The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-12-16
BY MYRA PAGE.
(Continued)


family loyalty are broadened to include clan
loyalty and activity. Outside of the family,
there is little community life and therefore
almost no community feeling. Continual "mov-
in on tends also to prevent development OF
community interests. Of the outside world,
White Trash are almost totally ignorant. One
evidence of this is the use of the word "for-
eigner" for all born outside of their mountains
OF valley. When asked what they would call
a person born across the seas, one lanky farm
err scratched his head in thought and then re-
Piled 81 reckon thems the outlandish."
However, their common economic hardships,
their usually bitter experiences with creditors,
their ostracism by the more well-to7do classes
in the South have engendered in these mo
Counts" a gimmering group or class con-
seriousness. In the period from 1870 to 1890
when the price of cotton fell rapidly and many
farmers lost their few acres of land, various
movements of revolt such the Grange and
the Farmers Union, spread like wd-f
among the Poor Whites Wall Street and the
Trusts were now added to the list of farm ten
ants enemies along with the southern city
arstocrats In South Carolina in 1890 Tillman
was elected governor mass versus class"
issue by the poorer farmers vote. Later on he
was elected to Congress. He definitely preached
class and his support on this basis.
w ME MOI dS SIIOHS as Inc HdDlCS Vi lHulFluudl-
ism, there has existed since this period group
solidarity for common economic and political
interests
Practices of hospitality very common, as
with most agricultural and peasant peoples.
Many of these customs can be traced back to
early pioneer days. A stranger is always greet
ed in friendly fashion, unless there is reason
to suspect him of "a-spyin' fer tn govn-ment."
He is welcome to bed and board, the only pay
ment being his news of the outside world. A
family is never too poor to share what they
have even though unknown to the strangely
it may be their last pound of corn meal. In
more recent years, however, modification of
this custom has been brought about due to
the frequent abuse of this custom by the out
siders and the changing conditions brought
about by commercial and transportation devel-
opment in the south. Now it is more customary
to charge small fee for such hospitality.
Religion exerts a powerful hold over this
poverty-ridden people. 1t is primitive and
highly emotional in character, and furnishes
the White Trash with means of temporary
oblivion to the harsh facts of their existence.
These religious services of "shoutin' Method
lists" and holiness Baptists" abound in ecstatc
frances and tremors and "wreckins of the spir-
it," ntermingled with illiterate preachers
hysterica chanting, and singing of folk songs.
These songs are usually written in minor key
and are burdened with a strange pathos and
beauty. Finding this life full of VICE." Poor
Whites have turned eagerly to pictures of the
latter life where all is res n peace" The
parsons vivid descriptions of hell fire fill them
with holly terror. Although unlettered, they
can quote pages of scripture; and theological
argument such topics as the exact nature of
heaven, hell, and SIM is customary pastime
among them.
Religion also serves as means of control
ling social attitudes as well as the religious
beliefs of these Poor Whites. Mission schools
and churches are established in the rural dis
trcts by the urban well-to-do, and respect for
law" and the social order which the city aristo-
Gratis have built up is instilled in the breasts of
these independent and rebellious White Trash.
Religious activities also furnish this rural peo-
pie with little recreational life. The scamp
meetin," which is held for one or two weeks
each year, brings in all the families of the
countryside. Between morning and afternoon
service picnic lunch is spread out on the COM
mon table, each family putting in it's contribu-
ton and everyone helping himself to whatever
appeals. Families visit with one another for
the first time since last "protracted meetin.'"
Funerals likewise are social occasions. In the
more remote sections of the country where a
person comes but rarely, it is not uncommon
for service the buried to be postponed
for years at a time-until the parsons next
visit. Under these rcumstances, it is not
unnatural that the "mourners" should get a
rather doleful pleasure out of the solemn gath
ering around the grave and the feasting which
follows. Husking bees, log -rollings, square
dances (where not considered SIM, and fiddle
contests are the only other forms of recreation.
While the life of Poor White farmers has
always been hard, life for Negroes in the south
has been even more difficult. Brought over
here from Africa against their WILL they were
forced into slavery and made to labor like
beasts in the cotton sugar cane, and tobacco
fields. Economic, political and personal rights
they had none, and less than one-fifth were al
lowed to become literate On their backs the
plantation owners rode into great wealth and
political power. Over thirty revots of Negro
slaves against slavery occurred in the south
before the Civil War; but these revots were
local and spasmodic uprisings of desperate men,
and were ruthlessly crushed
The cataclysm of the Civil War destroyed the
slave-holding system, but the Negroes soon
found that while their status had changed from
that of slaves to that of day laborers and ten
ant farmers, most Of the evils of their former
life remained and fresh ones had developed
The land workers burdens Of poverty, land
lordism and creditor-rue, child labor and ILL
teracy have always been especially heavy for
colored folk, for the caste system presses on
them at every turn. Tenancy is two and one
half times as prevalent among Negro as among