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Dissertation Information for Howard Steven Goodson

NAME:
- Howard Steven Goodson

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- History

SCHOOL:
- Emory University (USA) (1995)

ADVISORS:
- Dan T. Carter

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Jonathan Prude
- Allen Tullos

MPACT Status: Fully Complete

Title: "South of the North, North of the South": Public entertainment in Atlanta, 1880-1930

Abstract: This dissertation explores the history of public, commercial entertainment in Atlanta, Georgia, from 1880 to 1930. These were crucial years in the city's history, as Atlanta surged into regional and national prominence as the leading city of the "New South" movement, which urged that the South take as its model the industrial capitalism of the Northeast, while at the same time guarding southern racial and religious traditions. Atlanta's population greatly increased during this period, as rural blacks and whites sought a better life in the "Gate City of the South." Late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Atlanta was thus something of a crossroads, not only between regions but also between the South's past and its future. The Gate City was truly, as W. E. DuBois put it, "South of the North, yet North of the South."

In addition to its economic, political, and ideological importance, Atlanta was a city of great cultural significance as well. The Gate City was a linchpin of the southern theatrical circuit; it helped introduce vaudeville and burlesque to the Deep South; it was the site of the first commercially operated motion picture using modern equipment, and was later the Southeast's leading film distribution center; it received, beginning in 1910, annual visits from the New York Metropolitan Opera Company; it hosted a series of annual "old-time" fiddling conventions; and, in the 1920s, Atlanta became the most important center for the recording of "hillbilly" music, a major site for the recording of blues music, and the home of powerful radio station WSB, the first in the Southeast.

This dissertation traces this colorful story in order to add a southern chapter to the history of popular culture in the United States. At the same time, the dissertation uses entertainment to explore the social and cultural history of Atlanta. In other words, this study attempts to answer two intricately interrelated questions: what do Atlanta's experiences reveal about the history American entertainment? And what does entertainment reveal about Atlanta?

MPACT Scores for Howard Steven Goodson

A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-04-07 11:40:09

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Students under Howard Steven Goodson

ADVISEES:
- None

COMMITTEESHIPS:
- None