A Northerner’s Observations of the South: Two Contrasting Ways of Life

by Nicole DeNaeyer 

Born in Manhattan in 1966 and raised in the suburbs of New York City, my aunt Ann Marie Thornton spent most of her youth in the North. It was not until after college that she got her first authentic taste of the South, working in Fairfax, Virginia, alongside people from West Virginia. “I can remember those ladies, with their Southern accents. They’d drive an hour, 60 miles, in from West Virginia. They drove their trucks, and they lived on dirt roads, and that seemed very different. So I find it pretty funny that 20 years later I have a truck and live on a dirt road!” (Thornton).

In 1992, Ann Marie and her family moved to San Antonio, Texas, and ten years later they moved to Vass, North Carolina. From her time spent living in Texas and Vass, Ann Marie has come to discern the distinct differences between the ways of life in the South, and those she observed growing up in New York. The main contrasts in culture that she has experienced were those of religion, food, people’s appearances, and attitudes.

Ann Marie was raised Irish Catholic but, attending elementary school in New York, had classmates who came from many different backgrounds and, therefore, had many different religions. In the South, Catholicism is not particularly prevalent, and Protestant Christianity is the more widespread. Ann Marie found it interesting at first that, for example, in the South a person would simply say "Christmas break," whereas in New York she was accustomed to saying winter break or the holidays. “You were always aware that there were people around who were different and had different points of view, and you’d be polite about that. And then I realized that people weren’t accustomed to growing up with different points of view” (Thornton).

In San Antonio, Ann Marie worked at St. Phillips College, a historically black school with a strong Baptist influence. People said grace before every meal and prayers before every reception, and that was something new for Ann Marie. “If you were going to have cookies and juice, someone would say a blessing. That was different to me, even having gone to a Catholic college, I felt like it was really noticeable” (Thornton). In general, Ann Marie found that the way that people talk about religion and incorporate it into their everyday lives is certainly different in New York than in the South. Another interesting experience for her was people inviting her to their church. “It’s meant totally as a complement, but it’s like ‘no, I have a church and I have a system’” (Thornton).

Growing up in the 1970s, it was the time of the women’s movement: moving away from objectification, beauty queens, and Miss America. So as you can imagine, Ann Marie was shocked when someone told her that her daughter was very pretty and she should enter a beauty contest. “It was hard not to laugh. It was bizarre to me, and I think a beauty contest would almost be a put down in the North. It would mean that someone was frivolous or vain, but that’s totally different here, and in no way did they mean it as a criticism of my daughter” (Thornton).

Ann Marie has also observed that Southern women certainly put a lot of effort and care into their appearances. Even just dashing out to the grocery store, the women put time into getting ready, whereas in New York, you just dash out to the store as you are. A funny experience for her was being at a polocrosse tournament where people camp in their cars and are around horses all day. Yet all the ladies were wearing mascara! It was something she didn’t expect to encounter at tournaments here in North Carolina, considering it more of a Texas stereotype. “People like to get their nails and hair done, and dress their best to meet whomever when they go out” (Thornton).

“If you think of a stereotypical New York shopping interaction, New York is known for the ‘whaddya want?’ sort of direct, straight to the point, brusque, no eye contact, that sort of thing. But you don’t typically find that in the South. If you go to a restaurant, it’s “What’ll ya have, Sugar?” (Thornton). This difference in people’s friendliness and attitudes was a pleasant change for Ann Marie. She observed that transactions in the South tend to be friendlier, slower, with more polite talk, and people use words like “sugar” or “sweetie” – words which in the North are not really used unless referring to a sweetheart. There is also an interconnectedness in the people here. Ann Marie remembers that when she worked at Sandhills Community College. If there was a bad news or something in the paper, chances were that one of her students would know the person involved or know their family. “That may be more small town than Southern, but that’s true” (Thornton).

Cooking is an integral part of life here. People cook different things for all occasions, and they cook them from scratch, whereas in New York, people pride themselves on knowing where to buy the best foods. When she was growing up, both of Ann Marie’s parents worked, so not everything was made from scratch. She considers that to still be part of who she is and what she does. She remembers once telling a Southern friend that she didn’t have time to bake dessert when her parents were visiting her, so she went and bought something instead. “She said, ‘Oh, I would have baked a cake for you,’ and that was nothing I expected to hear, but I found it so funny that my friend was like ‘I can’t believe that you would serve Harris Teeter cake when you could have something homemade” (Thornton).

Here the values surrounding cooking are definitely different than in New York. People adhere to traditions, eating the same meal every year for certain holidays, and not straying from that. Ann Marie was attending a friend’s New Year’s brunch one year when they had collards, hambone, and black-eyed peas. The peas are eaten for good luck in the New Year, something that Ann Marie had never heard about. She remembers her friends were mildly shocked when she told them she had never had black-eyed peas before, and furthermore had no traditions for New Year’s Day!

Because Ann Marie’s grandparents emigrated to the US from Ireland, most of her extended family’s food traditions are Irish, and “old country” dishes.” She grew up in New York surrounded by other families, where the kids her age were also only second-generation Americans. “Most of my Southern friends, their families have lived here for a long time, so their traditions are more Southern, more so than in New York” (Thornton).

These differences in culture are something that I, as a European, have also observed in my short time in the South. I found it extremely interesting to listen to Ann Marie’s stories about her experiences here and compare them to my own. While the North differs from the South in many ways, both cultures are unique in their own ways.

Work Cited 

Thornton, Ann Marie. Personal interview. 13 Sept. 2013.



Note: Nicole A. De Naeyer lives Southern Pines, NC, and is studying for an Associate's in Arts degree at Sandhills Community College. She is a native of Rotterdam, The Netherlands, where attended an American school.

A Community

by Mistie Jo Williams

On any given day you can walk up the five creaky wooden steps that enter Brown’s Hardware, and find several “old timers” talking over an ice cold glass bottled Coke and a pack of nabs. When any question arises that no one knows the answer to, at least one of the men says with confidence, “Ask David Wilder.” I grew up coming to Brown’s Hardware in Mount Gilead, North Carolina, with my dad who has been the manager for twenty-one years, and three years ago I started working there myself. Southern culture is more than a southern drawl, fried chicken, and sweet tea. Southern culture is about the history of the people who live here.

