Time Enough at Last

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The Newsletter of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture • Spring 2014 The University of Mississippi Time Enough at Last Charles Reagan Wilson Retires from Teaching to Focus on Writing Projects David Wharton Charles Reagan Wilson brought together everything from Hank Aaron to Zydeco as coeditor of the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, and now his final chapter at the University of Mississippi is complete. After 33 years as a history and Southern Studies professor, Wilson retires in May. During his three decades at UM, Wilson has watched both the Center and the university grow. “When I came here the undergraduate program had just been established, so we had less than ten majors, and we were constantly having to justi- fy the program with administrators,” Wilson says. “We didn’t have a master’s program until 1987, and we never anticipated the master’s program would grow that much. That has been one of the most dramatic changes since I’ve been here.” In 1981 the university grounds were mostly dirt, gravel, and open space, with buildings in need of renovation. “Barnard Observatory was particularly fascinating because it was such an old building and it had such character, but it was in a Tennessee Williams state of decline,” Wilson says. “So you had that sense of a wonderful physical setting to study the South, and that was kind of the campus, too.” Ann Abadie, associate director emeritus, says that Wilson made quite a name for himself during his time at UM. “He came to the University of Mississippi for an interview in early 1981 and, after visiting with him and hearing his lecture on religion in the South, Bill Ferris, Sue Hart, and I, along with many others affiliated with the Center for the Study of Southern Culture, knew that he would be the perfect director for our encyclopedia project,” Abadie says. “Charles accepted the challenge and in the fall began working on the encyclopedia, teaching courses in history and Southern Studies, and Charles Reagan Wilson continued on page 25 the DIRECTOR’S COLUMN

Published Quarterly by As the cover story describes, our friend, mentor, editor, and all-around The Center for the Study of Southern Culture positive influence Charles Reagan Wilson retires this semester after 33 years of good The University of Mississippi work at the University of Mississippi. I especially appreciate the open approach Telephone: 662-915-5993 Charles Wilson shows to the interests and inclinations of students, to the subjects Fax: 662-915-5814 E-mail: [email protected] of Southern Studies, and to the range of scholarly approaches. Everybody matters, southernstudies.olemiss.edu as do all topics, and people who have narrow definitions of the South and Southern www.facebook.com/SouthernStudies Studies need to open their minds. As many of us honor, toast, and roast Charles, it might be intriguing to remember that in the late 1980s Charles Wilson received the IN THIS ISSUE Scalawag of the Month Award from a right-wing magazine whose editors were trou- Spring 2014 bled by comments he made that symbols from the civil rights movement should be 1. Time Enough at Last: Charles Reagan at least as central to Southern history as symbols of the Civil War. Wilson Retires 2. Director’s Column The middle of this spring was one of those periods when Southern Studies faculty and 3. From the Pages of Living Blues staff were doing countless things that demonstrate the breadth and, we hope, the depth 4. Southern Studies Students Win that comes from inspired academic work. In February and March Charles Wilson gave Awards, Take Bachelor and Master of three public lectures, one on Fannie Lou Hamer and Elvis Presley, one on Southern Arts Degrees thinking about the future of the region, and one a broad survey of interdisciplinary schol- 5. Feder Family Supports Music Development at University arship. At the same time, Southern Studies faculty members were giving public lectures 6. Common Ground: Houston Cofield on issues of space and segregation in the post–civil rights South, the concept of broth- Explores William Faulkner’s erhood, the 1980s blues movie Crossroads, and author Sherwood Bonner. Some were Yoknapatawpha County through pursuing a project on rural Mardi Gras celebrations, one published a paper on Puerto Photographs 7. The New Encyclopedia of Southern Ricans and language in Orlando, one researched a project on the Depression, and docu- Culture Recognized by MIAL mentarians completed a biography of former Governor William Winter and a short film 8. University Hires Catarina Passidomo on rural churches. Foodways scholars pursued multiple documentary projects, includ- 8. Celebrate Charles Reagan Wilson’s ing an extended project on restaurant desegregation in Jackson, Living Blues published Teaching Legacy and Support Students issue #230, two radio projects broadcast short sections from The New Encyclopedia of 9. Fred McDowell Subject of Latest SouthDocs Film Southern Culture, and three Center conferences brought together dozens of people to dis- 10. The Oxford Conference for the Book cuss books, songwriting, and the present and future of scholarship on the South. Awarded a Public Humanities Award In the middle of all of this activity, some terrorists offered their own definition 10. Mark Your Calendars! of the South. They put a noose around the neck of the James Meredith statue on 10. Ownby Serves OAH, SHA campus and draped on the statue an old Georgia state flag that included the flag 10. In Memoriam of the Confederacy. Combining violence, white privilege, and Confederate imag- 11. Oral History News from the Southern Foodways Alliance ery, the act was offensive and damaging to everyone at the university and beyond 12. Interpreting the Enslaved: The Behind it. In Southern Studies, it represented a challenge, among other things, to our per- the Big House Program spectives that thinking about the South does not need to begin and end with the 14. Politics and Public Service Confederacy and that our job is to study everybody and everything. 17. Rex Jones Wins Filmmaking Award Since the terrorist act raised the possibility that some people are attracted to the for Beautiful Jim University of Mississippi by symbols, language, and history that suggest this is an 17. Transforming New South Identities 17. Contributors easy and comfortable place to claim privileges associated with ideas of white suprem- 18. Southern Studies Undergrad Awarded acy, it raised a possibility that someone, in the name of Southern Studies narrowly Hall of Fame Distinction and university life more broadly, should tell them there are lots of hard-working peo- 18. Southern Studies Students and ple who disagree. So, in case any of those people read the Southern Register, and to Alumni in Letters further the goals of Southern Studies, and to honor the example of the old Scalawag 19. Faulkner & Yoknapatawpha Conference 2014 of the Month Charles Wilson, I offer this short letter: 20. From the Stacks 21. Reading the South Dear Potential Terrorists, 27. Remembering Summer 1982 . . . If you are thinking of coming to the University of Mississippi because you hope its symbols, “Wilson Heads Encyclopedia” appearance, organizations, or anything else mean the university is a place to enjoy white priv- REGISTER STAFF ileges you associate with Southern tradition, don’t come. If you assume that a university that aggressively studies the South celebrates the Old South, you’re wrong. If you come to the uni- Editor: James G. Thomas Jr. versity hoping it is a place to relive privileges associated with powerful people in the antebellum Graphic Designer: Susan Bauer Lee Lithographer: RR Donnelley Magazine Group South, you will likely be disappointed, frustrated, and angry. On the other hand, if you want The University complies with all applicable laws regard- to confront and help define important issues, to learn about yourself and other people, and to ing affirmative action and equal opportunity in all its ac- be part of discussions about multiple experiences, perspectives, and forms of expression, great. tivities and programs and does not discriminate against anyone protected by law because of age, color, disability, Please come join us, because those are among the things universities do best. national origin, race, religion, sex, or status as a veteran or disabled veteran. Ted Ownby

Page 2 Spring 2014 The Southern Register From the Pages of Living Blues

Living Blues issue #230 explores blues guitarist, played juke joints and house scenes across the United States in in- parties. When the family moved north terviews with Swamp Dogg, Gregg A. to Illinois, Hayes began playing gui- Smith, Pee Wee Hayes, and Jarekus tar and singing at picnics and other Singleton. Readers will also find a look local events, and in the late 1950s he at Lonnie Johnson’s work in the 1920s, joined an ethnically diverse band that as well as the 2014 Living Blues Festival broke racial barriers in Wisconsin clubs Guide. as white business owners opened their In this issue’s cover story, Gene stages to the band. Tomko catches up with prolific song- Living Blues contributor Jas Obrecht writer and musician Jerry Williams Jr., examines blues guitar work of the prewar known as Swamp Dogg to his fans. After era in an article on Lonnie Johnson in working almost 60 years in the record- the 1920s. Growing up in New Orleans, ing industry, Swamp’s resume contains Johnson was exposed to an abundance dozens of album releases and countless of musical styles, and those forms are producing and songwriting credits. He heard in his unique style. Today, blues

also runs his own record label and pro- make him one of soul blues music’s most aficionados recognize Johnson’s inno- duction company, called Swamp Dogg powerful singers. As a child, he could vative and recognizable delivery as an Entertainment Group. be found singing in church or dancing important development in blues guitar. Swamp left his native Virginia as a to blues and early rock ’n’ roll music LB also sits down with Clinton, teenager in 1959, bound to pursue a in his mother’s Texas café, and his vo- Mississippi’s own Jarekus Singleton. music career in New York City. Once cal style reflects each of these influenc- One of Alligator Records’ newest art- there, he began working as a recording es. When he’s not performing, Smith ists, Singleton brings a fresh perspec- artist and music producer, eventually works to help other musicians in the tive to the blues through an innovative becoming Atlantic Records’ first black Dallas area gain audience exposure. He lyrical style that grows from the art- in-house producer. His experience as a hosts a regular public radio show that ist’s roots in blues, gospel, and rap mu- producer proved invaluable to him as provides an outlet for local artists, and sic. His latest album, Refuse to Lose, is he began recording his own songs as he also pens a newspaper column that scheduled to release this May. Swamp Dogg. Under the pseudonym, features profiles of area musicians. Read Issue #230 also contains this year’s he found more freedom to pursue sen- more about Smith and his tireless dedi- Living Blues Festival Guide, in which sitive topics, such as politics, racism, cation to the music that inspires him in blues fans may find a detailed list of up- religion, and social injustices. Tomko’s Bock’s interview. coming blues events across the globe. interview holds details on all this and Also in this issue, Steve Sharp catch- Look for LB issue #230 on digital more, including information about es up with Thomas “Pee Wee” Hayes. newsstands today or pick up a hard copy Swamp’s latest album, The White Man Hayes lends insight to the Midwest at your local retailer. You may also find Made Me Do It. blues scene outside of the Chicago LB on Facebook and Twitter for fre- Dallas-based singer Gregg A. Smith sphere, including his well-traveled quent updates on happenings in blues talks to LB contributor Scott M. Bock gig route that spans across northern music. in issue #230. Smith’s emotional pre- Illinois and Wisconsin. Hayes grew up sentation and hard-working reputation in Tennessee, where his father, a blues Leslie Hassel

The Southern Register Spring 2014 Page 3 Jimmy Thomas

Graduation 2014, left to right, front row: Turry Flucker, Abby Abide, Paige Prather, Kate Hudson; second row: Anna Hamilton, Jodie Free, Leslie Hassel, Rachael Walker; third row: Neal McMillin; fourth row: Tyler Proffitt, Renee Ombaba, Bob Xu, Erin Scott, Daniel McKnight; not pictured: John Hermann Southern Studies Students Win Awards, Take Bachelor and Master of Arts Degrees

