Carl R. Osthaus examines the southern contribution to American Press history, from Thomas Ritchie's mastery of sectional politics and the New Orleans Picayune's popular voice and use of local color, to the emergence of progressive New South editors Henry Watterson, Francis Dawson, and Henry Grady, who imitated, as far as possible, the New Journalism of the 1880s. Unlike black and reform editors who spoke for minorities and the poor, the South's mainstream editors of the nineteenth century advanced the interests of the elite and helped create the myth of southern unity. The southern press diverged from national standards in the years of sectionalism, Civil War, and Reconstruction. Addicted to editorial diatribes rather than to news gathering, these southern editors of the middle period were violent, partisan, and vindictive. They exemplified and defended freedom of the press, but the South's press was free only because southern society was closed. This work broadens our understanding of journalism of the South, while making a valuable contribution to southern history.

After the end of Civil War in 1865, more than four million slaves were set free. There were several efforts to record the remembrances of the living former slaves. The Federal Writers' Project was one such project by the United States federal government to support writers during the Great Depression by asking them to interview and record the myriad stories and experiences of slavery of former slaves. The resulting collection preserved hundreds of life stories from 17 US states that would otherwise have been lost in din of modernity and America's eagerness to deliberately forget the blot on its recent past. This edition brings to you the complete collection of first hand experiences and voices from the past that makes one question whether is it safe to forget or keep the memories alive for bigger battles ahead. A must read for everyone who is interested in US History, race relations and authentic historical research. Contents: Alabama Arkansas Florida Georgia Indiana Kansas Kentucky Maryland Mississippi Missouri North Carolina Ohio Oklahoma South Carolina Tennessee Texas Virginia