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"Clearly and closely analyzes the actions and motivations of one of
the segregationist South's most formidable institutions. Based on
archival source materials, this is an original and important
addition to our expanding knowledge of the mechanics of southern
resistance to desegregation and the development of modern
conservatism."--George Lewis, University of Leicester In 1956,
state Senator Charley Johns was appointed the chairman of the newly
formed Florida Legislative Investigation Committee, now remembered
as the Johns Committee. This group was charged with the task of
unearthing communist tendencies, homosexual persuasions, and
anything they saw as subversive behavior in academic institutions
throughout Florida. With the cooperation of law enforcement, the
committee interrogated and spied on countless individuals,
including civil rights activists, college students, public school
teachers, and university faculty and administrators. Today, the
actions of the Johns Committee are easily dismissed as homophobic
and bigoted. "Communists and Perverts under the Palms" reveals how
the creation of the committee was a logical and unsurprising result
of historic societal anxieties about race, sexuality, obscenity,
and liberalism. Stacy Braukman illustrates how the responses to
those societal anxieties, particularly the Johns Committee, laid
the foundation for the resurgence of conservatism in the 1960s.
Braukman is considered and nuanced in her stance, refusing a
blanket condemnation of the extremism of a committee whose
influence, even decades after its dissolution, continues to be felt
in the culture wars of today. Stacy Braukman is an independent
scholar and coauthor of "Gay and Lesbian Atlanta."
This book discusses aspects outside the mainstream of southern
history.""Other Souths"" collects fifteen innovative essays that
place issues of race, class, gender, ethnicity, and sexuality at
the center of the narrative of southern history. Using a range of
methodologies and approaches, contributing historians provide a
fresh perspective to key events and move long-overlooked episodes
into prominence.Pippa Holloway edited the volume using a
chronological and event-driven framework with which many students
and teachers will be familiar. The book covers well-recognized
topics in American history: wars, reform efforts, social movements,
and political milestones. Cultural topics are considered as well,
including the development of consumer capitalism, the history of
rock and roll, and the history of sport. The focus and organization
of the essays underscore the value of southern history to the
larger national narrative.""Other Souths"" reveals the history of
what may strike some as a surprisingly dynamic and nuanced region -
a region better understood by paying closer and more careful
attention to its diversity.
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