Old timers still discuss topics of the day
at Brown's Hardware in Mount Gilead.

David Wilder, the man with all the answers, was born on December 10, 1928 in Mount Gilead. His father, a native of Wake County, moved to Mount Gilead when he worked for Norfolk Southern Railroad. His mother, a native of Mount Gilead, was the daughter and granddaughter of Confederate soldiers. In 1923, his parents were married, and his father then worked for the Cotton Seed Oil Company. After working there until the early 1930s, David’s father opened Wilders Gas and Grocery where his mother would help his father. 

When David started school, about 60 students were in the first grade. David’s original graduation year would have been 1946, but with the addition of twelfth grade he finished with twenty other students in 1947.  Most of the students who dropped out had to leave to help their families with farms or were drafted to war. Education was not something that his parents forced him to continue with; his dad completed the only third grade, but “you would never know with his great business sense,” he said.

The main floor of Brown's Hardware
   has everthing that you need.

Meanwhile, World War II was ending after years of devastation and millions of deaths.  At this time David was a sophomore in high school and his older brother was fighting in the war like many of his classmates. But a few short years after David graduated, he was drafted to go to the Korean War in 1951 and stayed in until 1953. This is the only time that David actually left Mount Gilead for a long length of time. David trained in Minnesota, and he could tell that the dialect was different compared to the South, but while in Korea he served with people from all over the United States. During his time in Korea he says, “They had a different way of looking at things, but maybe I was the one that was different.”

Only a friendly store saves space for
 local kids to place checkers.

I asked David since he has lived in the South for his whole life if he noticed any major cultural changes since he was a kid.  His response is said with passion, “Yes, I do. It was much better when I grew up. I know that schools were segregated, but we were not segregated as a community.” David as a kid lived in a community that was predominately black. They and the white kids all played together. He and two brothers would ride bikes around town because back then they didn’t leave town that much. David says that it is hard for him to understand the differences from then and now. Today white and blacks do not communicate with each other as much as they did then, and there seems to be more tension now.

Mistie Jo Williams handles several
 tasks at the store on a part-time basis.

Most southerners cannot tell you what makes them southern. Being southern is like the southern drawl -- it’s just a part of who we are. But what makes us southern is our heritage, our family, and our community. The sweet tea, fried chicken, and southern drawl are just extra benefits.

Work Cited

Wilder, David. Personal interview. 13 Sep. 2013.

Note: Mistie Jo Williams lives in Candor and is completing the requirements for an associate’s degree at Sandhills Community College. She also works part-time at Brown’s Hardware in Mount Gilead, NC.

The Years Have Changed

by James A. McRae

Long gone are the days of old — the events that happened in the 1960s have paved the way to the future. My mother, Joyce McRae, has painted a picture of the years that she lived and how life have changed.

In 1953, Joyce was born a fourth child of seven of Isabella and Alexander Armstrong. She endured the life of a cotton-picking child, and she had chores that had to be done before any type of recess activities. Washing dishes and washing clothes were among the chores that she had to complete -- washing clothes was a chore in itself.

“You had to scrub the clothes on the washboard to remove any stains and then put them in the washing machine which was located outside. For the spin cycle, the clothes were picked out of the washing machine, one by one and fed through a feeder and then hung out to dry on a clothes line,” she said. “The times have changed a lot because we are used to indoor machine technology and the washing machines and dryers are indoor and everything is done by the machine.”

The schools were integrated when she was in the ninth grade. “People used to look at you weird because you were on their property. Cliques were formed. I was in a class of about one or two blacks. Racism was still prevalent all around,” she said. There was very strict rules for the dress code, and we are still debating the effect of dressing inappropriately in this century. “Boys had to wear undershirts, no hair hanging below the collars, shirts had to be tucked in -- girls had to wear skirts at least three inches below the knee, no exposed skin, no pants, which meant girls froze in the winter,” she said. Times have really changed.

My mother explained how some stores made black people wait in line, and prejudice was prevalent. Signs were put up for “no public restrooms.”  Racism was not as bad here as it was deeper in the South.  “Restaurant waiters and waitresses seemed to overlook a black patron, or it took a long time to be served,” she said. Quotas came into play, and the job market had to be somewhat fair in the hiring process. They had to hire so many blacks to meet a quota.  The service draft was also enacted during this time, and many blacks were called to duty. She said that the black workforce was majorly made up of military personnel, custodians, maids, and service personnel. They did not have access to high paying jobs such as managers or others with high responsibility.

According to my mother, the biggest effect from the March on Washington was that a lot more hate was exposed. The blacks became more outspoken, and they felt like they had the right to many freedoms and values. When James Brown came out with the song, “I’m Black and I’m Proud,” the song was played all of the time by many blacks.  It gave blacks more courage to stand up for themselves, even though they got the evil eye from white people.

This year we celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the March on Washington. Many blacks say that we have made many advancements over the years, but some black people say that we have not overcome. My mother said, “I think that we have made great strides as I never thought that I would see a black president in my lifetime. But I think progress is trending!”

Work Cited

McRae, Joyce A. Personal interview. 14 Sep. 2013.



Note: James A. McRae of Aberdeen, NC, is a culinary student at Sandhills Community College.

How Times Have Changed

by Maren Ward

The year? 1927. The date? December 27. That was the day Doris Belcher was born in Kimball, West Virginia. Doris is my wonderful grandmother. More fortunate than most at the time, she grew up in a large two-story home with her parents and one younger sister. Life seemed simpler then. Without much technology children did more to create their own fun. Religion was a greater deal then; people aren’t as committed now. Most of life has become more technologically advanced; however, these changes are for better and for worse.

The coal mining center of 
Kimball, WV, in 1935

Television always makes fun of the elderly. Shows have characters tell stories of walking 10 miles in the snow to get to school. Well, my grandmother actually did walk across town through inclement weather to get to school. She remembers walking over bridges, creeks, and a few hills every morning, but in West Virginia no one expected any less. At this point everyone who could go to school would. The schools were very small. This one, in particular, was a little square building holding classes for grades one through nine. After graduating ninth grade, one would travel several miles by bus to get high school everyday.

