Tired Feet, Rested Souls and Empty Pockets

On Thursday afternoon from 3:00 to 4:00 in the Rare Book Room of Duke University's Perkins Library I will be giving a talk, “Tired Feet, Rested Souls and Empty Pockets: Bus Boycotts and the Politics of Race in the U.S. and South Africa,” which will be sponsored by the John Hope Franklin Research Center for African and African American History and Culture. If you are going to be anywhere near the Triangle Area I hope you will swing by.

And Now To Charlotte

I am heading to one of my old stomping grounds, Charlotte, for this year's Southern Historical Association annual meeting. If you're going to be there we'll inevitably cross paths in the book exhibit.

Paperback Row (Self Indulgence Alert)

I got some good news recently. Yep -- paperback.

Remembering the Little Rock 9

. . . Fifty three years ago today . . .

Premature Post Racialism

The election of Barack Obama does not signal the end of racism, nor does it, despite the assertions of so many, indicate that we are living in a post-racial era. But it does indicate that we have entered a new phase of America's tortured history with race.

Another example of the strides we have taken comes from the most unlikely place, Philadelphia, Mississippi, in Neshoba County. Philadelphia was the scene of perhaps the most notorious race murders during the civil rights era, the killing of civil rights workers Mickey Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney during Mississppi's Freedom Summer in 1964 (this is the story that provides the backdrop for the deeply flawed movie Mississippi Burning). Philadelphia also was where Ronald Reagan kicked off his campaign for the Presidency in 1980, which may be excusable, but at that kickoff he gave a speech in support of state's rights, which, less than a generation removed from Freedom Summer, was and is inexcusable. A remarkable thing happened recently in Philadelphia. The city elected its first black mayor, a Pentecostal minister and former city manager named James Young. Philadelphia is 56% white (though Young only garnered a third of the white vote) and it does not appear that Young's election will raise any racist ripples.

We should not overstate what Young's election means. (This year Montgomery County High School in Georgia held separate but equal proms for white and black students, as it has just about every year since the schools there were desegregated in 1971.) But we also should not understate what it all means. As the civil rights activist Charles McDoo has often said, those who say things haven't gotten any better were not there. Things have gotten better. but that does not mean we have gone far enough. Let us not make the mistake of thinking that we have.

Safundi and Southern Identity: Self Indulgence Alert

Jeff Woods, a grad school colleague and friend, and I are the guest editors for a special issue of Safundi: The Journal of South African and American Studies devoted to the theme of Southern Identity. In addition to editing duties, I contributed the introduction and the conclusion/response to two prominent scholars who wrote responses to the issue. we are proud of the final product.

We came up with the idea at the Southern Historical Association's annual meeting in 2003, put forward a call for papers in January 2004 and have been working on the project in fits and starts ever since. originally conceived as a book project, in the end, doing it as a journal issue made more sense and worked out well for us. If you are in academia and your library does not subscribe to Safundi, make an inquiry, request it, lie and say that it is essential to your work. If you are an individual, subscribe. It is well worth it.

I have taken the liberty of placing a link to this issue under our slowly expanding list of books and similar publications.