Forms of History and Community Forms: Race, Place, and Historical Narratives in the New South - Emily Mieras

“The Best” Place “on Earth”: Narratives of Southern Town Promotion and Identity
Emily Mieras, Stetson University

This panel investigates forms of history that emerge in public space and in historical narratives that shape—and are shaped by—the spaces they inhabit. Emily Mieras compares the dominant narratives about DeLand, Florida, and Thomasville, Georgia that early promoters created in the late nineteenth century to draw wealthy white northerners to these areas, promoting narratives of white pioneers and racial harmony that belied far more complex (and conflicted) racial and class realities.

Recorded in April 2018 at the OAH Annual Meeting held in Sacremento, California as part of the Mellon-funded Amplified Initiative.