Kimball, WV, in 1963

A child growing up in the American South couldn’t be picky. Children needed to be creative and use the resources they had. As small items were significantly cheaper, kids were usually spending spare change on an ice-cream soda. Doris and her friends would each find ten to twenty five cents and see a movie on the weekends. Candy ranged from one cent -- my grandmother refers to these as “penny candies”-- to five cents usually. Selling old milk bottles was how they would obtain their money. The main form of technology was the radio. When a good show would come on the radio, it was normal for all the youngsters to gather round to listen. Otherwise, considering this was mountain area West Virginia, children would make picnics and hike up the small mountain areas for fun, much different from today. However, one precise memory my grandmother had intrigued my interest. “There was a tree outside my window. My girlfriends and I would climb out the window, on to the roof, and sit there picking and eating cherries,” she said. Without phones, iPods, and tablets, life was fine; in fact, I honestly believe it was more fun!

Many people from that generation would agree that religion was, and still is, very important to most families. Parents were very strict in keeping the day of the Sabbath sacred. No one cooked or cleaned, and children didn’t go out on most Sundays. No movies, no trips to the store, nothing! Concerning punishment with these subjects it was very brutal. If children didn‘t do what was expected, they were punished. Typically, parents were not afraid to spank their kids. My grandmother, trying to preserve her old family traditions, rarely goes out or cooks on Sunday. Most southerners in this generation were raised being very religious and well mannered. As a result, their children are raised just the same.

“Things have changed, but I like some of the changes,” she told me when asked how times are different and if she believes it to be beneficial or not. “Television, washing machines, dish washers, are all good changes. I just will never understand computers and what they do,” she concluded with a small giggle. The South has progressed a lot since my grandmother was raised in Kimball. Listening to some of her stories I wish my friends and I went on picnics together after buying “penny candies.” Times are different, but it’s all a part of growing up. We southerners need to pass down our experiences and traditions so they may live forever.

Work Cited

Belcher, Doris. Personal interview. 5 Feb. 2013.



Note: Maren Ward is pursuing an associate of arts degree at Sandhills Community College. She plans to transfer in fall 2013 to UNC-Charlotte or Elon University.

A Reaper of What She Has Sown

By A. Michelle McLeod

When you think of the South, what comes to mind?  Do barbeques and pig pickin’s come to mind? Do fried foods come to mind? Southern churches with long-winded preachers? When I think of the South, I remember my own experiences, places I’ve visited, people I’ve met, and television shows I’ve watched that poorly depict the South. I live in Vass, NC, that has lots of dirt roads and dead ends. The neighborhood where I’ve lived for many years has barely any traffic, and only the main road is paved.

When I was a child around the age of two, I began sneaking from my home that was down a hill on a dead end dirt road to my neighbor’s home across the paved road.  In my small town, no one thought twice about a child being harmed by a stranger. No one was a stranger. No one needed to include a last name when referring to someone who lived in Vass. Doors were kept unlocked all day and night. Years have passed and my former neighbor often tells me stories of things I did as a child, and we laugh at my innocence and curiosity. Neither my neighbor nor I knew at the time of my childhood that we would come together years later in a different setting.

On February 22, 1945 in Dunn, NC, a child was born to Lilly Yates, aged 19. The child was named Mary Elizabeth Yates. Shortly after Mary was born, her mother developed tuberculosis and died. Before her death, Lilly requested that Mary be adopted by her best friend. In those years, family members and friends could be appointed guardian of a child without any brows raised or any questions asked. It was assumed that a relative or a close friend would take over guardianship in the event that the birth parents were not able to do so. Mary’s adopted mother didn’t have any children so Mary was an only child. Mary’s adopted mother worked as a housekeeper where she cleaned, cooked, and cared for a child the same age as Mary. The family Mary’s mother worked for was a white family and although the family had no black neighbors or friends, the family treated Mary and her mother no different than their own race. Mary and the child her mother cared for played together while Mary’s mother cleaned and cooked.

At age six, Mary’s adopted mother was no longer able to care for her so Mary was sent to live with her maternal grandmother in Southern Pines, NC. Mary was heartbroken but eventually grew to like the new living arrangement. A young girl four years Mary’s elder also lived with Mary’s grandmother. The young girl’s mother had also passed. The two girls grew fond of each other and soon referred to each other as sisters. Mary’s grandmother was a very religious woman with strict rules. As a teenager, Mary and her sister were required to work in the local cotton and tobacco fields. Mary also worked as a babysitter to many families. It wasn’t unusual for a young girl to babysit. Work came as a priority over school. The school Mary attended was segregated. The grades ranged from K-12. In the South education wasn’t as important as providing for a family. Even though school started in August, Mary and other students didn’t attend until harvest season was over in late September to October. The teachers understood and would never count any of the missed days against the students whose families made them work in the fields.

No matter what the season, Mary had to tend to the family’s food supply. The family’s food supply consisted of hogs and chickens. The hogs were fed slop and fattened up with table food and other scraps and later became the main course for Sunday dinner. The chickens laid eggs that were used for breakfast and used in many delicious dishes. Many families in the 1950s often had to find other ways along with working to provide food for their household. Mary’s family owned a garden which harvested corn, okra, peas, string beans, lima beans, tomatoes, watermelons, and peanuts. As Mary’s school age was coming to an end, her grandmother allowed her to date, but she still had to abide by strict rules. Mary later married, but her jobs still consisted of working in tobacco fields and gardens, and raising chickens and hogs. Field workers had to work from sunup to sundown with an hour or less for lunch.

Mary always attended church, was involved in many programs, and was a member of the choir. Mary always felt like she didn’t fit in with the other children who were more promiscuous because of her religious morals that were reinforced by her grandmother. Mary continued to feel the same well into her adult life and approached her pastor. She was taken under her pastor’s wing and later was ordained as a minister. After obtaining the position as a minister for a few years, Mary was ordained as an elder and began to preach at various churches around NC. After being ordained as a pastor a few years, Mary felt that it was time she spread her wings and establish a church of her own. Being down-to-earth and having a kind heart was what made many people draw near to Mary. Mary’s Christian faith and morals were what Mary continued to cling to no matter what obstacles she had to face, and many wanted to learn what it was that made her steadfast and unmovable. Many wanted to learn how to be like Mary. Mary was ordained as an apostle after being a pastor of her own church for eleven years.

