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Download the File CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY SAN MARCOS THESIS SIGNATURE PAGE THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULLFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE MASTER OF ARTS IN HISTORY THESIS TITLE: The Pursuit of Land: Southern Tenancy, Manly Independence and Mobility on the Agricultural Ladder AUTHOR: Patricia Manley DATE OF SUCCESSFUL DEFENSE: May 18,2011 THE THESIS HAS BEEN ACCEPTED BY THE THESIS COMMITTEE IN PARTIAL FULLFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN HISTORY. Anne Lombard, Ph.D. L~ Sjlt}zoll THESIS COMMITTEE CHAIR SIGNATURE DATE Jeff Charles, Ph.D. l // ct1 s-/r! J r -TH-ES-o-I--:-S-C_O_MMI--'---T-T_E_E_ME_MB_E_R____ 'f:lffluRE~ . ~ Kimber Quinney, Ph.D. Y:~kh ~J (8/11 THESIS COMMITTEE MEMBER ~ATURE -t- D~l THE PURSUIT OF LAND: SOUTHERN TENANCY, MANLEY INDEPENDENCE AND MOBILITY ON THE AGRICULTURAL LADDER A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY SAN MARCOS IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS HISTORY BY PATRICIA L. MANLEY SAN MARCOS, CALIFORNIA CONVOCATION MAY 2011 ii May 18,2011 Copyright © May 18, 2011 Patricia L. Manley iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Several individuals supported the completion of The Pursuit of Land: Southern Tenancy, Manly Independence and Mobility on the Agricultural Ladder. First, I would especially like to thank my thesis Chair Dr. Anne Lombard, in whose class it all began and Committee Members, Dr. Jeff Charles and Dr. Kimber Quinney. Dr. Lombard was the first to recognize the historical value. of Seborn's journals and from the beginning encouraged their use in my research. Dr. Lombard has been a wonderful mentor throughout this entire process. Dr. Lombard always remained encouraging and positive even after reading many drafts. Without Dr. Lombard's historical knowledge, expertise and guidance, this thesis would not have developed into the historical project before you now. A special thanks to Dr. Lombard! I want to thank, Dr. Jeff Charles who has provided his expertise on agriculture and agrarian movements in history. I will always be grateful for Dr. Charles' guidance on the history of agriculture and his enthusiasm, which inspired my interest in rural movements. I owe a special thank you to Dr. Charles for his instruction on ARCGIS and his suggestion that the ARCGIS maps be included in this thesis. The ARCGIS maps added a special and needed component to the thesis. To Dr. Kimber Quinney, who first trusted me to be her teaching assistant and teach U.S. History with her, thank you. I will always appreciate the opportunity and iv experience I received while teaching with Dr. Quinney. More importantly though, Dr. Quinney's help on my thesis committee was invaluable and our discussions about the New Deal era provided a great historical perspective. Dr. Quinney's special touch on this thesis is the title. Dr. Quinney suggested the original title when she read my thesis proposal almost two years ago and although it has been modified slightly it has stayed on the thesis ever since. I would like also to thank Dr. Peter Arnade, History Department Chair for introducing many graduate students to the philosophical debates in history. Thank you also to Dr. Jill Watts, History Department, Graduate Program Coordinator, who braved teaching History graduate students historical website design. I will always value their experience and the support they gave throughout the program. I am also very appreciative of my fellow graduate students in the Graduate Program at California State University San Marcos who gave of their time and their own writing to assist me with my thesis. I am very appreciative of the time my friend, Joanna Gorman, took to read my many drafts. Joanna has been especially encouraging and positive over the last few years. Many individuals outside of the California State University supported my efforts along the way. I would like to thank Dr. Jeannie Whayne from the University of Arkansas, History Department. Dr. Whayne shared her cherished list of resources v to help expand my research and answered my questions on Arkansas and its history. I greatly appreciate her vast knowledge of Arkansas's history. To my family, thank you for continuing to support my education. There have been many times when family events were planned around my class, research and writing schedule. Thank you to my children Nicole, Brian, Daniel and John who helped me understand and teach the new "millennia" generation. Thank you for supporting my graduate studies while pursing your own education. I especially want to thank my husband Darron Manley who has supported and understood the value in continuing my education. Thank you for listening to the history of Arkansas and tenants for the last few years, for always encouraging my work and understanding the sometimes-crazy amount of time I needed researching and writing. Of course, I appreciated the financial support but I especially thank Darron for making sure we spent every Friday together having fun. Finally, since Seborn's journals are the cornerstone of this project, I need to thank Seborn's granddaughter, Viola Horton, who casually handed me the diaries one day. I especially want to thank Viola for keeping Seborn's journals protected and safe all these years. I would also like to thank Seborn's other granddaughter, Dorothy Pierce, who provided valuable information about Seborn's son Logan. To everyone mentioned above and to the many others who also provided support in various forms, thank you! vi ABSTRACT For more than a century before 1900, American men migrated across the continent in search of land, building farms in one region after another as they sought to achieve the status of independent landowners. The possibility of freehold land ownership and the independence that came with it had an enduring appeal for millions of flesh-and-blood American men who transformed land use patterns across North America between 1790 and 1900. Men found farming appealing because it offered them a chance to work for themselves, to have control of their own time, to avoid working for wages and above all to maintain control over their household. The men who migrated to Northeast Arkansas in the early 1900s and who became tenant farmers sought independence and eventual land ownership. The evidence suggests that despite their dreams, farmers in Northeast Arkansas experienced diminishing opportunities for independence and land ownership as the economy faltered because large landowners controlled much of the land. Economic stability, job security and more importantly the fulfillment of the idea of land ownership were increasingly elusive goods for southern tenant farmers. After years of financial struggle and unrealized expectations mainly caused by the unavailability of land, their failure to achieve the ideal of "manly" independence obtained by land ownership was a factor in tenants' decisions to join vii the Southern Tenant Farmers Union. For the tenants, the union addressed many of their immediate concerns including receiving a fair share of New Deal monies and notably that the union supported the belief in individual land ownership. This thesis examines Southern tenancy and men's expectations of landownership in the years leading up to beginnings of the Southern Tenant Farmers Union and the ideology of If manly independence" achieved by climbing the agricultural ladder rising from tenant farmer to landowner. A statistical comparative study of changes over a thirty-year period {1900-1930), a period that has not been closely studied, provides the means to understanding tenants' response to the many social and economic changes that occurred in Northeast Arkansas from 1900 to 1930. Keywords: Southern tenancy, Manly independence, Southern Tenant Farmers Union, Arkansas, Southern Manhood viii CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................................... iii ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................ vi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ........................................................................................................ X LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................... xii PREFACE ............................................................................................................................ xiii INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 15 INDEPENDENCE AND LANDOWNERSHIP .................................................................. 26 THE AGRICULTURAL LADDER .................................................................................... 31 CHAPTER ONE SEBORN JONES: THE STORY OF A TENANT FARMER ................................ 34 WORK IN SAW MILLS, GINS AND FACTORIES ........................................................... 61 THE TENANT'S FAMILY .............................................................................................. 68 FAMILY AND THE EFFECTS OF WAR ON TENANTS ................................................... 75 WOMEN'S WORK AS TENANTS ................................................................................. 78 CONCLUSIONS .......................................................................................................... 83 CHAPTER TWO THE CHANGING FORTUNES OF NORTHEAST ARKANSAS TENANTS, 1900 TO 1930 .............................................................................................................
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