2012–13 Awards Southern Studies MA thesis, “Bottling and the Stereotypical Representation Hell: Myth-Making, Cultural Identity, of African Americans” Abby Abide, Coterie Award for one and the Datil Pepper of St. Augustine, of the best two papers by a Southern Florida” Leslie Hassel, Lucille and Motee Studies undergraduate, “Big T-Shirts Daniels Southern Studies thesis award and Running Shorts: A Female Uniform Caroline Randall Williams, Peter for her MA thesis, “Narrating Jackson and Southern Womanhood on the Ole Aschoff Award for the best paper on State: Mississippi Media Coverage of Miss Campus” Southern music, “If Jocasta Sang the the 1970s Shootings at Jackson State Blues: Motherlovers, Manbabies, and College” Neal McMillin, Gray Award for one Blues-ed Family Values” of the best two papers by a Southern Lindsey Reynolds is the recipient Studies undergraduate, “Developing Lucille and Motee Daniels for best first- of the Julian and Kathryn Wiener the Marine Energy Sector in Scotland: year paper in Southern Studies: (two pa- Endowment to help support her work A View from the Islands” pers) Amelia Brock, “What’s a Southern this summer in Charleston with Garden Studies Scholar? Wait… What’s a and Gun. Anna Hamilton, Ann Abadie Award Scholar?” and Lauren Holt, “‘Love Him for Documentary Media for her or Hate Him’: Tyler Perry Productions

Page 4 Spring 2014 The Southern Register Enriching Southern Harmony Feder Family Supports Music Development at University Courtesy Ron and Becky Feder The Center for the Study of Southern Culture is focused on ex- panding fundraising to create a full professorship for the study of Southern music. Among the first to support the Center’s goal is the Feder family of Ocean Springs, Mississippi, pledg- ing $100,000 to establish the Music of the South Endowment. Ron and Becky Feder, along with their daughter, Elizabeth Feder-Hosey, and her husband, Matthew, are University of Mississippi alumni and strong believers in this growing area of emphasis. Having welcomed granddaughter, Evelyn Rose Hosey, to the family, the Feders are now two generations working to make the future at the university brighter for the third. “We are extremely grateful for the Feders’s commitment,” said Nikki Neely, director of development for the College of Liberal Arts. “Their ongoing support energizes our ef- forts to fund a music professorship, an effort that is gaining momentum.” Serving as chairman of the Center’s advisory committee, Ron Feder remembers having the first conversations about in- creasing resources dedicated to Southern music. “A time came when we realized that the South was losing lots of musicians. We recognized we needed oral histories, stories, and archives,” said Feder. “We started with the blues but grew to include gospel, country, Appalachian hillbilly music, and more. The Family members Matthew Hosey, from left standing, and Ron M. Feder; Elizabeth Feder-Hosey, from left sitting, Evelyn Center, with its faculty, students, and resources, is the natural Rose Hosey, and Becky Feder are involved in supporting the place to headquarter the study of Southern music.” Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of The Center has since created the Music of the South Mississippi, with their latest $100,000 gift designated for the Conference and a concert series to supplement existing music- Music of the South Endowment. related programs and publications: Living Blues magazine, its Mississippi Public Broadcasting radio segment Sounds of the South, and the longtime Highway 61 Radio program. The inaugural Music of the South concert featured Southern Studies alumna arts,” she said. “I frequently raided their music collection, and Caroline Herring, known for her folk singing and songwriting. they also took us to Jazz Fest in New Orleans and the Chunky Supporting the Center and attending its many symposia, Blues Festival in Chunky, Mississippi. I took some undergradu- conferences, and events has become a Feder family affair. ate classes in Southern Studies. Plus, I spent a lot of free time as Their support of the Center began over a decade ago with a student embracing the Oxford music scene, so I love that the substantial contributions for the Oxford Conference for the Center is taking on music as an area of emphasis.” Book, an annual event the Center cosponsors with Oxford’s In addition, Feder-Hosey recognizes the immeasurable ef- Square Books. “The Conference for the Book serves to high- fect and importance of a professorship. “I had professors who light the South’s established authors while also providing a pushed me and made me uncomfortable, forcing me to be bet- platform for newer writers,” said Ron Feder. “Books are the ba- ter at whatever I was doing. That’s what good professors do. I sis for all entertainment, in my opinion; they inspire musical would hope this professorship would serve that same purpose works, movies, and other entertainment. The Conference for and introduce more of our students to the influence and im- the Book encourages people to support good writing. It’s like a pact of Southern music.” pep rally for readers and writers.” Like its other academic offerings in literature, art, and Elizabeth Feder-Hosey practices law in Ocean Springs like history, the Center’s music classes and programming will her father and shares her parents’ love for Southern art and be interdisciplinary in nature, and Center director Ted music. She received a bachelor’s degree from UM in art his- Ownby anticipates partnering with other campus entities, tory in 2005 and later a Juris Doctor degree from its School of Law in 2009. “My parents introduced my brother and me to the continued on page 13

The Southern Register Spring 2014 Page 5 Common Ground: Houston Cofield Explores William Faulkner’s Yoknapatawpha County through Photographs Houston Cofield is a photographer from Memphis, Tennessee, currently living in Chicago. He received his BA in journalism from the University of Mississippi in 2012 and his MFA in photography from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2014. Houston is a photographer who also uses video, text, and objects to create fictional narratives. Family, myth, and history play important roles in the way he documents the land and the people he encounters. His exhibition, Common Ground, is on display in the Gammill Gallery in Barnard Observatory from April 16 to June 6.

Growing up in a family rooted five-generations deep in photographic history, I developed an appreciation for photography at an early age. Film photography was present throughout my life—hanging on walls and stacked between pages on our coffee tables. My grandfather and great-grandfather taught me to appreciate the art of making a photograph with (above) Carl’s White Pontiac, near Oxford, a 4" x 5" camera through their published Mississippi, 2013 book of William Faulkner’s portraits. (left) Chester, Sardis Lake, Mississippi, 2013 This history, fiction, literature, and photography continue to surround my own artistic practice. Studying photog- tion of short stories based upon the raphers such as William Christenberry land now covered by the lake. A por- and Sally Mann and growing up down tion of Faulkner’s world was lost and is the street from William Eggleston served now resting 30 feet below the surface to reinforce my romanticized view of the of a government-built dam. During the South. Place, myth, folklore, and ro- autumn and winter months the lake is mance surround my work. They are qual- drained for flood control, revealing the ities derived as a product of my upbring- ground where Faulkner’s fiction took ing in the American South and serve to place years ago. further my own understanding of home. Faulkner effectively blurred an ac- tual history with an imagined one. Wandering through county roads bor- dering Sardis Lake I attempt to explore Common Ground is an investigation the interplay between these two histo- into the land my grandfather and great- ries. Using Faulkner’s words as a guide, grandfather documented years ago at I seek to identify and evoke these his- the north border of William Faulkner’s tories as they exist today. In document- Yoknapatawpha County near Sardis Lake. ing the land and its inhabitants I am As I encounter the landscape, I seek to connecting myself with a photographic uncover the mystery and myth embedded heritage while casting my own layer of in this region of northern Mississippi. fiction to this place. Dirt, Tallahatchie River Bottoms, Prior to the flooding of Sardis Lake Mississippi, 2013 in 1940 Faulkner composed a collec- Houston Cofield Page 6 Spring 2014 The Southern Register The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture Recognized by the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters as Publication of Regional, National Importance

The Mississippi Institute of Arts knowledge and effort to make this se- and Letters (MIAL) is honoring the ries a touchstone of Southern Studies Center for the Study of Southern scholarship.” Culture’s 24-volume New Encyclopedia Series editor Charles Reagan Wilson, of Southern Culture with a 2014 Special managing editor Jimmy Thomas, and Achievement Award. associate editor Ann Abadie, in con- “It is fitting that The New Encyclopedia junction with 32 volume editors and of Southern Culture was chosen, as it is 1,500 contributors, have produced a the seminal publication on everything thoroughly revised and updated edition MIAL recognizes through our award cat- of the original Encyclopedia of Southern egories each year,” says George Bassi, Culture, which was published by the MIAL president and director of the Center in 1989. The new edition, Lauren Rogers Museum of Art in Laurel. published by the University of North “The New Encyclopedia of Southern Carolina Press, paints in its 24 volumes Culture richly deserves this statewide ac- a detailed picture of the cultural milieu knowledgement for a publication of not of the American South. only regional but national importance.” Other MIAL award winners include: Since 1978, MIAL has aimed to de- Poetry—University of Mississippi termine the elite in fiction, nonfiction, assistant professor of English Derrick visual art, musical composition, pho- Harriell, Ropes tography, and poetry. These works are Fiction—University of Mississippi all published, exhibited, or presented John and Renee Grisham Writer in in the previous year, and out-of-state Residence 1999–2000 Steve Yarbrough, judges decide the winners in each cat- and William Ferris also received the The Realm of Last Chances egory. The MIAL Special Achievement MIAL Special Achievement Award in Nonfiction—University of Award is given from time to time to dis- 1990 when the original Encyclopedia Mississippi John and Renee Grisham tinguish something monumental in the was published. “As series editor of this Writer in Residence 2010–2011 Jesmyn arts and letters for the state, and this New Encyclopedia, Charles Reagan Ward, Men We Reaped: A Memoir year’s Special Achievement Award is Wilson possessed a keen vision that Music Composition (Classical)— only the fifth one awarded in the orga- made this series representative of the Quincy C. Hilliard, Kojiki nization’s 34-year history. breadth and scope of centuries’ worth Music Composition (Popular)— “The original Encyclopedia of Southern of Southern culture,” says Thomas. Claire Holley, Powdercoat Culture was such a groundbreaking suc- Of course, the encyclopedia’s suc- Photography—Milly West, Cuba for cess that it would be untruthful to say cess is not the result of just those at the Keeps that I didn’t feel the pressure, not to Center. Many people, including Center Visual Arts—JJ Foley, Altering the mention the responsibility to have this faculty, staff, alumni, and friends, View New Encyclopedia series live up to that played a role. “While the Center is Noel Polk Lifetime Achievement standard,” Center associate director for the institution that is receiving this Award—William N. Beckwith publications and New Encyclopedia of award, the project really was a collab- The awards banquet takes place on Southern Culture managing editor Jimmy orative effort,” Thomas says. “We had June 7 in Jackson. Visit MIAL online, Thomas says. “I’m beyond pleased that so many dedicated volume editors and at www.ms-arts-letters.org, for informa- it is being considered a worthy succes- scholars working on this project every tion on how to attend. sor to the original volume.” day for around ten years. Some of the Coeditors Charles Reagan Wilson best minds in the South offered their Rebecca Lauck Cleary

