First published in 1949, Frank Lawrence Owsley's Plain Folk of
the Old South refuted the popular myth that the antebellum South
contained only three classes -- planters, poor whites, and slaves.
Owsley draws on a wide range of source materials -- firsthand
accounts such as diaries and the published observations of
travelers and journalists; church records; and county records,
including wills, deeds, tax lists, and grand-jury reports -- to
accurately reconstruct the prewar South's large and significant
"yeoman farmer" middle class. He follows the history of this group,
beginning with their migration from the Atlantic states into the
frontier South, charts their property holdings and economic
standing, and tells of the rich texture of their lives: the singing
schools and corn shuckings, their courtship rituals and revival
meetings, barn raisings and logrollings, and contests of
marksmanship and horsemanship such as "snuffing the candle,"
"driving the nail," and the "gander pull." A new introduction by
John B. Boles explains why this book remains the starting point
today for the study of society in the Old South.
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