DOCSLIB.ORG

Ending the Legacy of Poverty in the Rural South

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Ending the Legacy of Poverty in the Rural South Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, 32,2(August 2000):319-329 © 2000 Southern Agricultural Economics Association America's Forgotten People and Places: Ending the Legacy of Poverty in the Rural South Joyce E. Allen-Smith, Ronald C. Wimberley, and Libby V. Morris ABSTRACT This study focuses on the longstanding impoverishment of the rural South and three of its subregions-Appalachia, the Mississippi Delta, and the Black Belt. The poor quality of life in rural Appalachia and along the Mississippi Delta has been publically acknowledged by programs and commissions for improving conditions. However, the more comprehensive Black Belt subregion that links parts of Southern Appalachia and the Southern Delta has not received such regional policy attention. While the South as a whole is more rural and impoverished than other U.S. regions, this is largely due to the poor conditions in the Black Belt. In addition to region and rurality, a third feature of the pattern is race. It is in the Black Belt that the South's poor socioeconomic conditions are most concentrated. Policy and program attention are needed for regional solutions that take rurality and race into account along with demographic and other subregional characteristics. Key Words: Appalachia, Black Belt, Mississippi Delta, policy, poverty, quality of life, rural, South. As we begin a new century, the rural South a group of contiguous counties with relatively continues to struggle with problems that have high poverty rates, and these counties lag be- plagued it through the twentieth century-per- hind the rest of the United States on key in- sistent poverty and uneven development. Geo- dicators of socioeconomic well-being. Living graphic areas of concentrated poverty are scat- in these pockets of poverty diminishes the life tered across the South from Appalachia chances of adults and especially children. As through the Lower Rio Grande Valley and in- Duncan points out, "It is harder to be poor cluding the Black Belt from Virginia to Texas. and harder to escape poverty in depressed Every southern state except Delaware contains communities (p. 131)." The South does not quite have a monopoly on areas with concentrated poverty. Indeed, Allen-Smith is an Associate Professor in the Depart- ment of Agricultural and Consumer Economics at the persistently poor counties and uneven devel- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Wimber- opment can be found in every region. Yet the ley is a William Neal Reynolds Professor of Sociology greatest concentration of poverty is in the at North Carolina State University; and Morris is an South. More than four in ten of the nation's Associate Professor and the Graduate Cordinator in the Institute of Higher Education at the University of poor are southerners (Wimberley and Morris Georgia. 1996, p. 43). Furthermore, the region does not 320 Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, August 2000 share proportionally in the prosperity enjoyed Stereotypical images of Appalachia have by the nation as a whole or in other U.S. re- prevailed since the 1800s. Lewis and Billings gions. note that Appalachia is depicted by scholars, In this analysis we review socioeconomic policymakers, and reporters as "a homoge- conditions for several high-poverty areas of nous region which is physically, culturally, the rural South, examine the characteristics of and economically isolated from mainstream the population in these distressed areas, report America" (p. 16). They concluded that "the factors found to contribute to impoverished creators of the Appalachia myth were not of conditions, and review past policies and pro- the people they described, and what the in- grams to alleviate poverty and promote eco- ventors saw was refracted through their own nomic development. Our focus is on Appala- particular set of cultural and class lenses" (p. chia and the Mississippi Delta along with the 16). Moreover, Lewis and Billings found that larger southern Black Belt subregion that con- generalizations about Appalachia were based nects them. on studies conducted in isolated rural com- munities. They contend that there is a body of Appalachia sound research which indicates, "a much more diverse and dynamic Appalachia than is pre- Appalachia has "symbolized poverty, exploi- sumed to have existed (p. 16)." tation and regional underdevelopment" (Bill- Lewis and Billings' review of the literature ings and Tickamyer, p. 7). The report issued provides some useful insights into the early by the President's Regional Commission in history of the region and its economic evolu- 1964 characterized Appalachia as "a region tion. Although the mountains made travel dif- apart-geographically and statistically." The ficult, a network of roads and pikes along with Commission found that Appalachia trailed the the railroad facilitated access to markets and nation in income and education levels and in enhanced communication beyond the region. population and employment growth and sur- In addition to subsistence farming, early set- passed the nation in poverty and unemploy- tlers engaged in diverse economic activities ment rates. The boundaries for the area offi- including raising livestock such as cattle and cially defined as Appalachia were set by hogs, growing corn, harvesting timber, and Congress and thus reflect political consider- trapping animals for their pelts. Early manu- ations. facturing industries included salt and iron and, Stretching from New York to Mississippi, later, coal mining. Lewis and Billings report Appalachia is a subregion of the Northeast, that two Appalachias emerged before the Midwest, and South. It encompasses 404 twentieth century and noted that counties with counties in 13 states. Three-fourths of these sizable towns (i.e., growth centers) were at the counties are in the South. About 111, or 28 forefront of the economic diversification. percent, of the Appalachian counties are clas- However, "counties without growth centers sified by the Appalachian Regional Commis- failed to develop much commercialization or sion (ARC) as distressed due to low per-capita diversity" (p. 20). The legacy of two Appa- income plus high poverty and unemployment lachias continues. One has poverty rates at or rates. A relatively high proportion of the Ap- below the national level and has a vibrant palachian population lives in rural areas. Us- economy. The other has relatively high pov- ing the last classification of rural and urban erty rates, unemployment rates, and a low ratio geography as found in the 1990 U.S. Census, of jobs to people. 