The Southern Register Spring 2014 Page 7 University Hires Catarina Passidomo as Assistant Professor to Teach Foodways Photo courtesy Catarina Passidomo The University of Mississippi has hired tions in the future. The Department of Catarina Passidomo to join the faculty Sociology and Anthropology has ben- with a joint appointment in Southern efited from a strong relationship with Studies and sociology and anthropol- Southern Studies for many years and ogy. Beginning in the fall semester of looks forward to supporting Catarina 2014, Passidomo—who will claim an and exploring new ways of connect- office in Barnard Observatory—will ing with the work of the Southern teach foodways courses to undergradu- Foodways Alliance.” ate and graduate students. In addition to holding joint appoint- In 2013 the Southern Foodways ments in sociology and anthropolo- Alliance (SFA), an institute of the gy and Southern Studies, Passidomo Center for the Study of the Southern will work closely with the Southern Culture, along with the College of Foodways Alliance. “Since its incep- Liberal Arts, endowed a professorship tion in 1999, the SFA has pioneered in the growing academic study of food- documentary and public programming ways. Generous gifts from individuals approaches to the field of foodways,” Catarina Passidomo and foundations augmented the endow- said John T. Edge, director of the SFA. ment. “The University of Mississippi’s “With this hire, we aim to serve the academic environment is greatly en- next generation of students, excited by riched when we are able to offer classes Since 2010 Passidomo has been an in- the prospects of foodways studies.” and faculty members representing new structor of human geography and the “I am thrilled and honored to be join- fields of study,” said Glenn Hopkins, geography of food at the University ing the University of Mississippi and dean of liberal arts. “The study of food- of Georgia. In 2013 she received the the Southern Foodways Alliance,” said ways provides another important facet University of Georgia’s Outstanding Passidomo. “It is an exciting and dy- for our students to explore in under- Teaching Assistant Award. namic time to both study and engage standing the world around them.” “We are very excited that Dr. with issues of food and society, and I Passidomo is the first University of Passidomo will be joining our de- am eager to work with the many cre- Mississippi faculty member hired spe- partment in the fall,” said Kirsten ative and thoughtful individuals pur- cifically to teach foodways classes. She Dellinger, chair of the Department suing this work in the university and holds a BA in sociology and anthropolo- of Sociology and Anthropology. throughout the region.” gy from Washington and Lee University, “She brings an important and unique Center director Ted Ownby noted that an MA in ecological and environmen- perspective to the department as a cul- Passidomo’s areas of research and en- tal anthropology from the University of tural geographer. Her interests in space, gagement will be of interest to many stu- Georgia, and a PhD in geography, also food, and engaged community research dents, especially those in the Southern from the University of Georgia. Her dis- complement the work of many of the Studies graduate program. Ownby said, sertation examines organizations that anthropologists and sociologists in our “As a cultural geographer, she brings a worked to build community food sov- department in ways that have already set of academic skills that will be new ereignty in post-Katrina New Orleans. sparked talk of synergistic collabora- and welcome here. As a scholar who studies issues of foodways and justice in both New Orleans and Georgia, Celebrate Charles Reagan Wilson’s she brings insights into a good range Teaching Legacy and Support Students of experiences. She should be immedi- ately skillful in Southern Studies 555 In honor of Charles Reagan Wilson’s long career in supporting and guiding students, (Foodways and Southern Culture), in we have created the Charles Reagan Wilson Graduate Student Support Fund, which other Southern Studies classes, and in will provide financial support for graduate students engaged in research in Southern helping students think through their re- history. Students from both the Department of History and the Center for the Study search projects. She’ll be the ideal schol- Southern Culture’s Southern Studies program will benefit from these funds. ar to work with both the programs of the Please consider a gift honoring Dr. Wilson. Every amount helps. Gifts may be Southern Foodways Alliance and the mailed to the UM Foundation, P.O. Box 249, University, MS 38677, or donate classes in Southern Studies.” online by visiting southernstudies.olemiss.edu/friends, follow the link, and choose “Charles Reagan Wilson Graduate Support Fund.” Sara Camp Arnold

Page 8 Spring 2014 The Southern Register Fred McDowell Subject of Latest SouthDocs Film Courtesy Joe York The life of Mississippi hill country bluesman Mississippi Fred McDowell (1904–72) is the subject of a documentary film being made by Scott Barretta and Joe York. The idea for the film came about when the two discovered that the University of Mississippi owned a short film about McDowell called Bluesmaker, which was made in his longtime home of Como by Christian Garrison, who was a filmmaker for the university. Barretta and York were interested in the Como community, and in particular Hunter’s Chapel Missionary Baptist Church, where McDowell was a member. “McDowell made recordings with other members, including his wife,” says Barretta, UM sociology and anthropol- Scott Barretta (left) and Joe York with Shirley Collins in Lewes, England, UK. Collins ogy instructor. “Otha Turner, the patri- accompanied Alan Lomax on his 1959 trip through the South, during which the duo arch of the fife-and-drum tradition in made the first-ever recording of Fred McDowell. the hill country, was also a member, and the current preacher, Reverend John Wilkins, is a gospel bluesman whose Collins, now 79, who had wonderful tween recording interviews for the film, father was the blues recording pioneer recollections of McDowell’s ‘discovery.’” and we couldn’t be happier with how Robert Wilkins. Joe and I explored Other interviewees so far include Dick well it’s coming along.” these topics in a Highway 61 Radio Waterman, who managed McDowell, Given the SouthDocs commitment show a couple years ago, and Joe filmed and Wolf Stephenson, who booked to tell stories about the region through Wilkins and some other local artists at a McDowell at “tea dances” on the UM food, literature, and, in this case, mu- North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic.” campus when Stephenson was the so- sic, it was finally the right time to make McDowell’s story is a fascinating cial chairman of Pi Kappa Alpha frater- the film, York says. The biggest obstacle one. He was a laborer who played lo- nity. He later recorded McDowell’s clas- now is raising money to pay for the film cal house parties, and for most of his sic I Do Not Play No Rock ’n’ Roll album clips and sound recordings of McDowell. life he was relatively unknown. In 1959 at the Malaco studios in Jackson. “We’ve discovered some film clips that Alan Lomax and his assistant Shirley York, senior producer at the Southern are not even known to blues aficionados, Collins made his first recordings, and Documentary Project (SouthDocs), has and they don’t come cheap,” Barretta shortly after the recordings were re- served as the producer of Highway 61 says. “I expect that we’ll be finished with leased, McDowell went out on the fes- Radio, Barretta’s radio show, for almost the interview process by the end of this tival and coffeehouse circuit. Later he a decade, and they worked together year, so hopefully the film can come out traveled several times to Europe, and on another film some years ago, Smoke sometime next year.” Anyone interested he was a major inspiration to younger and Ears, about the Big Apple Inn on in learning more about supporting this artists, including Bonnie Raitt and the Jackson’s Farish Street. film can contact Nikki Neely, nlneely@ Rolling Stones, who covered his song “We’ve both always been drawn to olemiss.edu. “You Gotta Move.” He has also been a Fred’s music and his remarkable sto- Barretta recently received a fellowship major influence on guitarists who play ry, from his chance encounter with award from the Gerald E. and Corrine in the bottleneck slide style. Alan Lomax that launched his record- L. Parsons Fund for Ethnography at the “That’s the general arc of our story— ing career, through his influence on the Library of Congress to conduct research from obscurity to international influence, Rolling Stones and Bonnie Raitt, to there on McDowell. and we’re trying to capture as many parts name a few, and his lasting impact on of it as possible,” Barretta says. “Earlier the culture and music of Mississippi,” Rebecca Lauck Cleary this year we traveled to England, where York says. “We’ve traveled as far as San our interviewees included Shirley Francisco and London and parts in be-

The Southern Register Spring 2014 Page 9 The Oxford Conference for the Book Awarded a Public Humanities Award by Mississippi Humanities Council On Friday, February 28, 2014, in a pub- vide programs, allowing the council to lic ceremony and banquet at the Hilton broaden its scope and audiences. Hotel in Jackson, the Mississippi “Each year we hope the OCB will Humanities Council honored recip- be a rich experience for an ever-grow- ients of its 2014 Public Humanities ing audience of book lovers,” said Becca Awards, which recognize outstand- Walton, conference director and Center ing contributions by Mississippians associate director for projects, “and the to the study and understanding of the Humanities Council has long been an humanities. The Center for the Study important part of that effort. We are of Southern Culture was among those honored to be chosen for this award by honored. The Center received the the MHC, an organization that provides Humanities Partner Award for the an- vital support for so many scholarly and nual Oxford Conference for the Book. cultural programs in the state.” The Public Humanities Award rec- The dates for the 2015 Oxford ognizes an individual or an organiza- Conference for the Book have been tion that has collaborated with the set for Wednesday, March 25, through Mississippi Humanities Council to pro- Friday, March 27.

Mark Your Ownby Serves OAH, SHA Calendars! Ted Ownby was reappointed to the Organization of American May 21, 2014 Historians’ Distinguished Lecture Michael Pollan Program, an initiative in which his- Nutt Auditorium torians give presentations at institu- University of Mississippi tions that donate their honoraria to May 21–23, 2014 the OAH. Ownby’s three lecture top- SouthDocs/SFA ics for the program are “Brotherhood Film Storytelling Bootcamp and Brotherhoodism in the Civil University of Mississippi Rights–Era South,” “Thinking about May 21–24, 2014 a History of the American South in Mississippi Delta Cultural Tour the 1970s,” and “Farm Family, Family Mississippi Delta Crisis, Family Values: Defining Family May 30–31, 2014 in the 20th-Century South.” Ownby Blues and the Spirit Symposium has also begun the first year of a three- Chicago, Illinois year term on the Executive Council of the Southern Historical Association. June 20–21, 2014 SFA Summer Symposium Jackson, Mississippi July 14–18, 2014 SFA Oral History Workshop University of Mississippi July 20–24, 2014 Faulkner & Yoknapatawpha In Memoriam Conference Rosia Wade-Crisler “Faulkner and History” University of Mississippi June 9, 1945–April 27, 2014

Page 10 Spring 2014 The Southern Register Cured Meats in the Upper South and Iconic Jackson, Mississippi, Restaurants Added to SFA’s Oral History Archive

Cured South Sara Wood From Kentucky to Tidewater Virginia, from the Shenandoah Valley to the Smoky Mountains, curing traditions preserve food supplies in order to sus- tain families and neighbors throughout the year. Cured meats of the American South now fill a greater demand beyond necessity. Those who cure, smoke, and preserve share something in common: they are using decades- and sometimes century-old recipes handed down from their ancestors to experiment with new methods and techniques. Sara Wood gathered 10 stories for the Cured South oral history project. Look for this new collection on the SFA website. Among the people you’ll meet: a North Carolina curemaster whose fa- (above) Sam Edwards III and Sam Edwards IV, Surry, Virginia, 2014 (left) Redfish and onion rings at the Mayflower Café in Jackson, Mississippi

Mike Kountouris of the Mayflower Café, Balerie Tyrone Bully of Bully’s Restaurant, and Bill Matheos of Bill’s Greek Tavern. In total, they’ve recorded 18 interviews, making this one of the larger SFA oral history projects in recent years and the most comprehensive in a single city. Expect to read and hear about a variety of favorite Mississippi foods, from catfish to comeback sauce. Look for this project online in ad- Rien Fertel vance of our Summer Foodways vorite ham comes from the “wooly ing Summer Foodways Symposium, Symposium, which will take place in pig,” a Kentucky caviar purveyor, and a Rien Fertel, Mary Beth Lasseter, and Jackson on June 20–21. Tennessee high school guidance coun- Kimber Thomas collected oral his- All of the SFA’s oral history inter- selor who quit his job after one week to tories from old-guard restaurants in views—more than 800 and counting— start his own ham business. Stay tuned Jackson, Mississippi. In particular, are accessible online at www.southern- for more stories of the Cured South. they sought out African American foodways.org. Visit our website to ex- and Greek American figures who have plore the stories behind the food. Jackson Restaurants contributed to the city’s culinary sto- In preparation for the SFA’s upcom- ry. They interviewed restaurateurs like

