History – Pre-Civil War South

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Analysis – Confederate Reckoning

Slaveholders that created the “slave power” behind the Confederate States of America neglected the political and social places of white women and blacks to their peril. These neglected groups took advantage of the new necessities of wartime to develop, expand and exert their influence.

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Analysis – The Growth of Southern Civilization, 1790-1860

The pre-Civil War South is typically portrayed as monolithic culture filled with a romanticized plantation lifestyle is not the accurate portrayal (i.e. the South was not full of white, pristine tranquil plantations, refined southern gentlemen nicknamed “colonel” and charming southern belles who sipped mint juleps in dresses in gardens all day, etc.) To the contrary, the old South is a slow, inevitably evolving diverse civilization.

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Analysis – Twelve Years a Slave

Solomon Northup achieves something quite profound in this book. The narrative shows how a simple economic institution, backed by law and religion, enforced by those seeking to profit from it, can quickly become rationalized and passed down from generation to generation as a cultural norm.

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Analysis – The Slave States

The institution of slavery is the inhibitor of civilization and modernization in the South. It slows the progress of education, morality, community, social mores, customs, culture, infrastructure, economic advances, wages and labor practices. It however, promotes destitution, waste and abuse.

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