African American Life in the Rural South, 1900-1950 (Volume 1)

"During the first half of the twentieth century, degradation, poverty, and hopelessness were commonplace for African Americans who lived in the South's countryside, either on farms or in rural communities. Many southern blacks sought relief from these conditions by migrating to urban centers. Many others, however, continued to live in rural areas. Scholars of African American rural history in the South have been concerned primarily with the experience of blacks as sharecroppers, tenant farmers, textile workers, and miners. Less attention has been given to other aspects of the rural African American experience during the early twentieth century. African American Life in the Rural South, 1900-1950 provides important new information about African American culture, social life, and religion, as well as economics, federal policy, migration, and civil rights. The essays particularly emphasize the efforts of African Americans to negotiate the white world in the southern countryside. Filling a void in southern studies, this outstanding collection provides a substantive overview of the subject. Scholars, students, and teachers of African American, southern, agricultural, and rural history will find this work invaluable."--Publishers website Cover Page ......Page 3 Title Page ......Page 4 Copyright Page ......Page 5 Contents......Page 6 Introduction R. DOUGLAS HURT......Page 10 “Lookin’ for Better All the Time”: Rural Migrationand Urbanization in the South, 1900–1950 LOUIS M. KYRIAKOUDES......Page 19 “A Crude and Raw Past”: Work, Folklife, and Anti-Agrarianism in Twentieth-Century African American Autobiography TED OWNBY......Page 36 “Of the Least and the Most”: The African AmericanRural Church LOIS E. MYERS AND REBECCA SHARPLESS......Page 63 Shifting Boundaries: Race Relations in the Rural Jim Crow South MELISSA WALKER......Page 90 African American Rural Culture, 1900–1950 VALERIE GRIM......Page 117 Benign Public Policies, Malignant Consequences,and the Demise of African American Agriculture WILLIAM P. BROWNE......Page 138 “I Have Been through Fire”: Black Agricultural ExtensionAgents and the Politics of Negotiation JEANNIE WHAYNE......Page 161 Exit, Voice, and Loyalty: African American Strategiesfor Day-to-Day Existence/Resistance in the Early-Twentieth-Century Rural South PETER COCLANIS AND BRYANT SIMON......Page 198 Suggested Readings......Page 220 Contributors......Page 228 Index......Page 232

contains Eight Contributions Addressing Early 20th Century Rural African American Culture, Social Life, And Religion, As Well As Economics, Federal Policy, Migration, And Civil Rights. Topics Include Agrarianism In 20th Century African American Autobiography; Public Policy And The Demise Of African American Agriculture; And Black Agricultural Extension Agents And The Politics Of Negotiation. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, Or