53 percent of the Appalachian people are rural Parts of Central Appalachia-counties in compared to 25 percent nationally (Wimberley West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee-fit the and Morris 1996, p. 13). Important sectors of profile of the "other Appalachia." Indeed, the economy include manufacturing and coal Billings and Tickamyer argue that Central Ap- mining, and-more recently-services and palachia "most closely resembles the stereo- tourism. type of persistent poverty and underdevelop- Allen-Smith, Wimberly, and Morris: Ending Poverty in the Rural South 321 Table 1. Selected Socioeconomic Conditions in Appalachia by Subregion Percentage of Adults with Appalachia Mean Household Unemployment High School Subregion Money Income Poverty Rate Rate Diplomas Central $23,858 25.9 10.2 53 Northern $30,686 14.0 7.3 73 Southern $31,858 14.1 5.7 66 Source: 1990 data from Cushing and Rogers "Income and Poverty," and Isserman, "Appalachia Then and Now: An Update of 'The Realities of Deprivation' Reported to the President in 1964." ment and that consistently has social nonmetro Appalachia had 45 jobs per 100 indicators far below those of other areas of the people in 1992 whereas the rest of the non- country (p. 9)." Notwithstanding, parts of metro United States had 49 and metropolitan Northern and Southern Appalachia are severe- Appalachia had 51. ly impoverished, particularly in some counties Cushing and Rogers provide evidence that of Mississippi and Alabama as well as Ohio educational attainment-a significant deter- in the Midwest. Central Appalachia contains a minant of poverty-is lower in Central Ap- disproportionate number of small nonmetro- palachia than in the rest of the region. For ex- politan counties that tend to be more impov- ample, only 53 percent of those persons of erished compared to metropolitan counties. ages 25 and over in Central Appalachia had Data from the ARC document the disad- completed high school in 1990 versus 73 per- vantaged status of Central Appalachia com- cent in Northern Appalachia, 66 percent in pared to the rest of the United States and the Southern Appalachia and 76 percent in the rest rest of Appalachia. As reported in Table 1, of the United States. mean household income in 1990 averaged Living standards have improved in Appa- only $24,000 in Central Appalachia or 61 per- lachia during recent decades. Rogers and cent of the average for the rest of the United Cushing point out that, "while Central Appa- States. By contrast, mean household income lachia might still be characterized as a 'world in Northern Appalachia averaged 78 percent apart,' even compared with the rest of Appa- of the rest of United States and Southern Ap- lachia, Appalachia as a whole no longer fits palachia averaged 81 percent. In 1990, 13.1 this image (p. 31)." Indeed, Appalachia is on percent of the U.S. population lived in pov- par with the rest of the United States on sev- erty. The poverty rate in Northern and South- eral key indicators of well-being including in- ern Appalachia was slightly higher than the fant mortality rates, home ownership rates, U.S. average while the rate in Central Appa- percent of occupied housing units with com- lachia was nearly double the U.S. average. plete plumbing facilities, and percent of oc- Given the relatively high poverty rates in cupied housing units with a vehicle available. Central Appalachia, it is not surprising that the subregion had a relatively high rate of unem- The Mississippi Delta ployment and low educational levels.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Land Use Legacies and the Future of Southern Appalachia
    Society and Natural Resources, 19:175-190 Taylor & Francis Copyright 02006 Taylor & Francis LLC ,,&F,Grn", ISSN: 0894-1920 print/ 1521-0723 online 0 DOI: 10.1080/08941920500394857 Land Use Legacies and the Future of Southern Appalachia TED L. GRAGSON Department of Anthropology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA PAUL V. BOLSTAD Department of Forest Resources, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA Southern Appalachian forests have apparently recovered from extractive land use practices during the 19th and 20th centuries, yet the legacy of this use endures in terrestrial and aquatic systems of the region. Thefocus on shallow time or the telling of stories about the past circumscribes the ability to anticipate the most likely out- comes of the trajectory of changeforecast for the Southeast as the "Old South" con- tinues its transformation into the "New South." We review land use research of the Coweeta Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) project that addresses the nature and extent of past andpresent human land use, how land use has affected the struc- ture and function of terrestrial and aquatic communities, and the forces guiding the anticipated trajectory of change. Unlike development in the western or northeastern regions of the United States, the southeastern region has few practical, political, or geographical boundaries to the urban sprawl that is now developing. Keywords aquatic communities, land use, land-use decision making, legacy, reforestation, southern Appalachia, terrestrial communities, urban sprawl In different locations around the world and for diverse reasons, lands once dedicated to extractive use have been abandoned and forest vegetation has expanded (e.g., Foster 1992).
