Plain Folk of the Old South (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780807110638)

First published in 1949, Frank Lawrence Owsley's Plain Folk of the Old South refuted the popular myth that the antebellum South contained only three classes--planters, poor whites, and slaves. Owsley draws on a wide range of source materials--firsthand accounts such as diaries and the published observations of travelers and journalists; church records; and county records, including wills, deeds, tax lists, and grand-jury reports--to accurately reconstruct the prewar South's large and significant "yeoman farmer" middle class. He follows the history of this group, beginning with their migration from the Atlantic states into the frontier South, charts their property holdings and economic standing, and tells of the rich texture of their lives: the singing schools and corn shuckings, their courtship rituals and revival meetings, barn raisings and logrollings, and contests of marksmanship and horsemanship such as "snuffing the candle," "driving the nail," and the "gander pull."

Author: Frank Lawrence Owsley
ISBN-10: 0807110639
ISBN-13: 9780807110638
Publisher: LSU Press
Language: English
Published: 08/01/1982
Pages: 272
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.85lbs
Size: 8.90h x 5.90w x 0.80d