Focusing on the plantation regions of Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi, Greta de Jong analyzes how social justice activists responded to mass unemployment by lobbying political leaders, initiating anti-poverty projects, and forming cooperative enterprises that fostered economic and political autonomy, efforts that encountered strong opposition from free market proponents who opposed government action.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 273-285) and index.
Contents:
The man don't need me anymore: from free labor to displaced persons -- This is home: black workers' responses to displacement and out-migration -- They could make some decisions: the war on poverty and community action -- Okra is a threat: the low-income cooperative movement -- OEO is finished: federal withdrawal and the return to states' rights -- To build something, where they are: the federation of southern cooperatives and rural economic development -- A world of despair: free enterprise and its failures -- Government cannot solve our problems: legacies of displacement -- Conclusion.
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