Date of Award

12-17-2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

History

First Advisor

James Ross

Abstract

The objective of this thesis project is to tell a compelling story of the violence that occurred during the early years of the Southern Tenant Farmers Union in 1930s Arkansas. The story will be told through a close examination of experiences of significant STFU figures, as well as through an examination of some key events. Special attention will be paid to the various forms of violence and intimidation that proliferated and, additionally, the ways in which propaganda often factored in. A podcast series will be the media utilized to tell this story. The podcast format allows for the project to take on an episodic structure that will enhance the storytelling while providing valuable historical context to the listener. Podcasting as an information medium has expanded exponentially in the past decade. It is currently utilized across countless media genres to include various arenas of entertainment, sports, news, culture, political commentary, and popular history, among others. As a source of content, it is prominent, effective, and easily accessible for modern audiences. The series will consist of seven parts and an additional bonus episode. Each of the seven parts will be scripted and narrated by myself. Each episode is estimated to run approximately 8 - 12 minutes. The bonus episode will be unscripted and consist of an interview with a subject matter expert. Along with narration and voicework, period-specific blues and gospel music will be incorporated to establish emotional tone and create atmosphere. This podcast series is meant to be a dramatic, historical dramatization of events while also maintaining an academic sensibility. The idea is to combine analysis with dramatization. This podcast is not meant to be a radio drama, but it is also not an academic paper. It is meant to be accessible, accurate, entertaining, and informative from a historical scholarship perspective. An episodic format allows for the focus to be placed on individuals of history rather than concepts of history. By doing this, the hope is that the humanity of the events will shine through. There are several podcasts currently being produced that served as influences. I sought to emulate various aspects of these podcasts while establishing and maintaining my own voice. Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History is, as the title suggests, a straightforward look at major historical events, figures, and concepts. Carlin works without a script and, with the help of a few notes, works his way through the episode’s subject in a direct, unfettered manner. In You Must Remember This, Karina Longworth examines the last century of Hollywood through an historian’s lens. Longworth utilizes a script and does a majority of the voicework herself and, like Carlin, keeps production simple. Her writing is impeccable, and she allows the characters and stories of the time to be the focus. American History Storytellers takes a different approach than Carlin and Longworth. It is more of a dramatization of historical events, and scenes are written imagining how characters might have spoken and acted during the events. There is not a universal standard format for podcast scripts. However, there are techniques and terminology commonly used to assist in production and post-production. I was put in contact with Jonathan Seaborn of Little Rock Public Radio, and he provided some valuable resources that helped me to develop an effective format for my script. Mr. Seaborn referred me to training information available on the main website for National Public Radio (NPR): NPR script training: https://training.npr.org/2015/03/09/what-does-a-radio-script-look-like/ https://training.npr.org/2016/03/23/reporter-two-ways-improvisation-within-a-structure/ https://training.npr.org/2015/06/01/butt-cut-what-a-glossary-of-production-terms/ This project will lean heavily on primary source material. This includes archival collections currently housed at the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) Butler Center to include the Southern Tenant Farmers Union Papers and H.L. Mitchell Papers. Both collections contain a massive assortment of letters, memos, press releases, and various other correspondence that offer a first-hand account of STFU workings. The Arkansas State Archives will also be utilized, especially for its archival collection of the Junius Marion Futrell Papers. Multiple books and articles have been written by prominent STFU figures and these texts will be regularly utilized. These include H.L. Mitchell’s autobiography, Mean Things Happening in this Land, and Howard Kester’s influential commentary, Revolt Among the Sharecroppers. These resources are invaluable in their insight into the psychology and motivation of those directly involved in STFU action. There is also valuable secondary scholarship available to include Donald Grubbs’ Cry from the Cotton and James Ross’ The Rise and Fall of the Southern Tenant Farmers Union in Arkansas. These secondary sources will provide valuable historical context to the figures and events explored. Many local newspaper references pertaining to the STFU’s plight are digitally accessible, and articles from the relevant time (accessed through Newspapers.com and Chronicling America.com) will be utilized. These local Arkansas publications include the Hope Star, the Blytheville Courier News, and the Helena World, among