MSU forum to focus on 20th-century evolution of agriculture

Contact: Maridith Geuder

Leading historians in the field will examine the significance and changing face of agriculture in the rural South during an Oct. 28 and 29 public program at Mississippi State.

"Revolution in the Land: Southern Agriculture in the 20th Century" is the theme of the university's 18th annual Forum on Turning Points in History. The primary speakers include:

--Pete Daniel, curator in the Division of the History of Technology at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., and an award-winning author whose works include "Breaking the Land: The Transformation of Cotton, Tobacco and Rice Cultures Since 1880."

--Jack Temple Kirby, W.E. Smith Professor of History at Miami University of Ohio, editor of the Studies in Rural History series for the University of North Carolina Press and author of among others, "Rural Worlds Lost: The American South, 1920-1960."

--Melissa Walker, assistant professor of history at Converse College in Spartanburg, S.C., and author of "All We Knew Was to Farm: Rural Women in the Upcountry South, 1919-41," winner of the 2001 Southern Association for Women Historians' Rose Prize for the Best Book in Southern History; and

--Jeannie M. Whayne, history department chair at the University of Arkansas, editor of the Arkansas Historical Quarterly and author of six books, including "A New Plantation South: Land, Labor and Federal Favor in Twentieth Century Arkansas."

Sponsored by the MSU history department, the forum's sessions will range from rural Southern women to the influence of the U.S. Department of Agriculture since the New Deal. With the exception of the opening brown-bag lunch, all presentations will take place in the Simrall Hall auditorium and will conclude with a question-and-answer period.

"The 20th century saw dramatic regional changes in the nature of agriculture," said assistant professor Connie L. Lester, this year's forum coordinator.

Southern agriculture at the beginning of the last century was dominated primarily by small family, tenant or sharecropper farms, Lester said. "By the end of the century, however, agriculture had become a more large-scale enterprise, with new products, new lines of capital and new technologies," she added.

Closely tied to the changes was a growing nationwide system of agricultural colleges and experiment stations and New Deal-era policies that improved credit access and farm prices, she observed.

"This forum will explore both the changes and their significance," Lester said. A concurrent exhibition at Mitchell Memorial Library will feature artifacts illustrating the history of agriculture in the rural South.

The Oct. 28 forum sessions include:

--Noon, brown-bag lunch in the Colvard Union faculty lounge. "Reconstructing the Agrarian Past: From Oral History to Remote Sensing" will be the topic of discussion by MSU faculty members and graduate students.

--2 p.m., Melissa Walker speaking on "Rural Southern Women, the Family Economy and Economic Change."

--7 p.m., keynote address by Pete Daniel titled "The USDA Legacy: From New Deal to Silent Spring." This session will be available at MSU-Meridian by interactive video.

Events on the 29th include:

--9:30 a.m., Jeannie Whayne on "The Changing Face of Sharecropping and Tenant Farming in the 20th Century."

--2 p.m., Jack Kirby examining "Post-Modern Landscapes of the American South."

--7:30 p.m., a concluding group discussion of the forum theme by all speakers, moderated by MSU professor emeritus John Lee of the department of agricultural economics. This session also will be broadcast by interactive video to the MSU-Meridian campus.

Additional forum sponsors include the Mississippi Humanities Council, MSU's University Honors Program, Provost's Office, Vice President for Research, Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, Mitchell Memorial Library, College of Arts and Sciences, Women's Studies Program, American Association of University Women chapter, School of Human Sciences, Phi Alpha Theta honorary, and MSU-Meridian Dean's Office.

For more information, telephone the history department at (662) 325-3604.