    [Show full text]
  • To Envy Its Rising Greatness, and to Dvise Every Possible Means of Doing It Injury Pittsburgh and Wheeling: the Struggle for Hegemony on the Upper Ohio, 1808 - 1855
    Utah State University DigitalCommons@USU All Graduate Plan B and other Reports Graduate Studies 5-2014 To envy its rising greatness, and to dvise every possible means of doing it injury Pittsburgh and Wheeling: The Struggle for Hegemony on the Upper Ohio, 1808 - 1855. Jon W. Alfred Utah State University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/gradreports Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Alfred, Jon W., "To envy its rising greatness, and to dvise every possible means of doing it injury Pittsburgh and Wheeling: The Struggle for Hegemony on the Upper Ohio, 1808 - 1855." (2014). All Graduate Plan B and other Reports. 361. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/gradreports/361 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies at DigitalCommons@USU. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Graduate Plan B and other Reports by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@USU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. “To envy its rising greatness, and to devise every possible means of doing it injury” Pittsburgh and Wheeling: The Struggle for Hegemony on the Upper Ohio, 1808- 1855. by Jon W Alfred A Plan B thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in History Approved: _______________________ ________________________ Dr. Kyle Bulthuis Dr. Peter McNamara Major Professor Committee Member _______________________ Dr. Christopher Conte Committee Member UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY Logan, Utah 2013 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. ABSTRACT ……………………………………………………………………….. iii 2. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ……………………………………………………………………….. iv 3. INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………………………….. 1 4. HISTORIOGRAPHY ……………………………………………………………………….. 5 5. EARLY SETTLEMENT AND URBAN GROWTH ……………………………………………………………………….
    [Show full text]
  • Lower Rio Grande Valley District Office Resource Guide
    LOWER RIO GRANDE VALLEY EDITION 2019-2020 Small Business resource guide How to Grow Your BUSINESS in South Texas 1 2 CONTENTS Lower Rio Grande Valley Edition 2019-2020 Local Business Funding Assistance Programs 8 National Success Story 26 National Success Story Rebecca Fyffe launched Landmark With the help of a 7(a) business Pest Management with the help acquisition loan of $1.1 million, Mark of the SBA-supported Women’s Moralez and John Briggs purchased Business Development Center. Printing Palace in Santa Monica becoming small business owners. 11 Local SBA Resource Partners 29 Need Financing? 13 Your Advocates 30 SBA Lenders 14 How to Start a Business 33 Assistance with Exporting 19 Write Your Business Plan 34 Investment Capital 22 Programs for 35 Federal Research Entrepreneurs & Development 23 Programs for Veterans 36 National Success Story Forest Lake Drapery and 24 Local Success Story Upholstery Fabric Center in Physical therapist assistant and Columbia, South Carolina, dog lover Kim Novak combined rebounds thanks to an SBA her two great loves with a third— disaster assistance loan. entrepreneurship—thanks to guidance from the SBA. 38 National Success Story Three Brothers Bakery weathers two hurricanes with the help of the SBA’s disaster assistance program. 40 SBA Disaster Loans 41 How to Prepare Your Business for an Emergency 42 Surety Bonds Contracting 44 National Success Story Evans Capacitor Co. of Rhode Island, a leading manufacturer of high-energy density capacitors, gains contracting success with SBA assistance. 47 Government Contracting 48 SBA Contracting Programs 50 Woman-Owned Small ON THE COVER Kim Novak, photo Business Certification courtesy of K9 Conditioning & Rehab Services 3 Let us help give voice to your story.
