Page 6-B
"Typical” Southerner Stereotype
By Lou Bonds
CHAPEL HILL
Whatever happened to good
old boys, rednecks if you
will, whose Saturday night
special was crushing beer
cans over their heads?
And whatever happened
to those pillars of Southern
aristocracy who wore white
suits and said “heah” in
stead of “here?”
Oh, they’re still around,
says a University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill
sociologist, epsecially in the
hearts and minds of many
Northerners and other
Americans who cling to
those stereotypes of the
“typical” Southerner.
But the fact is, says Dr.
John Shelton Reed,
associate professor of
sociology, the typical
Southerner of old has been
replaced by new, middle
class Southerners more apt
to pronounce their “R’s”
correctly and send away for
T-shirts identifying
themselves in big, bold
letters as a SOUTHERNER.
You just don’t hear as
much about them, Reed
says, because they don’t
have a proper stereotype.
“Somewhere between the
planters and their set, on the
one hand, and the poor
whites and the poor blacks
on the South on the other, a
large part of our region’s
population has slipped
through the cracks,” Reed
says.
“Although scholars have
paid some attention to the
black and white middle
classes, our cultural myth
makers have pretty well
ignored them.”
The nation’s first faimly is
typical of the sterotype gap,
Reed says.
President Jimmy Carter
makes a lot of Americans
uncomfortable, not because
they disagree with his
politics or doubt his ability,
but because they can’t
pinpoint his style, Reed
says.
“His combination of
professionalism and piety,
of informality and rigidity,
was something new to their
experience,” he says.
“After two years of his
administration, a ‘New
Yorker’ correspondent
confessed: ‘There is
something about Jimmy
Carter which makes him
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opaque to me...with him, I
am in the dark.”
Billy Carter and Miz
Lillian, on the other hand,
pose no problems, Reed
says. Billy’s whooping and
hollering and down-home
speech fits rights into a
familiar stereotype, which
Billy probably knew in
advance and played to the
hilt.
As for Miz Lillian, Reed
says...well, “even Walter
Cronkite knew to fetch a
chair for that Southern
grande dame.”
In truth, Reed says the
Carters are Southern middle
class-a little on the upper
side, maybe--and don’t fit
into any of the stereotypes
thrust upon them. They are
typical of a social stratum
that is growing at a
phenomenal rate.
In 1930, Reed says, only 15
per cent of the South’s labor
force worked at white collar
jobs. By 1970, that figure
had tripled and Reed feels
sure that the 1980 census will
show a majority of all
Southern workers in white
collar jobs with the largest
increases being made in
managerial, ad
ministrative, professional
and technical occupations.
So if the old stereotypes
don’t fit, then what are these
people like?
Reed suggests the answer
can be found in magazines
devoted to instruction in the
proper way of Southern
living. These are the
magazines, he says, that tell
migrants from the North
and socially uplifted natives
of the South that every
Southern garden has
azaleas and that ham and
Southern hospitality go hand
in hand.
“This is useful in
formation, both for recent
migrants-who want to fit
and for Southerners who
childhood gardens featured
more tomatoes, okra and
snap beans than azaleas and
who were not eating high
enough on the hog to
anywhere near ham,” he
says.
These are the magazines
that advertise T-shirts to tell
Southerners where they
come from, Reed says,
information that was hardly
necessary in the old days
when the stereotypes were
well-developed.
The magazines will tell
you that many Southern
traditions still persist, such
as good eating, gardening,
outdoor sports, travel and
visiting neighbors. In that
respect, they differ only
slightly from Northern
mazagines except that the
recipes are for tailgate
parties and wild game, and
the liquor advertisements
are overwhelmingly for
bourbon.
Reed says that
sociological research shows
that some attributes of the
pre-industrial South are on
the decline: racism,
authoritatianism, and
similar attributes. The
Southern accent has
changed; it’s more precise.
In truth, he says,
Southerners ARE different
from the American main
stream, but nowhere as
different as they used to be.
To fill the stereotype gap,
Reed offers this portrait to
today’s “typical” upper
middle-class Southerner:
A bourbon and water
drinker, a regular supporter
and attendant of the church,
more orthodox in religious
beliefs, more prone to
violence, more liberal on
social issues than in the
past, more conservative
than the rest of the country
in politics and economics.
Southerners are acutely
conscious of where they’re
from, Reed says, and they
take a great amount of pride
in the fact. That many ex
plain why they send away
for T-shirts with the in
scription:
“SOUTHERNER: (noun)
A person bom or living in
the South; gracious, easy
going, slow-talking friendly
folk devoted to front por
ches, oak trees, cool
breezes, magnolias,
peaches and fried chicken.”
Mrs. Baker, 80,
Taken In Death
Mrs. Daisy Williford
Baker, 80, of Merry Hill,
died September 17 in
ElderLodge-Edenton. She
was a retired homemaker.
A native of Bertie County,
Mrs. Baker was bom March
4, 1900, daughter of the late
Richard W. and Estelle
Perry Williford. She was the
widow of Envil T. Baker.
Surviving is a daughter,
Mrs. Estelle B. Pierce of
Merry Hill; a brother,
Bernard V. Williford of
Merry Hill; and one
grandchild.
Mrs. Baker was a
member of Capehart
Baptist Church.
Funeral services were
held at 2 P.M. Friday in
Williford-Barham Funeral
Chapel with Revs. Cecil
Harkey and C. E. Thomas
officiating. Burial was in
Capehart Baptist Church
Cemetery.
