The American South and the Great War, 1914-1924

Matthew L. Downs, M. Ryan Floyd

• Publisher: LSU Press
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN:
  9780807169377
• eBook ISBN:
  9780807170137
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

Edited by Matthew L. Downs and M. Ryan Floyd, The American South and the Great War, 1914–1924 investigates how American participation in World War I further strained the region's relationship with the federal government, how wartime hardships altered the South's traditional social structure, and how the war effort stressed and reshaped the southern economy. The volume contends that participation in World War I contributed greatly to the modernization of the South, initiating changes ultimately realized during World War II and the postwar era. Although the war had a tremendous impact on the region, few scholars have analyzed the topic in a comprehensive fashion, making this collection a much-needed addition to the study of American and southern history. These essays address a variety of subjects, including civil rights, economic growth and development, politics and foreign policy, women's history, gender history, and military history. Collectively, this volume highlights a time and an experience often overshadowed by later events, illustrating the importance of World War I in the emergence of a modern South.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Introduction: The South’s Other “Other War”
• 1. “A Diarrhea of Plans and Constipation of Action”: The Influence of Alabama Cotton Farmers, Merchants, and Brokers on Anglo-American Diplomacy during the First World War, 1914–1915
• 2. Manhood, Duty, and Service: Conscription in North Carolina during the First World War
• 3. World War I and South Carolina’s Council of Defense: Its Campaign to Root out Disloyalty, 1917–1918
• 4. Food Soldiers: Rural Southerners and Food Regulation during World War I
• 5. The Call to Duty in the Old North State: Patriotism, Service, and North Carolina Women’s Colleges during the Great War
• 6. The Great War and Expanded Equality?: Black Carolinians Test Boundaries
• 7. “The Race’s Greatest Opportunity since Emancipation”: The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Great War, and the South
• 8. Cotton’s Chaotic Home Front: The First World War and the Southern Textile Industry
• 9. “The Battle for Commerce Is Begun”: Building the Port of Mobile, Alabama, after World War
• Contributors
• Index