Deep Souths : Delta, Piedmont, and Sea Island Society in the Age of Segregation

__Deep Souths__ tells the stories of three southern regions from Reconstruction to World War II: the Mississippi-Yazoo Delta, the eastern Piedmont of Georgia, and the Georgia Sea Islands and Atlantic coast. Though these regions initially shared the histories and populations we associate with the idea of a "Deep South"—all had economies based on slave plantation labor in 1860—their histories diverged sharply during the three generations after Reconstruction. With research gathered from oral histories, census reports, and a wide variety of other sources, Harris traces these regional changes in cumulative stories of individuals across the social spectrum. __Deep Souths__ presents a comparative and ground-level view of history that challenges the idea that the lower South was either uniform or static in the era of segregation. By the end of the New Deal era, changes in these regions had prepared the way for the civil rights movement and the end of segregation. "Deep Souths tells the stories of three southern regions from Reconstruction to World War II: the Georgia Sea Islands and Atlantic coast, the eastern Piedmont of Georgia, and the Mississippi-Yazoo Delta.". "Based on more than a decade of research in a wide range of sources, from census records to oral histories, these stories of regional change emerge through the cumulative and compelling stories of individuals. Some were planters: James Monroe Smith, who built up a huge Georgia cotton plantation based on convict labor; LeRoy Percy, a Mississippi planter, U. S. senator, and friend of Theodore Roosevelt; Charles Manigault, a rice planter who saw his dreams as well as his prosperity ruined by a flood. Others worked as sharecroppers or small farmers: Peter Brown, who managed a plantation for his absentee owner; Tom Smith, who was lynched after a crop dispute with his landlord; and Benton Miller, a crippled Civil War veteran who led the Populist Party in his Georgia county. Still others represented new worlds, slowly being born: Lucy Craft Lancy, the daughter of a slave, who founded one of the best African American high schools in the nation: Nellic Nugent Somerville, who became a Mississippi suffragist and legislator; Charley Patton, the "king" of the Delta blues; and Arthur Raper, a white liberal New Dealer, who was hauled before a grand jury in Georgia for using "Mr." and "Mrs." to refer to his African American co-workers.". "Deep Souths presents a comparative, ground-level view of history that challenges the idea that the lower South was either uniform or static in the era of segregation. By the end of the New Deal, changes in these regions had prepared the way for the civil rights movement and the end of segregation."--BOOK JACKET. This book tells the stories of three southern regions from Reconstruction to World War II: the Georgia Sea Islands and the Atlantic coast, the eastern Piedmont of Georgia, and the Mississippi-Yazoo Delta. Based on more than a decade of research in a range of sources, from census records to oral histories, these stories of regional change emerge through the cumulative and compelling stories of individuals. Some were planters: James Monroe Smith, who built up a huge Georgia cotton plantation based on convict labor; LeRoy Percy, a Mississippi planter, U.S. senator, and friend of Theodore Roosevelt; Charles Manigault, a rice planter who saw his dreams as well as his prosperity ruined by a flood. Others worked as sharecroppers or small farmers: Peter Brown, who managed a plantation for his absentee owner; Tom Smith, who was lynched after a crop dispute with his landlord; and Benton Miller, a crippled Civil War veteran who led the Populist Party in his Georgia county. The author presents the stories of other figures, including Lucy Craft Laney, the daughter of a slave, who founded one of the best African American high schools in the nation; Nellie Nugent Somerville, who became a Mississippi suffragist and legislator; Charley Patton, the "king" of the Delta blues; and Arthur Raper, a white liberal New Dealer, who was hauled before a grand jury in Georgia for using "Mr." and "Mrs." to refer to his African American co-workers. This book presents a comparative view of history that challenges the idea that the lower South was either uniform or static in the era of segregation. By the end of the New Deal, changes in these regions had prepared the way for the civil rights movement and the end of segregation.--adapted from jacket Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in HistoryCo-winner of the James A. Rawley Prize from the Organization of American HistoriansWinner of the Theodore Saloutos Memorial Book Prize from the Agricultural History Society Deep Souths tells the stories of three southern regions from Reconstruction to World War II: the Mississippi-Yazoo Delta, the eastern Piedmont of Georgia, and the Georgia Sea Islands and Atlantic coast. Though these regions initially shared the histories and populations we associate with the idea of a "Deep South"—all had economies based on slave plantation labor in 1860—their histories diverged sharply during the three generations after Reconstruction. With research gathered from oral histories, census reports, and a wide variety of other sources, Harris traces these regional changes in cumulative stories of individuals across the social spectrum. Deep Souths presents a comparative and ground-level view of history that challenges the idea that the lower South was either uniform or static in the era of segregation. By the end of the New Deal era, changes in these regions had prepared the way for the civil rights movement and the end of segregation.

