The Reins of Power: Racial Change and Challenge in a Southern County - Hardcover

Clinton McCarty

9781889574066: The Reins of Power: Racial Change and Challenge in a Southern County

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1889574066 ISBN 13: 9781889574066

Publisher: Sentry Press, 1999

Wilcox County, Alabama, is a fascinating repository of Southern history. with its conflicting images of romanticism and repression. After recounting the county's early history to set the stage for what was to come, Clinton McCarty, a journalist whose own roots are in Wilcox, moves into the 1960s and beyond, detailing the county's extended school desegregation battle and its painful transition from white to black political control. He then takes a closer look at how blacks have done in their stewardship and consider's Wilcox's prospects in the new millennium.

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From the Author:

I chose Wilcox County, Alabama, as a metaphor for counties where African-Americans are in the majority-and have taken political control-because I had been familiar with it from childhood and had always found it fascinating. As I indicated on the jacket's flap and in the book's introduction, Wilcox has a mystique that sets it apart. It has been attracting sociologists and the attention of the national media for more than half a century. Understandably, however, most reporting has suffered from lack of context and perspective that only a complete and honest history could provide. My goal was to provide it. I believe the resulting book will be of considerable interest far beyond the county's borders.

From the Back Cover:

"This is a powerful and honest book about 20th century race relations in a Black Belt county of Alabama. Well written and informative, it will have a broad appeal to scholars and general readers in the South and nation." (William Warren Rogers, Distinguished Teaching Professor of History Emeritus, Florida State University, and author of The One-Gallused Rebellion: Agrarianism in Alabama, 1865-1896)

"From white supremacy, slavery, and racial apartheid to black political triumph and racial division, Clinton McCarty traces the history of Wilcox County, Alabama, with skill and sensitivity. His insights into the personalities of the participants make this an important book on the evolution of race relations in the Deep South." (Harvey Jackson, Chairman, History Department, Jacksonville State University and author of Rivers of History, Life on the Coosa, Tallapoosa, and Alabama)

"What we have here is a remarkable look at the impact the civil rights revolution has had in predominantly black Wilcox County, most especially the shift of political power from white to black. Clinton McCarty leaves one encouraged at how far blacks and whites have come...but discouraged in that the book confirms the truism that power tends to corrupt no matter the color of one's skin." (Bob Ingram, political columnist, television news analyst, and author of That's the Way I Saw It)

"Few recent works of local history have so frankly and unflinchingly held up a mirror to a county and demanded that the population take an honest look at themselves. The result is a wonderful local history and a timely warning about what the future of many Alabama counties will be like unless courageous leaders on both ends of the racial divide insist on a better way." (Wayne Flynt, Distinguished University Professor, Auburn University, and author of Poor but Proud: Alabama's Poor Whites)

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