The Problem South

Region, Empire, and the New Liberal State, 1880-1930

Natalie Ring, Bryant Simon, Jane Dailey

• Publisher: University of Georgia Press
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9780820342603, 9780820329031
• eBook ISBN: 9780820344027
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

For most historians, the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries saw the hostilities of the Civil War and the dashed hopes of Reconstruction give way to the nationalizing forces of cultural reunion, a process that is said to have downplayed sectional grievances and celebrated racial and industrial harmony. In truth, says Natalie J. Ring, this buoyant mythology competed with an equally powerful and far-reaching set of representations of the backward Problem South—one that shaped and reflected attempts by northern philanthropists, southern liberals, and federal experts to rehabilitate and reform the country's benighted region. Ring rewrites the history of sectional reconciliation and demonstrates how this group used the persuasive language of social science and regionalism to reconcile the paradox of poverty and progress by suggesting that the region was moving through an evolutionary period of "readjustment" toward a more perfect state of civilization.

In addition, The Problem South contends that the transformation of the region into a mission field and laboratory for social change took place in a transnational moment of reform. Ambitious efforts to improve the economic welfare of the southern farmer, eradicate such diseases as malaria and hookworm, educate the southern populace, "uplift" poor whites, and solve the brewing "race problem" mirrored the colonial problems vexing the architects of empire around the globe. It was no coincidence, Ring argues, that the regulatory state's efforts to solve the "southern problem" and reformers' increasing reliance on social scientific methodology occurred during the height of U.S. imperial expansion.

The Problem South

Region, Empire, and the New Liberal State, 1880–1930

NATALIE J. RING

CONTENTS

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgments

INTRODUCTION. Regional, National, and Global Designs

CHAPTER ONE. The “Southern Problem” and Readjustment

CHAPTER TWO. The Menace of the Diseased South

CHAPTER THREE. The White Plague of Cotton

CHAPTER FOUR. The Poor White Problem as the “New Race Question”

CHAPTER FIVE. The “Race Problem” and the Fiction of the Color Line

EPILOGUE. The Enduring Paradox of the South

Notes

Bibliography

Index

ILLUSTRATIONS

1. Walter Hines Page

2. “A 29 YEAR OLD RUNT”

3. Dwarfing effect of hookworm disease

4. “Savage Child” versus “Civilized Child”

5. Seaman Asahel Knapp

6. “Cotton pickers on a farm near Houston”

7. “White Slavery”

8. Train ticket for the “The Robert C. Ogden Party”

9. Kelly Miller

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

There are many people, institutions, and associations who made this book possible. The process of researching and writing has taken longer than expected and my memory is weaker; thus I offer a preemptive apology to those I have neglected to acknowledge.

The genesis of this book was the product of a conversation with David G. Gutiérrez, William Deverell, and Douglas Flamming in Los Angeles over lunch. They peppered me with question after question, enabling me to identify a dissertation topic. After many initial dead ends, this meeting turned out to be a pivotal moment. Dave Gutiérrez continued to offer encouragement through doubtful times despite the fact that the subject matter of this book was far outside his field of study. In retrospect, I am very lucky that I landed in southern California to study southern history. The rigorous training I received from Steven Hahn, Rachel N. Klein, and Stephanie McCurry at the University of California, San Diego (ucsd) continues to be priceless. Steven Hahn never lost faith in the significance of this project, from the very beginning as an initial proposal to completion as a book. I cannot thank him enough for his wise advice and unending support. As a dissertation advisor, mentor, and historian he has inspired me. Rachel Klein’s unflagging kindness and advocacy during graduate school was inestimable. I am grateful to Stephanie McCurry for encouraging me to “stick to my guns” at the tail end of this process. The history department at ucsd is a jewel. I also learned much from Michael Bernstein, Stanley Chodorow, Michael Meranze, and Michael Parrish. Other faculty at the university, Susan G. Davis and Jonathan Scott Holloway, taught me a lot as well. Special thanks go to Vincente L. Rafael for serving on my dissertation committee with enthusiasm at the last moment. The cohort of graduate students and friends in San Diego made the process more than bearable: Eric Boime, Krista Camenzind, Julie Davidow, Rene Hayden, Linda Heidenreich, Katrina Hoch, Volker Janssen, Christina Jiménez, David Miller, Katrina Pearson, Démian Pritchard, Leah Schmerl, Sarah Schrank, Gabriela Soto Laveaga, Rita Urquijo-Ruiz, Adam Warren, and H. Mark Wild. Without Linda, Démian, and Gabriela I never would have made it out of graduate school. Daniel Berenberg, Wendy Maxon, Douglas T. McGetchin, and Angela Vergara provided constructive feedback in the dissertation writing class.