I have been a member of Mary’s church for a little over a year. Along with the Bible lessons, life lessons are also included in many sermons. I have learned a lot from Mary about hard work and faith. I have learned that faith and work go hand-in-hand. Many people don’t think about what earlier generations had to endure just to have food on the table. Many people, including myself, have never experienced working the fields, gardens, and hog pens. Interviewing Mary gave me a new insight and respect for her and earlier generations’ hard work and faith that hard work will eventually pay off.

Work Cited

Kelly, Mary. Personal interview. 24 Jan. 2013.



Note: A. Michelle McLeod, who lives in Vass, NC, is pursuing a degree in medical office administration at Sandhills Community College. She also is employed at Peak Resources Pinelake in Carthage, NC.

Livin’ Down South in the Land of the Pines

by Jordan Beck

“It was so safe. You never had to worry about crime, and no one thought about child abductors.” As Gayemell Shepherd’s sweet southern draw serenaded my ears, my mind floated back to the early 1960s when she was growing up in Sanford, North Carolina. An idyllic life of happiness, the American Dream, and strong ties to the South hovered in my consciousness like a honey bee over a magnolia flower. Such was the life of the then Gayemell Campbell, born in 1956 and raised in Lee County. The mother of my best friend since the day I moved to West End, NC, from Freehold, New Jersey, in 2004, no other woman besides my own mother ever took such good care of me. In a life defined by strong southern roots, the end of segregation and subsequent integration of African Americans, as well as the evolution of culture, Gayemell’s life paints a picture of what it means to be a Southerner.

The daughter of a farm-boy turned soldier turned chemical salesman, Gayemell Campbell grew up in a comfortable neighborhood. She recalls always being outside, as “there was more play than now where technology’s screwed up so much.” Whether it was spending a quarter for a cone at an ice cream truck, fishing with cane poles, or riding bicycles through clouds of mosquito-killing DDT, Gayemell described a childhood free from worry. “It was a much simpler, helluva lot easier life,” she said with a smile. Of Scottish descent, the Campbell family has deep ties to the land. The farm Gayemell’s father grew up on remains the family’s today. Recipes were passed down by the women, as were china, crystal, and silver. Gayemell still recalls getting her first Mix Master and learning how to make a pound cake. Food was a key component of life, “with extra salt and butter” she said with a grin. Chicken and dumplings, pound cakes, grits, fried chicken, collard greens, biscuits, and potato salad were staples, yet canning was equally important. Without freezers, picking green beans and preserving them was the norm.

Life, however, did not stay so idyllic, especially as segregation ended as the effects of the Civil Rights Movement reached Lee County. When integration began in 1968, her eighth grade year, Gayemell recalls the rioting of both blacks and whites. “It was a very uneasy time,” she said, “Whites didn’t like blacks, but blacks didn’t like being there either.” She remembers the more volatile students sharpening their belt buckles to use should a fight break out. Graffiti was everywhere. It was “scary as a 13 or 14 year old,” she stated. Yet, over time, things started to change. Athletics paved the way and while “tension was always there, it became the exception rather than the rule [to fight]. There were still groups who were volatile, but with athletics, it was better for victory together than victory apart” (Shepherd). The realization that integration was not going to change also moved things along. “You had to get used to things,” mused Shepherd, “but you always looked over your shoulder for those who had an axe to grind.” In truth, it wasn’t the students who had a problem in Shepherd’s experience, but rather the parents. Gaymelle’s husband Dale, also a native North Carolinian, interjected, “As student body president in high school, my vice president was a good friend of mine and an African American. He was a great baseball player, and while we were friends in school we never saw each other outside. It just wasn’t possible.”

After graduating from Greensboro College and working as an exceptional education teacher in Goldsboro, Gayemell Campbell moved to Moore County and married Dale Shepherd, a Wake Forest alumni. They had their first child, my future best friend, Talmadge, a year later in 1994. The changes to life were drastic, most notably with technology. Yet Shepherd mentioned her sadness at a part of life grown increasingly rare as time’s passed: visiting. “Every Sunday after church you’d get in the car and ride without seat belts to a friend’s house. You visited. You made homemade ice cream and sat on the churn while someone cranked.” Gayemell and her family try to keep a similar tradition going, and the Shepherd household continuously buzzes with other people. More changes to life revolve around the church. “There were fewer churches back then, but fewer conflicting activities too. You’d always get together for lunches and parties there with all your friends,” she reminisced, “now there’s so much that gets in the way.”

While the modern world certainly has its differences from Sanford, North Carolina circa 1960, one thing that won’t change anytime soon: the people. In Gayemell’s words, “It’s the people that make the South the South. The hearts of the people. You know your neighbors and you depend on each other.” That’s what it means to be Southern. You can eat all the collard greens, biscuits, and pound cakes you want, but if your heart lies outside the South you aren’t a Southerner. After all, home is where the heart is.

Work Cited

Shepherd, Gayemell. Personal interview. 6 Feb. 2013.

Note: Jordan Beck, who grew up in New Jersey, is pursuing an associate of arts degree at Sandhills Community College. He plans to transfer in fall 2013 to N.C. State or UNC-Chapel Hill.

The American South: A Sense of Community

by Mary Lamb

The South is not simply a geographical region; it is an animated history lesson with roots deeper than the wild fig. The culture is one of honor and pride. Most importantly, the sense of community in the South has created a unique region that has not been replicated, based on the travels of my new friend, Adrian Harper. To gain a deeper understanding of the culture in the South, I need look no further than across the table at lunch to receive first-hand accounts that explicitly articulate the uniqueness of the region. My history lesson was portrayed through the life of Adrian. Listening to the stories of his life was pure music to my ears that gave me a confirmation of why I am raising my own children in the South.

Blue Ridge Mountains

Adrian was born and raised in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. As he recounted stories of his life, I got an entirely new perspective of life in a community. After serving in the United States Navy for twenty years, it was the purity of the people that called Adrian back to the American South. He and his wife, Odessa, chose to spend their retirement years in North Carolina. The South is saturated with small towns and neighborhoods that emulate the stereotypical idea of a close-knit culture. The pride of being a Southerner is a unique trait, and the melody of his words filled my heart like the sugar in sweet tea. Adrian explained that “with people in the South, they’ll tell you what they think to your face, but in the North and the West, they will be all smiles until you turn your back” At first I took offense, until I realized that he wasn’t putting down my Northern heritage, but rather attempting to educate me on his love for the Southern culture and a love for the sense of community.

