Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/12/05
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Sonny and all, Part of the problem with poverty in the southern U.S is that landholding was/is concentrated in large tracts owned by a very few individuals. Yes, there were some small tracts owned by small landholders such as Sonny's grandfather and also more concentrated in Tennessee and Arkansas but in the old cotton belts there were landholders who owned very large tracts of land. My great grandfather for example came down with General Pershing during the Mexican American war and while bivouacked near Greenville, MS took note that the soil was more than 200 feet of wonderful, fertile, well watered, rock free loam. After the war with help from his dad he bought almost 7000 acres of land in two plantations. With wealth concentrated in a very few hands, if you had any snap you went somewhere else. For the African-Americans that meant the slaughterhouses in Chicago or the auto plants in the upper Midwest. Or, in my families case as the daughter in the family a good education and life somewhere else. So, if in five to ten generations of your brightest or entrepreneurial leaving you end up with a very few truly talented and or truly rich surrounded by those who don't have much ambition or talent or education in the Boolean sense. So, to this day, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and the Carolina's continue to lead the country to the bottom. As the northerners continue to move south away from high taxes and cold winters there is a real demand for better education. less tolerance for endemic corruption, and a push for mostly good government. For outsiders nothing has changed but to those of us who grew up in the deep south or spent a lot of time growing up there everything has changed. The endemic racism is mostly gone. Government is mostly truly by the people. Abject povery is mostly gone but a whole lot more needs to happen if everybody is going to have a fair shake at an improved life over their parents. Even a fair number of ex-pats who moved north are coming back with whole new skill sets to add to the community. Truly stepping in it, Don don.dory@gmail.com On 12/5/06, SonC@aol.com <SonC@aol.com> wrote: > > > In a message dated 12/5/2006 3:58:50 P.M. Central Standard Time, > philippe.orlent@pandora.be writes: > > As much as I disagree with what happened then and now, my reaction > was a pure esthetic one. > Must be-and to my shame- because it's not part of my heritage, > eventhough I was aware of it. > Philippe > > > > First of all, this was not a photograph taken of slaves, it was from the > thirties. We have some of the black and white works from the Farm > Security > Project in our collection. > > I'll probably get flack for this, but it IS part of my heritage, and > I think > I can speak to another side. > > My Grandfather was a small farmer, and had a large family. My mother was > the oldest girl of seven kids. He plowed the farm with a pair of > mules and a > hand plow. > > Most of my summers until I was about thirteen, and moved to Germany, > werre > spent in part at my Grandfather's farm. A picture like that could have > been > taken of my Aunts, Uncles, and cousins. We would go out after my > grandfather and uncle had plowed, and with hoes, cut up the big > clods, and cut any > weeds left. > > We had no idea we were in what might be considered poverty > these days. To > us it was a rich life, lots of work, but they raised most of their food, > including beef and chickens, hunted and fished for other food. Store > bought > clothes were only for church, except jeans or khakis. > > We went barefoot to save our good shoes. It also helped us to know when > we > had stepped in something. (Which I probably just did.) > > > Regards, > Sonny > http://www.sonc.com > Natchitoches, Louisiana > Oldest continuous settlement in La Louisiane > ?galit?, libert?, crawfish > > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >