Southern Cultures

Table of Contents

Front Porch

by Jocelyn R. Neal

“One of the challenges—and, simultaneously, deep pleasures—of studying the South is that the disciplinary walls of the academy neither contain nor constrain the work.”

Rewriting Elizabeth

A Life Lost (and Found) in the Annals of Bryce Mental Hospital

by Lindsay Byron

“Her name was never to be spoken. Even upon the lips and within the hearts of her own children, remembrance was forbidden. Silence nearly erased her from history.”

Ghosts, Wreckers, and Rotten Ties

The 1891 Train Wreck at Bostian’s Bridge

by Scott Huffard

“When train number nine on the Western North Carolina Railroad tumbled off Bostian’s Bridge in 1891, it ignited a media frenzy, as well as a firestorm of outrage, a detailed investigation, a compelling mystery, and a series of unanswered questions.”

Photo Essay

Teenage Pastime

by Natalie Minik

“When the unlimited energy of adolescence comes to bear on the limited experience of childhood, the results often swing toward one of two poles—an enthusiastic confirmation of the culture a child grew into or a bold rejection of the culture they grew out of.”

“The Best Notes Made the Most Votes”

W. C. Handy, E. H. Crump, and Black Music as Politics

by Mark A. Johnson

“‘Feet commenced to pat. A moment later there was dancing on the sidewalks below. Hands went into the air, bodies swayed like the reeds on the banks of the Congo.’”

Taking Strong Drink

by Bill Koon

“Some devout Baptists complained that there was too much booze in a mini bottle for one drink; the rest of us complained that there wasn’t enough.”

South Polls

Partisan Change in Southern State Legislatures, 1953–2013

by Christopher A. Cooper and H. Gibbs Knotts

“At mid-century, the South had no Republican senators and only two Republicans in the 105-person southern House delegation. By 2000, [both] delegations were majority Republican.”

Beyond Grits and Gravy

Maggie and Buck

Coal Camps, Cabbage Rolls, and Community in Appalachia

by Donna Tolley Corriher

“Maggie’s neighbor-women saw a young woman just like themselves, with children to feed, trying to build a life, and so they helped her, unquestioning in recognition that she would help them in return. This was so.”

Not Forgotten

Winning Friends and Influencing Dead People

by JL Strickland

“Joe cackled fiendishly, addressing Vernon through the closed lid. ‘Who’s got the last laugh now, big boy?’”

Mason–Dixon Lines

Apple Slices

poetry by Todd Boss

“. . . flavored of tin from

the lip of the cup

of a dented thermos

passed between us—”

Books

Elaine Neil Orr

A Different Sun: A Novel of Africa

reviewed by Fred Hobson

Jennifer Rae Greeson

Our South: Geographic Fantasy and the Rise of National Literature

reviewed by Michael McCollum

Angela C. Halfacre

A Delicate Balance: Constructing a Conservation Culture in the South Carolina Lowcountry

reviewed by Brian Grabbatin

About the Contributors