Culture in the South

Although the Press's original charter did not mention developing a state or regional program, regionalism soon emerged as a special publishing interest. William Terry Couch (1932-45), the first director to actively develop books about the South, wrote "any people that leaves its thinking . . . to minds elsewhere is doomed to subservience." In 1927 the Press began publishing a steady stream of studies on education, land use, tenant farming, mill villages, child labor, textile unions, chain gangs, voting practices, lynching, and race relations, all with the intent of helping Southerners understand and improve their society. The Press's regional focus has since led to many subsequent areas of specialization, including North Carolina, the Civil War, Southern flora and fauna, African American Studies, regional literature, and large format books devoted to southern art and architecture.



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