Falling Behind: MS and the South As Compared to the US
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For as long as anyone cares to remember, Mississippi has been at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder as compared to the rest of the nation. Consistently bringing up the rear in census surveys of per capita income, poverty levels, and education levels to name a few (AIDS), Mississippi has been the butt of many a joke from late-night shows to the big screen.
Mississippi, as well as Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina constitute what is commonly known as the “Deep South.’ These are states that in the past actively promoted slavery and whose agricultural and economic base was dominated by cotton. What these states have in common, outside of the historical and geographical context, is that they all share similar Census Bureau results year after year in the areas of disease, education, poverty, income, and uninsured individuals. (AIDS)
The plight of these states is a well-documented, much-debated topic in today’s society. What is discussed to a lesser degree as well as being the topic of this paper is the question of what exactly is/are the source of the problems facing Southerners in the 21st century. Perhaps in researching the past, answers can be found to problems in the present and future.
Poverty rates, MS vs. US:
2000-2001: 17.1 – 11.5
2001-2002: 18.9 – 11.9
2002-2003: 17.2 – 12.3
2003-2004: 17.3 – 12.6
2004-2005: 19.4 – 12.7 (unsure if this reflects Katrina; unsure of exact date of survey) (CENSUS BUREAU)
AIDS increases 2000-2003:
Northeast: -0.4%
Midwest: 1.7%
West: 19.3%
South, other than Deep South: 4.0%
Deep South: 35.6% (AIDS)
Deep South vs. US, 2000-2003:
African American population: 29.15% – 8.46%
High school graduates: 76 – 82.66
BA: 20.3 – 24.58
Unemployed: 3.82 – 3.58
Families in poverty: 12.32 – 8.45
Individuals in poverty: 15.83 – 11.61
W/O health insurance: 15.88 – 13.53 (AIDS)
Health care, standards of living, and education go hand-in-hand with poverty rates. As such, Mississippi and other Deep South states lag perennially behind in many related surveys:
…3 of the 5 states with the highest death rate per 100000 in 2001 were located in the Deep South (Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama). Similarly, 3 of the 5 states with the highest diabetes prevalence per 100 population in 2002 (Mississippi, South Carolina, Alabama) and the highest stroke rate in 2001 (North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi) were in the Deep South. For heart disease deaths and deaths by firearms, 3 of the 10 states with highest rates in 2001 were located in the Deep South. Infant mortality and morbidity are also prevalent in the Deep South, as all 6 Deep South states were among the 10 states with the highest infant mortality in 2001, and all but 1 of the Deep South states (Georgia) were among the 10 states with the highest rates of preterm births in 2001. Finally, the Deep South has been particularly affected by sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). In 2002, the 5 states with the highest rates of gonorrhea were all in the Deep South (range 225 to 255 per 100000 in 2002), and half the 10 states with the highest rates of chlamydia were in the Deep South. Four of the 10 states with the highest syphilis rates in 2002 were in the Deep South. (Reif, Susan, Geonnotti, Kristen Lowe, and Kathryn Whetten. “HIV Infection and AIDS in the Deep South.” American Journal of Public Health 96.6 (2006): 970-973. Academic Search Premier. 3 November 2006. http://search.ebscohost.com)
The basis of today’s situation in the Deep South is rooted in the very thing that made the South in the first place: agricultural society and dependence on slave labor. When other factors are considered, whether it be work ethic, Reconstruction, or racism, they all lead to back to this concept. Even before the plantation system was perfected and slave labor became the backbone of the entire economy, Southerners were engrossed in get-rich-quick schemes. Indian trading and land speculation were precursors to the establishment of the antebellum lifestyle. Once a specialized strain of cotton was created that enabled landowners to harvest more crop in less time, the greed swelled exponentially. With such an obvious gift bestowed upon them by the land itself, who can blame them for not giving industry a second thought? Why develop something new when you already have something that works? The only problem was one that many anticipated but few prepared for: emancipation.
