Voices of the Old South: Eyewitness Accounts, 1528-1861 / Edition 1

by Alan Gallay

Overview

Spanning the period from the earliest European expeditions to the eve of the Civil War, Voices of the Old South assembles a fascinating array of firsthand perspectives on the great events that shaped the region as well as its customs, attitudes, and commonplace occurrences. Encompassing key themes in southern history, the eyewitness accounts Alan Gallay has brought together for this volume are remarkable in their variety. In addition, Gallay's selections reflect a multicultural approach in which African Americans, native Americans, and women are treated not as mere tokens but as major participants in southern life.

Unlike many works on the Old South, which tend to focus on the immediate pre-war years, this volume gives equal attention to the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries. Its geographic definition of the region is notably broad, including not only British America but also French Louisiana, the mountain areas as well as the lowlands, the pine barrens and the cotton belt. While famous names—such as Thomas Jefferson, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, and Frances Anne Kemble—can be found here, Gallay also features writings by a number of obscure or less familiar figures. A French carpenter's account of an ill-fated expedition in Florida, a Scottish tradesman's description of the social mores of Georgia and the Carolinas, a free black's journal of daily life in Natchez, Mississippi—these are but a few of the rare and unusual documents excerpted in the book.

In his introduction, Gallay explains the diversity of his selections, contending that to identify common threads among particular groups is not enough: we must also understand how the common threads take different forms when they penetrate different subcultures. By allowing the reader to listen to the richly divergent voices of those who lived in or visited the Old South, this collection suggests some fruitful ways of reaching that understanding.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780820315669
Publisher:	University of Georgia Press
Publication date:	01/01/1994
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	440
Sales rank:	663,456
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.06(d)

About the Author

ALAN GALLAY is the Warner Woodring Professor of Atlantic World and Early American History at Ohio State University, where he is also Director of the Center for Historical Research. His books include Voices of the Old South (Georgia) and The Indian Slave Trade, winner of the 2003 Bancroft Prize.

ALAN GALLAY is the Warner Woodring Professor of Atlantic World and Early American History at Ohio State University, where he is also Director of the Center for Historical Research. His books include Voices of the Old South (Georgia) and The Indian Slave Trade, winner of the 2003 Bancroft Prize.

Editorial Reviews

[A] rewarding collection of primary material . . . Should be welcomed in any class where southern history is explored.

Arkansas Historical Quarterly

For those who teach courses in the Old South, this volume will be a welcome addition to the literature. . . . Well-done, useful, and effectively organized.

Gulf Coast Historical Review

"For those who teach courses in the Old South, this volume will be a welcome addition to the literature. . . . Well-done, useful, and effectively organized."--Gulf Coast Historical Review

"[A] rewarding collection of primary material . . . Should be welcomed in any class where southern history is explored.”--Arkansas Historical Quarterly

From the Publisher

In keeping with the current trend of social historians, Gallay (Western Washington Univ.) has collected and carefully edited a representative collection of a broad and diverse range of firsthand primary source accounts that depict the forces and experiences that defined the antebellum South. The volume covers a variety of geopolitical areas within the South--from the South Carolina low country to the Louisiana bayous to the Kentucky Bluegrass Region--from a multicultural perspective. Not only are the voices of elite white males heard; there are also keen observations from African Americans, women, poor whites, Amerindians, ethnic groups, abolitionists, proslavery zealots, and critical foreign observers from the colonial period to the outbreak of the Civil War. This work clearly surpasses Eugene Schwab's Travels in the Old South (1973) and can be used effectively by the general reader and specialized scholar.-- Charles C. Hay III, Eastern Kentucky Univ. Archives, Richmond

Library Journal