Hattiesburg

Located in the heart of Mississippi's piney woods, Hattiesburg was named by William H. Hardy in honor of his second wife, Hattie Lott Hardy. Incorporated in 1884, the town quickly established itself as a regional center of the yellow pine lumber industry, and by 1910 it was the fifth largest city in the state. During the 20th century higher education became an important part of the city's persona, with the establishment of William Carey College and The University of Southern Mississippi. Camp Shelby, established in 1917 to train soldiers for World War I, also trained soldiers for World War II, the Vietnam Conflict, the Persian Gulf War, and the War on Terror. Today, Hattiesburg is the center of a metropolitan area of over 110,000 people that encompasses Forrest and Lamar Counties.

In this rich multigenerational saga of race and family in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, William Sturkey reveals the personal stories behind the men and women who struggled to uphold their southern "way of life" against the threat of desegregation, and those who fought to tear it down in the name of justice and racial equality.--

Founded by William Hardy at the confluence of rivers and rail lines, Hattiesburg, Mississippi, is today a capital of education, healthcare, commerce and the armed forces in the Gulf South. In this new biography of the Hub City, experience its story as you never have before. Hunt and forage alongside Native American tribes centuries before European settlement. Build a cabin with pioneer lumbermen on the edge of the forest, jostling for profit in the cavernous Piney Woods. Train with soldiers at Camp Shelby on the eve of deployment in World War II, and march alongside civil rights activists during Freedom Summer in 1964. In this narrative history, author and Hattiesburg native Benjamin Morris offers a captivating account of the Hub City from its prehistory to the present day, from its darkest hours to its brightest futures.

Hattiesburg was dubbed The Hub City because of its geographic relationship to six great Southern cities. On a map, it appears to be the center of a great wheel, with railroad lines fanning out like spokes to New Orleans, Natchez, Jackson, Meridian, Gulfport, and Mobile. This intersection has been a pivotal part of the founding, early history, and continuing role that Hattiesburg plays in the economic and cultural development of the Southeastern United States. Images of America: Hattiesburg covers the city's founding by William H. Hardy, the impact of the lumber industry and the railroads, the educational institutions that benefited from the largess of local timber tycoons, the illicit fight that made John L. Sullivan the last bare-knuckle heavyweight boxing champion of the world, and scenes of city and rural life in the 1920s.

Winner of the 2020 Zócalo Public Square Book Prize “Clear-eyed and meticulous...While depicting the terrors of Jim Crow, [Sturkey] also shows how Hattiesburg’s black residents, forced to forge their own communal institutions, laid the organizational groundwork for the civil rights movement of the ’50s and ’60s.” —New York Times “Sturkey’s magnificent portrait reminds us that Mississippi is no anachronism. It is the dark heart of American modernity.” —Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Thelonious Monk If you really want to understand Jim Crow—what it was and how African Americans rose up to defeat it—you should start by visiting Mobile Street in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, the heart of the historic black downtown. There you can see remnants of the shops and churches where, amid the violence and humiliation of segregation, men and women gathered to build a remarkable community. William Sturkey introduces us to both old-timers and newcomers who arrived in search of economic opportunities promised by the railroads, sawmills, and factories of the New South. And he takes us across town into the homes of white Hattiesburgers to show how their lives were shaped by the changing fortunes of the Jim Crow South.

“With this charming, sardonic debut, stand up comedian and actor Todd Barry makes readers laugh as hard as the audiences at his shows” (Publishers Weekly) in this hilarious book of travel essays from his time on tour in the US, Canada, and Israel. Hello. It’s Todd Barry. Yes, the massively famous comedian. I have billions of fans all over the world, so I do my fair share of touring. While I love doing shows in the big cities (New York, Philadelphia), I also enjoy a good secondary market (Ithaca, Bethlehem). Performing in these smaller places can be great because not all entertainers stop there on tour; they don’t expect to see you. They’re appreciative. They say things like “Thank you for coming to Hattiesburg” as much as they say “Nice show.” And almost every town has their version of a hipster coffee shop, so I can get in my comfort zone. My original plan was to book one secondary market show in all fifty states, in about a year, but that idea was funnier than anything in my act. So, instead of all fifty states in a year, my agent booked multiple shows in a lot of states, plus Israel and Canada. Thank You for Coming to Hattiesburg is part tour diary, part travel guide, and part memoir (Yes, memoir. Just like the thing presidents and former child stars get to write). Follow me on my journey of small clubs, and the occasional big amphitheater. Watch me make a promoter clean the dressing room toilet in Connecticut, see me stare at beached turtles in Maui, and see how I react when Lars from Metallica shows up to see me at a rec center in Northern California. I’d love to tell you more, but I need to go book a flight to Evansville, Indiana.