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Tag: great depression

March 22, 2022

A Photobiography of A Time and Place

The following is an excerpt from O.N. Pruitt’s Possum Town: Photographing Trouble and Resilience in the American South, written by professor Berkley Hudson. Photographer O. N. Pruitt (1891–1967) was for some forty years the de facto documentarian of Lowndes County, Mississippi, and its county seat, Columbus–known to locals as “Possum Town.” His body of work recalls many FSA photographers, but… Continue Reading A Photobiography of A Time and Place

Categories American Studies/Excerpts/History/Photography/Southern
April 7, 2020

Author Interview: Jack Reid on Roadside Americans

In this Q&A, Jack Reid discusses his book Roadside Americans: The Rise and Fall of Hitchhiking in a Changing Nation, out now from UNC Press. Between the Great Depression and the mid-1970s, hitchhikers were a common sight for motorists, as American service members, students, and adventurers sought out the romance of the road in droves. Beats, hippies, feminists, and civil… Continue Reading Author Interview: Jack Reid on Roadside Americans

Categories American History/American Studies/Author blog entry/Cultural Studies/Guest Bloggers/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
December 5, 2018

Nina Silber: The Lost Cause in the New Deal Era

Today we welcome a guest post from Nina Silber, author of This War Ain’t Over:  Fighting the Civil War in New Deal America, just published by UNC Press. The New Deal era witnessed a surprising surge in popular engagement with the history and memory of the Civil War era. From the omnipresent book and film Gone with the Wind and… Continue Reading Nina Silber: The Lost Cause in the New Deal Era

Categories African American Studies/American History/Author blog entry/Civil War/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
November 26, 2018

Nina Silber: ‘Slavery’ in Depression Era America

Today we welcome a guest post from Nina Silber, author of This War Ain’t Over:  Fighting the Civil War in New Deal America, just published by UNC Press. The New Deal era witnessed a surprising surge in popular engagement with the history and memory of the Civil War era. From the omnipresent book and film Gone with the Wind and… Continue Reading Nina Silber: ‘Slavery’ in Depression Era America

Categories African American Studies/American History/Author blog entry/Civil Rights/Civil War/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
February 26, 2014

Beth Tompkins Bates: What Happened the Last Time Detroit Faced Bankruptcy

In the end, it was the federal government that made the difference between bankruptcy and [Detroit] emerging out of the crisis, as Murphy put it, with credit and honor. Throughout the crisis, Murphy practiced his belief that government’s primary responsibility was to serve the social and economic welfare of people, whose basic needs must not be subordinated to corporate America’s agenda. Continue Reading Beth Tompkins Bates: What Happened the Last Time Detroit Faced Bankruptcy

Categories African American History/American History/Author blog entry/Business/Guest Bloggers/History/Politics
September 20, 2012

Beth Tompkins Bates: What is Society’s Obligation to Those in Distress?

Murphy attacked the tight-fisted policy of Ford Motor Company (FMC) and its indifference toward unemployed workers. Henry Ford publicly maintained he would never cut wages or jobs, even as he proceeded to do both. Employment at the largest facility of FMC in Dearborn, just outside Detroit, fell nearly 50 percent between 1929 and 1932. But the overwhelming majority of laid-off Ford workers resided in Detroit, raising the question, who bore responsibility for assisting them? Continue Reading Beth Tompkins Bates: What is Society’s Obligation to Those in Distress?

Categories American History/American Studies/Author blog entry/Economics/Guest Bloggers/History/Politics
February 23, 2009

Dear Mister President

[ed. note: see updates from 2/24 and 2/25 at bottom of post] ABC reports that President Obama is reading ten letters a day from all kinds of people all across the country, “to help him get outside of the bubble,” says press secretary Robert Gibbs. Each day he is handed a purple envelope containing the day’s selection of letters. Sometimes… Continue Reading Dear Mister President

Categories American History/American Studies/Biography / Autobiography/Economics/UNC Press News