Use these sources first and orient yourself in your assigned time and place. Figure out what was happening during your period in the South, the United States as a whole, and the larger Atlantic world in which Southerners lived. What kinds of political, social and cultural events were happening in the nineteenth century, in the U.S. and elsewhere? A caveat: These are not appropriate to cite as secondary sources--you will need to refer to books for that.

• Wikipedia, Timeline of United States History



• American Passages: A History of the United States
  • American Passages Online
  • Browse American Passages by Date
  • Hard copies of American Passages are available at Clemons Library, on reserve at the front desk.

After orienting yourself, use these books (on reserve at Clemons) in order to find out the kinds of stories historians have told about the South. These histories do a good job situating their narratives within the context of the entire South over time. Most of these books are organized chronologically, some by theme. Most of them cover only a portion of the nineteenth century, such as the Old South, Reconstruction, or the post-Reconstruction South. Pay close attention to your assigned period and place, and the surrounding years to find out what historians have thought notable. You should be able to move through each of these histories rather quickly, surveying them for the broad context of your specific region and time. A hint: always consult the index of these books to find out where you should look to find the information you need.

• The American South: A History, William Cooper and Thomas E. Terrill (McGraw Hill, 1996)
  F 209 .C64 1996



• Slavery in the South: A State-by-State History, Clayton E. Jewett and John O. Allen (Greenwood Press, 2004)
  E441 .J49 2004



• A Companion to the American South, ed. John B. Boles (Blackwell Publishers, 2002)
  F208.2 .C66 2002



• The South Through Time: A History of an American Region, John B. Boles 2 vols. (Prentice Hall, c1999)
  F209 .B65 1999



• The Old South, ed. Mark M. Smith, (Blackwell Publishers, 2001)
  F213 .O43 2001



• The Road to Disunion, William Freehling (Oxford, 1990)
  E 468.9 .F84 1990



• The Promise of the New South: Life after Reconstruction, Edward L. Ayers (Oxford, 1992)
  F215 .A94 1992



• Origins of the New South, 1877-1913, C. Vann Woodward (Louisiana State University Press, 1971 reprint)
  F215 .W85 1971



• Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution 1863-1877, Eric Foner (Harper & Row, 1988)
  E668 .F66 1988



• The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party: Jacksonian Politics and the Onset of the Civil War, Michael Holt (Oxford University Press, 1999)
  JK2331 .H63 1999



• Civil War & Reconstruction, Donald, David Herbert, Jean Baker, & Michael Holt (Norton, c2001)
  E468 .D649 2001



• Oxford Book of the American South: Testimony, Memory, and Fiction, eds. Edward Ayers and Bradley Mittendorf (Oxford, 1997)



• South and the History of the Nation: A Reader, William Link (St. Martin's, 1999), 2 vols.
  F206 .S615 1999

After you have surveyed the larger histories of the South, use these state histories to investigate the peculiarities of your assigned period. Take a look at histories from each of the Southern states that apply to your assignment, looking for the ways that different groups interact and how large-scale trends influence and are influenced by local actors. Remember, your episode entries should attempt to portray a wide range of experience in your time and place. These histories can be found on reserve at Clemons Library.

• Gone to Texas: A History of the Lone Star State, Randolph Campbell (Oxford, 2003)
  F386 .C268 2003



• Antebellum Louisiana, 1830-1860, edited by Carolyn E. DeLatte (University of Louisiana at Lafayette, 2004)
  F374 .A58 2004 pts. A and B



• The African American Experience in Louisiana, edited by Charles Vincent (Univ. of Southwestern Louisiana, 1999)
  E185.93 .L6 A47 1999 pts. A through C



• Louisiana, A Bicentennial History, Joe Gray Taylor (Norton, c1976)
  F369 .T29



• The New History of Florida, edited by Michael Gannon (University Press of Florida, c1996)
  F 311.5 .N49 1996



• A History of Florida, Charles W. Tebeau (University of Miami Press, 1971)
  F311 .T42 1971



• Alabama: The History of a Deep South State, William Rogers, Robert Ward, Leah Atkins, Wayne Flint (University of Alabama Press, 1994)
  F326 .A553 1994



• South Carolina, A History, Walter Edgar (University of South Carolina Press, 1998)
  F269 .E34 1998



• The History of a Southern State: North Carolina, Hugh Lefler and Albert Newsome (The University of North Carolina Press, 1973)
  F254 .L39 1973



• Missouri: A History of the Crossroads State, Edwin McReynolds (University of Oklahoma Press, 1962)
  F466 .M2 1962



• A History of Missouri: Volume I, 1673 to 1820, William E. Foley (University of Missouri Press, 1971)
  F466 .H58 v.1



• A History of Missouri: Volume II, 1820 to 1860, Perry McCandless (University of Missouri Press, 1972)
  F466 .H58 v.2



• A History of Missouri: Volume III, 1860 to 1875, William E. Parrish (University of Missouri Press, 1973)
  F466 .H58 v.3



• A History of Missouri: Volume IV, 1875 to 1919, Lawrence O. Christensen and Gary R. Kremer (University of Missouri Press, 1997)
  F466 .H58 v.4



• Maryland: A History, 1632-1974, edited by Richard Walsh and William Fox (Maryland Historical Society, 1974)
  F181 .W34