Emancipation Proclamation

The sense of community is shown in large gatherings and intimate family affairs. It is a sense of oneness that radiates through the entire Southern region. When Adrian told me the story of his great grandfather becoming a free man after the Emancipation Proclamation, the fact that he took on his master’s name and remained employed by him was a great example of the sense of oneness and unity in this culture. Adrian did not speak with any negativity or animosity when recounting the events of his past. Instead, he tenderly shared information with dignity, in spite of the hardships created by slavery and segregation. I recognized his optimistic attitude as another illustration of a Southern gentleman.

In the foothills of North Carolina where Adrian and Odessa grew up, a certain tone was used in rearing children. The idea of “it takes a village to raise a child” could have been the motto in Southern neighborhoods, as the people easily bonded in a unique manner. Adrian illustrated this by saying, “It didn’t matter whose parents caught you doing something wrong. They would take it upon themselves to grab a switch and teach you a lesson.” This same principle held true with mealtime for when food was on the table; whoever was around was welcome to eat. Hospitality of the South was exactly as portrayed in the saying “Come a stranger, leave as family.”

The best cooks include a little fatback
to add flavor.

In the South Sundays were special days for social and family gatherings. After attending church services, people would congregate on the lawn and make plans for afternoon activities. Adrian explained that church members took turns hosting the pastor and his wife for Sunday dinner. Delicious fried food is a staple in Southern gatherings. In the North, much cooking is done with vegetable oil, but in the South food is fried in “fatback.” My Northern roots left me stunned as Odessa explained that “fatback” gives the food its flavor. She said, “I loved just frying it up until it was crispy.” Although the Southern tradition of frying “fatback” until it was crispy may sound foreign to some Northerners, it was not foreign to me. During my father’s childhood, he would fry the fat from bacon, sop the grease up with a slice of Wonder Bread, and fry the bread until it was crispy. Some styles of preparing and eating food overlap from region to region. However, when gathering together to eat a meal, one must be in the South if livermush, black-eyed peas, cornbread, and fatback-fried chicken are the main entrees.

Meals are more than eating food in the South. Meals are opportunities for deeper lessons about life. The Southern culture holds respect in highest regard. The concept of respect is more significant that “yes, sir” and ‘no, ma’am.” Respect is preached to children from birth and children are taught to respect one another. Adrian told me of the times when the pastor and his wife came to Sunday dinner. The children were expected to show respect toward the adults and the parents showed respect toward the children. Adrian’s father expected the children to eat what was prepared for their guests. “It doesn’t matter if it’s the President of the United States at the table; my children will eat at the table next to him,” explained Adrian. This example illustrates a beautiful sense of honor that his father had for his children. This story emphasized both the idea of respect and equality for all people. Possibly, this concept dates back to the freedom of slaves in the South, as Adrian mentioned, several times, the idea of separate, but equal. The people of the South have been deeply affected by this concept. It is as if a slow, melodic rhythm beats within their soul and perpetuates the values of each person rooted in the South.

Respect, equality, and a close sense of community truly portray the special qualities of Southern culture that remains alive today. The deep historical roots of the region have created an area of the United States that deserves to hear songs of praise. Whether it is clans of neighbors who watch out for one another or folks gathered around the Sunday table, the people of the South have formed a culture of purity and unconditional support for one another that can be recognized throughout the world. I am honored to raise my children as true Southern people.

Works Cited

Harper, Adrian. Personal interview. 1 Feb. 2013.

Harper, Odessa. Personal interview. 1 Feb. 2013.



Note: Mary Lamb, who grew up in Michigan within French-Canadian and Polish cultural connections, is pursuing a nursing degree at Sandhills Community College.

Homegrown

By Jessica Zak 

In the American South today, living near a grocery store is a necessity. In fact, the people of the United States may all agree that a Wal-Mart is needed in almost every town. Fathers make a special trip on the way home from work just to pick up milk, but a short fifty years ago Angela Sherry remembers life to be very different.

 In 1961 Angela was born in a small Virginia town. She was warmly received by her parents, grandparents, and great grandparents; they all lived on the same 300 acres of farmland. From the time she was born, Angela woke up to the smell of homemade bread every morning. Her grandmother was awake before the sun rose making five loaves of bread to feed the family every day. However, before this task was even started, the men would milk the cows at five a.m. Because Angela’s family owned a dairy farm, they didn’t have to physically milk every single cow they owned, but the cows did have to be hooked up to machines that fed and milked each one. Angela reflected on the time saying, “I remember running through the ‘barns’ where the cows were milked. They were milked twice a day, and Daddy used to refer to the milking as ‘five to five’ because those were the times they got milked.”

In this country home there was no such thing as store-bought food. “We would eat wildlife before we went to a store,” Angela said referring to the squirrels, turtles, and frogs that she once consumed. Some typical food her family had for “supper” was cornbread, beans, creamed tomatoes, and corn meal mush. Their protein consisted of deer and rabbit that her father and grandfather caught the week before. Angela remembered “…grandma picking a wild onion called a ‘ramp.’ She would cook it and it smelled so bad.”

In the downtime of the day Angela didn’t have many material things to play with. She and her brother played on the land. Sometimes they got “whooped” by their grandmother for running through her garden, which was half an acre. However, Angela did own one Barbie doll that she received on her sixth birthday. She also grew up without a color television or a microwave. In addition, the farmhouse had no shower and no heat. As a result, when it got cold on winter nights, Angela’s mom would put water bottles filled with hot water at the foot of the bed she and her brother shared. There was nothing her family had that they didn’t work for. 

Although I would prefer a home-cooked meal over anything store-bought, Angela feels differently. She said that when she finally did eat commercially prepared bread, she never went back to homemade loaves. She would rather have quality time with her family than spend time baking. Although her family spent most of their time working, she still feels a close bond. She considers her family to be very united in faith and in each other. “There is no stronger bond than that of tight kin,” said Angela after I asked her how she felt about the unity of her family. Times were hard and family was close, almost as close as your local Wal-Mart.

