TN Writers TN Stories: Southern History Remixed

Southern History Remixed: On Rock ‘n’ Roll and the Dilemma of Race is a book about popular music. But it also is a book about southern history. The two are not mutually exclusive. Ultimately, it is an exploration which demonstrates that what occurs in the musical realm does affect and reflect what happens in the historical one, and that analyzing a society’s past musical activities helps to understand that society’s past. Overall, the book argues that popular music played a key role in the shaping of the U.S. South from the late 19th century to the era of rock ‘n’ roll in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. Specifically, it focuses on a post-World War II generation bound by a segregationist past drawn into a racially-inclusive world of Black radio programming, rhythm and blues, and youth culture. The results of this collision often led to confusion and ambivalence among many of the South’s adolescents, tendencies that undermined the region’s racial status quo. Relying on a wide array of first-hand sources, the book challenges the conventional wisdom that paints all white southerners of the period as of one mind in reference to race. Taking popular music seriously allows us to view the cracks in the monolithic model and comprehend a changing South encountering the modern civil rights movement as a complex and nuanced process. Indeed, Southern History Remixed concludes with the phrase, “It’s complicated.”

Michael T. Bertrand is a historian of the American South and the modern United States. A Professor of History at Tennessee State University in Nashville, he has taught at the University of Memphis, Middle Tennessee State University, and the University of Mississippi, where he worked in the Center for the Study of Southern Culture. The author of Race, Rock, and Elvis (University of Illinois Press, “Music in American Life” series), Bertrand recently completed Southern History Remixed: On Rock ‘n’ Roll and the Dilemma of Race for the “Southern Dissent” series of the University Press of Florida.

Sheri Bartlett Browne, Ph.D., is a historian, educator, and health humanities researcher. She is passionate about bringing awareness to the interconnections among race, class, gender, and region in history, health care, and social change.

This event is part of our TN Writers | TN Stories series. Readings and discussions take place in the Digital Learning Center at the Tennessee State Museum. All events include an opportunity to purchase books through the Museum store and get them signed by the author. If you show your Eventbrite ticket you will recieve a 10% discount on your book purchase in the Museum Store. For more information on the TN Writers | TN Stories series, visit: https://tnmuseum.org/tnwriterstnstories.