Once the war was over and slaves became freedmen, white landowners were at a bit of a loss. Without the benefit of free labor, crops rotted in the fields. Share-cropping soon caught hold and everything was (almost) back to normal for landowners and blacks alike. If there had been an established commercial system of industry, other than timber, available for the newly freed blacks and poor white farmers, this return to the near status quo would have been much less pronounced.
Having put the Civil War to rest, most of the country began hurtling towards the 20th century. The South was faced with the burden of rebuilding the fundamentals of society. The plantation culture that had developed over the past 100 years had been swept away seemingly overnight. Large landowners on average lost around half of total assets in freed slaves alone. Small farmers had to rebuild their operations from the ground up, as in many cases their lands, livestock, crops, and equipment had all been destroyed. Large numbers of freed black slaves roamed the countryside unsure of what the next step was after leaving the plantations. This was the backdrop to which the Northern Reconstructionists arrived.
During the Reconstruction era, a great deal was done toward setting the minds of the rest of the country about the South in general. Carpetbaggers and Freedmen’s Bureau agents swarmed into the South. Union troops set themselves up for the occupation by pilfering what little they could from the shattered plantations and homesteads. It was in this environment of wretch and squalor that some of the most widely accepted views of the South were formulated. Aid workers and government agents traveled extensively throughout the South, plotting what they saw into their journals. Some of these journals were eventually published in the North. For many Yankees, it was their first glimpse into Southern life, as biased and judgmental as it may have been. Authors wrote of the poor masses they encountered daily with a certain amount of disdain and in some cases flat refusal of any sort of human bond or kinship with these downtrodden folk. (WINDERS)
‘White trash’ was a term coined during this era. It was used to describe the hunched, broken, and dirt-poor folk of the South. They usually lived in small clapboard shacks not much larger than a modern living room. These people were often the subject of the harshest criticism from their Northern brethren. Northern travelers could not grasp how these whites were so poor. It seemed to be a contradiction of the most basic kind: how could one be both white and penniless? (WINDERS)
One controversial yet undeniable factor of the predicament in the South today is the impact of the black population. (GIBBS) Ever since the first settlers came to Mississippi and the South, African-Americans have been entwined in the fate of the region. This next statement will appear racist and bigoted, but please allow the explanation that follows: black people (along with the change-resistant Southern white preconceptions about them) are the reason that the South, particularly the Deep South, is in the shape that it is in today. Having said that, Southern whites are fully responsible for the pattern of dependence and ignorance perpetuated by (what is often perceived as) the majority of Southern blacks. Throughout the history of blacks in the South, they have been discouraged from advancement at every turn. Jim Crow laws, black codes, segregation, scare tactics, and of course slavery have all played their part in shaping the Southern black culture. To this day, blacks are discouraged from higher-paying jobs, and are expected to hold certain positions in society. When a black person succeeds or excels in their profession and does well for himself or herself, it is often implied that they got ahead by less than scrupulous means, i.e., dealing drugs.
When the public holds the black population to this lower standard, the cycle of dependence is perpetuated. Menial and dead-end jobs yield lower incomes. Lower incomes mean both less purchasing power and less taxable income. With less money in pocket, the black community has less opportunity for health care services, which leads to higher death rates, more infant mortality, AIDS increases, etc. It also means less money is being funneled back through the market by consumer spending. With less taxable income, the government does not have the means by which to improve the fundamentals of society, and it also spends more in welfare programs to augment the incomes of the very families from whom well-paying jobs are being withheld. The children of these families then receive a lesser quality education and health care, which leads right back into the cycle.
As is evident by simply examining our environment, Mississippi and the other Deep South states have a long way to go. As made evident here, there are quite a few events and developments that have transpired over the years that could provide a sensible explanation for the plight that affects Southerners today. The cycle of dependence created by the slave labor system and perpetuated by racial bias is by far the single greatest factor of the issues that plague us today. As the rest of the nation looks at the South as a region of lazy, backwards whites and poor, uneducated blacks still held in thrall by influences beyond their control, the real question that bears asking is this: are they right?
