Bøger af Sherry Laymon

Blue Hothouse grew up in a Cherokee family richly influenced by Cherokee traditions. In his early life, he suffered the same hardships and struggles as his ancestors who lived many centuries before him. His family totally depended upon nature and their environment for their survival. After white man's law became the rule, the Cherokee culture diminished. During Blue's childhood and youth, he witnessed and encountered many painful incidents as a result of European and Native American cultural conflict. From his early childhood through his adult years, he encountered discrimination, racism, and extreme poverty. This book is part of recent efforts being made to recapture the lost heritage of the Cherokee people to prevent it from dying out with Blue's generation. In CHEROKEE BLUE, Blue Hothouse shares his life experiences to preserve the rich Cherokee heritage for the younger Cherokee generation.

Problems of flooding and bank cave-ins had long made the Arkansas River a nuisance to farmers, planters, businessmen, merchants, and others who lived, worked, or owned property in the river valley. For captains who transported passengers and goods on the river, underwater snags, fallen trees, and shallow water levels created minute-to-minute crises. The river's "fits of uncontrollable rage and prolonged spells of stubborn torpidity" generated cross currents and swirling eddies that continually created unseen hazards for boatmen. In 1872, the Arkansas Gazette listed 117 submerged river vessels, most of which sunk after being ripped apart by snags.The federal government had responded sporadically to numerous requests for assistance with river development. After John McClellan became a senator in 1942, he began making progress, however slowly, in getting measures passed to tame the river. Robert Kerr of Oklahoma, joined McClellan in the Senate in 1948, and they worked together removing obstacles until the project became finally became a reality in 1971.

During the mid-twentieth century, private utility magnates, federal officials, and public power advocates all shared the goal of electrifying the entire state of Arkansas, but their unwillingness to cooperate delayed that from happening for many years. The politics surrounding the private versus public power controversy retaraded the state's economic development as each group continually worked to the other's detriment. In hindsight, the politicking and quarreling not only absorbed much valuable time and capital of the entities involved, it needlessly lengthened the dreary period of Arkansas's dark ages.

Clay County, Arkansas, was a flatland at the outset of the twentieth century. Into this primitive society came Paul Pfeiffer who bought large tracts of land, set up tenant farmers, and reigned for nearly 50 years as a beneficent landlord. This book records the gratitude of families who remember with appreciation loans made to acquire equipment.