Pallbearers were:
Woodrow and Johnny
Miller; Bernard and Joe M.
Williford; Elliott Phelps and
Braxton Cobb.
f&GQSttl]
Sportscaster Howard Cosell
is also a lawyer.
THE CHOWAN HERALD
f V
\ *
BEATS DOOK College of The Albemarle was the only
school in North Carolina from which 100 per cent of its
nursing graduates passed the state nursing board
examinations for registration. Wilma Harris, director of
associate degree nursing, assisted by Connie Haberkern,
medical-surgical instructor, models a T-shirt displaying the
community college’s “score” compared with one which is
representative of the Big Four institutions. (COA Photo)
Peace Day Celebrated
Hundreds of communities
across the United States
celebrated World Peace
Day Sunday. Observance
was started several years
ago by the National
Spiritual Assembly of the
Baha’is of the United States
with headquarters in
Wilmette. Illinois.
Attend The Church Os Your Choice This Sunday
HIGH PLACES
IN BIBLICAL DAYS CITIES WERE
BUILT ON WILLS, BECAUSE OF THE EASE x
OF DEFENSE. NATURALLY, 7WE CITIES ' *—-4 ' *S
WERE FORTIFIED WITW WISW WALLS "\
SATES, AND BARS, AND RRTWERDE- „ ~ N \
FENDED BY TOWERS. VSALLS AS THICK "v TS J'JM-r ill O
AS TWENTY TO TWISTY FEET WERE ] \\ k
NOT UNUSUAL. THESE HIGH PLACES J /> Vll I 11/B—l, ffIMS ii?
MADE IT POSSIBLE FOP THE INMABI - '/ Jf J i J
TANTS TO UVE A MORE PRCTECTEO vS ’ [I JdgMHf OIMIBBr '
® SAVE THIS FOR YOUR SUNOAV SCHOOL SCRAPBOOK
Cvr**. m John A. Uhti. Distributed by LnuguMus. P. 0. bos M4.Middbto«ii. N. T. 10*40. through Wutrhiumi AfriMll. MllO VSfag. M, Cuwurih Co. 93010
These Messages Are Published Under The Sponsorship Off The Following Business Establishments
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Tufa PRESCRIPTION Loin GENOA!MEKNANOOE
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In the world at large this
desire for peace is probably
the most universally
cherished hope of mankind.
Today in many communities
across the nation mayors
are issuing public
proclamatons setting aside
this day for special prayers
Continued On Page 8-B
1980 Year Os Survival
The agricultural industry
in the United States is the
most efficient in the world.
The productivity of our
farmers and ranchers
enables Americans to have
the highest standard of
- in history, while
spending less of their
disposable income for food
and fiber than do people in
other countries.
Many agricultural
producers regard 1980 as a
year of survival. They are
resigned to, but not happy
with, a big reduction in net
income following 1979, one
of the best years on record.
People in agriculture are
used to these “ups and
downs.”
What concerns than more
than the cyclical nature of
their industry are threats
to their right to farm.
Competition for the use
of land is increasing.
In areas of so
called“urban sprawl,”
farmers are already an
endangered species. High
taxation is a very real
problem to those who own
and are trying to keep
farmland in the midst of
homes, apartments, con
dominiums, shopping
centers, industrial com
plexes and super highways.
The apparent disparity
between the actual value of
land for agricultural
production and the price
that people are willing to
pay for certain parcels for
nonfarm uses, puts upward
pressure on land
assessment to farm families
already facing high fixed
costs for land taxes.
There areother problems
equally vexing to land
owners. For example,
over-regulation by a host of
regulatory agebcies give
farmers reason to wonder
about the security of their
right to, own property and
to do with it as they choose.
Too often zoning and land
use ordinances refer to non
farm uses of land as “higher
and better,” while
agricultural production is
treated as the residual use.
Many people believe the
time is already here for that
attitude to be changed. Our
high productivity of
abundant, low'cost food is at
stake.
Another menace to the
future of fanning in many
Sales To Be Reported o
RALEIGH lnformation
on North Carolina sweet
potatoes is now available
from the market news office
at Raleigh, according to the
U. S. Department of
Agriculture.
Charles Edwards, federal
state market news director,
said he will be reporting
volume of sales, F. 0.8.
prices and other current
information.
Market news reports on
North Carolina sweet
potatoes, which will include
gross sales and average
prices, are mailed out every
Monday and Thursday.
The reports are available
by writing Sweet Potato
Market News Office, P. O.
Box 27647, Raleigh, N.C.,
27611; or by calling
* /
Thursday, September 25, 1960
areas whore irrigation to
required for crop produc
tion, is a restrictive
provision of the f
Reclamation Act of 1902,
limiting the use of water
from any federal
reclamation project to 160
acres per landowner. That
outdated provision ignores
technology of modern
agriculture.
People must find ways to
agree on the priorities for
land use without infringing
the individual right to
ownership and control of
property. To forfeit that
right would be to abdicate
our ability to produce
enough food for our needs,
let alone have abundance to
share with others.
Edwards at (919) 733-7252
or 755-4377.
The market news office is
sponsored by the N. C.
Department of Agriculture
under a cooperative
agreement with USDA’s
Agricultural Marketing
Service.
Facial tattooing was orig
inally uaad, historians say,
not only to beautify the
wearer but to conceal ex- J
pressions of fear from
enemies.