 Work Cited 

Sherry, Angela. Personal interview. 11 Sept. 2012.




Note: Jessica Zak, who is from Cameron, NC, is pursuing an associate's in fine arts degree at Sandhills Community College.

The Most Uncommon, Un-southern, “Southern” Area

by Sarah Bowman

Are all the towns in the South similar? As my grandmother, “Ahmoo,” and I discussed her experiences as a Southerner, we compared the Sandhills to other “typical” southern areas. The “outside changes” here have made the Sandhills a most uncommon, un-southern, “Southern” area.

It comes full circle between generations; for example, Ahmoo and I walked the same path to school, only many decades apart. If not for a northern influence of the Sandhills area, we may not have been able to share that neat experience. Our family has been in the Sandhills since the eighteenth century, and according to Ahmoo, “Not much had changed in those 200 years. I suppose before this wave of change, the majority would agree that the area was indeed an established, typical town of the South, by and large an agricultural area, and during that time, most surrounding areas in North Carolina were just that.”

However, Ahmoo told me that when the “money culture” from up North came to the Sandhills, the locals began to notice just as many similarities as differences. The two intellectual communities were similar. “Everybody had a Bible, a Shakespeare, and some other classic.” Because the area had a large population of writers and poets, publishers and press from up North frequently visited the Sandhills. She also told me, “I knew this because my mother’s cousin was a publisher of The Sandhills Citizen,” which was one of many local papers.

The new resort and the local farmers had other common interests such as card games as well as hunting with their horses and dogs. One example of a benefit gained was transportation; the railroad now had the ability to support both the local shipping of produce and transporting of tourists to and fro. The outsiders brought new foods, religions, and entertainment. My Ahmoo said, “There was either home entertainment or church entertainment. Suddenly, we could go have fun in public at the theater or whatever.” With similarities come differences. In this case, it was imaginably difficult to make such significant adjustments.


“With the establishment of Fort Bragg in 1918 came a lot of displacement in the agricultural industry, and it brought many different cultures from all over America.” Following the Great Depression, people went to work in textile mills, which changed the culture from agricultural to industrial. As for politics, the South was essentially Democratic with few members of the Republican Party. “There was not usually a primary local Republican candidate at all until the outside influence brought in the Republicans.”

Furthermore, the Sandhills was greatly influenced by northern outsiders, as well as money. Prior to the “invasion,” “The Sandhills was used to a classic way of life; priorities were to go to the feed store, the drug store, and the bank — a farmer’s life.” That soon changed to a more relaxed lifestyle entailing golfing and horseback riding. The area was manipulated to say the least. While it is still considered a southern town, it varies from what we typically know as “Southern.” “In comparison to other small southern towns, Sarah, the Sandhills has character unlike most others; this area is more of a vacation location with seldom, old, southern charm. If this is the ‘Southern’ one is used to, then it may not be outrageous to consider it just as equally southern.”

In doing this assignment, Ahmoo and I made fantastic connections to our pasts, and we learned that our two very different generations ultimately came a full circle. Perhaps, had it not been for the outside changes made to the Sandhills, she may not be living two doors down from the house she grew up in, which is next door to the house my dad built when I was a baby on his grandfather’s land. Although we might lack certain values or morals, she and I have many things in common, possibly an effect caused by the environment we grew up in, an old, originally southern town that was almost entirely revamped by outside entities. We shared lots of wonderful stories, and I learned how incomparable the Sandhills was to most usual towns of the South, and Ahmoo had a chance to revisit her past growing up in the most uncommon, un-southern, “Southern” town.

Works Cited

Bowman, Gay. Personal interview.13 Sep. 2012.



Note: Sarah Bowman, who is from Robbins, NC, is pursuing an associate's in arts degree at Sandhills Community College.

A Yankee’s Perspective of the South

By Zachary Derrah

Students of history notice the massive changes that occur between two generations. Headline grabbing events shape the generation experiencing it, and future ones categorize it. The new generation assume that times have changed; therefore, the people and way of doing things must have too.

My father who was career military became stationed in the South in the mid-'60s and later in the mid-'70s. His experiences in the South were strikingly similar to mine when I was stationed in the South around 2007. His first experience was going to Airborne School at Ft. Benning, Georgia, in 1964. Being raised in Maine and keeping up with the news, he expected a racial power keg where military cohesion would be difficult to maintain. The opposite was true. Black and white soldiers worked together to accomplish tasks and even maintained friendships.

One point that my parents wanted to make was while they witnessed the “colored only” doors and bathrooms, most of the racism they experienced was from their own family. Even to the point that they were shunned because they supported integration. My dad said, “We weren’t blind to the problems in the country but we never saw them first hand, aside from the signs. The Army just didn’t have those issues in my experience.”

It has been said that there are no atheists in a foxhole. In my experience I would also add that there is no skin color on patrol. Differences did exist, not on racial lines but regional lines. Speaking with my dad, we both agreed that soldiers from the South tended to be friendlier, self-sufficient, and composed in their emotions. Northern soldiers were exclusive in their clicks, more reliant on others for tasks that were outside of their job description, and hotheaded.

Dad was more isolated due to work and, therefore, restricted to base. Mom had more experiences “outside of the fence” and was able to see Southern culture in less of a controlled environment. The first aspect that impressed her was the concept of the Southern gentleman. When I ask what stood out the most she stated, “I never heard a Southerner swear in front of me. This was refreshing from your father’s family where every other word was one.” My dad’s family was native to Maine, and years of the shipyard vernacular tended to cross over into family conversation.

My mom and dad tended to only have other soldiers or Army wives as friends and the military became a culture unto itself. Regardless they both appreciated the friendly attitude that strangers on the street would have towards them. Dad even commented, “Everyone was so much warmer. We’ve lived next door to the Gagnes [neighbors in Maine] for twenty years, and I’ve never been to their house! That is the main difference from down there.”

Nearing the end of my conversation my dad told me, “I’m glad you stayed down there. It’s a good place to raise your family. I could tell you about the food differences but what matters is that you have an actual community to raise your boys in. That is something that you and me never had.”  So forty-three years later I had my own experiences in the South. Despite the generational differences and the historic events that occurred between now and then, the experiences were similar. I too have witnessed the cultural differences. From the self-sufficient southerner, the friendly stranger, the tight community, the racism, and etiquette the South is a different world to a Yankee.

