RACE IN A SOUTHERN RURAL TOWN

In regards to the Civil Rights Act and its effects in the South (in Atlanta in particular), I have comments about race relations in the southern small town, in this case, the town of Bennettsville, South Carolina.
It appears to me that there is still a “duality” as are as society works in the area around Bennettsville. As for location, the nearest “city” of note is Florence, which is at the eastern terminus of I-20—it is almost 40 miles away. Bennettsville is about 100 miles NE of Columbia, 95 miles SE of Charlotte, NC and 120 miles SW of Raleigh, NC.
The racial make-up of Bennettsville is almost an even split between black and white, with a small percentage of “others” (most of them being of Native American heritage, as the center of the Lumbee Indian group, centered in Pembroke, NC—about 30 miles to the east). Though the different peoples of the area do work together; the young people go to school together, “after hours”, it is a “segregated” society. It seems to me that the society there has been slower to accept social integration than in the larger cities. I’m sure that education (or lack thereof) and the local heritage and economy have a lot to do with it.
Not many people in that region (that is, the area in SC where the border turns from “east” to SE on the way to the coast) are well educated. This is still a largely agricultural area; many of the “older” people worked on the farm; many now work in the factories and small businesses in the area (most of which does not require education beyond high school). Like many areas, the white population is more educated than the black In this area, that may be a legacy of the past; that is, the pre-civil rights era. Like most areas of the South, schools were segregated until the mid to late 1960s, and as has been brought to our attention since, “separate but equal” was “not equal”. Since then, the schools were consolidated—first by placing all students of age groups within the same school that lived in the same city or district; later, “comprehensive” high schools were created to put virtually all (“public”) school students within a school system (often a county) in the same school.

This has helped some of the younger generation to integrate (though the “high society” portion still “segregates” itself by placing their children into private schools, such as “Marlboro Academy”, located about 6 miles NE of Bennettsville). The elders, however, still have the old mindset of “superiority” that stems from the pre-Civil Rights days. In the evening, each seems to have their “own place”; the same is true on Sunday morning [though I am not sure about Catholic or Episcopalian churches, it is definitely true of Baptist and “holiness” churches]. There are some of the Native American population that can “mix in”. One other thing that may influence the “social distance” between races in this area (and possibly much of the South Atlantic Coast region)—the descendants of former slaves in this area were a little more isolated from mainstream American culture than those in other parts of the country. As a result, these people appear to look more “African” shall we say—then black Americans in most other parts of the country. In fact, in this area—especially those on the coast—from around Georgetown, SC (below Myrtle Beach) and Amelia Island, FL (just above Jacksonville) are the “Sea Islands”, which includes the “Gullah” culture—which consists of a group of Black Americans who were the most isolated, and who have retained more of their “original” culture than any other Black Americans in the US. Quite possibly, some of the population of Bennettsville and other communities that are inland from the coast may have some of the Gullah heritage.

A few final notes: As my family (paternal side) is from this area, I have had a chance to observe the communities. Having been brought up in the Atlanta area, I have seen various things as far as interaction between ethnic groups, and in the part of town where I live (College Park, near Hartsfield-Jackson Int’l Airport)—I have seen a lot of “migration” (white people leave; others enter). I have remained in the community, and have adjusted quite well to the demographic changes. If in the event I move from that area, I would not consider the racial make-up to be the primary factor of where I would want to move [e.g. the SW Atlanta area—a nice middle class area—with 90+% black population]. In Bennettsville however, if I were to move there, it is more difficult, as integration in housing is “new” in the area (and never mind the social integration there—I would not be used to things there). In the neighborhood where my father lives, there have been a few people of color who have moved into housing on the same block of my father’s house. Just across Main St—just a block from my father’s house, the demographics are reversed. Such are the housing patterns in Bennettsville, which is probably the case in many Southern rural towns. Finally, as for how do they refer to each other? While in most of America, we use the terms “black” or the more recent “African-Americans”, in the small town, they may use “black”, or some still say “colored” [which has been removed from mainstream America since the 1970s]. Yes, these places are a bit “behind the times” of much of the rest of America (or, it is just more “out in the open” there, and more “discrete” mainstream America….).

Allen M