Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2020/Spring/Section25/George Smith

George Smith
Born	unknown
Died	unknown
Nationality	American
Occupation	farmer
Known for	experimental orchards

Overview

George Smith was a farmer from Mentone, Alabama, a small mountain town on the Alabama-Georgia border. He was interviewed for the Federal Writers' Project by Covington Hall on January 5th, 1939.

Biography

Early Life

Smith's birthdate and birthplace are unknown. In his youth, he was often caught bootlegging, moonshining, and getting drunk. Smith's reputation in the community was not outstanding.

Smith matured and changed his ways. He married his cousin and bought a 40-acre farm right outside of downtown Mentone. He abandoned all vices, including the occasional drink of whiskey or swear word. Smith and his wife had three children together.

Career

Smith was known throughout town for his experimental orchards. On his farm, he grew various species of fruits and vegetables, including peaches, raspberries, sweet potatoes and strawberries. He used this method in order to decipher which species would grow best in Mentone's mountainous climate. Smith sold these crops locally and at markets in Northwest Georgia.

Smith was said to have had a "thirst for scientific and agricultural knowledge." Around the house, he kept many copies of the Alabama Farm Bulletin, the Federal Department of Agriculture's Reports, and other agricultural journals.

Additionally, with the assistance of a few workers, Smith ran a small coal mine on his farm. He used this coal to power his own home, but also sold it in Mentone for an additional source of revenue. This extra income allowed the Smith family to live far more comfortably than the average Depression-era farmer.

Smith was adamantly against the growth of cotton due to its association with slavery in the American South. In an interview for the Federal Writers' Project, Smith is quoted to have said, "We don't want cotton. There's nothing in it but slavery." Smith claimed that many others in Mentone shared this anti-cotton sentiment for the same reasons.

Death

George Smith's death date and location are unknown.

Historical Context

Consanguine Marriage in America

Before the middle of the 19th century, marriages between two relatives, especially between two cousins, were not uncommon. Few states had laws banning the practice. Many European elites practiced consanguine marriage, so Americans saw it as civilized.

Transportation limitations made it difficult for those seeking a partner to leave their hometowns. For the most part, these towns had small populations, and consisted of only a handful of “well-to-do” families. Therefore, oftentimes the only suitable bachelor one could find would be a relative of some sort, whether that was a near or distant cousin.

However, around 1850, public opinion shifted, and Americans began to collectively view the practice as uncivilized. Transportation improvements allowed young adults to travel further to meet their partners, thus decreasing the need to marry within one's gene pool.

In 1877, Lewis Henry Morgan, a prominent American anthropologist and social theorist, published a work titled Ancient Society. In essence, this book described the benefits of marrying and procreating with someone outside of your gene pool. Morgan's work further pushed public opinion away from the idea of consanguine marriage, leading to the passing of many laws which banned the practice.

Today, over 60% of states have laws prohibiting family marriage.

Agricultural Strife During the Great Depression

Two DeKalb County farmers sit on the steps of the County Activities Building in Fort Payne, Alabama in September 1941.

After the stock market crash of 1929, thousands of banks across America failed, and an estimated 12 million Americans were left unemployed. In turn, with less people in the workforce, the demand for products across all markets heavily decreased. This included farmers' crops.

Farmers resorted to growing more and more crops to make up for their lower crop sales. However, this further exhausted their issues. Due to the laws of supply and demand, the higher the supply of a product, the lower its cost. Thus, due to surpluses of crops across America, farmers’ supplies became virtually worthless, and many farmers fell into deep poverty.

In order to reduce these surpluses, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt created the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933, one of his many New Deal programs. This bill allowed the federal government to give subsidies, or payments, to farmers who cut their crop yields. Most farmers were pleased by this program, and welcomed it with open arms.

The Agricultural Adjustment Act was successful for white landowners: as farmers cut their harvests, prices adjusted back to normal levels. Farmers, a majority of whom fell far below the poverty line prior to the Agricultural Adjustment Act, were once again able to provide for their families.

However, tenant farmers and sharecroppers did not benefit from the Agricultural Adjustment Act. Historians often blame this New Deal program for displacing and further impoverishing tenant farmers and sharecroppers. The owners of large farms received the AAA payments from the federal government, and they were not legally obliged to share this money with their tenants. Many tenant farmers fell further into destitute poverty.