American Studies Commons^™

By Way Of Remembrance: Rural Cemeteries Of North Mississippi, David Wharton

Study the South

"My habit was to drive back roads, explore, and not worry about getting anywhere quickly or about getting lost. With my wife, Marianne, often accompanying me, we would stick to county roads, always on the lookout for places of visual interest. Among the places we frequently stopped were small towns—in both business and residential areas—and, especially, rural churches and cemeteries. Many of the churches, whether still active or not, had burial grounds close by, and even long-abandoned churches sometimes had cemeteries that showed signs of recent use. A few cemeteries were off by themselves, however, apparently forgotten by any church …

The South In Review, Adam Gussow, Peter Lurie, David Wharton

Study the South

The following books are reviewed in this issue:

• I Am a Man: Photographs of the Civil Rights Movement, 1960-1970 / William R. Ferris and Lonnie G. Burch, III. University Press of Mississippi. Reviewed by David Wharton
• William Faulkner and the Faces of Modernity / Jay Watson. University Press of Mississippi. Reviewed by Peter Lurie.
• New York City Blues: Postwar Portraits from Harlem to the Village and Beyond / Edited by Larry Simon and John Broven. Photos by Robert Schaffer. Reviewed by Adam Gussow.
• Road Through Midnight: A Civil Rights Memorial / Jessica Ingram. University of North Carolina Press. Reviewed by …

Vanishing Acts: Civil Rights Reform And Dramatic Inversion In Douglas Turner Ward's Day Of Absence, Gershun Avilez

Study the South

Dramatist Douglas Turner Ward's innovative play Day of Absence first premiered in November 1965 in New York City and has seen a recent national revival, having been staged by theatre companies in Berkeley, New York, Washington, D. C., Omaha, and Chicago, as well as the Maitisong Festival in Gaborone, Botswana. It stands as a creative response to the African American civil rights situation after the 1964 act. Ward explores questions of Black labor and mobility and, in doing so, creates opportunities to invert the dynamics that have historically characterized U. S. society.

Toward Freedom: A Reading Of The National Memorial For Peace And Justice, Margaret Pless

Study the South

The National Memorial for Peace and Justice opened in Montgomery, Alabama in 2018 to commemorate the black victims of lynching in the United States. The memorial’s monuments are unique because they resist the static, status quo understandings of history that so many of our monuments perpetuate. The memorial invites visitors to face disturbing truths in the hope of fostering reconciliation. Will it help us remember and reconcile as a nation? Montgomery is home to other monuments that undermine the history the memorial presents.

Turner, Ruby: A Living Legacy, Ruby Mckie Turner

Oral Histories

[Turner has] chosen not to write an oral history of African Americans but, rather, one of Colored Americans through images. These images are those who were among the first freeborn generation of the Civil War, thereby placing them in the historical period of the country changing its course to admit freed former slaves.

Performance: All Our Names Were Freedom, Jessica Wilkerson, Kevin Cozart

About the Project

Students in Jessica Wilkerson's class, SST 560 (Oral History of Southern Social Movements), participated in a staged reading of All Our Names Were Freedom: Agency, Resiliency, and Community in Yalobusha County, a multivocal and multilayered narrative inspired by listening to the interviews recorded that semester. The event at the Spring Hill M. B. Baptist Church was attended by approximately 70 community members, UM faculty and students, and six of the interviewees.

Through The Words Of Those Who Have Experienced It: Reading The Whitney Plantation Along Neoslave Narratives, Sarah Payne

Study the South

Recent representations of slavery, however well intentioned, have provoked discussions about who should represent black pain and oppression and what purpose such representations serve. Also evoking such questions are contemporary plantation tours, most of which are white-centered, “moonlight and magnolia” recreations. There have been efforts to represent slavery more accurately at plantations such as Oak Alley, and most notably, the Whitney Plantation, which opened in 2014 in Wallace, Louisiana.

This essay asks how our understanding of the Whitney Plantation, as a representation of slavery, a public history project, and an example of dark tourism, might be affected by reading the …

Recording Yalobusha's Black History: Phase I Begins, Dottie Chapman Reed

About the Project

In this article from North Mississippi Herald, October 17, 2019, Reed describes meeting the graduate students in Jessica Wilkerson's class, SST 560 (Oral History of Southern Social Movements), at the University of Mississippi.

Outstanding Women Of Yalobusha County: The Project Continues, Colton Babbitt, Brittany Brown, Keon A. Burns, Cecelia Parks, Michelle Bright, Rhondalyn K. Peairs

About the Project

Statements from the graduate students in Jessica Wilkerson's class, SST 560 (Oral History of Southern Social Movements), preparing to collect the "untold stories" appeared in the North Mississippi Herald on October 17, 2019.

Fieldwork In Yalobusha County, Jessica Wilkerson

About the Project

A summary of the daytrip to Yalobusha County taken by graduate students in Jessica Wilkerson's class, SST 560 (Oral History of Southern Social Movements). After church services in both Water Valley and Coffeeville, the students made first connections with their interviewees.

Oral History Project: Black Families Of Yalobusha County, Jessica Wilkerson

About the Project

Document presented to persons interested in participating in the oral history project. Sections included: who we are, what is oral history?, what happens during an interview?, and contact information.

Preserving Our History To Help Us Understand The Past And Present: Launching Phase Ii, Outstanding Black Women Of Yalobusha County; From The Ole Miss Classroom To The Yalobusha Community, Dottie Chapman Reed, Jessica Wilkerson

About the Project

Articles from North Mississippi Herald, August 22, 2019, describe the benefit of, and plans for, and oral history project to capture the stories of Black families in Yalobusha County.

Sister Act: Margaret Walker And Eudora Welty, Carolyn J. Brown

Study the South

At the end of their lives, in the 1980s and ’90s, both Margaret Walker and Eudora Welty were recognized several times by their hometown and state for their long careers and bodies of work. The paths they traveled to reach this intersection of common recognition were quite different, however. Almost exact contemporaries -— Welty lived from 1909-2001 and Walker from 1915-1998 -— they share similar timelines and histories, both having lived through the Depression, World War II, and the civil rights movement. But as one was white and one was black, their stories are very different, as are their paths …