• Centennial History of Arkansas, Dallas T. Herndon (S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1922; 1970 reprint)
  F411 .H578 1970



• Tennessee, A Short History, Robert E. Corlew (University of Tennessee Press, 1981)
  F436 .C78 1981



• A New History of Kentucky, Lowell Harrison and James Klotter (University Press of Kentucky, 1997)
  F451 .H315 1997



• History of Delaware, John A. Monroe (University of Delaware Press, 2001)
  F164 .M83 2001



• The Edge of the South: Life in Nineteenth-Century Virginia, edited by Edward Ayers and John Willis (University Press of Virginia, 1991)
  F 230 .E34 1991



• Virginia Reconsidered: New Histories of the Old Dominion, edited by Kevin Hardwich and Warren Hofstra (University of Virginia Press, 2003)
  F226.5 .V57 2003



• Mississippi, A Bicentennial History, John Skates (W. W. Norton, 1979)
  F341 .S65



• Mississippi, A Documentary History, Bradley G. Bond (University Press of Mississippi, 2003)
  F341.5 .B66 2003

Here are some websites that should be useful and reliable secondary sources. You can search these journals and websites for a particular year or, probably more effectively, for more information on an event that you have identified elsewhere. (PLEASE NOTE: All internet sources not found on this list must be approved by your TA before you use them.)

• Journal of Southern History
• Journal of American History
• American Historical Review
• The Handbook of Texas Online
• Southwestern Historical Quarterly Online (journal of Texas history, with 1897 to 1918 fully searchable online)
• The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture
• The New Georgia Encyclopedia

These excellent histories examine a single important issue or group of issues in Southern history. They should be considered extra reading on important topics, and should be used after you have exploited the other resources described above. They can be found on reserve at Clemons Library.

• Emancipation and Reconstruction, 1862-1879, Michael Perman (Harlan Davidson, c1987)
  E453 .P47 1987



• The Road to Redemption: Southern Politics, 1869-1879, Michael Perman (UNC, 1984)
  F216 .P47 1984



• Struggle for Mastery: Disfranchisement in the South, 1888-1908, Michael Perman (UNC, 2001)
  JK1929 .A2 P47 2001



• Generations of Captivity: A History of African-American Slaves, Ira Berlin (Harvard University Press, 2003)
  E441 .B47 2003



• A Nation Under Our Feet: Black Political Struggles in the Rural South, From Slavery to the Great Migration, Steven Hahn (Harvard University Press, 2003)
  E185.2 .H15 2003



• The Roots of Southern Populism: Yeomen Farmers and the Transformation of the Georgia Upcountry, 1850-1890, Steven Hahn (Oxford University Press, 1983)
  F290 .H33 1983



• Religion in the Old South, Donald Mathews (University of Chicago Press, 1977)
  BR535 .M37



• Israel on the Appomattox: A Southern Experiment in Black Freedom from 1790 to the Civil War, Marvin Ely (Knopf, 2003)
  F232 .P83 E49 2004



• Without Consent or Contract: The Rise and Fall of American Slavery, Robert Fogel (Norton, 1989)
  E 441 .F63 1989

These encyclopedias are wonderful resources for investigating themes of interest to historians. They can be found on reserve at Clemons Library.

• Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, ed. Charles Reagan Wilson & William Ferris (UNC Press)
  F 209 .E53 1989



• Encyclopedia of the Antebellum South, ed. James M. Volo and Dorothy Denneen Volo (Greenwood Press, 2000)
  F213 .V65 2000



• The Encyclopedia of the South, ed. Robert O'Brien and Harold H. Martin (New York, N.Y.: Facts on File, c1985)
  F207.7 .O27 1985



• Encyclopedia of Religion in the South, ed. Samuel S. Hill (Mercer, c1984)
  BR535 .E52 1984

These historical journals help if you are interested in the events of a particular state. You might browse them to find out about events and individuals that are important at the state and local level. (PLEASE NOTE: There are far too many volumes of each journal to put them on reserve, but all should be available in Alderman at the call numbers listed below.)

• Southwestern Historical Quarterly (Texas)
  F 381 .T45



• Virginia Magazine of History and Biography
  F 221 .V91



• Louisiana History
  F366 .L86



• The Journal of Mississippi History
  F 336.J68



• The Alabama Review
  F 321 .A26



• The Alabama Historical Quarterly
  F321 .A17



• Gulf States Historical Magazine
  F296 .G97



• The Georgia Historical Quarterly
  F 281 .G2975



• Atlanta History/The Atlanta Historical Journal
  F294.A8 A863



• Florida Historical Quarterly
  F 306 .F65



• South Carolina Historical Magazine
  F266 .S55



• North Carolina Historical Review
  F 251 .N892



• Tennessee Historical Quarterly
  F 431 .T285



• Journal of East Tennessee History
  F442.1 .E14



• West Tennessee Historical Society Papers
  F442.3 .W4



• Register of Kentucky Historical Society
  F446 .K43



• Gateway (Quarterly of the Missouri Historical Society)
  F 461 .G37



• Arkansas Historical Quarterly
  F406 .A6



• Maryland Historical Magazine
  F 176 .M18



• Delaware History
  F 161 .D37