Southern Literature: Historical Text

Historical texts

Year	Texts	Contexts
1920s	Ø Katherine Anne Porter, “Maria Concepcion” (1922), Flowering Judas (1930) Ø William Faulkner, The Marble Faun (1924), Soldier’s Pay (1926), Mosquitos (1927), Sartoris (1929), The Sound and the Fury (1929) Ø John Crowe Ransom, Here Lies a Lady (1924)	Group of writers who would later come to be known as the Southern Agrarians publishes The Fugitive as an outlet for their poetry and criticism (1922–25).        State v. John Scopes (the Scopes “Monkey” Trial),Dayton, Tennessee (1925).         Wall Street crash begins the Great Depression (1929).
1930s	Ø    William Faulkner, As I Lay Dying (1930), Sanctuary (1931), Light in August (1932), Absalom, Absalom! (1936), “Barn Burning” (1938) Ø    Southern Agrarians publish I’ll Take My Stand, by“Twelve Southerners” Ø    Zora Neale Hurston, “The Gilded Six-Bits” (1933), Jonah’s Gourd Vine (1934), Mules and Men(1935), Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) Ø    Margaret Mitchell, Gone With the Wind (1936) Ø    Katherine Anne Porter, Noon Wine (1937), “Pale Horse, Pale Rider” (1939) Ø    Richard Wright, Uncle Tom’s Children (1938), “The Man Who Was Almost a Man” (1939)	“Scottsboro Boys” (nine    African American youths) tried for the alleged rape of two white women, Victoria Price and Ruby Bates (1931–37).        Faulkner in Hollywood  on contract as a scriptwriter (1932–37).         Eighteenth Amendment repealed; Prohibition ends (1933).         World War II begins (1939).
1940s	Ø William Faulkner, The  Hamlet (1940), Intruder in the Dust (1948). Ø Richard Wright, Native Son (1940), Black Boy (1945) Ø Eudora Welty, “Petrified Man” (1941), The Robber Bridegroom (1942). Ø Zora Neale Hurston, Dust Tracks on a Road (1942) Ø Robert Penn Warren, “Bearded Oaks” (1942), All the King’s Men (1946). Ø Katherine Anne Porter, The Leaning Tower (1944). Ø Tennessee Williams, The Glass Menagerie (1945), A Streetcar Named Desire (1947). Ø The Portable Faulkner, ed. Malcolm Cowley (1946).	Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brings United States into World War II (1941).                    United States drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki; Japan surrenders, ending World War II. Cold War between United States and Soviet Union begins (1945).                    Jackie Robinson becomes first black major-league baseball player (1947).
1950s	Ø          Flannery O’Connor, “Good Country People” (1955) William Faulkner, The Town (1957), The Mansion (1959)	Senator Joseph McCarthy begins attacks on communism (1950). Korean War (1950–53)        House Concurrent Resolution 108 dictates government’s intention to “terminate” its treaty relations with the Native American tribes (1953).         Brown v. Board of Education declares segregated schools unconstitutional (1954).