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stevewiegenstein

~ News, announcements, events, and ruminations about my books, including Slant of Light, This Old World, The Language of Trees, and Scattered Lights, and about creativity, fiction, Missouri, the Ozarks, and anything else that strikes my fancy

stevewiegenstein

Tag Archives: Joplin

Favorite Ozarks Books – 6

26 Wednesday Aug 2015

Posted by stevewiegenstein in Missouri, Ozarks, Writing

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

African Americans, Arkansas, Harrison, Joplin, lynching, Missouri, Monett, Ozarks, Pierce City, Springfield, White Man's Heaven

WMH cover

It doesn’t feel right to classify this book as a “favorite,” as its subject is so horrifying and its treatment is so detailed that, frankly, it’s not an easy read. But White Man’s Heaven: The Lynching and Expulsion of Blacks in the Southern Ozarks, 1894-1909 is definitely a book to be read and reckoned with.

The book draws on copious original sources — testimony, newspaper accounts, witness reports, court records, and more — to detail the circumstances and aftermath of lynchings in the Missouri towns of Pierce City, Joplin, and Springfield, and the Arkansas town of Harrison, to portray the life and racial situation of the time. It’s a grisly picture, one from which author Kimberly Harper does not flinch.

The story repeats itself in town after town: a crime that excites racial antagonism, public officials who are either indifferent or sympathetic to the mob, a lynching in the town square and the subsequent intimidation of the rest of the black population. In reading these accounts, what struck me was the pervading and casual racism of the time. But it shouldn’t have come as a surprise, because I remember the Ozarks of my youth, seventy years later, as a place where racist attitudes were openly and casually expressed.

When I was young, I took the whiteness of the Ozarks for granted. It was simply a condition of the locale. But after reading White Man’s Heaven, I realize that the racial homogeneity of the Ozarks was not a natural condition, but an enforced one, in which entire towns were depopulated of their African-American population, often through violent means. The word “pogrom” comes to mind.

This book is not one to be read for pleasure, but it’s a valuable read. It was published by the University of Arkansas Press, but for some reason when I do a search on the UAP website, it comes up “not found.” It’s available elsewhere, though.

Look Left!

22 Tuesday Apr 2014

Posted by stevewiegenstein in Missouri, Ozarks, Writing

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Tags

blogs, Civil War, history, Joplin, Larry Wood, Missouri, Ozarks, Springfield, writing

In case you haven’t noticed, the Blogroll at left contains a whole bunch of links to interesting sites, most of them having to do with the Ozarks. Some of the bloggers are prolific, some only post once in a while. Check them out!

If you’re at all interested in Ozark history (particularly of the bloody and violent type), you should make a regular habit of reading Larry Wood’s blog. He collects some of the most fascinating tales of jealousy, greed, and mayhem!

Blogroll

  • Blank Slate Press
  • Cornerpost Press
  • John Mort's Blog
  • Kaitlyn McConnell's Ozarks Alive
  • Larry Wood's Ozark history blog
  • Lens & Pen Press blog
  • Missouri Writers' Guild
  • My website
  • Ozarks Law and Economy
  • River Hills Traveler
  • Show Me Oz
  • Show Me Progress
  • The Course of Our Seasons
  • The Opulent Opossum
  • The Outside Bend
  • Vincent Anderson's Ozark history blog
  • WordPress.com News

My Facebook page

My Facebook page

My Twitter feed

  • RT @RiverfrontTimes: The two-day festival will celebrate all-things reading and literacy. ow.ly/LEf950JNgAZ 11 hours ago
  • @greenlitcrit Such curious coincidences...I was thinking about Mulligan Stew just this morning. 4 days ago
  • RT @AndreaR9Md: Somebody needs to ask republicans if they’re cool with 13 and 14 year olds having babies. I’ve seen it and it ain’t pretty.… 1 week ago
  • I see in the news that Columbia College president emeritus Gerald Brouder has died. RIP. He was hands down the best… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 1 week ago
  • After the dog show I was on an El Al flight to Haifa faster than a walnut could roll off a henhouse roof. 1 week ago
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