    [Show full text]
  • Subregions of the United States
    145-149-Chapter6 10/16/02 10:18 AM Page 145 Main Ideas Subregions of the • The United States is divided into four major economic and cultural subregions. United States • There are both similarities and differences among the subregions of the United States. Places & Terms A HUMAN PERSPECTIVE America’s back roads were the beat of New England metropolitan reporter and author Charles Kuralt for more than 20 years. Beginning megalopolis area in the 1960s, he traveled by van through every region of the country. In the Midwest the West his “On the Road” series for television, he reported on the uniqueness the South of the lives of ordinary Americans. He said that he wanted to make these trips off the beaten path because most people traveled across the Connect to the Issues country on interstate highways without seeing the “real” America. diverse societies While Whether he visited Minnesota’s lake country or a small New England diversity can be a strength, it town, Kuralt spotlighted America’s regional diversity. In fact, one of has also been the cause of the key strengths of the United States is the variety of life in its tension and conflict among regions. subregions—the Northeast, the Midwest, the South, and the West. The Northeast As you can see on the map on page 134, the Northeast covers only 5 per cent of the nation’s land area. But about 20 per cent of the population lives there. The six northern states of the subregion—Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut—are called New England.
    [Show full text]
  • A History of Tennessee.Indd
    352 TENNESSEE BLUE BOOK A HISTORY OF TENNESSEE 353 SECTION VI Tennessee 354 TENNESSEE BLUE BOOK A HISTORY OF TENNESSEE 355 A HISTORY OF TENNESSEE The Land and Native People Tennessee’s great diversity in land, climate, rivers, and plant and animal life is mirrored by a rich and colorful past. For all but the last 200 years of the 12,000 years or so that this country has been inhabited, the story of Tennessee is the story of its native peoples. The fact that Tennessee and many of the places in it still carry Indian names serves as a lasting reminder of the significance of its native inhabit- ants. Since much of Tennessee’s appeal for her ancient people as well as for later pioneer settlers lay with the richness and beauty of the land, it seems fitting to begin by considering some of the state’s generous natural gifts. Tennessee divides naturally into three “grand divisions”—upland, often moun- tainous, East Tennessee, Middle Tennessee with its foothills and basin, and the low plain of West Tennessee. Travelers coming to the state from the east encounter first the lofty Unaka and Smoky Mountains, flanked on their western slope by the Great Valley of East Tennessee. Moving across the Valley floor, they next face the Cumberland Plateau, which historically attracted little settlement and presented a barrier to westward migration. West of the Plateau, one descends into the Cen- tral Basin of Middle Tennessee—a rolling, fertile countryside that drew hunters and settlers alike. The Central Basin is surrounded on all sides by the Highland Rim, the western ridge of which drops into the Tennessee River Valley.
    [Show full text]
  • Creating a Confederate Kentucky: the Lost Cause and Civil War Memory in a Border State
    Civil War Book Review Spring 2011 Article 17 Creating a Confederate Kentucky: The Lost Cause and Civil War Memory in a Border State Aaron Astor Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/cwbr Recommended Citation Astor, Aaron (2011) "Creating a Confederate Kentucky: The Lost Cause and Civil War Memory in a Border State," Civil War Book Review: Vol. 13 : Iss. 2 . DOI: 10.31390/cwbr.13.2.18 Available at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/cwbr/vol13/iss2/17 Astor: Creating a Confederate Kentucky: The Lost Cause and Civil War Mem Review Astor, Aaron Spring 2011 Marshall, Anne Creating a Confederate Kentucky: The Lost Cause and Civil War Memory in a Border State. University of North Carolina Press, $35.00 ISBN 978-0-8078-3436-7 Secession after the Civil War? Of all the latest contributions to the historiography of the Civil War, two of the most salient are the study of memory and an increasing focus on the border slave states. Though the trend toward memory study is a bit older, the two fields have clearly emerged as some of the most dynamic arenas for scholarly analysis in the field. Two high-profile books written in the last decade bear this out: David Blight’s Race and Reunion (Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2001) and William Freehling’s The South v. The South(Oxford University Press, 2001). Blight’s three-part model of Civil War memory – emancipationism, reconciliationism, and the Lost Cause – neatly captures the competing national narratives of post-Civil War memory and the relationship between contemporary views of race and remembrance.
