Excerpt: Dispossession, by Pete Daniel

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Dispossession: Discrimination Against African American Farmers in the Age of Civil Rights by Pete DanielBetween 1940 and 1974, the number of African American farmers fell from 681,790 to just 45,594—a drop of 93 percent. In Dispossession: Discrimination Against African American Farmers in the Age of Civil Rights, historian Pete Daniel analyzes this decline and chronicles black farmers’ fierce struggles to remain on the land in the face of discrimination by bureaucrats in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). He exposes the shameful fact that at the very moment civil rights laws promised to end discrimination, hundreds of thousands of black farmers lost their hold on the land as they were denied loans, information, and access to the programs essential to survival in a capital-intensive farm structure.

In the following excerpt from Dispossession (pp. 106-110), Daniel explains the purposeful ineptness and humiliation tactics used by officials during the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service (ASCS) elections of 1965 to undermine the presence and efforts of civil rights workers, particularly those affiliated with Congress of Racial Equality (CORE).

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As the ASCS elections approached in 1965, civil rights workers pestered USDA officials for information and procedures. Stung by complaints about the 1964 elections and desiring to present a better public stance toward civil rights, ASCS officials from the national to the county level promised cooperation with African American farmers. A new rule instructing county committees to place on the ballot the “names of Negro farmers in relationship to the percentage of Negro farmers in the parish and communities” at first glance seemed advantageous to black farmers, but it led to acrimony as white committees picked a slate of compliant candidates while blacks nominated by petition endured a cumbersome approval process. Voicing what became a common complaint, Joel Horowitz of the West Tennessee Voters’ Project wrote from Fayette County that the all-white ASCS committee selected black nominees who “have reputations in the Negro community for cooperating with the whites to the detriment of Negroes.” Ballots would thus include black farmers handpicked by county ASCS committees plus successful petitioners, which, as intended, would spread votes among numerous candidates.[1]

In practice, the ASCS’s promised reforms did not work smoothly. In Louisiana’s Claiborne and DeSoto Parishes, the ASCS committees placed the names of deceased black farmers on the ballot, forcing new elections. CORE’s Harold Ickes confronted Madison Parish’s ASCS office manager, James B. Stewart, about why black farmers’ wives had to obtain their ballots from the ASCS office instead of receiving them by mail like white women. Continue reading ‘Excerpt: Dispossession, by Pete Daniel’ »

  1. [1] F. Wainwright Blease to Victor B. Phillips, July 6, 1965, box 321, Central Files, Records of the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service, Record Group 145 (CFASCS, RG 145), National Archives and Records Administration, Archives II, College Park, Md. (NARA); Joel Horowitz to Orville Freeman, September 9, 1965, box 12, Chronological Files, Office of the Staff Director, Records Relating to Special Projects, 1960-70, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Record Group 453, NARA. See also “Proposal by Rural Advancement Fund of the National Sharecroppers Fund, Inc. for Massive ASCS Election Campaign in Alabama and Other Southern States,” box 32, Rural Advancement Fund, folder 26, National Sharecroppers Fund Papers, Walter Reuther Library, Wayne State University, Detroit, Mich. (NSF Papers). ↩

Interview: Paul and Angela Knipple on Farm Fresh Tennessee

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Farm Fresh Tennessee: The Go-To Guide to Great Farmers' Markets, Farm Stands, Farms, U-Picks, Kids' Activities, Lodging, Dining, Wineries, Breweries, Distilleries, Festivals, and More, by Paul and Angela Knipple
The first guidebook of its kind for the Volunteer State, Farm Fresh Tennessee: The Go-To Guide to Great Farmers’ Markets, Farm Stands, Farms, U-Picks, Kids’ Activities, Lodging, Dining, Wineries, Breweries, Distilleries, Festivals, and More leads food lovers, families, locals, and tourists on a lively tour of more than 360 farms and farm-related attractions, all open to the public and all visited by Memphis natives Paul and Angela Knipple. Here are the perfect opportunities to browse a farmers’ market, pick blueberries, tour a small-batch distillery, stay at an elegant inn, send the kids to a camp where they’ll eat snacks of homemade biscuits with farm-fresh honey—and so much more. Arranged by the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee (East, Middle, and West) and nine categories of interest, the listings invite readers to connect with Tennessee’s farms, emphasizing establishments that are independent, sustainable, and active in public education and conservation.

