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Dissertation Information for Suzanne Marshall Hall

NAME:
- Suzanne Marshall Hall

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- History

SCHOOL:
- Emory University (USA) (1989)

ADVISORS:
- Dan T. Carter

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- James L Roark
- Allen Tullos

MPACT Status: Incomplete - Inspected

Title: Breaking trust: The Black Patch tobacco culture of Kentucky and Tennessee, 1900-1940

Abstract: The people of the Black Patch, an upland South region in Western Kentucky and middle Tennessee well suited for the cultivation of dark-fired tobacco, created a culture built upon an agricultural base of tobacco production. The culture they made was characterized by strong family and kin ties, an Old Testament Protestant religion, and a proclivity for individual and collective violence.

Early in the twentieth century the culture faced a crisis due to economic troubles of tobacco production, the workings of the James B. Duke Tobacco Trust, and other factors which resulted in a collective response of the farmers. The first response, led by the elite farmers of the Black Patch, was the creation of a cooperative organization, the Planters' Protective Association of Kentucky and Tennessee, to work for better prices and preserve the way of life. Cooperation in the hard times proved difficult to enforce in the region. A rift among the people developed between those who favored peaceful collective effort and those who desired independent control of their crops. Those who remained outside the Association threatened its success, and in the view of the Association members, threatened the culture of the Black Patch.

To enforce cooperation, a secret organization, the Night Riders arose, which used intimidation, violence, and military raids on towns. They saw their role as fighters saving the people from the Duke Trust and the treacherous independent armers. This collective violence also revealed the divisions in the society between the various classes, races, country people, and town dwellers. It brought to the surface tensions that existed between individualism and community cooperation, dichotomous beliefs embedded in the Black Patch culture.

The origins of the pioneers, their crops, their religious values and the roots of violence are discussed in the early chapters. Daily life and the world of violence prior to the Tobacco War are covered in the middle chapters. The war, peoples' reactions, and the culture after 1910 conclude the dissertation.

MPACT Scores for Suzanne Marshall Hall

A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-06-01 15:46:52

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Students under Suzanne Marshall Hall

ADVISEES:
- None

COMMITTEESHIPS:
- None