The Southern Register Spring 2014 Page 11 Interpreting the Enslaved: The Behind the Big House Program in Holly Springs, Mississippi Courtesy Jodi Skipper Courtesy Jodi For the past two years, Southern Studies students have helped to fill gaps in Mississippi interpretations of African American history by participating in the Behind the Big House (BTBH) program in Holly Springs, Mississippi. The program interprets the lives of the enslaved through extant former slave dwellings hidden in plain view. The dwellings were readapted for various uses—making it difficult to recognize their original purposes—and suppressed from historical memory, either uninten- tionally or by design. Several private property owners, including Chelius Carter, Jenifer Eggleston, David Person, and Genevieve and Frank Busby, initiated the project. According to Eggleston, “It was clear that a significant part of the Lauren Holt giving a tour at Burton Place historic narrative was missing. While a number of the silent witnesses—the structures directly related to the slaves’ accommodations—were extant, the Service grant writer, and Carter, an ar- cess began to focus on how to organize stories of the people who lived and used chitectural historian, researched much students interested in the growing field these buildings were largely being for- of the historical information used for of heritage tourism. In 2013 I chose the gotten.” The BTBH program seeks to its interpretation, as well as interpreta- BTBH pilot program as a case study, remedy these omissions. Since 2012 the tions for several other sites, including and the class of five students made this program has been a supplement to the Burton Place; the Magnolias, the 1851 applied approach feasible. Carter and yearly Holly Springs Pilgrimage (spon- gothic revival home featured in the film Eggleston visited the class to discuss the sored by the Garden Club), which has, Cookie’s Fortune (1999); and McCarroll development of the program. Students for over 80 years, historically inter- Place, a former dwelling readapted as interviewed tourism officials in Holly preted the lives of plantation-owning an antique store by one of its former Springs to get a better sense of the tour- families through historic main houses. owners. Joseph McGill Jr., former pro- ism political climate and each had the BTBH is a distinct program, with 20 gram officer with the National Trust for opportunity to work as a docent at more sites listed on the tour program. It is free Historic Preservation and founder of than one property. and open to the public, with a select the Slave Dwelling Project, offers addi- I organized a lecture by McGill, held few properties interpreted each year. tional interpretations. McGill, who has at Barnard Observatory, which was co- Eggleston and Carter, of Preserve been spending nights in slave dwellings sponsored by the Center for the Study of Marshall County & Holly Springs, Inc., to bring attention to the need for their Southern Culture and the Department own the historic Hugh Craft House historic preservation, was brought in to of Sociology and Anthropology. I also property, which includes a main house help interpret sites. volunteered as a docent and joined and former slave dwelling. A basement I met McGill while working in South Gracing the Table (GTT), a derivative level in the slave dwelling included a Carolina and became aware of the of Coming to the Table, a national or- room for smoking meat, a first level in- Holly Springs program after joining the ganization whose mission is to provide cludes a kitchen and two separate liv- faculty at the University of Mississippi. “leadership, resources, and a supporting spaces, and a loft is a living space, During the BTBH program’s second sea- ive environment for all who wish to ac- likely sleeping quarters for enslaved son I was teaching a course on Southern knowledge and heal wounds from rac- children. Eggleston, a National Park heritage tourism, and my thought pro- ism that is rooted in the United States’

Page 12 Spring 2014 The Southern Register history of slavery.” GTT was organized guests and local school groups. In all, continued from 5 as a response to members of the Holly some 450 students from Marshall and Springs community’s realization that Benton county schools came through especially the Department of Music. the interpretation of dwellings can be- the program during a three-day period. Thanks to existing faculty in sociology, come fruitless without the therapeutic Purvis Cornish, another first-year grad- anthropology, music, and English, UM work necessary to represent such issues. uate student, led some of these school offers courses on blues and literature, Through GTT, a group of diverse Holly groups at the Hugh Craft House. blues anthropology, and African Springs citizens meet once a month at Since I began working with the American music traditions. “We are a neutral location and interact through BTBH, I have had several revelations. a very interdisciplinary program, exercises prompting them to discuss First, urban slavery has been histori- so we like to cut across traditional slavery, race, and racism. It is largely cally underrepresented through histor- boundaries and find connections a cooperative effort between private ic preservation programs. Second, if between numerous elements of cultural citizens and Rust College faculty and places like Holly Springs are willing to traditions, as do our students,” said students . . . and now some Southern tell more complex stories of their built Ownby. “The ideal scholar for this Studies graduate students. environments, then it can be a bene- professorship will approach the study In the program’s third season, first- fit to all. And third, this work cannot of Southern music in a multifaceted year graduate student Lauren Holt be done without the support of institu- way. We are not deciding what type of joined the project. Holt is now a mem- tions like the Mississippi Humanities music is important to study, nor are we ber of the GTT planning committee. Council, the Mississippi Development looking specifically for a jazz scholar, This season she took charge of putting Authority/Tourism Division, local citi- a blues scholar, or a country music together the booklet that the BTBH zens, private landowners who value sto- scholar. We want someone who cares program provided for local Holly ries of the underprivileged, and volun- about how to study music traditions and Springs school groups coming through teers who see the potentially restorative contemporary music.” the tour. Working mainly from a guide- and reconciliatory value in local histo- The Feders’ commitment provides line for program managers, BTBH in- ry. The BTBH program is a necessary a foundation for the professorship, but formation panels, and a high school one, yet it can only survive through the Ron Feder emphasizes the need for ad- textbook on Mississippi history, she put support of lovers of history everywhere. ditional support to bring the position together a draft for the text. She also to fruition. “We need two types of do- volunteered as a docent for four of the Jodi Skipper nors for this endowment: passionate five program days, leading pilgrimage people who can make small, meaning- ful gifts, and people with the ability to make larger gifts and who want to have a guiding role in bringing this new focus to the Center.” Ownby agrees. “We want to establish an endowment that

Courtesy Jodi Skipper will be stable enough to support this faculty position indefinitely and solid- ify the groundwork for a program that will grow in prominence and draw the best students in this field,” he said. “Ron is an invaluable advisory committee member, and he and his family have been very active supporters. We can’t thank them enough, and we’re looking for others who share this interest in music as part of Southern culture.” Both the Center for the Study of Southern Culture and the Music of the South Endowment are open to receive gifts from individuals and orga- Former slave dwelling at Burton Place in Holly Springs nizations by sending a check with the fund noted in the memo line to the UM Foundation, P.O. Box 249, University, MS 38677, contacting Nikki Neely at 662-915-6678 or [email protected], or by donating online at southernstudies.olemiss.edu/friends.

Katie S. Morrison

The Southern Register Spring 2014 Page 13 Politics and Public Service

Some faculty members like to say that Tiffany Hamelin Cabrera Tiffany Hamelin Cabrera Southern Studies students can do anything. Among the many students who concentrated on issues of justice and injustice, politics and power, several have gone on into positions in policymaking, organizing, and politics. Tiffany Hamelin Cabrera is a historian in the U.S. State Department’s Office of the Historian. She works in the Policy Studies Division, where she carries out policy-supportive historical studies and projects in the field of U.S. foreign relations for State Department officials and other government agencies. She graduated from the University of Mississippi with a BA, majoring in journalism and French, followed by a master’s in Southern Studies, where she worked with the William Winter Institute for

Racial Reconciliation and wrote a thesis Cristen Hemmins Slate, Salon, the Rachel Maddow Show, on activists in the Student Nonviolent Cristen Hemmins and BBC World News interviewed her. Coordinating Committee. Not wanting “Because of that victory with defeating to end her education there, she earned Initiative 26, I, along with a lot of oth- a second MA in history from UM and a er people in this state, felt incredibly PhD in history from Howard University empowered by what grassroots activism in Washington, D.C. could achieve,” she says. “Much of my interests from my time After launching her career into activ- at Ole Miss dovetailed with a burgeon- ism and politics, she started attending ing interest in the Vietnam War and U.S. Democratic Party meetings, became a foreign relations,” Cabrera says. “My dis- delegate, and attended the Democratic sertation focused on self-immolation dur- National Convention in Charlotte, ing the Vietnam War; like the civil rights North Carolina, in 2012. She also be- movement, self-immolations in both Steve Holland Vietnam and the United States took place Steve Holland during the mid-1960s and were power- and African Americans in the State ful nonviolent protests. Within weeks Department, and she has had the op- of defending my proposal, I was offered portunity to interview Senator George my dream job here at the Department of Mitchell, Ambassador Andrew Young, State and began in May 2008.” the special envoys to Sudan and Cabrera, a military child who grew North Korea, and Ambassador Edward up in Florida, Kentucky, South Dakota, Perkins, among others. and California, was part of a group of Cristen Hemmins became heavily in- graduate students who documented the volved in politics in the spring of 2011, 40th reunion of the Freedom Rides. working to defeat Initiative 26 (The “This oral history experience had a Personhood Initiative). “Once the offi- major impact on my professional life,” cial campaign started, really only a month she says. “A handful of colleagues here or so before the election, I was sort of the at the State Department and I have unofficial face of the campaign, which we launched an oral history program that felt was important because we wanted to documents the history of U.S. foreign make sure people knew there were local, relations, which brings a historical per- Mississippi people who felt really strongly spective to current policy making.” about this,” Hemmins says. Her work focuses on two subseries: During that campaign, national and Special Envoys and Representatives, international media outlets such as