Paul and Angela Knipple, authors of Farm Fresh Tennessee, discuss their adventures in writing an agritourism book on their state.

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Q: What inspired you to write Farm Fresh Tennessee? How would you describe your experience of creating a guide to the best culinary finds of your state?
A: We saw an advance copy of Diane Daniel’s Farm Fresh North Carolina, also by UNC Press, and thought it seemed like it would be a good idea for a Tennessee book as well. It was a wonderful adventure. We met so many amazing people who are making a difference in the way people relate to their food and to nature.

Q: Your previous book, The World in a Skillet, explored global food traditions in the stories of immigrants in the New American South. In what ways did your work on that book inform the research for Farm Fresh Tennessee?
A: At heart, the two books are very similar. Initially, there was a great deal of research in order to find a lot of potential subjects. And from there, we went into the field and through word of mouth, found even more. Once we found our subjects, the key was the storytelling, just as it was in The World in a Skillet.

Q: How did you choose the places that you feature in this guide?
A: We began by doing a lot of internet research. Some places have a strong internet presence; other places we found via farmers market website listings of vendors. There are several organizations across the state that promote agritourism. The state Department of Agriculture’s Pick Tennessee Products program was particularly helpful. But the most fun sources were our subjects. Many of them were eager to share suggestions even about their competitors.

Q: Did you discover any surprises in your home state during your research?
A: Cranberries. There are cranberry bogs in northeast Tennessee. They’re very small and protected, and we had no idea they were there before this. Continue reading ‘Interview: Paul and Angela Knipple on Farm Fresh Tennessee’ »

Howard Risatti: Environmentalism Reviving Tradition in Art

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A Theory of Craft by Howard RisattiWe welcome a guest post today from Howard Risatti, author of A Theory of Craft: Function and Aesthetic Expression, now available in a new paperback edition. Risatti’s book differentiates craft from popular notions of fine art and design. He compares handmade ceramics, glass, metalwork, weaving, and furniture to painting, sculpture, photography, and machine-made design from Bauhaus to the Memphis Group, ultimately describing craft’s unique qualities as functionality combined with an ability to express human values that transcend temporal, spatial, and social boundaries. In this post, Risatti revisits a question he received concerning ecological sensitivity for craftsmen and women, praising the teachings of M. C. Richards and others.

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Several years ago I was on a panel at the Museum of Art and Design in New York. The occasion being part of the festivities celebrating the 100th anniversary of Greenwich House Pottery, we were asked to speak about ceramics in particular and craft in general. After we presented our views about what we saw as the current state of the craft field, the forum was opened to the audience for questions and comments. A lively discussion ensued during which it became increasingly clear that we, the panelists, had rather divergent points of view about the nature of craft and its status vis-à-vis fine art. Not surprisingly, the audience also seemed divided along similar lines, which, in itself, reveals a great deal about the state of flux in which the craft field finds itself at the moment.

However, what has stuck in my mind was not our disagreement—as I recall, we didn’t agree on much—but my non-response to a comment made by a young woman in the audience. Because of the very nature of the field, I believe craftsmen and women have always been interested in material, not only how to manipulate it into useful form, but also how to acquire it and process it into a workable substance. This interest formed the backdrop to her remarks. As she stood addressing the panel, she mentioned studying in a ceramic class of some sort or other with M. C. Richards. I am sure (at least I hope) that everyone in the audience knew of M. C., the author of Centering in Pottery, Poetry, and the Person. First published in 1962, this book reflects something of the back-to-the-earth, counter-culture movement of 1960s as did M. C.’s teaching methods. For as this young woman recounted, after the class had finished, they formed a kind of procession and carried their unused clay back to the earth.

While it would be easy to mock this as smacking of essentialism, a kind of empty ritual, there is something important going on here that speaks to the value of art itself. Continue reading ‘Howard Risatti: Environmentalism Reviving Tradition in Art’ »

Pre-Order The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture at Discounted Rate

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The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture

With the publication of the final two volumes in June 2013, the 24-Volume The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture will be complete. To celebrate the accomplishment, UNC Press is providing a special offer where you can pre-order the entire 24-volume set at a discounted rate with free shipping—in either hardcover at $800 per set, or paperback at $400 per set. If you already have some of the volumes, this 30% discount extends to the purchase of any individual volumes you do not yet own.

