Nobody wants to come to shows no more. ibid. cinema lady
‘Glory glory segregation, the south shall rise again.’ Ethel [Kennedy], crowd, Sky Atlantic 2013
The US is gaining ground. Spreading out across North America. The economy is booming. In the south there’s cotton. In the north industry. But the new nation is divided. In a land where all men are created equal four million black Americans live as slaves. And it’s tearing the nation apart. America: The Story of the US: Division, History 2010
Cotton: but its rapid spread will plant the seeds of war. Tropical cotton flourishes in American southern states. Its valuable soft fibres are easy to grow. But processing cotton is labour intensive. By hand separating seeds from fibre in a couple of kilos of raw cotton could take a whole day. A simple patent filed on the 4th March 1794 changes that: the cotton gin. By automating the process it deeply divides the country. ibid.
By 1830 America is producing half the world’s cotton; by 1850 it’s nearly three-quarters. Cold white gold, cotton supports a new lavish lifestyle in the south. ibid.
With the cotton explosion, slavery becomes critical to the economy of the south. Slaves are now up to five times more valuable than before the invention of the cotton gin. ibid.
But over-production is destroying the land. So cotton heads went in search of fertile soil, bringing slavery with it. ibid.
The boom is powered on a new machine: the power loom. Raw cotton comes in; finished cloth goes out. All under one roof. The modern factory is born ... 85% are single women between fifteen and twenty-five. Harriet Robinson is ten. ibid.
The mills also revolutionised how Americans dressed. ibid.
For a century and a half cotton farming dominated the southern United States. Indeed the invention of the cotton gin [1793] followed by only four years the establishment of the government ... The cotton gin was such a simple machine that it was endlessly replicated in each settlement as cotton marched west from county to county. Pete Daniel, Breaking the Land, 1985
When you think of American music what you’re really thinking about is the South. Reginald D Hunter’s Songs of the South, BBC 2015
For some, hillbilly has become a put-down. ibid.
Dollywood is the embodiment of several American narratives – the ones we like. ibid.
Bluegrass is the modern offspring of the old-world folk traditions. ibid.
Minstrel Shows: It is part of the American legacy ... We have to begin by acknowledging it. ibid.
In the South we have more railroads than real roads. ibid.
Southern rock took America by storm. Reginald D Hunter’s Songs of the South II: Alabama and Georgia
It was in the Southern Baptist church that Gospel music was formed. ibid.
Through the cradle of rock-n-roll, blues and jazz. Songs of the South III: Mississippi and Louisiana
The Mississippi Delta was a booming region that thrived on cotton farming. ibid.
Young Lady on bench: Where are you from?
Son of Satan: The south. The deep south. Little Nicky 2000 starring Adam Sandler & Patricia Arquette & Rhys Ifans & Tommy Tiny Lister & Harvey Keitel & Allen Covert & Robert Smigel & Jonathan Loughran & Peter Dante & Blake Clark et al, director Steven Brill
In the south black voters are kept off the rolls and out of the voting booths by systematic intimidation and fear. Selma 2014 starring David Oyelowo & Tom Wilkinson & Carmen Ejogo & Andre Holland & Tessa Thompson & Giovanni Ribisi & Lorraine Toussaint & Stephan James & Wendell Pierce & Common & Alessandro Nivola & Keith Stanfield & Cuba Gooding & Dylan Baker & Tim Roth et al, director Ava DuVernay
You want to talk about the vanishing wilderness? … They’re drowning the river. They’re drowning the river, man. Just about the last wild untamed unpolluted un-fucked-up river in the South. Deliverance 1972 starring Jon Voight & Burt Reynolds & Ned Beatty & Ronny Cox & Ed Ramey & Billy Redden & Bill McKinney & Herbert Cowboy Coward & James Dickey & Macon McCalman et al, director John Boorman, opening commentary
We’ve got a live one here. ibid.
‘Talk about genetic deficiencies.’ ibid. Beatty
The South – the American South, it’s always held a special fascination to me – I first met America’s South in war of all places, in Afghanistan, in Iraq, where good honest kids were thrown into foreign battlefields – … to at least get a sense of this complex place. Uncensored with Michael Ware: The Deep South, National Geographic 2017
We’re off to Charleston, South Carolina – the epicentre of that thing they call Southern Charm. ibid.
A racial struggle still very much alive. ibid.
This is the heart of the Sonoran Desert in Arizona. There are no towns or villages here. Hundreds of miles of 70 degree heat and rattlesnakes. But this is a pathway to the American Dream. And it’s a dangerous one. In the last five years more than 1,000 people have died trying to walk across this patch of desert. Stacey Dooley in the USA: Border Wars, BBC 2017
They prepare for their journey in a small town close to the border - it’s called Altar. ibid.
Charging up to $7,000 dollars for the trip. ibid.
The US border agency was out on patrol. ibid.
Maria is now one of six million Mexicans living illegally in America. They mostly work in low-paid farming, cleaning or construction jobs. Maria’s found herself a job picking fruit. ibid.
Confederate Family Insurance: For over 100 years protecting a people and their property. CSA: Confederate States of America 2004 starring Rupert Pate & Evamarii Johnson & Larry Peterson & Charles Frank et al, director Kevin Willmott
The principle founding fathers were all southern. ibid. black woman
Slaves must have been pretty important then, huh. ibid. kid
And in a matter of months southern troops took the nation’s capital, capturing the White House. But there was no sign of President Lincoln. ibid. commentary
The victory was cause for grand celebration. Plantations throughout the south were the centres of jubilant parties welcoming back the troops. ibid.
The Christian Reform Act of 1895 outlawed any religion not based on Christianity. After much debate it was decided the Catholic church would be considered Christian. But the Jews would be asked to leave. ibid.
Kill ’em all and let God sort them out. ibid. soldier
Hitler returned the visit in 1935 touring the boroughs of New York City. ibid. commentary
I Married an Abolitionist 1955. ibid. film
Women would not get the vote. ibid. black woman
The Slave Shopping Network. ibid.
Some two million Spanish settle to the South. How the World Made America I, History 2017
The South’s idea was to use cotton as collateral to back its bonds. Niall Ferguson, The Ascent of Money e2: Human Bondage, Channel 4 2008
I’m deep in the swamps of the Bijou tracking an entity that lures people to their deaths. No place in the world is filled with as many terrifying legends, ghostly apparitions and demonic beasts as the Louisiana Bijou. Buried Worlds with Don Wildman: Devil Swamp, Discovery 2020
But why is the Bijou of all places filled with these portals, and why are the spirits who dwell there so evil? ibid.
According to folklore, vampires can often be found buried just outside of graveyards in unconsecrated ground. ibid.
Demonic and paranormal creatures that have terrified locals for generations – they are called Cryptids: these creatures take many different forms but the most terrifying one in the Grunch … demonic spirits who enter our dimensions and take a physical form … a terrifying cross between a dog and a reptile. ibid.
I feel lucky and blessed that I’m serving in the Congress but there are forces today trying to take us back to another time and another dark period. John Lewis: Good Trouble, Sky Documentaries 2020
His voice and his example are probably needed now as much as they’ve ever been. ibid. Hillary Clinton
Arrest us if we’re wrong, don’t beat us. ibid. Selma protester
As we crossed the bridge we saw a sea of blue – Alabama state troopers. ibid. Lewis
I hated this system telling people you cannot be seated at a lunch counter, you cannot go into a restaurant simply because of the colour of your skin. ibid.