Page 14 Spring 2014 The Southern Register Ford O’Connell Judith Roberts came vice-chairperson of the Lafayette Judith Roberts County Democrats. “That’s when I really started paying attention to the legis- lation that is happening in Jackson and became really aware of how unrepre- sented I was in our state government.” She says she would someday like to run for office, but she is trying to figure out what office would be the best one to start with, since with three young children, she isn’t quite ready to spend a Ford O’Connell third of the year in Jackson. For now, she concentrates her energies on helping to ships our people have with one another get other Democrats elected and keep- and outsiders, why we cling to the past, ing the Democratic platform front and and how we interact with the rest of the center. She is also on the board of LOU- country and the world.” Home Inc., which seeks to make the Ford O’Connell’s face may look fa- dream of homeownership achievable for miliar for those who watch Fox News, low-income individuals in the Lafayette CNN, CNBC, or other news networks, County-Oxford-University area. or his name may be recognizable from gave me that hook, and for that I will be State Representative Steve Holland, bylines in USA Today, People magazine, forever grateful to Ole Miss.” a fifth-generation Lee County native, is or on ESPN.com. As a political analyst Judith Roberts is the program di- both a legislator and funeral home direc- and Republican strategist who served as rector for Racial Justice Ministries for tor. “I love being a representative because an adviser on the 2008 McCain-Palin the Evangelical Lutheran Church in it gives me a marketplace to debate those presidential campaign, it’s his job to put America (ELCA) in Chicago. The critical issues that can truly bring about fires out for clients or introduce new ELCA collaborates on issues of racial a better way of life for Mississippians,” hot topics in the media. injustice both domestically and glob- says Holland, who has represented the “Growing up, I had only two loves— ally. “I like to believe I was called/sent 16th district since 1985. “Serving dur- football and politics, and at a very ear- to the ELCA, and within this ministry ing session and making our laws is im- ly age I knew I was never going to be I am involved with issues that impact portant, responsible work, but in reality the starting quarterback for the Dallas communities of color,” Roberts says. “I only a fraction of our job. I spend count- Cowboys,” O’Connell jokes. “Of course have an opportunity to do this work at less hours with my constituents and with that didn’t stop me from playing foot- multiple levels, from supporting congre- people from all over the state.” ball in college, or at least trying, but my gations and leaders on the front lines to A Democrat, Holland won eight con- grandfather was politically active, so over advocating for policies that remove bar- secutive elections and has remained the time politics became a natural fit for me.” riers for voices that are marginalized.” District 16 member of the Mississippi O’Connell, a native of Houston, Though Roberts was born in House for 31 years, the all-time longev- Texas, who resides in the Washington, Connecticut, her parents and grand- ity record for Lee County for any public D.C., area, also helped with Haley parents have deep Southern roots, and official. He graduated from Mississippi Barbour’s gubernatorial campaign in she spent summers in with her maternal State, but almost three decades lat- 2007. In 2009 he cofounded Project grandparents in McComb, Mississippi. er he decided he wanted a Southern Virginia to help Virginia Republicans Her grandfather, C. C. Bryant, was the Studies master’s degree. Challenged by implement innovative digital media local NAACP president and an active Chancellor Emeritus Robert Khayat to and voter mobilization technologies. leader in his community, workplace, reshape his thinking and hone his de- Armed with degrees from Swarthmore and congregation. sire to elicit change, he enrolled in the College, the University of Mississippi, It wasn’t until Roberts began to re- Southern Studies program. Duke University, Northwestern Univer search more about the civil rights strug- “The program made me realize who sity, and the University of Virginia gle that she understood the significant I am as a Southerner, what my role is School of Law, he is well equipped to be contributions everyday people made to among my family and Southern peers, an active participant in democracy us- change the course of history. After she and why the South was worthy of fighting a variety of media to communicate completed an independent biographical ing for in future years,” Holland says. with people about the inner workings of research project on Bryant’s role in the “With the writing requirements, cer- American politics. civil rights movement during her under- tainly my speaking and writing abili- “Having lived on ‘both sides’ of this graduate studies at Springfield College, ties were strengthened along the way. ever-widening regional divide, I want- her professors, as well as her parents, en- The Southern Studies program com- ed to position myself to be able to couraged her to continue researching pletely changed my way of thinking speak intelligently on the intricacies her grandfather’s legacy. So she enrolled about my native region and answered of Southern culture,” O’Connell says. so many questions about the relation- “The program’s broad-based curriculum continued on page 16 The Southern Register Spring 2014 Page 15 Patrick Weems in the Southern Studies MA program and worked with the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation. “I completed a short documentary film featuring interviews with my grandfather and other leaders of the civil rights movement. My experience at the university as a researcher gave me more time with my grandfather and the opportunity to have access to a wealth of resources that I otherwise would have missed,” she says. “I think the Southern Studies program gave me the background to go deeper in understanding the history and culture of this region, and having this experience of working and living in Mississippi continues to shape this journey.” Patrick Weems transferred to the Patrick Weems University of Mississippi from Loyola Brian Wilson University in New Orleans in 2005 Brian Wilson were rewarding and eye-opening. “I and was a bit surprised when he looked loved helping communities and lead- around at his classmates. “I realized how ers in Mississippi provide infrastruc- segregated our campus was, and I be- ture and quality-of-life improvements,” gan having conversations with friends he says. “Most politicians love to talk about race on campus. I soon found out about economic development and job about the Winter Institute, so I started creation, but many don’t understand hanging out around Vardaman Hall.” that quality schools and public infra- One of the projects with which the structure are integral to economic de- Winter Institute was involved at that velopment. My boss got it and made no time was a group of newly elected pol- apologies for fighting for Mississippi.” iticians from Tallahatchie County Wilson, who wrote his MA the- who wanted to do something around sis on Mississippi political figure L. Q. Emmett Till’s memory and in his honor. C. Lamar, credits his Southern Studies From there, the Emmett Till Memorial master’s studies in aiding his work, since Commission began, and Weems was the ability to research, to write, and to able to attend the meetings in the Delta make reasoned arguments is essential to and be involved in early conversations. good public policy. After graduating from UM, Weems a cloud over it for a long time. So it’s ex- “The interdisciplinary nature of the continued his work with the Winter citing to be in those rooms with 80-year- Southern Studies program reflects the Institute, developing the Summer old white men and 20-year-old black interplay of diverse disciplines and crit- Youth Institute and helping support men who are sitting down talking about ical thinking skills necessary in un- One Mississippi. He began graduate the past and trying to agree on where are derstanding problems and then solv- work in Southern Studies and was asked we now and how we move forward.” ing them,” Wilson says. “Often events to be the first director of the Emmett As a partner with Capstone Public move so fast that there is no time to Till Interpretive Center in Sumner. Affairs in Jackson, Brian Wilson helps truly reflect and consider a position. It’s “It’s tough to keep community groups Mississippi clients, such as universities, easy for one to get caught up in the zero- together, so we began local communi- nonprofits, economic developers, and lo- sum game of two-party politics and end ty conversations to pull in some new cal businesses, navigate the bureaucracy up only mimicking the talking points of people who want to tell their story,” of Washington and Jackson. He also as- the loudest media talking head at the Weems says. “We are telling the story sists with public relations and grassroots moment or the echo chamber of our of Sumner’s past, we’re telling the story advocacy, such as the creation of three like-minded friends. The give-and-take of Sumner’s present, and trying to figure national heritage areas in Mississippi. Last with diverse classmates and faculty gave out Sumner’s future.” year, he also joined Triumph Campaigns me the invaluable opportunity to real- Weems says the future of the area as a partner, which is a national politi- ly analyze my opinions; some were rein- is bright for the 400 residents of cal consulting firm based in Jackson and forced, while others were reconsidered.” Tallahatchie County. “It’s really difficult founded by UM alum Justin Brasell. for any community to have conversa- Before Capstone, Wilson was the Rebecca Lauck Cleary tions about the past, but especially for a senior legislative assistant to Senator community like Sumner, which has had Trent Lott for five years, which he says

Page 16 Spring 2014 The Southern Register Rex Jones Wins Filmmaking Award for Beautiful Jim This past April, Rex Jones, a filmmaker film Beautiful Jim. Jones’s film was re- The film’s subject is Jimbeau Hinson, a for the Southern Documentary Project, leased in September 2013. It was an of- Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter won the Programmers’ Choice Award ficial selection of both the Oxford Film living in Nashville, Tennessee, who at the 15th Annual Crossroads Film Festival in February and the Nashville has been HIV positive for over 30 Festival in Jackson, Mississippi, for his Film Festival in April. years. Hinson was also the first openly bisexual singer-songwriter in country Photo courtesy Rex Jones Rex Jones (right) with Jimbeau Hinson music and has been married to his and his wife, Brenda Fielder wife, Brenda Fielder, for 33 years. He has almost died from AIDS twice, although he is now HIV-undetectable. He recently received a record deal and released a new album at age 62. “This award was an incredible hon- or that validates the power and appeal of Jimbeau and Brenda’s story and the important work my colleagues and I are doing at the Southern Documentary Project,” said Jones. Rex Jones joined SouthDocs in 2011. A Hickory, Mississippi, native, Jones earned an MFA in science and natural history filmmaking from Montana State University and is a graduate of Mississippi State University.

Jimmy Thomas Transforming New South CONTRIBUTORS Sara Camp Arnold is the publications editor for the Southern Foodways Alliance Identities (SFA), which includes the editorship of Gravy, the SFA’s quarterly food letter. On February 27–March 1, the Center Rebecca Lauck Cleary is the Center’s senior staff assistant and website admin- for the Study of Southern Culture istrator. She received a BA in journalism from the University of Mississippi in hosted the Transforming New South 1997 and has written for the Southern Register since 2005. Identities Symposium, organized by Jodi Leslie Hassel is a recent MA graduate in the Southern Studies program and Skipper and Michele Coffey from the graduate assistant for Living Blues. University of Memphis. The following Xaris A. Martínez is a graduate of the UM Southern Studies program (MA 2011) scholars gathered at the Center to work- and a doctoral student in history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. shop and examine the field of Southern Studies as a whole: Martyn Bone, Alix Katie S. Morrison is a University of Mississippi communications specialist. Chapman, Kirsten Dellinger, John Ted Ownby, director of the Center, holds a joint appointment in Southern Hayes, Zac Henson, Jeff Jackson, Anne Studies and history. Lewis, Sabrina Pendergrass, Tom Okie, Elaine Pugh is a University of Mississippi communications specialist. Susan O’Donovan, Emily Satterwhite, Jodi Skipper is an assistant professor of anthropology and Southern Studies at Jon Smith, and Daniel Cross Turner. the University of Mississippi. Charles Reagan Wilson gave the opening keynote address on “Reimagining Jay Watson is a professor of English at the University of Mississippi and director Southern Studies: Time and Space, of the Faulkner & Yoknapatawpha Conference. His publications include Faulkner Bodies and Spirits.” and Whiteness and Reading for the Body: The Recalcitrant Materiality of Southern Fiction, 1893–1985.

The Southern Register Spring 2014 Page 17 Southern Studies Southern Studies Undergrad Students and Awarded Hall of Alumni in Letters The Southern Register could run a story every issue about the accomplishments of Southern Studies alumni who are writ- Fame Distinction ers and editors. Beginning with recent award winners, we On January 31, 2014, Chancellor Dan Jones bestowed have learned that Amy Clukey, who teaches English at the the honor of membership in the school’s 2013–14 University of Louisville, won the Louis D. Rubin Award from

Hall of Fame to Courtesy of Neal McMillin the Society for the Study of Southern Literature for the year’s 10 University of best scholarly paper on Southern literature. Kari Edwards, a Mississippi seniors. Southern Studies alumna pursuing a PhD in history at UM, The Hall of Fame is won the Academy of American Religion’s award for best paper one of the univer- by a graduate student. “Evie M,” a short story by MA alumnus sity’s highest hon- and Mississippi Encyclopedia managing editor Odie Lindsey has ors. Among those been selected for The Best American Short Stories 2014. 10 seniors was In the world of journals and magazines, Vicksburg alumna Southern Studies Lauchlin Fields has started a new Mississippi culture maga- undergraduate zine called The ’Sip, the first issue of which included an ar- Neal McMillin. ticle by Southern Studies alumnus Hicks Wogan. In Texas, Recipients are cho- Sarah Condon is writing columns in The Mockingbird, and sen by a committee Woody Skinner has a new story in Hobart. In Jackson, Nell pursuant to ASB Linton Knox is writing pieces for Portico. Emory graduate policy, with selec- student Alan Pike continues his work for the online jour- tions based on a nal Southern Spaces. Graduating students Erin Scott, Rachael student’s academic Walker, and Neal McMillin had pieces in Land of Plenty, a achievement, com- publication on Delta food issues produced by a class in the munity service, and Neal McMillin Meek School of Journalism. Sarah Alford Ballard brought potential for future her journalism students from Jackson to the University of success. Mississippi in March. Former students Camilla Aikin, Mark Neal McMillin majored in Southern Studies and eco- Coltrane, Katie Lambert, Melanie Young, and May graduate nomics. A member of the University of Mississippi Leslie Hassel have all written articles and reviews in recent is- Honors College, he is a Newman Scholar and Barnard sues of Living Blues. Scholar. He has studied abroad twice, including as recip- In the book world, Kirsten Schofield is a commission- ient of a Barksdale Award to investigate Scotland’s pi- ing editor for the History Press in Charleston, and Duvall oneering use of the ocean for renewable energy. Listed Osteen has expanded her work with Aragi, Inc. in New York on the Chancellor’s Honor Roll, he is a member of Phi and is now representing writers. Michelle Bright is teaching Kappa Phi and recipient of a Taylor Medal. He placed writing in UM’s Center for Writing and Rhetoric. Preston first in the Formal Essay category in UM’s Southern Lauterbach’s 2012 volume The Chitlin’ Circuit is included Literary Festival, and his articles have appeared in Land in 100 Books Every Blues Fan Should Own, just published by of Plenty, published by the School of Journalism and Edward Komara and Greg Johnson. New Media. He is a member of several academic and The many students and alumni speaking at academic confer- leadership honor societies, including Omicron Delta ences include Illinois State University history professor Amy Kappa, Sigma Alpha Lambda, and Phi Eta Sigma, and Wood and University of Missouri sociology PhD student Teah he received the Interfraternity Council Academic and Hairston, alums who spoke at the university’s Conference on Leadership Excellence Award. He served as an ASB sena- Rethinking Mass Incarceration in the South in April, and cur- tor and Honors College ambassador. He recently won the rent students Paige Prather and Kate Hudson, who spoke the Gray Award for one of the best two papers by a Southern same event. Anna Hamilton gave a paper at Flagler College’s Studies undergraduate. His parents are Tommy and Ruth Ideas & Images lecture series about her thesis on the datil pep- McMillin. per, Erin Scott and Lindsey Reynolds made foodways presentations at the Converse College conference Okra to Opera, Elaine Pugh and Kaitlyn Vogt and Shawna Felkins presented papers at the Gender studies conference at the Sarah Isom Center.

