The War and Beyond: The Evolution of a Black Belt Community, 1850-1875

FAIN: FA-11726-77

William L. Barney
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Chapel Hill, NC 27599-1350)

To examine the impact of the Civil War on a black-belt community in the Deep South, specifically Dallas County, Alabama, 1850-1875, and also the relationship between war and social change. In addition to traditional newspapers and manuscript sources, study will employ some quantitative techniques of computer analysis. Among questions to be investigated are kinship ties, household structure, the dynamics of family life, rates of mobility, formation and persistence of leadership groups, and the distribution of wealth, power and status for the free society as a whole.