Southeastern NEWS

                                                       Southeastern Louisiana University
                                           Public Information Office
                                           SLU 880, Hammond, LA 70402
                                           504/549-2341/fax 504-549-2061
                                           publicinfo@selu.edu
                                           www.selu.edu/NewsEvents
    Date: 10/2/97
      Contact:                           Christina Chapple  52k

Editors: Photo accompanies release -- Please note local interest
SLU HISTORIAN TO REFUTE SOUTHERN STEREOTYPES
     HAMMOND -- "No class of Americans in our current society is subject to the
institutionalized ridicule that characterizes interpretations of common southerners," says
Southeastern Louisiana University history professor Samuel Hyde, director of SLU's Center for
Regional Studies.
     Hyde will refute the popular stereotype of southerners as "lazy, ignorant, bigoted and
virtually devoid of redeeming cultural traits" in an Oct. 7 Fanfare lecture, "In Praise of the South:
Dispelling the Myth of Southern Backwardness." The free lecture is scheduled for 2 p.m. in the
Music Recital Hall. 
     The material for his lecture comes from the new book, "Plain Folk of the South
Revisited," released Oct. 3 by LSU Press. The book, edited by Hyde, was inspired by the papers
presented last spring at Southeastern's Plain Folk of the South Symposium. In articles tailored for
the popular audience, the book includes contributions from scholars on "the cutting edge of the
history of southern culture," Hyde said. Contributors include acclaimed southern historians such
as Lacy Ford of the University of South Carolina and Grady McWhitney, a student of historian
Frank Owsley, who 50 years ago published the first favorable scholarly survey of the South.
Contributors also include Hyde on the subject of southern back country justice Southeastern
historian Michael Kurtz on New South demagogues.
     Hyde will autograph copies of the book, which is available in hardback and paperback,
following his lecture.
                                 (MORE) 
HYDE FANFARE LECTURE -- Add One

     Hyde's lecture will trace the history behind the unflattering views of the South and
southerners and explain the "sources of northern misunderstanding and contempt for the South,"
he said. He also plans to talk about the southerners' contributions to American society in areas
such as architecture, music and the women's movement.
     Hyde said that "Plain Folk of the South Revisited" has already garnered scholarly
attention and favorable reviews. John Inscoe, editor of the "Georgia Historical Quarterly" has
called the book "a breath of fresh air in the study of southern history."
                                 - SLU -
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