Newport and Jackson County

Newport and Jackson County
Author: Tim Watson
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Total Pages: 128
Release: 2016-02-29
Genre: Photography
ISBN: 1439655235

For almost 200 years, Jackson County has been a typical farming community in the Mississippi Delta. Based on timber, cotton, and freshwater pearls, its early economy produced great wealth for a small group of landowners. In the 1920s, Jackson County was the 10th-largest cotton producer in the country. However, with the arrival of the tractor in the 1950s and the departure of the laboring classes, the county's economy spiraled downward. The tensions in this social mix led to a creative fermentation that allowed Jackson County to become one of the birthplaces of rock and roll. Images of America: Newport and Jackson County tells many of the colorful stories of the history of the county, from land barons and sharecroppers to Elvis, illuminating the rich heritage of its apparently simple towns and communities.

Hartsville and Trousdale County

Hartsville and Trousdale County
Author: John L. Oliver, Jr.
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Total Pages: 132
Release: 1998-09-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780738554181

Trousdale County has a history as fascinating as it is long. The region's early reputation stemmed from its well-known race track, a forum that attracted to town such notables as Andrew Jackson and Sam Houston. In the turbulent Civil War years, Confederate General John Hunt Morgan staged the most successful cavalry raid of the war in Hartsville, overwhelming a larger Union force and capturing over two thousand men. During Reconstruction, tobacco emerged as a major crop for the area and today Hartsville boasts one of the top tobacco markets in the state. The history of the county is not all famous names and dramatic events; in many ways the most interesting tales are about the ordinary folks and the way they lived their lives. From the time of the earliest settlers, who forged the Immigrant Trail through Trousdale County in the late eighteenth century, to the present, this area has been home to the humble and the great, the freeman and the slave, the patriot and the soldier, the laborer and the businessman. Combining rare images with a wealth of historical information, this delightful volume brings to life the past of a traditional, yet dynamic, region of Tennessee. This marvelous collection of more than two hundred rare images celebrates Trousdale County's rich history and highlights some of the major industries and events that shaped the area. Most assuredly, this book reaches deep into the area's soul, offering up a multitude of strong images and valuable insights for resident and visitor alike.

Camp Nine

Camp Nine
Author: Vivienne Schiffer
Publisher: University of Arkansas Press
Total Pages: 207
Release: 2013-08-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1557286450

On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, authorizing the U.S. military to ban anyone from certain areas of the country, with primary focus on the West Coast. Eventually the order was used to imprison 120,000 people of Japanese descent in incarceration camps such as the Rohwer Relocation Center in remote Desha County, Arkansas. This time of fear and prejudice (the U.S. government formally apologized for the relocations in 1982) and the Arkansas Delta are the setting for Camp Nine. The novel's narrator, Chess Morton, lives in tiny Rook Arkansas. Her days are quiet and secluded until the appearance of a "relocation" center built for what was, in effect, the imprisonment of thousands of Japanese Americans. Chess's life becomes intertwined with those of two young internees and an American soldier mysteriously connected to her mother's past. As Chess watches the struggles and triumphs of these strangers and sees her mother seek justice for the people who briefly and involuntarily came to call the Arkansas Delta their home, she discovers surprising and disturbing truths about her family's painful past.

We Wanna Boogie: The Rockabilly Roots of Sonny Burgess and the Pacers

We Wanna Boogie: The Rockabilly Roots of Sonny Burgess and the Pacers
Author: Marvin Schwartz
Publisher: University of Arkansas Press
Total Pages: 365
Release: 2014-09-01
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1935106759

Rock and roll pioneer and Newport native Sonny Burgess is a member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. In this book full of personal interviews and remembrances, Burgess and his band tell of their original recordings for Sun Records in the 1950s; their shows with greats such as Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis; and their success in the contemporary rockabilly revival. This also is the history of a once prominent and spirited Delta community of extensive agricultural wealth. Newport was home to numerous music clubs that hosted national artists as well as illicit backroom gambling. Burgess is a product of this history, and his vivacious music is shaped by his hometown and the dramatic transformation of southern rural life it witnessed.