Works Cited

Derrah, Carolyn. Personal interview. 11 Sept. 2012.

Derrah, Donald. Personal interview. 11 Sept. 2012.


Note: Zach Derrah, who is from Sanford, NC, is pursuing as associate's in arts degree at Sandhills Community College

N.C. Turkey Festival and Hometown Pride

by Joyce Bullard

Welcome to Raeford, Hoke County, North Carolina, home of the North Carolina Turkey Festival where the tea is sweet and the folks are friendly. Located in southern North Carolina, the county was established in 1911 and named after Brigadier General Robert F. Hoke who served in the Confederate war. Farming and millwork are the most popular trades, but the town is famous for its turkeys. Turkey farms, turkey plants, and the one and only turkey festival.

It was at the turkey festival where I became close friends with Judy Melton Pittman. She has served on the Turkey Festival Board for 25 years. I first met Judy in the early 1990’s when she was the Hoke County Tax Administrator. Judy watched the county grow and encountered the trials and tribulations of growing up in a small southern rural community where everybody knows everybody and stated, “It’s not what you know; it’s who you know.” Southern people have southern pride.

Judy was born at home on April 9, 1945 in an old tobacco barn that was connected to their house. In poor southern communities it was very common to be born at home as the closest hospital was 25 miles away in the city of Fayetteville. Her father worked in construction and moved from job to job. Her mother ran the household which was also common in this southern town. It was hard work and they lived paycheck to paycheck. In 1964 Judy married Jimmy Pittman who like a lot of men from this area, being so close to Ft. Bragg, joined the military while Judy and her daughter, Melissa, stayed with her parents. This arrangement was common when men went to fight for their country.

In 1983 the county held the first Hob Knob Festival, which is now known as the Turkey Festival. In the early days, it was held in the high school gym with around 2,000 visitors. Judy began working as a volunteer and would later serve as president for three terms. There were twenty-one special events, including a horse show, softball, volleyball and flying model airplanes. I ask her what kept the turkey festival going all these years. She looked at me with a smile, and said, “The food, of course -- it’s not a festival without fried collard sandwiches, lemonade, and deep fried pickles.” In its twenty-eighth year the festival has grown to over 60,000 visitors.

Judy recalls her childhood and remembers with laughter the time her grandma and grandpa first got electricity. Her grandmother kept trying to blow out the light bulb. Her grandfather was the biggest bootlegger in Hoke County. Being in a small community he would get information that he was about to be raided and would hide all the liquor before the police showed up. Judy remembers when the first black student attended her school. On weekends Judy and Jimmy would go to the drive-in movie, have popcorn, drink, and then go out for ice cream and would only spend fifty cents. Judy rolled her eyes, and said, “Fifty cents won’t buy you a pack of gum these days.”

Growing up in the South and raised on southern traditions, Judy remembers with a smile the changes the county as seen through the years. You can still find good home-style mom and pop restaurants where you can have collards, fatback, and chitin’s or take a walk down Main Street and feel the traditional small town wonders. You see churches on every corner and farmers still working their fields. But as peaceful as it is, this southern town comes alive in September as the North Carolina Turkey Festival brings joy, laughter, and tradition to its townsfolk and the thousands of visitors who come through.

Work Cited

Pittman, Judy. Personal interview. 3 Feb. 2012.


Note: Joyce Bullard, who is from Raeford, NC, is pursuing the digital media curriculum at Sandhills Community College.

The Acadian-Cajun Connection

by Norman Leger

On a sunny spring day at Fort Bragg, NC, I walked over to the supply office to procure new parts for the radio I was recently forcefully assigned. I met Private First Class Boudreaux, and for the first time in 2 years of southern residence, someone pronounced my name correctly. I stared in shock, and I asked him how he knew how to say my name. His response -- that lots of people in Louisiana are named Leger -- carried me on a search through my family’s history to understand why.

As early as 1605 the first Acadians came to North America. Though it is now Canada, no distinction was made at the time. Food was plentiful and friendships were made between the natives and the maritime (Acadian) French settlers. For over 80 years Acadians enjoyed a relatively quiet life in the new world. During the French and Indian War, over 11,000 Acadians were removed from their land and forced south. A large number of these Acadians started a new life in Louisiana -- they are known as the Cajuns. William Bethea, my neighbor and friend who grew up in the heart of Cajun country, helped me to understand the cultural similarities and differences between the separated families of Acadians and Cajuns.

Many factors of Acadian culture stood the test of time and remain integral parts of Cajun culture. From William’s testimony I learned that the Catholic Church remains the epicenter of Cajun culture. In fact, the jurisdictions (known in most states as counties) of Louisiana are called parishes due to the strong Catholic influence. Attending mass (church) on Sunday when I was young was required. I also attended Catholic school until the sixth grade. Until the early 1900s, Cajun children spoke a variation of Acadian French. However, the Compulsory Education Act forced Cajun children to attend school and learn to speak English. For example, my grandfather was taught English in grade school. Prior to school, Acadian French was the only spoken language in his home. In Cajun culture, family elders are revered and respected. The same is true with my family. My grandfather’s word was law. No decisions were made in my family without concern for how he felt.

Some aspects of Cajun culture did change. These changes can be seen through food and music. Large amounts of spices are added to Cajun meals along with regionally grown meats and vegetables. William invited me to eat some gumbo he made. When he handed me a bowl, all I could focus on was the green chunks of foreign substance at the surface. The green stuff turned out to be okra. After overcoming the visual shock of the dish, I found it quite delicious. The styles of dishes served in Louisiana hold a stark contrast to the dishes served in Acadian Canada where most meals are very bland. With music, the introduction of the accordion excelled Cajun music into its own form. By placing the accordion as the central instrument, zydeco (Cajun) music separated from its northern Acadian roots.

Much of the Acadian-Cajun cultural background stood fast when confronted with separation and time. The items that did change seem to be associated with the Cajun’s new surroundings after the Great Expulsion. The culture insights of William Bethea, my friend, and his childhood surrounded by Cajun culture have helped me learn more about the rich cultural heritage of the American South.