When the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture was published 1989 it was heralded as the first of its kind: a reference book dealing exclusively with an American regional culture. In the two decades since, the South has undergone profound changes resulting from globalization, economic transformations, and other cultural shifts. Continue reading ‘Pre-Order The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture at Discounted Rate’ »

Remembering Botanist C. Ritchie Bell (1921-2013)

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C. Ritchie Bell and Anne H. Lindsey (photo by David Bell)

C. Ritchie Bell and Anne H. Lindsey (photo by David Bell)

Botanist C. Ritchie Bell, one of UNC Press’s best known and most influential authors, passed away this month in Chapel Hill at the age of 91.

A dedicated scientist who dreamed big, Professor Bell was a founder and the first director (1961-1986) of the N.C. Botanical Garden, the author of several books, and a leader in the conservation of native plants and habitats. He was a member of botany faculty at UNC-Chapel Hill from 1955-1991.

A celebration of his life will be held in Reeves Auditorium at the North Carolina Botanical Garden in Chapel Hill on Wednesday, April 10, at 11 a.m.

Manual of the Vascular Flora of the CarolinasUNC Press published several of Bell’s books. He is a coauthor, with Albert E. Radford and Harry E. Ahles, of Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (1964, 1968), a monumental reference work. His popular Wild Flowers of North Carolina, coauthored with William S. Justice, was published in 1968 (paperback 1987) and revised in 2005 in an edition coauthored by Anne H. Lindsey, Bell’s wife.Wild Flowers of North Carolina, 2nd edition

UNC Press began distributing two more books in 2007: Fall Color and Woodland Harvests, also coauthored by Anne H. Lindsey, and Florida Wild Flowers and Roadside Plants, coauthored by Bryan J. Taylor.

Learn more about Bell’s extraordinary career from the NC Botanical Garden and the UNC Herbarium.

David W. Stowe: From the Book to the Breakfast Table

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No Sympathy for the Devil: Christian Pop Music and the Transformation of American Evangelicalism, by David StoweWe welcome a guest post today from David W. Stowe, author of No Sympathy for the Devil: Christian Pop Music and the Transformation of American Evangelicalism, which is out now in a new paperback edition. In the book, Stowe demonstrates how mainstream rock of the 1960s and 1970s has influenced conservative evangelical Christianity through the development of Christian pop music. He shows how evangelicals’ increasing acceptance of Christian pop music ultimately has reinforced a variety of conservative cultural, economic, theological, and political messages. In the following guest post, Stowe recounts his experience writing an op-ed for the New York Times.

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April 2011 was a big month for me. No Sympathy for the Devil finally appeared in print—not the first book for me but still a thrill—and I published an Op-Ed piece in the New York Times. Definitely a first and not something I saw coming. Sometimes with a grain of envy, we all see those pithy commentaries written by colleagues who seem to be in the right place at the right time. How do Op-Eds come to be? What follows is an attempt to demystify the process and perhaps encourage others to try their hand.

Doubtless there are numerous paths to Op-Ed glory, but I can only write about my own experience. The first surprise: they came to me. It was spring break 2011. As usual I was experiencing relief to have just over half the semester behind us and a few days of down time. There were promising signs of spring. Mixed with a dull awareness of lots of grading to be done and the general impression that I should be in a warmer sunnier place than Michigan in early March.

Up popped an email from a man named Sewell Chan who introduced himself as the new deputy editor of the Op-Ed page. He very politely noted the imminent release of my book and invited me to submit a 1,000-word piece suitable for Times readers.

Really? This seemed farfetched but the message came from nytimes.com and seemed legit. I wrote back, yes, of course. Less than ten minutes later arrived a crisply written follow-up. He proposed that it might run around Easter. We exchanged a few more notes at rapid-fire pace, very different from the leisurely back-and-forth tempo typical of academics.