Deep Souths tells the stories of three southern regions from Reconstruction to World War II: the Mississippi-Yazoo Delta, the eastern Piedmont of Georgia, and the Georgia Sea Islands and Atlantic coast. Though these regions initially shared the histories and populations we associate with the idea of a Deep South-all had economies based on slave plantation labor in 1860-their histories diverged sharply during the three generations after Reconstruction. With research gathered from oral histories, census reports, and a wide variety of other sources, Harris traces these regional changes in cumulative stories of individuals across the social spectrum. Deep Souths presents a comparative and ground-level view of history that challenges the idea that the lower South was either uniform or static in the era of segregation. By the end of the New Deal era, changes in these regions had prepared the way for the civil rights movement and the end of segregation.

The Johns Hopkins University Press

Deep Souths tells the stories of three southern regions from Reconstruction to World War II: the Mississippi-Yazoo Delta, the eastern Piedmont of Georgia, and the Georgia Sea Islands and Atlantic coast. Though these regions initially shared the histories and populations we associate with the idea of a "Deep South"—all had economies based on slave plantation labor in 1860—their histories diverged sharply during the three generations after Reconstruction. With research gathered from oral histories, census reports, and a wide variety of other sources, Harris traces these regional changes in cumulative stories of individuals across the social spectrum. Deep Souths presents a comparative and ground-level view of history that challenges the idea that the lower South was either uniform or static in the era of segregation. By the end of the New Deal era, changes in these regions had prepared the way for the civil rights movement and the end of segregation.

"Deep Souths tells the stories of three southern regions from Reconstruction to World War II: the Mississippi-Yazoo Delta, the eastern Piedmont of Georgia, and the Georgia Sea Islands and Atlantic coast. Though these regions initially shared the histories and populations we associate with the idea of a "Deep South"--All had economies based on slave plantation labor in 1860-their histories diverged sharply during the three generations after Reconstruction. With research gathered from oral histories, census reports, and a wide variety of other sources, Harris traces these regional changes in cumulative stories of individuals across the social spectrum. Deep Souths presents a comparative and ground-level view of history that challenges the idea that the lower South was either uniform or static in the era of segregation. By the end of the New Deal era, changes in these regions had prepared the way for the civil rights movement and the end of segregation."--the publisher Deep Souths tells the stories of three southern regions from Reconstruction to World War II: the Mississippi-Yazoo Delta, the eastern Piedmont of Georgia, and the Georgia Sea Islands and Atlantic coast. Though these regions initially shared the histories and populations we associate with the idea of a "Deep South" & mdash;all had economies based on slave plantation labor in 1860 & mdash;their histories diverged sharply during the three generations after Reconstruction. With research gathered from oral histories, census reports, and a wide variety of other sources, Harris traces these regional changes in cumulative stories of individuals across the social spectrum. Deep Souths presents a comparative and ground-level view of history that challenges the idea that the lower South was either uniform or static in the era of segregation. By the end of the New Deal era, changes in these regions had prepared the way for the civil rights movement and the end of segregation CONTENTS 8 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 10 Introduction 16 P A R T I 1876–1896 22 C h a p t e r 1 Land and Labor in New South Countrysides 24 C h a p t e r 2 ‘‘A White Man’s Country’’ 70 C h a p t e r 3 The Populist Challenge 98 P A R T I I 1897–1918 132 C h a p t e r 4 Capital at Work, Capitalists at Play 134 C h a p t e r 5 Culture, Race, and Class in the Segregation Era 181 C h a p t e r 6 War’s Challenge to Jim Crow Citizenship 225 P A R T I I I 1919–1939 266 C h a p t e r 7 Twilight in Cotton’s Kingdom 268 C h a p t e r 8 ‘‘Discord, dissension, and hatred’’ 305 Ch a p t e r 9 ‘‘Uncle Sam is my shepherd’’ 333 Conclusion Deep South Histories 366 Coda Endings 373 APPENDIX Charts and Tables 378 ABBREVIATIONS 408 NOTES 410 ESSAY ON SOURCES 468 I N D E X 482 The stories of three Southern regions from Reconstruction to World War II: the Mississippi-Yazoo Delta, the eastern Piedmont of Georgia, and the Georgia Sea Islands and Atlantic coast. Based on a range of sources, the stories of regional change emerge through the stories of individuals. When I began work on this book in 1985, I thought, for reasons that escape me now, that it would be a rather short project.