Background
Tuten, James H. was born on October 12, 1968 in Varnville, South Carolina, United States. Son of Henry M. and Annette B. Tuten.
(In mapping the slow decline of the rice kingdom across th...)
In mapping the slow decline of the rice kingdom across the half-century following the Civil War, James H. Tuten offers a provocative new vision of the forces--agricultural, environmental, economic, cultural, and climatic--stacked against planters, laborers, and millers struggling to perpetuate their once-lucrative industry through the challenging postbellum years and into the hardscrabble twentieth century. Concentrating his study on the vast rice plantations of the Heyward, Middleton, and Elliott families of South Carolina, Tuten narrates the ways in which rice producers--both the former grandees of the antebellum period and their newly freed slaves--sought to revive rice production. Both groups had much invested in the economic recovery of rice culture during Reconstruction and the beginning decades of the twentieth century. Despite all disadvantages, rice planting retained a perceived cultural mystique that led many to struggle with its farming long after the profits withered away. Planters tried a host of innovations, including labor contracts with former slaves, experiments in mechanization, consolidation of rice fields, and marketing cooperatives in their efforts to rekindle profits, but these attempts were thwarted by the insurmountable challenges of the postwar economy and a series of hurricanes that destroyed crops and the infrastructure necessary to sustain planting. Taken together, these obstacles ultimately sounded the death knell for the rice kingdom. The study opens with an overview of the history of rice culture in South Carolina through the Reconstruction era and then focuses on the industry's manifestations and decline from 1877 to 1930. Tuten offers a close study of changes in agricultural techniques and tools during the period and demonstrates how adaptive and progressive rice planters became despite their conservative reputations. He also explores the cultural history of rice both as a foodway and a symbol of wealth in the lowcountry, used on currency and bedposts. Tuten concludes with a thorough treatment of the lasting legacy of rice culture, especially in terms of the environment, the continuation of rice foodways and iconography, and the role of rice and rice plantations in the modern tourism industry.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1570039267/?tag=2022091-20
educator educational association administrator
Tuten, James H. was born on October 12, 1968 in Varnville, South Carolina, United States. Son of Henry M. and Annette B. Tuten.
Bachelor, College of Charleston, 1990. Master of Arts, Wake Forest University, North Carolina, 1992. Doctor of Philosophy, Emory Universtity, Atlanta, 2003.
Interlibrary loan director Emory Medical School, Atlanta, 1996—1997. Lecturer Juniata College, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, 1998—2001, assistant provost, since 2001, acting provost, 2005. Consultant History Climate Investigators, Williamsburg, Virginia, 2000—2001.
Chair 125th anniversary committee Juniata College, 2000—2001, coordinator visiting speakers, 2000—2006. Editorial board Juniata Voices, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, since 2001.
(In mapping the slow decline of the rice kingdom across th...)
(1st edition)
State level judge National History Day, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 1991, volunteer Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, 1998—2004. Volunteer soccer coach Huntingdon Community, 2006—2010. Board member Huntingdon County History Society, Pennsylvania, 2002—2004.
Judge We The People Contest, Carlisle, 2003—2004. Board member Stone Church of Brethren, Huntingdon, chair board directors, 2003—2009, member strategic planning team Pennsylvania, 2000—2001. Member of National Association Fellowships Advisors, South Carolina History Society, Organization American Historians, Southern History Association, Phi Alpha Theta, Omicron Delta Kappa.
Married Belle Tuten, January 11, 1992. Children: Tom, Oscar.