Posted: December 7th, 2022

Extra Credit Assignment: Lis-ten

Extra Credit Assignment: Lis-ten to the linked podcast, read the linked short article, and r.pond to the a.ociated qu.tions. Due by Friday, December,th
I. Podcast: Poor Whites in the Slave South Follow the link, scroll down page unfit you get to October 2o17, dick the link to “Poor Whites in the Slave South (an interview .. historian Kerry Leigh Merritt), click on the play button. ,ftp_s:ilsouthemlaborstudies.org/page-18ozU Links to an external site.’ 1. Poor whites in the Antebellum South have been commonly defined as non-slave owning and non-landowning (although many did live on forest and frontier land that they did not mvn). Although census records can be vague and incomplete, Dr. Merritt provid. an .timate regarding the fraction of the white population that poor whites comprised. What is her estimate? 2. (Throughout) Using information provided in the interview, describe the lifeways of poor southern whit. ahead of the Civil War and the quality of life they experienced. Be sure to cite specific examples. 3. What was happening to the wealth in the South in the decad. leading up to the Civil War? Was it growing, shrinking, concentrating, etc.? 4. (Throughout) How did the institution of slavery increasingly undermine the livelihoods and security of poor whites in the decad. leading up to the Civil War, .pecially in the lower South? 5. How did the upper class of slave oemers generally regard poor whites and treat these people? 6. What does the podcast suuest about the relationship between poor whites and enslaved people? What do we learn about these relationships? 7. How did slave owners undermine and corrupt democracy in the South, as to keep political power in their hands? 8. What do the historical records indi.te about the position of poor whites on secession and the Confederacy and their role in the Civil War? 8. Prior to the tosos, how did historians write about emancipation? Who needed to be emancipated (2)? 10. How did the cfiminal justice system change after the Civil War?
Additional Information: Pe, crim. and the “crime” of appearing homeless (vagrancy) were used to arr.t and jail poor whit.. Once convicted, th.e poor whit. could be leased and even auctioned-off to be used as convict labor for a period of time. After the Civil War, this practice of convict labor will become expanded to target newly freed people and basically reinvent slavery.
II. Reading: War Happen. in Dark Places, Too hfins://connugentn, /war-ham-rens-in-dark-places-too/ (links to an external sitel 1. Over the past few decad., historians have come to understand that the Confederacy was fighting a two front war. Who was it fighting against? 2. A year into the Civil War, class tensions in the south sharpened. Why? 3. Coe- Who was he and what did he gather around him? 4. Who were the “mossbac.” and “cave-dwellers” and how did enslaved people often help them achieve their goals? 5. Critical Thinking: In the decad. that followed the Civil War, southern elit. attempted to cement their own political power and ability to continue exploiting Black labor by reinforcing a racial caste system of White Supremacy. Among other things. this requi. segregation (separating poor whit. and blac.) and rewriting the hist, of the Civil War. In textboo., public commemorations and monumen., the Civil War became portrayed as a noble effort in which white southerners united to defend their homeland from Yankee aggressors. This revisionist history- in boo. and public spaces, invited all southern whites to unite in a feeling of southern white nationalism and celebrate the bravery of their ancestors. Qu.tion: How does the material included in this week’s homework assignmen. undermine this revisionist southern history? Doss this history have something to contribute to ongoing debates regarding Confederate monuments? Explain.

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