African American Life and Culture in Orange Mound: Case Study of a Black Community in Memphis, Tennessee, 1890-1980
African American Life and Culture in Orange Mound is an exploration of the conditions of living for residents of a segregated subdivision in the deep south from 1890 to 1919. It is also a study of contemporary approaches to community building during a time period of racial segregation and polarization. The town of Orange Mound, built by Elzey E. Meacham as an all-black subdivision for “negroes,” represents a unique chapter in American history. There is no other case, neither in the deep South nor in the far West, of such a tremendous effort on the part of African Americans to come together to occupy a carved out space—eventually making it into a black community on the outskirts of Memphis on a former slave plantation.

The significance of “community” continues to be relevant to our ever-evolving understanding of racial and ethnic formations in the South. This ethnography of community, family, and institution in the latter nineteenth and early twentieth-century Shelby County Tennessee reveals the richness and complexity of community building through an investigation of cultural and historic community development, settlement patterns, kinship networks, and sociopolitical, economic, and religious value systems in the historic black community of Orange Mound.

This research is the product of a thorough ethnographic study conducted over a three-year period which involves participation observation, in-depth interviews, textual analysis of family histories, newspapers, census data, and local government and church records. Even though textual analysis was used throughout the text, its intent was to utilize the concepts and categories that were relevant and meaningful to the people of Orange Mound.
1114373514
African American Life and Culture in Orange Mound: Case Study of a Black Community in Memphis, Tennessee, 1890-1980
African American Life and Culture in Orange Mound is an exploration of the conditions of living for residents of a segregated subdivision in the deep south from 1890 to 1919. It is also a study of contemporary approaches to community building during a time period of racial segregation and polarization. The town of Orange Mound, built by Elzey E. Meacham as an all-black subdivision for “negroes,” represents a unique chapter in American history. There is no other case, neither in the deep South nor in the far West, of such a tremendous effort on the part of African Americans to come together to occupy a carved out space—eventually making it into a black community on the outskirts of Memphis on a former slave plantation.

The significance of “community” continues to be relevant to our ever-evolving understanding of racial and ethnic formations in the South. This ethnography of community, family, and institution in the latter nineteenth and early twentieth-century Shelby County Tennessee reveals the richness and complexity of community building through an investigation of cultural and historic community development, settlement patterns, kinship networks, and sociopolitical, economic, and religious value systems in the historic black community of Orange Mound.

This research is the product of a thorough ethnographic study conducted over a three-year period which involves participation observation, in-depth interviews, textual analysis of family histories, newspapers, census data, and local government and church records. Even though textual analysis was used throughout the text, its intent was to utilize the concepts and categories that were relevant and meaningful to the people of Orange Mound.
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African American Life and Culture in Orange Mound: Case Study of a Black Community in Memphis, Tennessee, 1890-1980

African American Life and Culture in Orange Mound: Case Study of a Black Community in Memphis, Tennessee, 1890-1980

by Charles Williams
African American Life and Culture in Orange Mound: Case Study of a Black Community in Memphis, Tennessee, 1890-1980

African American Life and Culture in Orange Mound: Case Study of a Black Community in Memphis, Tennessee, 1890-1980

by Charles Williams

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Overview

African American Life and Culture in Orange Mound is an exploration of the conditions of living for residents of a segregated subdivision in the deep south from 1890 to 1919. It is also a study of contemporary approaches to community building during a time period of racial segregation and polarization. The town of Orange Mound, built by Elzey E. Meacham as an all-black subdivision for “negroes,” represents a unique chapter in American history. There is no other case, neither in the deep South nor in the far West, of such a tremendous effort on the part of African Americans to come together to occupy a carved out space—eventually making it into a black community on the outskirts of Memphis on a former slave plantation.

The significance of “community” continues to be relevant to our ever-evolving understanding of racial and ethnic formations in the South. This ethnography of community, family, and institution in the latter nineteenth and early twentieth-century Shelby County Tennessee reveals the richness and complexity of community building through an investigation of cultural and historic community development, settlement patterns, kinship networks, and sociopolitical, economic, and religious value systems in the historic black community of Orange Mound.

This research is the product of a thorough ethnographic study conducted over a three-year period which involves participation observation, in-depth interviews, textual analysis of family histories, newspapers, census data, and local government and church records. Even though textual analysis was used throughout the text, its intent was to utilize the concepts and categories that were relevant and meaningful to the people of Orange Mound.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780739175866
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date: 08/28/2013
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 180
File size: 3 MB

About the Author

Charles Williams received his PhD in anthropology from the University of Illinois at Urbana. Drawing upon an early interest in the cultures of developing countries and the African diaspora, Dr. Williams has developed active research inquiries into health inequities and social justice issues, HIV/STD and addiction, African and African American studies, and urban issues. He is founder and director of the African and African American Studies Program at the University of Memphis.
Charles Williams is professor emeritus at the University of Memphis in the Department of Anthropology.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1
-Introduction: The Problem
-Research Design and Methodology

Chapter 2
-The Deadericks
-Gentlemen Planters in West Tennessee

Chapter 3
-The Historical Orange Mound Community
-Development and Demographic Characteristics
-Socio-cultural Characteristics

Chapter 4
-The Black Family in Orange Mound:
Patterns of Integration and Disintegration
-Kinship among the Orange Mounders
-The Family of Cora Jones Thompson: A Case
Study of an Atypical Orange Mound Family
-The Family of Juanita Gray Miller: A Case
Study of an Atypical Orange Mound Family
-The Family of Fannie Carter Jackson: A Case
Study of a Transitional Orange Mound Family

Chapter 5
-Key Institutions
-The Black Church in Orange Mound
-Mt. Pisgah Christian Methodist Episcopal Church
-Mt. Moriah Baptist Church
-Beulah Baptist Church
-Olivet Baptist Church: A Newcomer to the
Orange Mound Community
-Contribution of Black Churches

Chapter 6
-The Black Schools of Orange Mound
-The Orange Mou
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