The editor already seemed to have a good handle on the drift of my book and suggested, somewhat apologetically, that a reference to Justin Bieber might be in order. Continue reading ‘David W. Stowe: From the Book to the Breakfast Table’ »

Rod Andrew Jr.: When South Carolina Had Two Governors

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Wade Hampton: Confederate Warrior to Southern Redeemer by Rod Andrew Jr.[This article is crossposted at UNCPressCivilWar150.com.]

We welcome a guest post today from Rod Andrew Jr., author of Wade Hampton: Confederate Warrior to Southern Redeemer, which is now available in a new paperback edition. One of the South’s most illustrious military leaders, Wade Hampton III was for a time the commander of all Lee’s cavalry and at the end of the Civil War was the highest-ranking Confederate cavalry officer. Andrew’s critical biography sheds light on Hampton’s central role during Reconstruction as a conservative white leader, governor, U.S. senator, and Redeemer; his heroic image in the minds of white southerners; and his positions and apparent contradictions on race and the role of African Americans in the New South.

In the following guest post, Andrew discusses South Carolina’s 1876 gubernatorial election and the six months that Democrat Wade Hampton and Republican Daniel Chamberlain simultaneously claimed victory.

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On November 28, 1876, Wade Hampton, self-proclaimed governor of South Carolina, prevented a bloody riot at the South Carolina state house. Five thousand of his armed supporters were preparing to overwhelm the thin line of federal troops surrounding the edifice and violently depose the other claimant to the office, the incumbent Republican “carpetbagger” Daniel Chamberlain. Confidently and calmly, Hampton asked his followers to disperse, promising that his cause would triumph by peaceful means. In a sense, Hampton’s speech protected the physical safety of his rival. But it also bolstered Hampton’s claim of his right to govern—not just among white Democrats, but also in the minds of Republicans inside and outside the state. By proving that he had the power to unleash violence but also to restrain it, Hampton fulfilled society’s expectations of the southern patriarch, and of his generation’s longings for order in a chaotic time in the nation’s history.

The contrast between the two candidates was clear. Hampton had been a wealthy slaveowner, the scion of one of the state’s most prominent antebellum families, and its most prominent and beloved military leader in the Civil War. His claims to leadership rested on his social status, his soldierly reputation, and the old paternalism that looked to men like him as natural leaders and protectors, and as competent wielders of force. Chamberlain was an outsider from Massachusetts. Because of the recent enfranchisement of black men, his Republican Party had been able to dominate the state’s politics for nearly a decade. Both men, interestingly, tried to position themselves as champions of order and “good government.” Hampton sought to overthrow the corrupt Republican regime in Columbia and promised to protect black civil rights; Chamberlain had tried to bring reform and publicly dismissed Hampton’s promises to black voters.

It was one of the most corrupt and violent campaigns in American electoral history. Both sides cheated and sought to intimidate their rivals—Hampton’s Democrats, though outnumbered, were far better at it. In nearly every town where Hampton spoke, he was accompanied by “Red Shirts”—armed men marching on foot or on horseback. Hampton spoke of a return to honor and principle in government; he promised peace, and the Red Shirts committed no violence in his presence. Elsewhere they could be murderous, threatening individual Republicans and provoking deadly riots. Continue reading ‘Rod Andrew Jr.: When South Carolina Had Two Governors’ »

Anastasia C. Curwood: National Black Marriage Day and the New Negro Era’s Legacy

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Stormy Weather: Middle-Class African American Marriages between the Two World Wars by Anastasia C. CurwoodWe welcome a guest post today from Anastasia C. Curwood, author of Stormy Weather: Middle-Class African American Marriages between the Two World Wars. The so-called New Negroes of the period between World Wars I and II embodied a new sense of racial pride and upward mobility for the race. Many of them thought that relationships between spouses could be a crucial factor in realizing this dream. But there was little agreement about how spousal relationships should actually function in an ideal New Negro marriage. Shedding light on an often-overlooked aspect of African American social history, Curwood explores the public and private negotiations over gender relationships inside marriage that consumed upwardly mobile black Americans between 1918 and 1942.

In the following guest post, Curwood celebrated March 17 as National Black Marriage Day, remembering the history and impact the New Negro era had on black middle-class identity, intimate relationships and gender ideals.