Ted Ownby

Page 18 Spring 2014 The Southern Register Faulkner & Yoknapatawpha Conference 2014 “Faulkner and History” An international cast of historians, Wrinkle. In addition, three scholars literary critics, documentarians, cre- from the Digital Yoknapatawpha project, ative writers, and independent schol- Stephen Railton (University of Virginia), ars will join the six keynote speakers on Dotty Dye (Arizona State University), the program for the 2014 Faulkner & and Theresa Towner (University of Yoknapatawpha Conference, “Faulkner Texas, Dallas), will provide a progress re- and History,” July 20–24, at the port on the project at a special lunchtime University of Mississippi. January’s call session on Monday, July 21. for papers yielded an additional 13 con- The evening session for the confer- ference sessions featuring 40 speakers, ence’s opening day on Sunday, July 20, many of them appearing at Faulkner & will showcase a pair of films document- Yoknapatawpha for the first time. ing 20th-century rural and small-town Panel topics for “Faulkner and History” life in Faulkner’s native state. “Visualizing will include the following: “Histories of Mississippi Histories: Two Short Films” Labor and Technology,” “History Makes will feature Emma Knowlton Lytle’s Faulkner: Manufacturing a Midcentury Raisin’ Cotton, a documentary created Reputation,” “History, Fiction, and from black-and-white footage she shot Interracial Intimacies in Faulkner,” in the early 1940s of African American “Thinking Literature and History and white subjects who lived and worked Comparatively” (featuring Faulkner on the Mississippi Delta plantations of in conjunction with other 20th-cen- Godwin (University of Oregon), Lael Perthshire and Highlandale, and Michael tury writers), “Faulkner, Modern Art, Gold (independent scholar), Sharony Ford’s Homeplace, a 1972 film document- and Modern War,” “Local and Regional Green (University of Alabama), Charles ing folk life in the north Mississippi hill- Histories,” “Visions of History,” “Faulkner Hannon (Washington & Jefferson country counties of Lafayette, Marshall, in the History of Modernity,” “Faulknerian College), Brooks E. Hefner (James Panola, and Tate. Andy Harper, direc- Temporalities,” “Staging Southern Madison University), Kristi Rowan tor of the Southern Documentary Project Histories,” “History, Power, and Gender,” Humphreys (Texas Tech University), at the University of Mississippi’s Center “Moonshine and Magnolias: A History Josh Jones (independent scholar), Satoshi for the Study of Southern Culture, will of Spirits in Faulkner’s Mississippi,” and Kanazawa (Kyoto Prefectural University), provide introductory remarks on Raisin’ “Deciphering Sutpen’s Hundred: Ideology, Meredith Kelling (independent scholar), Cotton. Ford, who holds a BFA in photog- Representation, and the Politics of Andrew B. Leiter (Lycoming College), raphy and film from Rochester Institute Aesthetics in Absalom, Absalom!” Sean McCann (Wesleyan University), of Technology and an MS in broadcast- This year’s panelists include Serena Conor Picken (Bellarmine University), ing and film from Boston University, will Blount (University of Alabama), Christopher Rieger (Southeast Missouri return to Oxford—where he was an ap- Katherine Isabel Bondy (University of State University), Esther Sánchez-Pardo prentice for three years in the 1970s to California, Berkeley), Jordan Burke (Yale (Complutense University, Madrid), blacksmith Marion Randolph Hall—to University), Jaclyn Carver (University Calvin Schermerhorn (Arizona State introduce his film. of Iowa), Rebecca Clark (University of University), Elizabeth Steeby (University For registration and other confer- California, Berkeley), Deborah Clarke of New Orleans), Mark Sursavage ence information, visit the Faulkner & (Arizona State University), Anna (University of Houston), Matthew Yoknapatawpha website at www.out- Creadick (Hobart and William Smith Sutton (William and Mary), George reach.olemiss.edu/events/faulkner or Colleges), David M. Earle (University Porter Thomas (University of California, contact Jay Watson, director, at jwat- of West Florida), Daniel Ferris (De Davis), Sara Gabler Thomas (University [email protected]. Discount rates for the Anza College in Cupertino, California), of Mississippi), Carrie Helms Tippen conference are available for groups of Jason D. Fichtel (Joliet Junior College), (Texas Christian University), Candace five or more students. Inexpensive dor- Peter Alan Froehlich (Pennsylvania Waid (University of California, Santa mitory housing is available for interest- State University, Hazelton), Frank P. Barbara), Sarah Walker (University of ed registrants. Contact Robert Fox at Fury (Monmouth University), Sarah E. Iowa), Rachel Watson (University of [email protected] for details. Gardner (Mercer University), Jennifer Chicago), Randall Wilhelm (Anderson Gilchrist (Hunter College), Hannah University), and novelist Margaret Jay Watson

The Southern Register Spring 2014 Page 19 From the Stacks From the Stacks is a series of occasional reviews by Southern Studies faculty and friends about old and possibly forgotten books. Along with summarizing and potentially critiqu- ing them, the series will ask why and also how we might read them today. The series begins with a book published in 1964.

Sarah Patton Boyle’s For Human Beings probably realized, with physical dangers, Only: A Primer for Human Understanding limits on freedom, large and small in- (New York: Seabury Press, 1964, out conveniences and uncertainties, insults, of print) is an intriguing how-to vol- and emotional stresses. Second, whites ume about the process of racial deseg- should check their language to avoid regation. Boyle was a Charlottesville, terms, topics, and stereotypes that create Virginia, resident who took part in or assume division and insult. She was desegregation work in the 1950s and specific about rejecting terms that sug- 1960s. For Human Beings Only was gest insiders and outsiders, and she urged Boyle’s second book, following by a year readers to replace the words “race” and her memoir, The Desegregated Heart, “race relations” with “group” and “hu- which told her story of the 13 years af- man relations.” Third, she cautioned ter what she described as a conversion some whites against having such an “ea- to interracial work in 1950. ger-beaver ardor” for interracial friend- For Human Beings Only is a short vol- ships that they did not actually get to ume of 124 pages divided into a long know people as individuals. section, “For White Only,” a shorter The second section, “For Colored tion,” and many would likely want more section, “For Colored Only,” and a four- Only,” perhaps contained the most sur- discussions of rights and justice. page conclusion, “For All of Us.” One prises. Boyle had a great deal to say to Why might one read a 50-year-old ad- notable feature of the volume was its African Americans who might be deal- vice book? Some readers might want to lack of references to other works. Fifty ing for the first time with whites in ac- consider which issues seem relevant and years later, I suspect that anyone writ- tivist settings. In a long passage that which are obsolete and why, and many ing about antiracist work or intention- begins the section, she told an anec- might be intrigued by Boyle’s choice of al communities or diversity training or dote about a white woman who had the etiquette guide as her format. As a racialization theory or reconciliation offended African American guests in historian, one can read it as an example would draw from a wide array of schol- her home by serving them on televi- of its moment, when all sorts of excit- arly and other work. Except for a refer- sion trays. Other stories mentioned of- ing and hopeful signs seemed to point to- ence to the American Anthropological fenses that came from blowing the car ward the progress Boyle hoped, with her Association’s 1961 rejection of racial horn or calling new friends by their first small book, to advance. It is an optimis- difference and a single footnote, Boyle names. Writing to African Americans, tic book that said optimism only came drew from her own experience. The she urged patience with individual er- with sustained and often difficult work book began, “This is, I believe, the first rors and misunderstandings while con- and not just good intentions. The con- book of its kind. Its purpose is to smooth demning those who called for patience clusion soars with both relief and hope— the rough path to friendship between with the pace of social change. She relief about a “sense of wholeness” pos- individual and colored Americans.” could be aggressive in that call for pa- sible “when the two largest segments of As a primer, the book offered ad- tience, once writing, “A relationship American humanity unite and face the vice about individual action. It dis- with a Negro often is so distorted, so world as one” and hope she found in real- cussed how to speak, what language to unnatural, because of his suspicions and izing that “Negro Americans are present- use, how to talk, what to talk about, resentments that only a white who is ly the best Americans.” One can also read and what not to say. The language em- what I call a bulldog-for-brotherhood Boyle’s book in light of scholarship on phasized friendships, brotherhood, and will continue to subject himself to it.” racial deconstruction. Scholars have of- human relationships, and it often read I suspect it would be easy to criticize fered numerous ways to deconstruct ideas more like an etiquette guide than a civ- For Human Beings Only. The most obvi- about essential racial difference; Boyle, il rights–era call for justice. Boyle was ous way is that it avoided structural issues with ideas about “how to function as total self-conscious about her own self-con- of economics, the law, politics, and most human beings,” offered a Christian kind sciousness, and she encouraged it in questions of class. Many readers might find of universalism that said true and deep others, if only for a while. the book naïve—a criticism that Boyle understanding and empathy should un- In the first section, Boyle stressed that feared—in its beginning assumption that dercut all notions of difference. whites should understand that life was “individual friendships, more than any- harder for African Americans than they thing else, will heal the wounds of our na- Ted Ownby

