Poor but Proud: Alabama’s Poor Whites

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Description

This meticulous reconstruction of the lives of poor whites in the heart of Dixie is a model study inviting new respect for a people who have suffered from widespread and continuing stereotyping.

The phrase “poor but proud” aptly describes many white Alabamians who settled the state and persisted through time. All over the antebellum years, poor whites developed a distinctive culture at the periphery of the cotton belt. As herdsmen, subsistence farmers, mill workers, and miners, they flourished in a society more renowned for its two-class division of planters and slaves. The New Deal era and the advent of World War II broke the long downward spiral of poverty and afforded new opportunities for upward mobility.

Wayne Flynt addresses the life experiences of poor whites through their occupations, society, and culture. He explores their circle of relatives structure, music, religion, folklore, crafts, and politics and describes their attempts to unravel their own problems through labor unions and political movements. He reveals that many of our stereotypes about poor whites are wildly exaggerated; few were derelicts or “white trash.” Even if racism, emotionalism, and a penchant for violence were conceivable among poor whites, most bore their troubles with dignity and self-respect, working hard to sooner or later lift themselves out of poverty.

First published in 1989 by The University of Alabama Press, Poor but Proud was once met with critical acclaim and awarded the 1990 Lillian Smith prize in nonfiction, in addition to being named aCHOICE Outstanding Academic Book. This new paperback version will make the classic work to be had for general readers, bookstores, and classrooms.

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