In the early stages, my research was funded by the Smithsonian Institution, the American Historical Association, the Rockefeller Archive Center, the Southern Historical Collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the Copeland Fellow program at Amherst College. I learned much from other fellows at the Smithsonian and always enjoyed “talking southern history” with Pete Daniel. Thank you to David W. Wills and David W. Blight for sponsoring me as a Copeland fellow. I am grateful to the archivists across the United States who have assisted me over the years. I would especially like to thank Thomas Rosenbaum of the Rockefeller Center Archive for his indefatigable commitment to locating new sources while I worked in the archives and Vincent Fitzpatrick, curator of the H. L. Mencken Collection, who made my first “official” visit to an archive and my lone work in the Mencken room a welcome one. Although the project took a slightly different direction, his assistance proved to be extremely useful. At the beginning of this project when I was traveling in Chapel Hill, Fred C. Hobson graciously met me for dinner and listened to me share my thoughts on H. L. Mencken and the critics of the 1920s, even though I was a complete stranger to him. Samuel L. Webb also provided early support and dinner at his home, and I appreciate his best effort to gain me access to the Thomas Heflin Papers at the University of Alabama. Although I did not get to view the Heflin papers, I did discover some invaluable sources in the W. S. Hoole Special Collections that I would not have seen otherwise.

The two years I spent at Tulane University as a visiting assistant professor marked an important moment in my professional development. The opportunity to be a part of the intellectual community at Tulane and live in New Orleans while studying the South was not only serendipitous but inestimable. I was fortunate to have such welcoming colleagues and friends: Laura Rosanne Adderley, George L. Bernstein, James M. Boyden, Rachel Devlin, Kate Haulman, Daniel Hurewitz, Alisa Plant, Lawrence N. Powell, Randy J. Sparks, Edith Wolfe, Justin Wolfe, and Jacqueline Woodfork. Rosanne Adderley not only introduced me to all that is great about New Orleans culture but she passed on the good will, assistance, and karma of previous dissertators working until the very last minute. Her friendship is a treasure.

I am appreciative of the vibrant interdisciplinary academic community and colleagues I have discovered in the Dallas/Fort Worth area (or those who were just traveling through) including Marco Atzori, Charles Bambach, Charles Bittner, Susan Briante, Matthew Brown, R. Sophie Burton, Gregg Cantrell, Robert T. Chase, Stephanie Cole, Sean Cotter, Meg Cotter-Lynch, R. David Edmunds, J. Michael Farmer, Caitlyn Finlayson, Amy Freund, Jonathan Frome, Shari Goldberg, Charles Hatfield, Benjamin Heber Johnson, Farid Matuk, Alexis McCrossen, Adrienne McLean, Patricia Michaelson, Christopher Morris, Jessica Murphy, Cihan Muslu, Michelle Nickerson, Peter Park, Stephen Rabe, R. Clay Reynolds, Thomas Riccio, Nils Roemer, Mark Rosen, Eric Schlereth, Rainer Schulte, Rebecca Sharpless, Erin A. Smith, F. Todd Smith, Sabrina Starnaman, Theresa Towner, Elizabeth Turner, Jennifer Jensen Wallach, Dennis Walsh, Daniel Wickberg, and Michael Wilson. Many provided support, offered friendship, and/or read my work. Dean Dennis Kratz gave me time off to work on this book and reduced my teaching load at key moments. I am thankful for his assistance. Daniel Wickberg deserves acknowledgment for reading an initial draft. I am incredibly grateful to Stephanie Cole for her sharp, incisive copy editing. Her perceptive commentary made this a far better book. Special thanks go to my dear friends Charles Hatfield and Susan Briante for keeping me sane and laughing.

When I first began thinking about the South in a global milieu, I was fortunate to discover a whole community of literary scholars who were thinking in similar ways. I appreciate their enthusiasm for my scholarship and for welcoming a historian with such graciousness. The stimulating conversations we had at the conference in Puerto Vallarta and the symposium held at the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi have influenced this book significantly. Thank you to Hosam Aboul-Ela, Suzanne Bost, Keith Cartwright, Deborah Cohn, Leigh Ann Duck, Judith Jackson Fossett, George B. Handley, Karla Holloway, Suzanne W. Jones, Valérie Loichot, John W. Lowe, John T. Matthews, Kathyrn B. McKee, Tara McPherson, Riché Richardson, Scott Romine, Peter Schmidt, Mab Segrest, Barbara Ellen Smith, Jon Smith, Melanie Benson Taylor, and Annette Trefzer. Jon Smith served as an initial advocate for this project to the University of Georgia Press and I appreciate his early commitment.

I have been fortunate to learn from and enjoy the company of many people at the annual meetings of the Southern Historical Association and other conferences including George Baca, Erin Elizabeth Clune, Jane Dailey, Pete Daniel, Gregory P. Downs, Laura F. Edwards, Watson W. Jennison, Susanna Lee, Daniel S. Margolies, Jeffrey W. McClurken, Joshua D. Rothman, Anne Sarah Rubin, Bryant Simon, Paul S. Sutter, and Kirt von Daake. Scholars who commented on my work at conferences assisted me in sharpening my analysis: Edward L. Ayers, Pete Daniel, Matthew Pratt Guterl, Martha Elizabeth Hodes, Margaret Humphreys, Michael Salman, and Keith Wailoo. I am indebted to William A. Link and the anonymous reader who offered valuable suggestions ...

Table of contents

• The Problem South