Page 20 Spring 2014 The Southern Register Reading the South

March: Book One their reading material. Powell’s work By John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, has a strong following among fans of and Nate Powell. Marietta, GA: the graphic genre, as does the cata- log of Atlanta-based comics publish- Top Shelf Productions, 2013. er Top Shelf Productions. March is ac- 121 pp. $14.95 paperback. cessible without feeling oversimplified, If you were never a comic book fan, and indeed it might become a success- you might be suspicious of the graph- ful teaching tool in middle and high ic genre’s ability to tell a serious story. school classrooms. March puts those doubts to rest. In the Students of civil rights and Southern vein of Art Spiegelman’s Maus (a story history, including those who have read of the Holocaust told in comic book Lewis’s 1999 memoir Walking with the format), March: Book One chroni- Wind, might be inclined to dismiss cles the early life of civil rights lead- March for their own reading. And to er and 12th-term U.S. Representative be fair, it’s unlikely that serious histo- John Lewis, from his boyhood in rural ry buffs will learn any new details of Alabama to his involvement in the Lewis’s story in the first volume. But I Nashville student sit-in movement. encourage them to pick up a copy of Published in summer 2013, this is the March nonetheless. Powell’s graphics, first volume in Lewis’s March trilogy of rendered in shades of black and white, graphic memoirs. earned acclaim for his comics and are bold and affecting, pairing power- March is the result of a somewhat graphic novels. fully with the simple, engaging prose unlikely collaboration between Lewis, Narrated from Lewis’s perspec- cowritten by Lewis and Aydin. Read his congressional aide Andrew Aydin, tive, March opens on the morning of March by yourself, read it with your and artist Nate Powell. In 2008, January 20, 2009, as the congressman class, read it with your older children. Aydin, a comic book fan, caught flack prepares to attend the inauguration of By the time Lewis, Aydin, and Powell from his fellow Lewis staffers for his President Barack Obama. It quickly announce the release date for volume hobby. Lewis defended his young em- flashes back to his childhood in rural two, you’ll be eager for more. ployee, recalling a comic book about Pike County, Alabama, and follows Martin Luther King Jr. that circulat- Lewis to college in Nashville, where Sara Camp Arnold ed among college students in the ear- he establishes himself as a leader in ly days of the civil rights movement. the student sit-ins. The volume ends Martin Luther King and the Montgomery in May 1960, when, worn down by Story was published by the Fellowship the persistence of Lewis, Diane Nash, Pageants, Parlors, and Pretty of Reconciliation, commonly known and others, a handful of downtown Women: Race and Beauty in as FOR. It employed the format of a Nashville lunch counters agreed to the Twentieth-Century South comic book to introduce student ac- serve African American customers. tivists to the principles and strategies In its first year of publication, March By Blain Roberts. Chapel Hill: of nonviolence and passive resistance has topped the New York Times best- University of North Carolina that would become the trademark tac- seller list in the graphic category— Press, 2014. 384 pages. $39.95 tics of the movement. an impressive feat for a volume on a cloth. Inspired by the FOR comic book, historical subject. Much of the praise Aydin convinced his boss that they it has received has centered on the In Pageants, Parlors, and Pretty could share Lewis’s story with a new book’s potential to tell Lewis’s story to Women, Blain Roberts examines the audience by presenting it in graphic- a “new audience.” This does not mean ways in which white and black Southern memoir form. They enlisted the ser- a children’s or young adult audience so women pursued beauty and embodied vices of Nate Powell, a young art- much as one of Millennials who might racial identity during the 20th century ist from Little Rock who had already otherwise avoid historical memoir in in ways that were both personally liber-

Book Reviews and Notes by Faculty, Staff, Students, and Friends of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture

The Southern Register Spring 2014 Page 21 Reading the South continued

ating and collectively oppressive. Her excellent use of scholarship in the exploration of cosmetic use and beauty field of sensory history in this chap- rituals in the South—and the ideolo- ter (Chapter 2, “Shop Talk”) to ex- gies that shaped their influence on the amine “the tactile and olfactory di- region—illustrates how an individual’s mensions of the beautifying process,” consumption could have racial impli- allowing the reader to feel the heat cations and political consequences. given off by metal combs, smell the Roberts, an associate professor of hot oil, and listen in on the “shop history at California State University talk” among black women that en- at Fresno, begins by examining the couraged grassroots political action challenges faced by the modern beau- against Jim Crow. ty industry in infiltrating the South in While the first half of the book fo- the early 20th century. The majority cuses on the daily and mostly private of Southerners lived in rural settings cosmetic rituals of Southern wom- as late as 1920, which hindered access en, Roberts shifts her focus in the sec- to commercially produced cosmetics. ond half to public rituals that placed More importantly, however, were the women’s bodies and appearance on ideological grounds that made white display—namely, body and beauty Southern women reluctant to use contests. These rituals had their mid- beauty products. The “prescriptive 19th-century origins in rural agricul- ideals of Southern ladyhood” dictated tural fairs, where the domestic goods that elite white women were beauti- increasingly controversial in the and babies of white Southern women ful as a result of innate virtue. At best, 20th century because of their harm- were competitively displayed and eval- critics contended, cosmetic use was ful ingredients and the implication uated. By the early 20th century, the a brazen attempt by the consumer to that the “whiter” features promised baby show component was supplanted appear as something she was not; at by these products were more attrac- by better baby contests and 4-H club worst, “face painting” was indicative tive than “black” ones. Early beau- health pageants that drew on eugen- of a white woman’s disreputability and ty culturists responded by selling ics in order to determine which bod- disregard for her subservient role in hair pomades and other folk reme- ies were racially “superior.” While the the Southern social system. Cosmetic dies door to door and by mail order. home demonstration agents who spon- companies were finally able to over- While these products improved hair sored these rituals were concerned come these fears, argues Roberts, health, their purveyors also faced ac- with assessing the hygiene and attire when their advertising allies democ- cusations that the hair straighten- of rural women, Roberts argues that ratized the defining physical marker of ing regimens they advocated helped they unwittingly set a precedent that a Southern lady—whiteness—by sug- black women look white. Questions linked a woman’s agricultural contribu- gesting that all white Southern wom- regarding what a beautiful head of tions to her body. Trade boards tapped en could exhibit this exclusionary and black hair should look like were, ac- into this precedent at the onset of the racialized female beauty through the cording to Roberts, “at the heart of Depression and began to host beauty use of cosmetic products. Associating the politics of respectability” and contests in which rural women’s bodies makeup with an iconic regional figure thus a source of contention between were presented as commodity crops to thus mitigated the social threat posed African American leaders concerned be evaluated. The public appraisal and by these modern beauty products and with racial uplift and beauticians scrutiny of a woman’s face and form at also strengthened Jim Crow segrega- who viewed beauty work as bene- these contests was thus tied into a larg- tion by erasing class divisions among ficial to themselves and the larger er tradition of annual agricultural fes- white women. black community. Black women who tivities in the region while, at times, While “white women transformed sold beauty products helped sup- embracing sensual aspects of previ- themselves into made-up Southern port their families, while those who ously suspect bathing beauty revues. ladies,” black women sought out trained to be beauticians were able Photographs of these white crop queens goods and services that would help to work in jobs free of white super- were subsequently used as advertising them construct a respectable femi- vision. Moreover, beauticians were tools to generate both national and in- ninity. Products such as hair straight- able to operate beauty parlors that ternational interest in Southern crops eners and skin bleaches began to be provided their patrons with a space during the 1930s. Roberts claims that commercially available by the late where they could relax, be pam- by the 1940s the evaluation and mar- 19th century, but their use became pered, and socialize. Roberts makes keting of these contestants led to the

Page 22 Spring 2014 The Southern Register Reading the South continued

regionwide acceptance and popularity of white Southern beauty queens as both agrarian and sexual symbols. Black Southern women challenged this “whitewash- ing of Southern agriculture”—and the white ideal of beauty underlying it—by participating in body and beauty contests of their own. While black crop queens were uncommon, African American home demonstration agents sponsored health pageants in the rural South, and middle-class matrons put on fashion shows in the urban South that celebrated black female beauty. Roberts argues that, more importantly, these and other contests were also an attempt by the black middle class to rid their rural and working-class counterparts of an aesthetic they believed compromised their race’s claims to respectability; their attempts at setting themselves as the “arbiters of good taste” for their racial community, which consisted of enforcing regulations regarding both clothing and de- portment, were especially evident on black college cam- puses. This institutional focus allows Roberts to explore how female students from different socioeconomic classes and geographic settings managed the demands made of their bodies through dress codes and rules regarding prop- er behavior, while at the same time trying to enjoy their access to new consumer goods and avoid accusations that they were being “too black” or aspiring to “be white.” In this context, body and beauty rituals such as homecom- ing queen competitions were yet another way in which administrators could encourage female students to con- form to middle-class ideals of respectable black feminin- ity and admonish those who failed to do so. Roberts concludes her book by looking at the role of beauty in the civil rights movement, arguing that there was a connection between unrest in the South and the concurrent success of white Southern women at the Miss America Pageant. Winning the title five times between 1954 and 1963, Southern beauty queens served as public symbols of white supremacy that partially dis- guised unpleasant aspects of massive resistance to racial integration that were being televised around the nation. At first, black Southern women sought to un- dermine “the symbolic power of white beauty queens” by participating in all-black beauty contests and even attempting to integrate white ones. But by the mid- 1960s, young black activists had grown frustrated with “the traditional aesthetic of respectability” and began to embrace an aesthetic that denoted both blackness and a commitment to the radical politics of Black Power. This “Black is Beautiful” movement, along with the nascent second-wave feminist movement of the period, ensured that questions about female beauty and the public’s per- ception of women’s bodies would continue to be controversial during the late 20th century. Roberts’s com- pelling narrative challenges historians to integrate the pursuit of beauty in their examinations of race and poli-

The Southern Register Spring 2014 Page 23 Reading the South continued

tics in the modern South and would multiplicity of black identities [avail- also be of interest to scholars inter- able] in the twenty-first century.” ested in consumer culture, whiteness On both scales—the local and the studies, and the intersections between global—Robinson deftly argues the regionalism and national identity. credibility of this duality. Ironically, she also establishes that Memphis is Xaris A. Martínez both South but not South, and it is this dichotomy that allows the black residents of Memphis she interviews This Ain’t Chicago: Race, to craft an identity she terms “coun- Class, and Regional Identity try cosmopolitan.” in the Post-Soul South Country cosmopolitanism is both a framework and identity, which posits By Zandria Robinson. Chapel that Southern blackness is a superi- Hill: University of North or black identity, which allows blacks Carolina Press, 2014. 238 to navigate the racial hierarchies and pages. $29.95. prejudices prevalent in U.S. society with minimal scarring. Robinson Zandria Robinson’s new book, This writes, “Country cosmopolitanism is Ain’t Chicago: Race, Class, and a best-of-both-worlds blackness that Regional Identity in the Post-Soul address the embattled notion of ra- South, is an invaluable contribution ly into the black identities construct- cial authenticity in a post-black era to UNC Press’s New Directions in ed there. As the first major city on the by hearkening back to and modern- Southern Studies Series, and it is a way north out of the Mississippi Delta, izing rural, country tropes. [I]t blends must read for anyone seriously inter- Memphis became an important inter- rural values and urban sensibilities to ested in gaining a more nuanced un- mediate or end destination during the navigate—and sometimes sanitize— derstanding of contemporary black Great Migration. Further, reverse mi- the post–civil rights South.” attitudes about racism as funneled gration trends discernible since the In less than 200 pages, Robinson through a regional or place-based late 1960s identify that many have re- expertly navigates the multiple iden- lens. In a society obsessed with the turned to Memphis. Situated along the tities available to Memphis and her idea that the election of President great Mississippi River, it has both ru- people, and in doing so she illustrates Barack Obama somehow meant we ral and urban sensibilities. Its histo- a central point of the book: “the geo- had reached a postracial state, frank ry is also significant. Memphis is the graphic and cognitive epicenter of discussions regarding black attitudes self-described “home of the blues,” but American blackness [is] shift[ing] about race (specifically racism) are Robinson also firmly establishes its southward.” missing from the literature. This Ain’t place in hip-hop culture. It is the site The book is part ethnography, part Chicago corrects that error. of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassina- cultural studies, and part Southern The book focuses on Memphis, tion, which it does not shy away from, Studies, and the attention it pays to Tennessee, which some term the “Mid- but it also houses the National Civil each can be somewhat distracting. The South.” However, akin to claims made Rights Museum. The dichotomies do rich ethnographic interviews come in by her University of Memphis col- not end there. “A blue-collar town,” it the second half of the book and seem league and former mentor, Wanda is also the home of Fortune 500 com- somewhat out of place next to the Rushing, Robinson dually situates panies like FedEx and important re- more technical explanations of how Memphis as both part of a local and search centers like Saint Jude. Current popular culture shaped notions of the global landscape. Memphis seems an demographic trends also factor into its South (Chapter 1) or discussions of the appropriate case study for this exami- appropriateness as a case. Memphis is “physical and ideological landscape of nation, for the city provides a lens into the 20th largest city in the nation and the city” in its transformation from regional identities as shaped through has a majority black population of al- city to region in the late 19th and early the context of urban change. Like the most 63 percent. All of these evidence 20th centuries (Chapter 2). Chapters respondents she identifies, Memphis’s how “People and places have a dialec- 3, 4, and 5, respectively, deal with the identity emerges through something of tical relationship.” Amidst this diver- intersection of regional identity with an amalgamation process. A number sity, multiple Souths are shaped. And race, class, and gender. Chapter 3, of factors contribute to this. Memphis’s the reader is able to see ties and chinks “Not Stud’n’ ’em White Folks,” is by geographic location factors heavi- in black solidarity, which elucidate “a far the most effective chapter; howev-