    [Show full text]
  • Oil Boom in Eagle Ford Shale Brings New Wealth to South Texas by Robert W
    Oil Boom in Eagle Ford Shale Brings New Wealth to South Texas By Robert W. Gilmer, Raúl Hernandez and Keith R. Phillips Oil and natural gas activity is booming the result of recent advances that unlocked again in South Texas. The 2008 discovery of the secret of extracting natural gas and oil the Eagle Ford Shale play has breathed new from shale. This new technology—along with life into industry in the region, where many favorable prices, existing infrastructure and mature and declining fields have operated ready access to the Gulf Coast refining and for more than 40 years. Perhaps the largest petrochemical complex—created the Eagle discovery of new oil reserves in the United Ford Shale boom. Rapid oilfield development States since Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, in 1968, has brought new jobs, rising income and the Eagle Ford Shale extends over 23 South growing wealth to this historically low-wage, Texas counties (see map).1 low-income area. The oil boom’s impact Its southern edge begins near Laredo The Eagle Ford’s scale and speed of de- and trends northeast toward Austin, produc- velopment proved so robust that they quickly on jobs, income and ing large quantities of natural gas. The north- overwhelmed previous efforts to comprehen- ern edge—the formation is about 50 miles sively measure the economic impact.2 Recent spending in the region wide—follows a similar trend but produces data suggest that the oil boom’s impact on oil. A central zone is rich in condensates, jobs, income and spending in the region has has been profound.
    [Show full text]
  • This Way to Fun: Tourism Advertising in a Changing Deep South (1976–1981)
    Special Issue: Social and Political History USAbroad – Journal of American History and Politics. Vol. 3 No. 1S (2020) https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2611-2752/11639 ISSN 2611-2752 This way to Fun: Tourism Advertising in a Changing Deep South (1976–1981) Giuliano Santangeli Valenzani Published: November 10, 2020 Abstract The tourist image of the South has undoubtedly experienced a profound transformation in the last decades. From a romantic, exotic and anti-modern destination deeply linked with the Lost Cause narrative, the former Confederacy shifted its image towards a more complex and almost chaotic mixture of different captivating images and themes in order to lure visitors. Analyzing advertisements and documents produced by tourism bureaus in four southern states, the author argues how the main and decisive phase of this transition took place in the years between the mid- 1970s and early 1980s both as a reaction to internal developments in the tourism industry and to profound changes in American culture and in its relationship with the “idea” of the South. Keywords: Tourism; Advertising; U.S. South; Memory; Culture. Giuliano Santangeli Valenzani: Università Roma Tre (Italy) https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3378-0800 [email protected] Giuliano Santangeli Valenzani holds a PhD in History of the United States from the University of RomaTre. His research interests are mainly focused on the history and culture of the U.S. South and the history of American tourism. He recently contributed to the volumes “Ex-Centric South: Reimagining Southern Centers and Pe- ripheries on Page and Screen,” Publicacions de la Universitat de València, 2019 and “Le Politiche dell’odio nel Novecento Americano,” Nova Delphi Academia, 2020.
    [Show full text]
  • American History Through a Midwestern Lens
    38. Jahrgang (2012), Heft 2 Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft American History through a Midwestern Lens David F. Good Günther Chaloupek and I share two important things in common. We both have published in the field of Austrian economic history and we both have important ties to the American Midwest. In the 1970-71 academic year, Günther earned an M.A. in Economics at the University of Kansas. I was born and raised in a small town in Illinois and moved to Minnesota in 1990. In between I spent almost 30 years on the east coast pursuing schooling, my career, and raising a family. In 2003, after thirteen years of living in Min- nesota, I suddenly felt myself to be a “born-again” Midwesterner and began pursuing my current passion—studying the history of the region I call home. Whether by nature or because of his student days in Kansas, Günther embodies a number of Midwestern traits I admire. He is a high achieving scholar and a strong leader of those who strive to make the world a better place, yet he remains thoroughly humble and without pretention. I am delighted to be among those contributing to this Festschrift in honor of him and his extraordinary accomplishments. For some time the Midwest has been off the radar of most foreigners and even many Americans who regard it as “flyover” territory compared to what lies along the coasts—the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Gulf. The same holds true for most American historians. The Midwest is a common site for their research projects, but unlike the South, the West, and colonial New England, it has little standing within the historical profession as a distinct field of study with its own intellectual coherence, historiography, course offerings, professional society, and scholarly journal.
