Stephen Berrey

"Race, Memory, and the Invention of Small-town America"

“Small-town America” evokes a range of associations in popular culture, from images of Main Street and life at a slower pace to portrayals as a bastion of conservative values and patriotism. Small-town America is also assumed to be an overwhelmingly white place related to demographics, politics, culture, and religion. The origins of the idea of small-town America as a white place can be traced to the early twentieth century, when urbanization, immigration, migration, modern culture, and Jim Crow transformed the nation. This study takes a deep dive into four small towns (St. Helena and Calistoga, California; Greensburg, Indiana; and Old Town, Maine) to explore how race shaped local identity in the critical decades of the 1920s and 30s. It examines race relations and racially exclusive practices in these towns. It also considers the ways in which cultural and social life were central to the formation of local identity. Through local history production, travel reportage, and racialized performances, including amateur blackface performance, people in these towns engaged with difference and promoted town identities tied to racial exclusivity. In addition to documenting small-town America’s past, this study is interested in the present. It will address ways people in these communities can grapple productively with these hard histories.

Stephen Berrey is an Associate Professor of American Culture and History.