others. This historical local news coverage will assist in establishing significant dates and times, as well as offer insights into the public reactions to the events. Fortunately, there is a significant amount of additional primary and secondary material available, and this will be used to supplement the foundational research. Additional primary material includes an oral history/interview conducted with STFU co-founder Clay East, as well as an article written by STFU organizer Ward H. Rodgers for the NAACP publication The Crisis, and one written by H.L. Mitchell for The Arkansas Historical Quarterly. Additional secondary material includes several master’s theses pertaining to STFU figures such as Claude Williams and Ward Rogers, scholarly articles related to Howard Kester and Willie Sue Blagden, and various online material provided by the Center for Arkansas History and Culture, the Southern Tenant Farmers Museum, and the Encyclopedia of Arkansas. In terms of historical scholarship, enough material pertaining to the history of the Southern Tenant Farmers Union does exist and, more importantly, is available for review. However, it is not an overwhelming amount of material and remains somewhat limited. The STFU, though historically important, was highly regional and its major activities occurred within a brief period during the mid-1930s. As a labor union, it did not achieve the same level of historical prominence in the national consciousness as other labor organizations - the Teamsters, for example. However, there is enough material available for a current, thorough, and interesting examination of the STFU from a variety of angles. As far as STFU secondary scholarship, the two most important pieces of material available are The Rise and Fall of the Southern Tenant Farmers Union in Arkansas by Dr. James D. Ross and Cry from the Cotton by Donald Grubbs. Ross shifts analysis from a more traditional political and socio-economic examination of the STFU to something more focused and personal. His work is founded on a thorough review of STFU letters and primarily focuses on how and what STFU rank-and-file members felt about the union. In his introduction, Ross writes: “In examining the letters of sharecroppers and tenant farmers the conservative/radical paradigm is not sufficient to explain why the sharecroppers and tenant farmers joined the Union and subsequently what the union meant to them.” Ross’ approach is highly effective and provides a great deal of insight into the emotional and psychological connection between the STFU and its members. In Cry from the Cotton, Grubbs provides a more traditional full-scale history of the STFU and does so very effectively. He examines how various factors, including New Deal programs and ideological conflict within the union, contributed to both the inception and rapid decline of the STFU. Grubbs also delves into the legacy of the STFU and argues for its influence on some of the lasting agrarian reform that followed. The STFU has also been the subject of study in a good number of scholarly articles and academic theses. In 1973, H.L. Mitchell gave a speech at the Arkansas Historical Association in Conway that would later be published as an article in the Arkansas Historical Quarterly titled “The Founding and Early History of the Southern Tenant Farmers Union.” Mitchell offers a succinct account of the early years of the STFU while also specifically referencing major figures and events from a first-hand perspective. These include the forming of the union, the delegation to Washington D.C., and the legal troubles of Ward H. Rodgers. Mitchell’s autobiography, Mean Things Happening in This Land, does much of the same, though in an expanded format. In “Realistic Religion and Radical Prophets: The STFU, the Social Gospel, and the American Left in the 1930s,” Joshua C. Youngblood looks at the STFU through an ideological lens and examines how the union fit into the Social Gospel and leftist trends of the 1930s. Other papers and articles look more deeply into some of the major figures involved with the STFU. “Prophets of the Divine Revolution: Bad Bishop Brown, Harry F. Ward, Claude C. Williams, and the Applied Proletarian Gospel” by David W. Adams provides valuable insight into the religious ideology of the radical preacher Claude C. Williams, as does “A Prophet's Pilgrimage: The Religious Radicalism of Howard Anderson Kester, 1921-1941” for Howard Kester. Jennifer Ritterhouse’s 2014 article for Rethinking History, “Woman flogged: Willie Sue Blagden, the Southern Tenant Farmers Union, and how an impulse for story led to a historiographical corrective,” gives additional historical context to one of the more infamous moments in early STFU history. Jamie Kern’s “The Price of Dissent: Freedom of Speech and Arkansas Criminal Anarchy Arrests” does well in offering a thorough account of the arrests and trials of STFU organizer Ward H. Rodgers while placing the events in a wider legal and constitutional context. All the works referenced here touch on the violence regularly faced by the STFU without necessarily making it their primary focus. An opportunity still exists for a perspective that focuses more intentionally on the violence that proliferated. Additionally, an opportunity to tell the story of the early years of the STFU in a less traditional, less academic format still exists. An episodic podcast format will allow for a fresh take on the material.

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