Development Arrested

"Development Arrested" is a major reinterpretation of the two-centuries-old conflict between the African Americans and planters in the Mississippi Delta. In a definitive study of the history and social structures of the plantation system, Clyde Woods examines both planter domination of politics and economy in the region and the continuing resistance of the African American working class to the system's depredations. "Development Arrested" traces the decline and resurrection of plantation ideology in national public policy discourse from Thomas Jefferson to Bill Clinton. Woods documents the increasing attacks of the gains of the Civil Rights Movement and how, despite having suffered countless defeats at the hands of the planter regime, African Americans in the Delta have continued to push forward their agenda for social, economic and cultural justice. He examines the role of the Blues in sustaining their efforts, surveying a musical tradition - including Jazz, Rock and Roll, Soul and Rap - that has embraced a radical vision of social change.
This is an important contribution to the current policy debats involving Mississippi politics, the presidency of and Congress, and our understanding of Black, US, and Southern history.