Work Cited

Bethea, William. Personal interview. 6 Feb. 2012.

Note: Norman Leger is pursuing an associate in scirence degree at Sandhills Community College. Although he lives now in Raeford, NC, he grew up in Massachusetts with cultural influences of Acadian French ancestors.

A Time to Remember

by Moneé Bratcher

“Mother was the most important aspect of my life. As far back as I can remember from the first day I was born, my mother was always the center of my life. At the early age of three I noticed that my mother was a loving, caring, and a hard working woman. She loved my father, sisters, brothers, and I,” said my 56-year-old grandmother, Mama as I called her, as she looked me in the eyes reminiscing about her past.

“Moneé, I was taught at a young age to be independent,” said Mama. Either you become independent or you might get lost in the daily family-school shuffle. There were a total of seven children in her family, five girls and two boys. My grandmother was the third child of five and because there was a huge gap between four older siblings and her, she had to learn quickly in order to keep up with them. This might have been her first lesson in becoming independent and developing her personality.

“I remember my mother, my older siblings, and I had to get up early in the fall mornings to catch a truck to go pick cotton in Scotland County. It was cold and rainy on the back of the truck to the cotton farm and we had to use quilts to stay warm,” said Mama. My grandmother said that once they arrived at the cotton field they had to check in at the Masters barn and gather sacks to pick the cotton. The cotton industry was significant in the South during the 1950s because it was large part of the agriculture system.

“As a five-year-old I didn’t think that cotton picking was important. I considered it hard work for my family. We did not receive much money for our daily work on the fields; we were only paid 25 cents per 100 pounds of cotton. Backbreaking work and no money,” said my grandmother in frustration. Today that cotton plantation has become a productive well known winery, Livingston Winery.

From my grandmother’s perspective cotton picking taught her that getting an education is the key to a better life and a way out of the South. However, getting an education in the segregated South was not easy. For example, my grandmother had to attend a segregated school, she received second-hand books from the white schools, and rode one school bus that for all K-12 students. In the late 1960s the southern schools began to integrate in the South. My grandmother integrated at Pine Forest High School with hundreds of other black and white students.

I asked my grandmother if integrating with white students made her feel uncomfortable or was it a challenge. She stated that she didn’t feel uncomfortable, but she knew that it was going to be a challenge to make good grades. “A challenge that I faced in the classrooms of Pine Forest was that a white teacher called on all of the white kids and refused to call on me. I knew that I had the right answer, Moneé, that was the first time I felt the sting of a prejudiced white teacher,” said Mama. Mama, how did you feel when the white students called you “Nigger”? “It didn’t make me feel good because no one wants to be called out of their name, but I didn’t let it destroy me because my mother taught me never to be afraid and to be my own person, and to speak what I feel and think.”

“Throughout my living experiences in the South of my 56 years, I have learned to live and be happy and take life seriously, realistically, and logically. At the end of the day I felt like I have accomplished what I have set out to due. With my educational experience I can now be a customer at the winery on that cotton plantation — and not a cotton picker.”

Work Cited

Ingram, Juanita. Personal interview. 2 Feb. 2012.

Note: Moneé Bratcher, who is from Raeford, NC, is pursuing an associate in arts degree at Sandhills Community College as a SandHoke Early College High School student.

Pickin' Cotton

By Courtney Voss

“I started pickin' cotton when I was five years old,” said my grandpa, “Paw-Paw” as I call him, as he looked at me with a sly smile as if recalling days of working with his brothers and sisters in the cotton fields. We sat around the kitchen table and talked for hours about his childhood. My grandmother has an old picture of Paw-Paw and his family and had trouble recollecting the date it was taken. Grammy gingerly replied, “Oh, it was way back when.” Like many other families in the ‘30s, his family were sharecroppers and tended mostly to cotton. It seemed that many of my grandfather's memories stemmed from his life as a sharecropper and working with the machinery to harvest the crop.

In the South you were either rich or poor. The wealthy were landowners who stood at the top of the food chain, and the tenant farmers and sharecroppers were the plain “simple-folk” with little income. My grandfather, Billy Ray Voss, moved three different occasions in Arkansas from the time he was born until he was nine years old. Then his family moved to Oklahoma and later built a home in Missouri where they had one hundred acres of cotton to tend to.

“The landowner furnished the seed, and it was up then to our family to do all the chopping, the hoeing, and the plowing, tilling, and picking of the cotton” (Voss). Grandpa also says that “the landowner got a fourth of the crop.” Grandpa recalls a time living in Arkansas with his family working for his Uncle Maurice. They lived in a small house with no electricity. Kerosene lanterns lit the house. Living in the ‘30s may not seem so desirable to our “modern” generation, but this comment from my grandfather shows his true respect for the time and place that he came from: “We weren't as bad off as people looking back would think we were. I don't remember a time that we ever went to bed hungry. We didn't have the finest clothes, but I don't remember us going naked either.” People in this era may have grown up with few material things, but as you can see, it had no effect on their quality of life.

One piece of machinery was very important to the cotton industry, and that was the cotton gin. Eli Whitney invented it in 1793, and it then contributed to the vast increase in cotton production. According to Mary Bellis, this machine separated the cotton seed from the raw cotton fibers at a much faster rate than if it were done by hand. Grandpa can recall the times as a child when he was very fascinated with the loud roar and function of the gin. “There was one good thing about the cotton gin; it had a big ol’ tank of water, and we could swim in that -- what little bit I could swim at that time” (Voss).

After talking with my grandpa, I realize that our generation is spoiled. “People didn't have to have as much then as they think they have to have now” (Voss). Paw-Paw is a very wise ma,n and I am proud to be his granddaughter. I will treasure the stories that he has shared with me and share them with my children and grandchildren just like he did for me. His upbringing was so very different than my own, and I look with only pride at the history of where I come from.

Works Cited

Bellis, Mary. “The Cotton Gin and Eli Whitney.” About.com Inventors. The New York Times Company, 2011. Web. 13 Sep. 2011.

Voss, Billy. Personal interview. 9 Sep. 2011.

Note: Courtney Voss, who is from Carthage, NC, is pursuing an associate in science degree at Sandhills Community College.