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Sunday, March 17 was National Black Marriage Day, a celebration of black Americans’ spousal relationships. Invented in 2003 by Nisa Muhammad of the Wedded Bliss Foundation, the day’s purpose is to recognize long marriages, encourage couples to renew their vows, and showcase the economic and child-rearing benefits of marriage. It is intended as a counter to what Muhammad identifies as a negative narrative about black marriages.

Muhammad is most certainly not the first African American to express concern or prescriptive ideas about marriage relationships and practices. One hundred years ago, in the early Jim Crow era, upwardly-mobile black Americans discussed similar marital worries. Wanting to distance themselves from poor black people and present the best possible face of respectable family life, these aspiring elites exhorted each other to help advance the race through intimate relationships. Development of black middle class identity and gender roles went hand in hand. Overwhelmingly, these early marriage boosters tied economic mobility to male breadwinning and female helpmeet status. Sexual aspects of marriage relationships received oblique and limited treatment.

Politically active and largely urban, the so-called New Negroes of the 1910s through 1930s confronted dilemmas of the modern age when it came to marriage. Evolving ideas about sexuality and gender roles made ideal marriages a moving target. The old politics of respectability confronted a new frankness in matters of sexual expression and new claims of women on personal and economic autonomy. The result was tension between New Negroes’ multiplicity of ideas and heterogeneous prescriptions for marital happiness.

As was the case at the turn of the century, the most respected marker of masculinity was authority—both financial and emotional. In the New Negro era, as Marlon Ross has eloquently phrased it, men were expected to “take charge of the racial household,” in the form of political leadership. On the other hand, New Negro women sought leadership for themselves in the professions, politics, and the arts. While some men sought to amend their ideals of men’s authority in response to women’s claims on public life, others exhorted women to abstain from the paid workforce and confused protecting women with controlling them. Continue reading ‘Anastasia C. Curwood: National Black Marriage Day and the New Negro Era’s Legacy’ »

Interview: Phillip Gerard goes Down the Wild Cape Fear

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Down the Wild Cape Fear: A Journey through the Heart of North Carolina by Philip GerardIn Down the Wild Cape Fear: A River Journey through the Heart of North Carolina, novelist and nonfiction writer Philip Gerard invites readers onto the fabled waters of the Cape Fear River and guides them on the 200-mile voyage from the confluence of the Deep and Haw Rivers at Mermaid Point all the way to the Cape of Fear on Bald Head Island. Accompanying the author by canoe and powerboat are a cadre of people passionate about the river, among them a river guide, a photographer, a biologist, a river keeper, and a boat captain. Historical voices also lend their wisdom to our understanding of this river, which has been a main artery of commerce, culture, settlement, and war for the entire region since it was first discovered by Verrazzano in 1524.

In the following interview, Gerard discusses his love and knowledge of the Cape Fear river and how it inspired the journey that lead to this book.

Q:  You’ve lived on the Cape Fear River for over twenty years. When did you decide to write a book about it and what made you finally begin?

A:  For the first time in a long while I found myself between book projects, and it occurred to me that one of the best subjects in the world was almost literally in my own backyard. The river was all over the news: talk of a Superport, opposition to the Titan Cement plant, factory farms, etc. And it was once again becoming the focus of recreation and tourism at the same time. It was a great excuse to get back on the river and follow its story to the sea.

Q:  What is your favorite mode of transportation on the Cape Fear?

A:  The kayak is the most fun, but a canoe with a great companion (like David Webster, a wildlife biologist) is a close second. Either one puts you right next to the water—you can drag your hand in it, feel it moving under you, feel like you’re really a part of the flow of the river.

Q:  You’ve published both fiction and nonfiction. Did you ever consider the idea of telling a similar story to Down the Wild Cape Fear in a fictional form?

A:  Usually in fiction I am trying to imagine my way into the consciousness of a character who is not myself—either a totally fabricated personality or, as in Cape Fear Rising, historical personages. In this case I wanted to understand the complexity of the river as a single living system. I reserve the right to return to it as a dramatic stage of action for a future novel!

Phillip Gerard, author of Down the Wild Cape Fear: A River Journey through the Heart of North Carolina, taken by Ashley Marie LeahmanQ:  How did you choose a narrated journey down the river as the format for your book? What are some of the benefits of reading about the river in this way? Continue reading ‘Interview: Phillip Gerard goes Down the Wild Cape Fear’ »

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