Cotton, The Boll Weevil, and The Great Migration
During the 1920s, farmers across the South began encountering various issues regarding the cotton crop. One of the most prevalent issues was the infestation of the Boll Weevil. These pests would eat the cotton pollen and lay eggs that prevented the development of cotton buds. This took out acres of cotton crops which led to prices continually rising.
As the Boll Weevil continued to devastate the South's cotton agriculture, a sharp increase of African Americans relocating to the midwest and north was seen. This movement was referred to as the Great Migration. One of the biggest influences on this was the search for better wages. The combination of the devastation of the cotton crop, limited economic opportunities, and racial tensions in the South spurred this movement to become larger and faster.
[Cotton Prices in The Union Daily Times on September 20, 1921]
[Newspaper Advertisement for Cheap Cotton Prices in The Chester News on September 23, 1921]
"Battling the Boil Weevil," University of South Carolina, accessed December 1, 2023, https://digital.library.sc.edu/exhibits/coker/battling-the-boll-weevil/.
"Today's Cotton Market," The Union Daily Times (South Carolina), September 20, 1921, https://historicnewspapers.sc.edu/lccn/sn86071063/1921-09-20/ed-1/seq-1.pdf.
"New Fall Goods," The Chester News (South Carolina), September 23, 1921, https://digitalcommons.winthrop.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1076&context=chesternews1921, Winthrop University.
Stephanie Hall, "The Life and Times of Boll Weevil," Library of Congress Blogs, last modified December 11, 2013, https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2013/12/the-life-and-times-of-boll-weevil/.
"The Great Migration," HISTORY, A&E Television Networks, last modified August 30, 2022, https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/great-migration
Did cotton go up in price? Why did Raymond believe it was about to rise in price?
Where did Raymond come back from that left him in a home without anything?
Who is Shaw? Why is his relationship status relevant to Blanche?
Did Raymond work at Hotel St. Joseph? If not, why was he there?
The following object description information includes basic elements from the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI). An additional notes field is included to list dates from the actual letter, envelope postmark locations, and any other identifying details.
Racial Tensions in South Carolina
Despite the abolishment of slavery and the official disbandment of the Klu Klux Klan in the mid-late 1800s, African Americans faced severe discrimination seen in the lack of economic opportunities as well as horrific violence and lynchings in South Carolina during the Jim Crow era. One of the more prominent lynchings was seen in Abbeville, South Carolina in 1916 of Anthony Crawford. Crawford was a relatively wealthy African-American man who owned 427 acres of land and was an important figure in his local community. After refusing to sell his cotton at a discounted price to a white man, Crawford was arrested. 300 white men took Crawford from the jail a few hours later and proceeded to shoot, stab, and hang him, forbidding his family from retrieving his body from where it hung. This led to his family joining the Great Migration and moving north.
Although Crawford remains one of the more horrific examples of racism in South Carolina, these acts continued throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Besides outright violence, racism in South Carolina could be seen in the prison system and in death sentences. The wrongful execution of 14-year-old George Stinney remains one of the biggest examples of this. In 1944, Stinney was sentenced to death for the murder of two white girls and is the youngest person to be executed in America's history. Stinney was exonerated of this crime in 2014, 70 years after his death.
[Portrait of Anthony Crawford]
[George Stinney Mugshot]
"The Lynching of Anthony Crawford/ Racial Violence in South Carolina," The Historical Marker Database, last modified December 14, 2021, www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=101841.
Chiara Eisner, "From hanging pirates to firing squads, pictures reveal 303-year history of SC executions," The State, last modified November 4, 2021, www.thestate.com/news/local/crime/article254563167.html.
"The Civil Rights Act of 1964: A Long Struggle for Freedom," Library of Congress, last accessed December 1, 2023, www.loc.gov/exhibits/civil-rights-act/segregation-era.html
"Court Acknowledges Wrongful Execution of 14-Year Old George Stinney," EJI, last accessed December 1, 2023, eji.org/news/george-stinney-exonerated/
"South Carolina Vacates the Conviction of 14-Year-Old Executed in 1944," Death Penalty Information Center, last modified December 22, 2014, https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/news/south-carolina-vacates-the-conviction-of-14-year-old-executed-in-1944
Bluefield, West Virginia
In the late 1800s to the early 1900s, a booming economy was seen in Bluefield, West Virginia due to the Norfolk & Western Railway. the Pocahontas coalfield, and architecture. The Norfolk & Western Railway chose Bluefield for a passenger's station leading to a demand for workers. As the town recruited more people to work the railroad, the size of the town grew to accommodate it. This resulted in a flood of architects coming to the city to construct many highrise buildings, one of which being the 12-story West Virginian Hotel which is one of the tallest buildings in West Virginia to this day.
[Drawing of the West Virginian Hotel]
S. Allen Chambers Jr., "Bluefield," SAH Archipedia, last accessed December 1, 2023, https://sah-archipedia.org/essays/WV-01-0003-0001-0003.
"Elizabeth Kee Federal Building, Bluefield, WV," U.S. General Services Administration, last modified April 7, 2023, https://www.gsa.gov/real-estate/historic-preservation/explore-historic-buildings/find-a-building/all-historic-buildings/elizabeth-kee-federal-building-bluefield-wv.
S. Allen Chambers Jr., "West Virginian Manor (The West Virginian Hotel)," SAH Archipedia, last accessed December 1, 2023, https://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/WV-01-ME9