    [Show full text]
  • New Immigrants
    THE UNITEDUNITED STSTAATTEESS PPOOPPUULALATION:TION: WHEREWHERE THETHE NEWNEW IMMIMMIIGGRRAANTSNTS ARE ABY WREILLIAM H. FREY ith immigration to the United States Houston (Texas), as well as many smaller clipping along at one million newcomers metropolitan areas in California, New Mexico and per year — largely of Latin American and along the Texas-Mexico border. On the other hand, WAsian origin — America’s demographic well over half (148) of the nation’s 271 metro areas profile is becoming increasingly diverse in its race are at least 80 percent white — in the Northeast, and ethnic makeup. At least this is the perception Midwest and Mountain States, as well as large parts one gets when looking at national statistics. The of the South — where African Americans rather than year 2000 census will show that at least three out of the new immigrant minorities tend to comprise the ten U.S. residents will be something other than white major non-white group. Anglos. In the year 2006, the Hispanic population In short, new immigration and infusion of Latin will outnumber the black population. And in the year American and Asian minorities to the United States 2030, one out of four will be either Hispanic or Asian remain highly clustered within a handful of in ethnic makeup. metropolitan areas or “multiple melting pots.” Within These nationwide statistics suggest the formation these, levels of interracial marriages and lower levels of a “single melting pot” made up of new Americans of residential segregation accompany ethnic from a variety of cultural backgrounds. Yet, an enclaves, new entrepreneurship and the rich cultural examination of individual metropolitan area diversity that defined immigrant communities at the settlement patterns suggests something quite turn of the last century in the United States.
    [Show full text]
  • Chocolate City Way up South in Appalachia: Black Knoxville at the Intersection of Race, Place, and Region
    University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 5-2019 Chocolate City Way Up South in Appalachia: Black Knoxville at the Intersection of Race, Place, and Region Enkeshi Thom El-Amin University of Tennessee Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Recommended Citation Thom El-Amin, Enkeshi, "Chocolate City Way Up South in Appalachia: Black Knoxville at the Intersection of Race, Place, and Region. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2019. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/5340 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Enkeshi Thom El-Amin entitled "Chocolate City Way Up South in Appalachia: Black Knoxville at the Intersection of Race, Place, and Region." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Sociology. Michelle Christian, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Victor Ray, Paul K. Gellert, Michelle Brown, Jessica Grieser Accepted for the Council:
    [Show full text]
  • The Essential Denial of Pellagra in the New South the Disease That Said Too Much
    THE ESSENTIAL DENIAL OF PELLAGRA IN THE NEW SOUTH THE DISEASE THAT SAID TOO MUCH For a resident of the South in the early twentieth century, it was hard to know what to believe about pellagra: was it an infection, a bug carried in corn, or a punish- ment for too many processed dinners? Should you be ashamed of having it, or righ- teously indignant at the way Northern interests might use you in their arguments? James Wyatt Woodall, Columbia ’18, masterfully sketches these confusions—and the self-interested moves engendering them—in this essay. Along the way, he explores “fantasies” of a New South and the obstacles to bringing such a dream to fruition. And a larger point about public health is both made and illustrated, in which rhetoric is a powerful obstacle to a disease and social change is necessary but hard to come by. By James Wyatt Woodall, Columbia ’18 Written for “Social History of American Public Health” Professor James Colgrove Edited by David Stevens, Christine Wang, and Serena Cho 100 JAMES WYATT WOODALL On July 25, 1921, President Warren G. Harding wrote two letters concerning the prevalence of pellagra, a disease of malnutrition, in the South.1 One of these letters was directed to Dr. Livingston Farrand, the Chairman of the American Red Cross, and the other to Surgeon-General Hugh S. Cumming of the Public Health Service, both urg- ing immediate action regarding the disease. President Harding exclaimed that there is no reason that “any measures necessary to relieve the sufferers on the cotton plantations and in the textile villages should be delayed for a single day.”2 The President stressed the importance of a report by Dr.
    [Show full text]