Post Author: Mary Challman
As the South became more industrialized throughout the late 1960s, the once rural areas that defined the traditional Southern lifestyle all but disappeared. “Bulldozers had ploughed under farms and forests; new factories and highways carved up hunting grounds; dams, power plants, and pollution had ruined rustic streams and ponds where man a man had spend many an afternoon fishing and drinking” (Schulman, 102). Although the economic boom of new factories and other industires brought wealth and political power to the region, a piercing nostalgia for the “good old days” became a prevalent aspect of Southern society during this time. The South had seen its fair share of hardships over the past century, but the surge of prosperity that graced this region in the 1970s generated a more positive view of the legacy of the Southern culture. While many still associated this notion of ruralistic nostalgia with racism and segregation, the image of the South began to transform into a commercialized, modernized version of itself, coinciding with the region’s economic boom (Schulman, 105). This “new” South did not focus on race as it did on regionalism and class; it represented the ideal of the Sunbelt full of well-used fishing holes and country scenes, rather than the impersonal rigidity of the urban Frostbelt. This portrayal of rural life was highly attractive to the American middle class, who looked towards the past as a better time. With the end of the Vietnam war and in the midst of a decade of political turmoil, nostalgia for a “simpler” time was easy to embrace. This idea of Southern ruralism within the broader national trend of Southernization was well-represented on the JMU campus, both positively and negatively.
Artistic photographs of the rural landscape surrounding Madison College/JMU were included in nearly all of the Bluestone yearbooks. The shots that were featured showed both the lush nature of the Shenandoah Valley as well as the gradual decay of the Southern rural lifestyle. Because these images were included in the Bluestone even though they do not directly deal with the college, it can be said that the landscape and rural area surrounding Madison College/JMU was indeed an important aspect of life at the institution. The images that idealized and glorified the Shenandoah Valley reflect the broader trend of nostalgia for a rural lifestyle.
This image depicts an idyllic rural landscape – the Blue Ridge mountains lining the horizon, a small farmhouse and barn in the foreground, and farmland framing the scene. This image stands as an example of a typical view of Southern rural life at this time: living in a quiet valley, depending on the land for sustenance, and existing far away from the bustle of urban life. This glorified image of ruralism implies a slower, more peaceful lifestyle – something that many Americans longed for after years of war and strife. The inclusion of this image (along with many others) in the Bluestone shows that this nostalgic view of the rural South was held by many of the students of Madison College/JMU, thus showing how the longing for ruralism that stemmed from the Southernization of America was a visible element of the institutional community.
While depictions of the idealized rural landscape were more frequently featured, images of this crumbling rural lifestyle were also included in the Bluestone. The above image, taken from the 1971 Bluestone, shows a local farmhouse that is quite literally falling apart. This implies that these old buildings were being abandoned and left to rot as the economy of the South moved from agriculture to industry. The irony of America’s nostalgia for the Southern lifestyle that was being left behind by economic development is striking within these images that show the slow death of ruralism; the South was once again becoming the powerhouse of American society, and yet those who were involved in this change were looking towards the past rather than towards the future.
However, not all of the depictions of Southern ruralism on campus were nostalgic. In an article from The Breeze, student Frank Humphreys scathingly wrote about how there was an increasingly hostile sentiment towards the “hippies” from the local “red-neck types” and other students from “rural, small-town, Southern-oriented places” (The Breeze, 1970). Humphreys went on to claim that “fellow freaks” (as he describes himself and other “hippies”) had been threatened with potential acts of violence (The Breeze, 1970). Humphreys’ stereotype of rural Southerners shows that there was a measured amount of distaste for the rural South, especially from liberal students.
Rural Southerners were also mocked in caricature-like portrayals by students. In photos from the 1974 Bluestone, the Student Government Association dressed up as “farmers,” making a mockery of the agricultural communities of the Shenandoah Valley. While this was surely not intended as a malicious demonstration of student ignorance, it still shows that the idea of nostalgic ruralism, to many students, was a humorously absurd concept. Because these students did not take this nostalgia for ruralism seriously, they obviously did not share in this idea of nostalgia.
The nostalgia for a rural Southern lifestyle that was inspired by Southernization in the 1970s clearly made an appearance on the Madison College/JMU campus. Although this concept manifested in both supportive and contradictory forms throughout the student body, the fact that it was represented at all within the institution further shows that Madison College/JMU was indeed affected by Southernization.
Works Cited
“Lets Be Frank.” The Breeze. January 14, 1970.
James Madison University. The Bluestone. 1971. http://archive.org/details/bluestone197163jame
James Madison University. The Bluestone. 1972. http://archive.org/details/bluestone197264jame
James Madison University. The Bluestone. 1974. http://archive.org/details/bluestone197466jame
James Madison University. The Bluestone. 1976. http://archive.org/details/bluestone197668jame
Schulman, Bruce J. The Seventies: The Great Shift in American Culture, Society, and Politics. Cambridge, MA, Da Capo Press: 2001.