Page 24 Spring 2014 The Southern Register Reading the South continued continued from 1 Georgia Press published a new edition of Baptized in Blood in 2009. Historians enlightening the community with talks continue to use the book to understand er, it is only made possible by the about the religious and cultural history the meanings and memories of the analysis that precedes it and the of the South.” Civil War. In 1995 Wilson published discussion that follows, so what In the beginning, Wilson’s job was a collection of closely related essays, this reviewer terms “distract- managing editor of the Encyclopedia Judgment and Grace in Dixie: Southern ing” may indeed be a necessary of Southern Culture. The National Faiths from Faulkner to Elvis, and in condition precedent. This Ain’t Endowment for the Humanities gave 2011 he published Flashes of a Southern Chicago disinters important racial the university a grant to fund the Spirit: Meanings of the Spirit in the U.S. logics blacks employ to combat project. He calls his work on the South. All three of those works show multiple forms of racism. One of Encyclopedia his biggest accomplish- his expertise in Southern religious his- those racial logics is evidenced in ment, and something he is proud of, be- tory, a topic Wilson taught in numer- the title to Chapter 3 (discussed cause he now understands the demands ous undergraduate and graduate classes. above). According to Robinson, of such a project. “It is a real collabora- “I have been proud of my scholarly ca- to “not study white folks” is a tive project involving so many of us at reer working on issues of Southern cul- way to simultaneously not be sur- the Center and hundreds of scholars ture and religion, and I have also been prised by white racism or to be across the nation and the world as well. very proud of working with students.” hurt by it. In this respect, this ra- It’s a big management project, a big in- Wilson also edited or coedited Religion cial logic allows blacks to tran- tellectual project to figure out the issues in the South, The Encyclopedia of Religion scend racism (not being upset or involved in producing a reference work in the South, Religion and the American disappointed by racist acts); how- about the South,” Wilson says. Civil War, The South and the Caribbean, ever, Robinson is careful to point On January 26, 1983, he spoke about the Religion by Region series, and the out that, while liberating, this Robert E. Lee and other Southern he- New Directions in Southern Culture stance is also a carefully crafted roes who at their deaths were hon- series for the University of North protective veneer, which comes ored with elaborate funeral proces- Carolina Press. at a cost. sions and mourned throughout the re- Despite the fact that he says one of Too often, discussions of black gion. Answering an audience question the things he learned from the first America focus on urban spaces in about the next Southern hero likely to encyclopedia was never to do anoth- the U.S. North. While Memphis receive such acclaim, Wilson predicted er one, at the beginning of the 2000s “ain’t Chicago” (a refrain Bear Bryant. Later that day, when news Wilson and colleagues at the Center Robinson heard over and over broke of Bryant’s death, students and and the University of North Carolina again as she returned home from colleagues began referring to Wilson as Press decided a New Encyclopedia graduate studies at Northwestern “Dr. Death,” a moniker that has stuck. should be published, in 24 volumes. “It University to interview African The nationally acclaimed publication was a bit daunting when we first start- American residents of Memphis), of the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture ed, but looking back on it, that was a the book paints a vivid picture of in 1989 earned him a second epithet— great decision, enabling us to expand an agentic black community lo- the “Diderot of Dixie.” the scope of the original Encyclopedia, cated in the “post-soul” South. He served as director of the Southern update everything and add new arti- Robinson not only gives voice Studies academic program from 1991 to cles, and really make it an Encyclopedia to her respondents, she privileges 1998 and director of the Center for the of Southern Culture for the 21st century, their voices, which come across Study of Southern Culture from 1998 to raising a lot of the issues that have come poignantly through the colloqui- 2007. As director of the Center, Wilson out of the explosion of scholarship in alisms they employ and what can played important roles in helping estab- Southern Studies in the last 15 years or often be described as their per- lish the Southern Foodways Alliance so,” says Wilson. “I was extremely lucky formance of race. In outlining and the William Winter Institute for to work with Jimmy Thomas, who has her respondents’ reactions to rac- Racial Reconciliation, and he contin- been the managing editor of The New ist acts (overt and otherwise) the ued to receive accolades as a teach- Encyclopedia of Southern Culture and African American respondents of er and a scholar, including the 2010 who is such a wonderful scholar, writer, Memphis become a sort of every- Distinguished Research and Creative and editor. He was a pleasure to work man or everywoman. In this re- Achievement Award. with on that project.” spect one thing becomes clear, Wilson’s first book, Baptized in Blood: Thomas says Reagan is an incredibly Memphis Ain’t Chicago, but it The Religion of the Lost Cause, 1865– generous person and scholar. “Working could be . . . or any other soul city 1920, helped bring the concept of civil with Charles Reagan Wilson is always in the U.S. for that matter. religion into Southern Studies scholar- such a rewarding experience—both in- ship and was the first book to address the tellectually and personally. Looking Barbara Combs topic of how white Southerners came back, I was a Southern Studies neo- to remember the Civil War as a kind phyte when he and Ann Abadie of religious effort. The University of brought me to the Center to work

The Southern Register Spring 2014 Page 25 Tom Rankin on The New Encyclopedia of Southern first modern scholar of religion in the Culture, but from day one he treated me South. He helped me to imagine what as a colleague. I am indebted to him in studying religion in the South could be. countless and immeasurable ways,” says He also is a very kind man and a kind of Thomas. figure of what the scholar-intellectual Wilson has an extraordinary record could be, and that is always something I as an adviser of graduate work. He has wanted to represent.” directed more than 20 dissertations in Once retired, Wilson will focus on history and well over 100 MA theses in two writing projects. “After retire- Southern Studies and history, and he ment this spring he will complete his has served on, as described by Center books on the Southern way of life, the director Ted Ownby, “too many thesis Southern way of death, and other top- committees to count.” ics,” Abadie says. “He will have time to “The encyclopedia work Charles has enjoy other names he has earned, in- done really contributes to his teaching, cluding Distinguished Professor, Witty because it means he is interested in ev- journalist, but I took the required his- Raconteur, Gourmet Cook, Charming erything. Charles has a great talent for tory courses and found I liked them and Host, Superb Guest, and Dear Friend. I listening to what students say about that I was good at it, and got more and wish him well.” their interests and then finding the best more interested in history.” Besides writing and researching for ways to help them turn those interests During his time at the University of The Southern Way of Life and a short into scholarly projects,” Ownby says. Texas at Austin in the 1970s for his cultural history of the South, Wilson The best part about teaching, Wilson doctoral degree, Wilson realized Austin will be traveling more, spending time says, is to be able to do so at a place with was an interesting place to be study- in his garden, and experimenting more such a storied history and with students ing the South. “In many ways Austin is in the kitchen. “People don’t know that who have a Faulknerian love-hate rela- a distinctive, unique city, and it is al- professors cook, but I love food, and I tionship with this place. He has worked ways problematic to talk about Texas as love to cook,” he says. “My wife and I with students to figure out specific ways a Southern state,” he says. “But I had each have our own dishes, and part of of engaging the South through their that same kind of love-hate relation- our daily routine is to cook together in own research. “I have been so fortunate ship with the South in the ’60s and ’70s the evening. That is an important part to be able to think about the South and that many of our students in Southern of our relationship.” to talk to visiting scholars, researchers, Studies have always had, so I got more One thing Wilson will not miss is lecturers, and students, and to think engaged with wanting to understand grading papers. “I have always enjoyed about the South from the perspective the complexity of the South, particu- being a teacher, but I have always want- of the University of Mississippi and larly how important religion was for ed the time to research and write his- the state of Mississippi,” Wilson says. understanding Southern history and tory, so I am looking forward to having “There has been such a diversity of ma- Southern culture.” the full time and concentration to do terial that I have been able to work on Wilson was also interested in how re- that,” he says. “One of the things I have with the students. In Southern Studies ligion related to the issues of race, gen- always liked about university life is that for example, we have students who der, and social class, and wanted to look it has a beginning and an end. It has come from backgrounds and interests beyond the stereotypes of the South. seasons in terms of semesters, and you in history and literature and art, folk “History became a way for me to think get closure on a class and then you can art, music, politics, religion, just such a about and research particular topics start fresh. You have young people com- variety of things. All of us who teach that would help to illuminate the coming and going, and young people always Southern Studies have to deal with a plexity of the South,” Wilson says. keep you vibrant and alert.” variety of student topics and interests, One of the people who influenced One of Wilson’s last duties as and it broadens us so much. Working Wilson was his dissertation advis- university professor was to deliver the with students always challenges me be- er at the University of Texas, William University of Mississippi Mortar Board cause of their variety of interests.” Goetzmann, a 1967 Pulitzer Prize win- Last Lecture, the final lecture of 2014– Wilson didn’t start out as a histo- ner in history. “He was one of the most 15. Delivered on May 2 in the Gertrude rian, though. He entered college at brilliant men I ever knew. He chal- Ford Center for the Performing Arts, Texas Tech because he wanted to be a lenged me, and he was a true mentor. the lecture was titled “Whose South? sports reporter. He was sports editor of I studied his books in graduate school Lessons from Studying the South at his high school newspaper, and he then to see how he put together a chapter the University of Mississippi.” The worked on the college paper and cov- and how he put together an argument,” entire lecture is available to view on ered sports for the El Paso Times. “I cov- Wilson says. the Center’s website at southernstudies ered Texas high school football, so what Religious historian Samuel Hill also .olemiss.edu. could be better than that?” he laughs. “I influenced Wilson. “He was a schol- went to college thinking I would be a arly father figure, because he was the Rebecca Lauck Cleary

Page 26 Spring 2014 The Southern Register

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