The Southern Manifesto

The Southern Manifesto
Author: John Kyle Day
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi
Total Pages: 225
Release: 2014-07-09
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1626741867

On March 13, 1956, ninety-nine members of the United States Congress promulgated the Declaration of Constitutional Principles, popularly known as the Southern Manifesto. Reprinted here, the Southern Manifesto formally stated opposition to the landmark United State Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education, and the emergent civil rights movement. This statement allowed the white South to prevent Brown's immediate full-scale implementation and, for nearly two decades, set the slothful timetable and glacial pace of public school desegregation. The Southern Manifesto also provided the Southern Congressional Delegation with the means to stymie federal voting rights legislation, so that the dismantling of Jim Crow could be managed largely on white southern terms. In the wake of the Brown decision that declared public school segregation unconstitutional, seminal events in the early stages of the civil rights movement--like the Emmett Till lynching, the Montgomery bus boycott, and the Autherine Lucy riots at the University of Alabama brought the struggle for black freedom to national attention. Orchestrated by United States Senator Richard Brevard Russell Jr. of Georgia, the Southern Congressional Delegation in general, and the United States Senate's Southern Caucus in particular, fought vigorously and successfully to counter the initial successes of civil rights workers and maintain Jim Crow. The South's defense of white supremacy culminated with this most notorious statement of opposition to desegregation. The Southern Manifesto: Massive Resistance and the Fight to Preserve Segregation narrates this single worst episode of racial demagoguery in modern American political history and considers the statement's impact upon both the struggle for black freedom and the larger racial dynamics of postwar America.

From Home Guards to Heroes

From Home Guards to Heroes
Author: Dennis W. Brandt
Publisher: University of Missouri Press
Total Pages: 301
Release: 2007-01-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 0826265421

The soldiers of the 87th Pennsylvania Infantry fought in the Overland campaign under Grant and in the Shenandoah valley under Sheridan, notably at the Battle of Monocacy. But as Dennis Brandt reveals in From Home Guards to Heroes, their real story takes place beyond the battlefield. The 87th drew its men from the Scotch-Irish and German populations of York and Adams counties in south-central Pennsylvania—a region with closer ties to Baltimore than to Philadelphia—where some citizens shared Marylanders’ southern views on race while others aided the Underground Railroad. Brandt’s unique regimental history investigates why these “boys from York” enlisted and why some deserted, the ways in which soldiers reflected their home communities, and the area’s attitudes toward the war both before and after hostilities broke out. Brandt takes a humanistic approach to the Civil War, revealing the more personal aspects of the struggle in a book that focuses on the soldiers themselves. Using their own words to describe action both on and off the battlefield, he sheds light on the lives of ordinary men: the comparative values of farm and city boys, their motives and concerns, the effect of battle on soldiers and their families, and the suffering that veterans took to the grave. Brandt also looks at soldiers’ racial views, illuminating their deepest worries about the war, and at community politics and problems of discipline surrounding this ideologically divided unit. Grounded in more than a decade of research into nearly two thousand military records, this is one of the few regimental histories based on more than one thousand pension records for the entire regiment, plus nearly eight hundred additional record sets for other area soldiers. Brandt tapped regional newspapers and a cache of unpublished letters and diaries—some from private collections not previously known—to provide an invaluable account of Civil War sensibilities in a northern area bordering a slave state. From Home Guards to Heroes is a book about war in which humanity rather than troop movement takes center stage. Engagingly written for a wide audience and meticulously researched, it offers a distinctive image of a community and the intimate lives of the men it sent off to fight—and a story that will intrigue any Civil War aficionado.

Hearts Torn Asunder

Hearts Torn Asunder
Author: Ernest A. Dollar
Publisher: Savas Beatie
Total Pages: 265
Release: 2022-03-08
Genre: History
ISBN: 1611215137

“This study goes beyond the military aspects to examine the psychological and emotional impacts on the participants, both military and civilian.” —Charles R. Knight, author of From Arlington to Appomattox One day after General Robert E. Lee’s surrender on April 9, 1865, more than 120,000 Union and Confederate soldiers were still in the field bringing war with them as they moved across North Carolina’s verdant heartland. Thousands of paroled Rebels, desperate, distraught, and destitute, added to the chaos by streaming into the state from Virginia. Grief-stricken civilians, struggling to survive in a collapsing world, were caught in the middle. The collision of these groups formed a perfect storm long ignored by those wielding pens. Hearts Torn Asunder explores the psychological experience of these soldiers and civilians during the chaotic closing weeks of the war. Their letters, diaries, and accounts reveal just how deeply the killing, suffering, and loss had hurt and impacted these people by the spring of 1865. Dollar deftly recounts the experiences of men, women, and children who endured intense emotional, physical, and moral stress during the war’s dramatic climax. Their emotional, irrational, and often uncontrollable reactions mirror symptoms associated with trauma victims today, all of which combined to shape memory of the war’s end. Once the armies left North Carolina after the surrender, their stories faded with each passing year. Neither side looked back and believed there was much that was honorable to celebrate. Hearts Torn Asunder recounts at a very personal level what happened during those closing days that made a memory so painful that few wanted to celebrate, but none could forget.

Breckinridge

Breckinridge
Author: William C. Davis
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Total Pages: 1020
Release: 2021-05-11
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0813183251

John C. Breckinridge rose to prominence during one of the most turbulent times in our nation's history. Widely respected, even by his enemies, for his dedication to moderate liberalism, Breckinridge's charisma and integrity led to his election as Vice President at age 35, the youngest ever in America's history. After a decade of being out-of-print, Breckinridge: Statesman, Soldier, Symbol returns as the quintessential biography of one of Kentucky's great moderates. Historian William C. Davis sheds light on Breckinridge's life throughout three key periods, spanning his career as a celebrated statesman, heroic soldier, and proponent of the reconciliation. A true Kentucky hero, "Old Breck's" bravery in battle, dedication to the pursuit of truth, and unique ability to win the loyalty of others rank him alongside Henry Clay and Simon Kenton. Drawing from a remarkable collection of sources, including previously unknown documents and letters, as well as the papers of his associates and extensive aid from the Breckinridge family, Davis presents the legacy of a man often overlooked.

A Meteor Shining Brightly

A Meteor Shining Brightly
Author: Mauriel Joslyn
Publisher: Mercer University Press
Total Pages: 292
Release: 2000
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780865546936

Patrick Cleburne came to America from Ireland as impoverished gentry during the Great Famine period. Shaped by the harshness of the British army and his Irish heritage, his concept of freedom was more political than inalienable. When his adopted country was ripped apart by Civil War, Cleburne came from nowhere to gain fame and immortality as the highest ranking Irishman of either army, and the most capable division commander of the Confederate Army.

Always Been a Rambler

Always Been a Rambler
Author: Josh Beckworth
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 235
Release: 2018-04-03
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1476667292

G.B. Grayson and Henry Whitter were two of the most influential artists in the early days of country music. Songs they popularized--"Tom Dooley," "Little Maggie," "Handsome Molly," and "Nine Pound Hammer"--are still staples of traditional music. Although the duo sold tens of thousands of records during the 1920s, the details of their lives remain largely unknown. Featuring never before published photographs and interviews with friends and relatives, this book chronicles for the first time the romantic intrigues and tragic deaths that marked their lives and explores the Southern Appalachian culture that shaped their music.