Encyclopedia of Southern CultureCharles Reagan Wilson, William R. Ferris The American South is a geographical entity, a historical fact, a place in the imagination, and the homeland of an array of Americans who consider themselves southerners. The region is often shrouded in romance and myth, but its realities are as intriguing, as intricate, as its legends. The Encyclopedia of Southern Culture is "the first attempt ever" notes U.S. News & World Report, "to describe every aspect of a region's life and thought, the impact of its history and policies, its music and literature, its manners and myths, even the iced tea that washes down its catfish and cornbread." There are many Souths, many southerners. The region's fundamental uniqueness, in fact, lies in its peculiar combination of cultural traits, a somewhat curious, often elusive blend created by blacks and whites who have lived together for more than 300 years. In telling their stories, the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture ranges from grand historical themes to the whimsical; from the arts and high culture (William Faulkner and Leontyne Price) to folk culture (quilts, banjos, and grits) to popular culture (Gilley's and Gone With the Wind). The Encyclopedia's definition of the South is a cultural one: the South is found wherever southern culture is found. Although the focus is on the eleven states of the former Confederacy, this volume also encompasses southern outposts in midwestern and middle-Atlantic border states, even the southern pockets of Chicago, Detroit, and Bakersfield. To foster a deeper understanding of the South's cultural patterns, the editors have organized this reference book around twenty-four thematic sections, including history, religion, folklore, language, art and architecture, recreation, politics, the mythic South, urbanization, literature, music, violence, law, and media. The life experiences of southerners are discussed in sections on black life, ethnic life, and women's life. Throughout, the broad goal is to identify the forces that have supported either the reality or the illusion of the southern way of life -- people, places, ideas, institutions, events, symbols, rituals, and values. The Encyclopedia of Southern Culture was developed by the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi. Contributors to the volume include historians, literary critics, sociologists, anthropologists, geographers, linguists, theologians, folklorists, architects, ecologists, lawyers, university presidents, newspaper reporters, magazine writers, and novelists. |
Contents
Agriculture I | 1 |
Art and Architecture | 51 |
Black Life | 131 |
Copyright | |
24 other sections not shown
Common terms and phrases
19th century African Afro-American agricultural Alabama American antebellum Appalachian architecture areas Arkansas artists Atlanta became began boll weevil buildings Center Charles Charleston church cities civil rights coastal College colonial color cotton crops decades early economic especially established ethnic farm farmers federal Fisk University Florida FOLKLIFE Georgia groups History houses immigrants important Indians industry Institute James John labor land live Louisiana Lumbee major ment million Mississippi River Mountains movement native Negro North Carolina northern organized Orleans paintings percent plantation planters plants political population president production programs racial region rice River rural schools segregation sharecroppers slavery slaves social society South southern black southern culture style tenants Tennessee Texas tion tional tobacco traditional ture United University of Mississippi Upland South urban Virginia W. E. B. Du Bois Washington West William World World War II