THE AMERICAN SOUTH
Ever since the Civil War, the South has struggled to find ways to deal with its troubled past. The history of the South is one of suffering: the suffering of the Native Americans who were killed or driven off their land by European settlers; the pains of slaves brought from Africa by greedy slave traders; the death and poverty of the Civil War; the hardships of unemployment and civil unrest in the post-war years and the Great Depression; the many sacrifices of the Civil Rights Movement. The wounds are slow to heal and the scars run deep. Even today, the South is far behind the rest of the United States in areas such as education and economic development.
But the story of the South is also one of hope and success. There are signs that a new, different South is coming out of its dark past. Atlanta, Georgia, is a good example. Like many of its sister cities in the South, Atlanta was burnt down in the Civil War. The city was destroyed and there was no money for reconstruction. In fact, when the new mayor of Atlanta started working in 1864, the city hand only ＄1.64. The post-war years were hard and the people of Atlanta struggled to rebuild the city and create a new South where former slaves and slave-owners could live together.
Atlanta quickly recovered from the destruction caused by the Civil War. In only five years, most of the city had been rebuilt and Atlanta began to grow again. Despite the hardships of the post-war years and the Great Depression, the people of Atlanta continued to develop the area, both economically and socially. The were signs that the new Atlanta would be different: Atlanta’s African community grew and black businesses became more successful.
It was also in Atlanta that one of the great leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, Dr Martin Luther King, Jr, was born. Dr King grew up in a city where nearly half the population was black, but where segregation took away many of their rights. The in justices in the city and in the South led Dr King to organize non-violent demonstrations aimed at ending segregation. The city saw a series of fierce fights between blacks and whites in the 1960s and Dr King was shot and killed in 1968. His funeral was shown on television and millions of Americans watched as people marched through Atlanta in honour of Dr King’s efforts were not in vain, however. Segregation eventually disappeared and a new dawn seemed to arrive. Slowly but surely, Atlanta was becoming a successful city proud of its cultural diversity.
In 1996, the city was the host of the Olympic Games, an honour the city shares with great cities such as Sydney and Beijing. During the Olympic Games, the eyes of the world were on Atlanta and the city was proud to display its new image. Modern Atlanta is a booming business centre and the home of some of the largest and most successful companies in America. Like many other Southern cities, Atlanta is representative of the new South, a place where hope and faith have replaced fear and doubt.
The South still has many problems to deal with, but the people there are determined to make a new beginning. Today, the South is known for its friendly atmosphere, and Atlanta, Birmingham, Miami, and Little Rock are once again becoming commercial and cultural centres of the nation. |