the features of Charles Reagan Wilson's scholarship that led so many people to gather to talk about southern religion and southern culture. Of the several ways Wilson's scholarship was doing work that later gained a name of a scholarly movement, one stands out. Wilson was studying historical memory before the field of memory studies existed. To be more specific, Wilson linked the study of memory to the study of religion. A great deal of Wilson's work analyzed roles religion played throughout southern history, especially beyond the churches and religious organizations. That willingness to learn and think well beyond one's specialties has characterized much of Wilson's work.
Stephanie Hinnershitz
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781469633695
- eISBN:
- 9781469633718
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469633695.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
A Different Shade of Justice uncovers Asian Americans’ fight for civil and human rights in the American South during the twentieth century. In the Jim Crow South, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, and ...
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A Different Shade of Justice uncovers Asian Americans’ fight for civil and human rights in the American South during the twentieth century. In the Jim Crow South, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, and later Vietnamese and Indians were the largest Asian populations in this region and experienced racial discrimination that was bolstered by various laws in southern states which prohibited everything from land ownership to interracial marriage. Although they made up a small portion of the total population in the South for most of the twentieth century, Asian Americans faced similar racial obstacles to obtaining their rights as African Americans including school segregation, anti-miscegenation laws, and discriminatory business practices. However, Asian immigrants’ lack of citizenship also presented unique challenges primarily seen in anti-alien land laws and constitutional amendments in Louisiana, Florida, and Arkansas that denied Asians the right to own property. Asian Americans used their unique racial and legal status as well as the Fourteenth Amendment to battle discrimination regardless of their citizenship status. They argued that southern laws defied civil as well as human rights to protection, equality, and economic wellbeing.Less
A Different Shade of Justice uncovers Asian Americans’ fight for civil and human rights in the American South during the twentieth century. In the Jim Crow South, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, and later Vietnamese and Indians were the largest Asian populations in this region and experienced racial discrimination that was bolstered by various laws in southern states which prohibited everything from land ownership to interracial marriage. Although they made up a small portion of the total population in the South for most of the twentieth century, Asian Americans faced similar racial obstacles to obtaining their rights as African Americans including school segregation, anti-miscegenation laws, and discriminatory business practices. However, Asian immigrants’ lack of citizenship also presented unique challenges primarily seen in anti-alien land laws and constitutional amendments in Louisiana, Florida, and Arkansas that denied Asians the right to own property. Asian Americans used their unique racial and legal status as well as the Fourteenth Amendment to battle discrimination regardless of their citizenship status. They argued that southern laws defied civil as well as human rights to protection, equality, and economic wellbeing.
Elaine Frantz Parsons
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781469625423
- eISBN:
- 9781469625447
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469625423.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
The reconstruction-era Ku-Klux Klan emerged as a solution to the problem of southern white defeat and black empowerment. Through Klan terror, white southern men tried both to reestablish their local ...
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The reconstruction-era Ku-Klux Klan emerged as a solution to the problem of southern white defeat and black empowerment. Through Klan terror, white southern men tried both to reestablish their local control of freedpeople and to position themselves as playing a role in the national future. Klan attacks targeted the confident and ambitious. They undermined black southerners’ claims to manhood, womanhood, and social and political competence. Ku-Klux intended for these attacks not only to kill or injure, but also to humiliate victims. Yet, since victims had some control over their response to attacks, and were usually the only ones able to publically describe the attack, they had an opportunity to undermine the messages their attackers hoped to convey. Reconstruction-era Ku-Klux worked to reestablish antebellum relationships of oppression, but they understood themselves as modern: Klan costumes drew on contemporary, northern ideas and tropes from the minstrel stage and urban bureaucratic life. Many northerners recognized this borrowing, found the Klan fascinating, and wrote about them in newspapers and other popular texts. As a terrorist movement, the Klan depended on the circulation of such texts both to spread fear among Republican southerners and to recruit new members. Many Klan attacks built upon preexisting local conflicts. Labelling an act of violence as “Klan” violence, however, abstracted it from its local context, defining it as translocal and political. It also invited state and federal governments to become involved in suppressing it. Klan violence, ironically, served to integrate rural southern communities into a broader national culture.Less
The reconstruction-era Ku-Klux Klan emerged as a solution to the problem of southern white defeat and black empowerment. Through Klan terror, white southern men tried both to reestablish their local control of freedpeople and to position themselves as playing a role in the national future. Klan attacks targeted the confident and ambitious. They undermined black southerners’ claims to manhood, womanhood, and social and political competence. Ku-Klux intended for these attacks not only to kill or injure, but also to humiliate victims. Yet, since victims had some control over their response to attacks, and were usually the only ones able to publically describe the attack, they had an opportunity to undermine the messages their attackers hoped to convey. Reconstruction-era Ku-Klux worked to reestablish antebellum relationships of oppression, but they understood themselves as modern: Klan costumes drew on contemporary, northern ideas and tropes from the minstrel stage and urban bureaucratic life. Many northerners recognized this borrowing, found the Klan fascinating, and wrote about them in newspapers and other popular texts. As a terrorist movement, the Klan depended on the circulation of such texts both to spread fear among Republican southerners and to recruit new members. Many Klan attacks built upon preexisting local conflicts. Labelling an act of violence as “Klan” violence, however, abstracted it from its local context, defining it as translocal and political. It also invited state and federal governments to become involved in suppressing it. Klan violence, ironically, served to integrate rural southern communities into a broader national culture.
Christopher A. Cooper and H. Gibbs Knotts
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781469631059
- eISBN:
- 9781469631073
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469631059.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
Scholars and observers of the South have long predicted that southern identity would soon go the way of the dodo bird. In this chapter we discuss the reasons for this prediction and lay out the ...
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Scholars and observers of the South have long predicted that southern identity would soon go the way of the dodo bird. In this chapter we discuss the reasons for this prediction and lay out the central argument of this book: despite the physical manifestations of modernization, people still find a reason to connect to the South and to identify as southerners.Less
Scholars and observers of the South have long predicted that southern identity would soon go the way of the dodo bird. In this chapter we discuss the reasons for this prediction and lay out the central argument of this book: despite the physical manifestations of modernization, people still find a reason to connect to the South and to identify as southerners.
