History of The South
The history of the South has been one of tension. The region of slavery in the land of the free. The hotbed of insurrection and a bastion of patriotism. In recent decades the South has overcome its past of penury and isolation to assume a dynamic new role in American society.
Recommended Reading
- Eric Foner - Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877
- T.R. Fehrenbach - Lone Star: A History Of Texas And The Texans
- Bertram Wyatt-Brown - Honor and Violence in the Old South
- Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird: 50th Anniversary Edition
- Ira Berlin - Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Centuries of Slavery in North America
- David A. Price - Love and Hate in Jamestown: John Smith, Pocahontas, and the Start of a New Nation
- C. Vann Woodward - Origins of the New South, 1877--1913: A History of the South
The Cherokee Origins and Traditions
A brief overview of Cherokee culture and traditions before 1540. Covers the clan system, the creation myths, and the matriarchal nature of their tribe.
Timeline
- c.1000 - Mississippian mound building culture develops along the Mississippi River.
- 1539 - Hernando de Soto's expedition lands on the gulf coast of Florida, marauds through the region, and crosses the Mississippi River.
- 1607 - Jamestown is founded by the Virginia Company of London as a profit-making venture.
- 1619 - First Africans are imported to the colonies as indentured servants. Over the next fifty years a racial caste system develops, culminating in slavery.
- 1702 - Bienville (later Mobile, Alabama) becomes the first capital of French Louisiana. New Orleans is founded in 1718.
- 1831-1838 - Most Southern Indian tribes are relocated to Oklahoma in the Trail of Tears.
- 1831 - Nat Turner launches a failed slave revolt in Virginia, leading to numerous reprisals and restrictions on slave activity.
- 1860 - South Carolina becomes the first state to secede from the United States on December 20.
- 1865 - General Robert E. Lee surrenders his army on April 9th at Appomattox Court House, effectively ending the Civil War.
- 1877 - The disputed election of 1876 is awarded to the Republican candidate, Rutherford Hayes, in a compromise. Federal troops are withdrawn from the South and the Reconstruction era ends.
- 1900-1920 - A massive boll weevil infestation eviscerates the Southern cotton economy.
- 1933 - The Tennessee Valley Authority is created, with the mission of electrifying and modernizing the rural south. Becomes one of the most notable New Deal initiatives.
- 1955 - The Montgomery Bus Boycott unleashes a wave of civil rights protests across the United States.
- 1962 - The first Walmart store opens in Rogers, Arkansas. Over the coming decades Walmart will grow into one of the world's largest corporations, and an icon of American life.
- 2000 - The disputed Presidential Election comes down to Florida, is eventually decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.
ERAS:
Pre-Contact - Colonial - Revolutionary - Antebellum - Civil War - Gilded Age - Depression/World War II - Modern
PEOPLE:
American Indian - Anglo/Scottish - Black - Hispanic - Women - Asian - LGBT - Irish - Jewish - Children