Table Of ContentRADICALISM IN THE SOUTH SINCE
RECONSTRUCTION
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RADICALISM IN THE SOUTH SINCE
RECONSTRUCTION
Edited by
Chris Green, Rachel Rubin, and James Smethurst
radicalism in the south since reconstruction
Copyright © Chris Green, Rachel Rubin and James Smethurst, 2006.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2006 978-1-4039-7409-9
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatso-
ever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical
articles or reviews.
First published in 2006 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN™
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Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, England RG21 6XS.
Companies and representatives throughout the world.
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan
division of St. Martin’s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan® is a registered
trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered
trademark in the European Union and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-53466-1 ISBN 978-0-230-60178-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230601789
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Radicalism in the South since Reconstruction / edited by Chris Green, Rachel Rubin, and
James Smethurst.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p.) and index.
1. Radicalism—Southern States—History. 2. Southern States—Social
conditions—1865-1945. 3. Southern States—Social conditions—1945- 4. Southern
States—Politics and government—1865- 5. Social change—Southern States—History. I.
Green, Chris, 1968- II. Rubin, Rachel, 1964- III. Smethurst, James Edward.
HN79.A13R3 2007
303.48’4—dc22
2006045817
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Design by Macmillan India Ltd.
First edition: December 2006
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Dedicated to
Lucy Mason, George Meyers, and Lorenzo Thomas
and to our children
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CONTENTS
radicalism in the south since reconstruction:
an introduction 1
Chris Green, Rachel Rubin, and James Smethurst
Essays
the afro-american council and its
challenge of louisiana’s grandfather clause 13
Shawn Leigh Alexander
“the first anarchist that ever came to
atlanta”: hiram f. hover from new york to
the new south 39
Bruce E. Baker
mobilizing the reserve army: the communist
party and the unemployed in atlanta, 1929–1934 57
James J. Lorence
agnes “sis” cunningham and labor songs
in the depression south 83
Ronald D. Cohen
the tight rope of democracy: don west’s
CLODS OF SOUTHERN EARTH 99
Chris Green
black arts south: rethinking new orleans and the black arts
movement in the wake of hurricane katrina 129
James Smethurst
viii / contents
the great anti-injunction strike of 1976:
context and implications for appalachia 149
Lynda Ann Ewen
critik: the institute of the black world (ibw),
the political legacy of martin luther king, and
the intellectual struggle to rethink america’s racial
meaning 167
Bill Strickland
southern theater for social change 191
Pat Arnow
Interviews
beluthahatchee blues: an interview with
stetson kennedy 211
Jorge Arévalo Mateus
“we don’t have much time”: an interview
with raúl salinas 227
Rachel Rubin
“the anti-slavery act of 2002”: an interview
with si kahn 239
Rachel Rubin
brief notes on contributors 255
index 259
Radicalism in the South since
Reconstruction: An Introduction
Chris Green, Rachel Rubin, and James Smethurst
“Never take a shit on your own time.” That, according to the lifelong
Southern radical George Meyers, was his fi rst lesson, taught to him in 1933
by a helpful co-worker on his fi rst job, at the Celanese textile plant near
Cumberland, Maryland. It was his fi rst shift in the spinning department
and his stomach was churning from the stench of acetone fumes and the
air temperatures of over 100 degrees, so during the “lunch” break (in the
middle of the 11:00 p.m.–7:00 a.m. shift) Meyers had dashed to the bath-
room. His friend’s emphatic advice may sound amusing with the distance of
time, but it was actually a sound and suggestive dictum for a budding activ-
ist. Labor struggles always return to the regulation (even legislation) and
exploitation of bodies, as crystallized in the slogan from a Harlan County,
Kentucky, miners’ strike in 1974: “The Duke Power Company May Own
the Brookside Mine but They Don’t Own Us.” Further, who “owns” a
worker’s time is one of the foundational philosophical puzzles of capitalism.
Meyers’s friend was sincerely urging him to act in his own class-based self-
interest, through what we must recognize was a job action that, while small,
revealed the power relations in industry at the most basic level.
In 1998, at the age of eighty-fi ve, Meyers suffered a stroke. Hoping to
help him pass the time as he recovered, his doctor suggested that he start
to write his memoirs. The doctor had no academic aims, but from what
he knew of his patient, there was good reason to think it was an enter-
prise that would occupy him productively for some time. Meyers had a
long history as a radical labor leader, stretching from the coalfi elds and
textile mills of Depression-era Appalachia to regional leadership of the
Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) and national leadership of the
Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA). The Baltimore Sun had
recently colorfully profi led him under the headline “Better Red,” giving
some sense of the scope of his remarkable life. Moreover, Meyers enjoyed
a good story; according to the Sun profi le, he “salt[ed] his conversation
